Welcome
Welcome to the supporting evidence section of my OP6. On the left hand side of this page, you will find my cumulative annotated resource review which lists all of the resources that I used throughout my time with Gaia University. Below that is a compilation of Action Learning Guild notes. On the right hand side of this page, I have included a few of the elements that were part of my original OP6. The prezi at the beginning was what I used to give my mock end-of-year presentation back in the Summer of 2013. Also included in the right hand column is a reflection on some goals that I set for myself back in 2012. The conclusion and process reflection are no longer up to date but give an insight into where I was at two summers ago. Lastly, my adviser suggested I include a link to my original OP5 titled "Being Impeccable With My Word" This OP is no longer included on my portfolio page because it didn't quite meet the Gaia standard.
Cumulative Annotated Resource Review
OP1A
Berthoud Weekly Surveyor is the newspaper in which I published my first article on permaculture (attachment 6)
Blume, David, R. Buckminster Fuller, and Michael Winks. David Blume's Alcohol Can Be a Gas!: Fueling an Ethanol Revolution for the 21st Century. Santa Cruz, CA: International Institute for Ecological Agriculture, 2007