Specification
This Output Packet is an overview of my projects on Regenerative Agriculture education at Zamorano University, also known as The Panamerican School of Agriculture. It was my dissatisfaction with both the unsustainable and industrial model of the Crop and Animal Science program I graduated from that prompted me to look for a Permaculture Design Certification, as well as the limited curriculum that led me to Gaia University as a next step in my un/learning journey.
Each section in the contents addresses a project and the un/learning patterns that I explored and/or discovered.
Contents
Zamorano and Gaia Univesity Exchange Program
Introduction to Regenerative Agriculture
Hugh Popenoe Agroecological Garden
Ecological Design Process: Integrated Crop and Climate Change Management Module
The Zamorano Agroecology Farm
Process Reflection and Digiphon
Reflection on Output Packet
This Output Packet was originally going to be my Year 1 OP 4. The first draft of it is linked to in the first section. I think I even submitted it and then was not able to go through with the review process. Classes and family crises as well as personal ones made it impossible to give the OP process its due attention. Other than the factors impeding my having the bandwidth to engage with my Gaia University program, the hard lessons from how challenging these projects have been are making me very judicious and cautious regarding what projects I say yes to in the future.
Digiphonote
Platforms used: Mahara and Google Drive. Programs: Word and VUE. Photographs made with Canon 5D mark ii.
Zamorano and Gaia University Exchange
My first couple years as a Gaia University student were defined by this exchange I embarked on with Zamorano. From starry eyed visions of a utopian future to being overwhelmed by too much content and having my mind blown by the Carbon Farming Course, this was a very rich and at the same time hard to process set of experiences.
Introduction to Regenerative Agriculture
The lack of even a notion of Regenerative Agriculture was so much the norm in the Zamorano environment that over time I took many opportunities to give people quick introductions to the subject.
1. The Agroecology Files were a lecture series in collaboration with Dr. Jeff Pack, who was my advisor for my senior project. The Agroecology Club we had founded hosted an introductory Agroecology series called "The Agroecology Files" we filmed all of these and I have recently finished editing them, and am contemplating ways of releasing them as a free resource.
2. Introduction to Natural Systems Agriculture was a two morning workshop I gave the students from the Crop and Animal Science Major once I had already graduated and had begun studying Regenerative Agriculture in depth.
3. After trying to put on a Carbon Farming Course at Zamorano but hitting massive blocks in terms of funding and costs, I decided to take the grassroots approach and create a small Regenerative Agriculture Seminar through our Agroecology Club in which our students would research a topic and lead a discussion on it.
4. These links are for the Introductions to Regenerative Agriculture for 2nd and 4rth Year Students. The 2nd year students got a four hour lecture from myself and Jose Miguel Holguín a few years in a row, and the 4rth Year students in the Environmental Studies Major got it in their Agroforestry Class. That link is to the syllabus which I wrote the first section of as an introduction to Regenerative Agriculture.
5. The Finca Agroecológica Zamorano is a model farm that I assisted in writing the grant for. I also turned down the job of instructor and manager for the farm due to my citizenship process.