CAP OP 2: Project Outcomes

Origin- 

            The site is very close to a Miwok (local indigenous)  grinding stone site.  And I’m sure the indigenous people tended the oaks, hazelnuts, and gooseberries that surrounded the former meadow.  Since then it was the site of a mill-pond that sent it’s lumber out on a train.  That train sits at one of the county museums currently.  My family has developed the site with infrastructure since the late 1970’s and is still evolving today.  Love Creek Permaculture was founded in 2008 soon after I graduated from UC Davis with a Bachelor of Science in Permaculture.  Excited to share the knowledge of permaculture I began to further the development of demonstrations and began tending a market garden. 

How it arrived-

            When I learned about permaculture I realized that I had a place to practice and learn more about it.  I spent several years in school developing my knowledge of the world around so I could work on the appropriate leverage points to encourage participation in a permaculture.  Developing the site to showcase what people can do and consulting for people I found a path where I can continue to define and respond to these leverage points.

Values-

            Love Creek Permaculture was founded with the ethics of permaculture in mind.  in mind.  I want my business to have values that are in line with Permaculture ETHICS- 1) Earth Care 2) People Care 3) Fair Share. 

The promise to the customers- Bringing you fresh produce and sustainable living ideas to make your life better.

Vision- I want to further develop and refine the market garden.  I will experiment with different crops and varieties in pursuit of the type of produce that thrives the most at the site.  Further development in consistent products for restaurants and individuals will continue to create jobs and livelihoods for several people.  I will continue to have weekly volunteer slots where volunteers will learn as they interact with the market garden and  The education aspect of the site strives to create a living classroom that employs all of the permaculture principles so people can connect to them easily.   

Synthesis

            Love Creek Permaculture is nestled in the mixed coniferous forest at 4000 feet in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.  It is located due east of the Bay Area, between Tahoe and Yosemite.  Founded in 2008 by Permaculture enthusiast Gabriel Bridges to further the spread of permaculture in the region and beyond.  Love Creek Permaculture serves as a permaculture demonstration site.  The site and demonstrations are utilized to educate others about permaculture through a workshop series.  A market garden is maintained to provide fresh local produce to a small CSA, farmer’s markets and local restaurants.  Through consultation and design we are able to assist you in your own permaculture project.

Incorporating the 8 c’s of sustainability from Sustainability marketing.
            As I was researching the branding process I came across this website and liked how they built their branding approach.  So I’ve articulated the 8 c’s of sustainability for my business.  I can use this articulation for guiding me in how I want to be perceived.  Each “C” is followed by a short description I got from the website that was created by Frank-Martin Belz and Ken Peattie. 

1-Core

Sociological impacts of products

For the site of Love Creek Center for Permaculture the aim is to demonstrate the three permaculture Ethics: 1) Earth Care 2) People Care 3) Fair Share.  Permaculture principles in practice (as described by Dave Holmgren) will also be part of the demonstration. The market garden is planted with several different perennial cash crops and annual cash crops mixed in. It is a low/ no-till system.  We use only digging forks and rakes to prepare the soil.  Creating our own on site compost as well as adding composted manure from local ranchers and livestock holders we build our soil fertility.  The consultation and design services are aimed to help people develop the best design for their living situations to be more self-sufficient and sustainable.    

2- Co-operative

“The solutions to the main socio-ecological problems associated with products along the entire life cycle require co-operations with suppliers, retailers, consumers, scientists, and other non-market actors – both in the process of innovating and marketing sustainable products and services.”

            My business creates co-operative opportunities to reduce our collective consumption, whether it be through designing your site to work for you, providing you with fresh local produce, or teaching you.

3- Credible

“Solving key socio-ecological problems associated with companies’ products and tying sustainability to the core business are fundamentals of credibility”

            With a low impact market garden we provide fresh local produce with a small ecological footprint.  We bring the freshest possible produce with the least ecological impact!  We help you grow your own food and grow your competency in self-sufficient living.   

4- Consumer Benefits

“For most consumers, socio-ecological attributes are not core benefits. Usually, socio-ecological characteristics just play an auxiliary role…”       

Get the freshest, high quality produce around.  Learn how to eat with the seasons by subscribing to the CSA.  Increase your self-sufficiency by taking a course in the sustainable living workshop series.  A consultation and design can help you reap more from your own home.   

5- Conversational

“Allowing consumers to join in the conversation”

            I need to get some testimonials from different customers to post on the website.  As it is already I try to get feedback from different customers but it would be nice to let others also see feedback and or support of other customers and/or businesses.   One idea I have for my website is a forum for CSA and farmer’s market customers to share recipes and ideas for the produce of the season.  

6- Consistency:

“If sustainability is key to brand positioning, it is important to communicate it to and with consumers in a consistent way, including advertising, personal selling, point of sale promotions, online communication and so on. This requires a kind of integrated approach to sustainability communication.” 

            With permaculture in the name of the business this often sparks a conversation to those that are curious.  My logo should also give a sense of earth connectedness that is perceived by customers.

7- Commitment:

“Sustainability branding also requires the commitment of top management and marketing decision makers, not ‘just’ the PR department responsible for CSR reports and the sustainability officer in charge of health and environmental management systems”.

            This shouldn’t be an issue as I am committed through and through.  The commitment will be apparent through my continued efforts to make this business successful.

8- Continuity: “Sustainability is more than a one-off campaign. It must be incorporated into the DNA of the brand. It must reflect the core values of the brand and contribute to delivering the brand promise over the long-term. This means that a brand cannot change its sustainability focus or ‘cause’ too often, or engage in too many non-related areas”.

            Not to worry here because I have started this business as a permaculture business.  Its main purpose is to promote permaculture. 

What are my plans?

Web Presence

          Social media is slowly gaining on conventional media sources for the dissemination of ideas and information these days.  To convey the message I want to get out to potential customers, allies and more I will need to organize several layers of content on the web in order to reach a wide audience and maintain a consistent presence.  Even though face-to-face interaction is a big part of my business I want to be able to communicate permaculture design even when I’m not in one’s presence.  So to start with the main website I want to emphasize the different services I provide by creating content that people will connect with.  I have a google site that I maintain myself, yet I’m no web developer.  This is an unlearning for me because even though I want to do everything myself I am by no means an expert at web design so I feel to accomplish what I want to will take longer than I have time for.  So for now I am working within the confines of my own knowledge and the templates on google sites.  But eventually I want to hire a professional to help me accomplish what I aim for. 

     For the market garden customers I would like to build content that helps them engage with the food they are getting from me on a different level.  By highlighting the growing practices and why they are important, customers can get a greater sense of why their decision to support this market garden is an ethical one.  Sometimes we put stuff in the grocery bags that are a little different than what one might see at the grocery store.  I would like to develop a photo inventory of plants that we grow and offer for the CSA and/ or farmer’s market.  I could then offer quick suggestions for each item as well as a full recipe or two.  This could give the opportunity for customers who are willing to share recipes, to join in the conversation.  A CSA blog, a facebook page or a forum on my website could be very beneficial towards branding and helpful to my clientel. 

            For the education aspect of the website, I would like to offer content that intrigues people enough to want more, even inspiring some to follow their own similar passions without ever engaging with the physical site or me personally.  For the most part content for this part of the site can be a photo gallery of people attending my workshops.  I really want to create the content that acts as a hook to get people to enroll in one of my workshops or at the very least become aware of permaculture.  Pictures of happy people engaging in the content of the workshops are a great motivator.  Another part of this content is the education calendar, which can be both online on the main website and a physical copy to distribute in person.  I can host content of short descriptions of all of the developed projects that lend themselves to workshops. 

Currently I use my blog Love Creek Permaculture to discuss projects that we do on site and about other things permaculture.  I have been posting my articles that I write in the Calaveras Chronicle on this blog.  I just created another blog Permaculture Principles in Practice where we plan to do just that, demonstrate the permaculture principles in practice at Love Creek Permaculture.  This blog will further develop those of us on site our ability to identify and utilize the permaculture principles and enhance our ability to teach it to others. 

          I had created a simple logo a couple of years ago with the intent of updating it.  I have finally come up with an updated design and am currently working with a graphic artist to create it.  I aim to get my logo finished ASAP.  I’m working within the time constraints of my graphic artist but progress is being made.  A first draft has been created and confirmed, just waiting for the next incarnation.

Here is my original logo.  I had this created to fulfill my logo needs.  I knew I wanted to show the natural pattern of a spiral in nature but I wasn’t sure how or what to add to it.  So I left it simple with the intention of creating something more dynamic.    

I’ve recently come up with a new design and I’m working with a graphic artist to create the new logo.   This is what we’ve come up with.   Still need to finish it up and make it digital but we’re just about there.

I came up with the concept of this logo through the Fibonacci sequence and the Golden Spiral.  Each item on the logo has some relation to the Fibonacci sequence.  The bee has a number of grandparents that follows the Fibonacci sequence, while the pinecone, the rose, the artichoke and the sunflower all actually display the Golden Spiral physically.  I wanted to portray a connection of this pattern to nature.  I feel that it displays this connection quite well.

Having spent several years growing a market garden and finding a market for it, i.e. through farmers markets, CSA, and restaurant sales, I don’t feel that I have to focus as much attention to the market garden as promoting the educational aspect and the design aspect.  Following is a plan for branding and marketing.  It is broken up into different approaches to the plan and a timeline of my goals in 6 months and then in 3 years.  

Physical plan

6 months

            I will be increasing my web presence. Below is a social media framework mind map that I created.  It is my intention to learn how to use this framework to help brand and market my business.  In the next 6 months I will be familiarizing myself with this framework and utilizing it.  I’ve begun revising some of the site appearances to be more similar, including colors, logos and fonts. 

I need to create a brochure that I can promote within the community.  Not too many locals are quite keyed into what I’m up to.  A brochure may entice people to become engaged.  It should be created with my next output packet to promote my sustainable living workshop series.

            I want to have hosted and/or taught several workshops dealing with permaculture and sustainability.  Developing spaces to deliver these workshops in is paramount.  Much of the site lends itself to an outdoor classroom setting, but I want to make sure I can provide the best experience possible.  I want to get the word out that I can teach people some fun stuff in a great environment because word of mouth can be a powerful tool.

I want to start re-imagining the site design so I can share it with people in some of the workshops that it is related to. 

3 years

            In three years I would like my web presence to be well maintained.  I would like to have online purchasing for some of my goods and services.  Blog content will be updated on a regular basis with other kinds of media such as photos, videos, diagrams, etc.  In three years I would like to be recognized as hosting and teaching high quality workshops that leave attendees inspired and motivated.  I would prefer to have an updated site design for Love Creek Permaculture before three years is up.  This updated site design will be to rethink the design itself but also to share the concepts with others. 

Spiritual plan-

6 months

            I want to start to have my own time that is scheduled in advance.  The last few years I’ve felt so busy that I haven’t taken much time off.  I’ve missed out on camping trips, rafting and other sorts of leisure that I enjoy.  It leaves me feeling worn thin when I don’t have time to relax so I will be designing my life to include more leisure time.  This will also include more yoga and other self care tactics. 

3 years 

            I don’t want to feel like I need to continually work to accomplish my goals.  I long for more exploration of this world and to some extent myself.  I want to be able to see and learn more about the world.  I see a vacation in my future!  Especially since I turned down a 3-week Grand Canyon rafting trip this spring! L

Emotional plan-

6 months

            I want to continue to be happy with where I am and where I am headed.  But I want to feel better connected with my life path and share the joy I get from what I do with others.  I want the joy to be contagious!

3 years

            I want to feel a strong connection to where I have come and what I have accomplished in the context of my community. 

Mental plan-

6 months

            Work when I need to work, play when I need to play and rest when I need to rest.

3 years

            Continue refining above plan.  Stay on top and stay ahead.

          The 4 Ps that we were introduced to in our Gaia University orientation work as a good check list to make sure I feel confident with the path I'm on.  If my projects don't fulfill the 4Ps perhaps it needs more attention towards the design. 

            Personal For me this is rooting myself in purpose.  I have been working for myself for the past few years, building my knowledge and experience.  After building my skills for so long I’m excited to bring it to another level of engagement.

            Project change the world? - Yes it does!  I will nurture sustainable changes in my community and beyond. 

            Professional – I’m stepping up my professional game.  So far I don’t have any employees but I will in the near future to become more accomplished.  

            Peer- Highlighting others in workshops.  Pursuing cooperative projects.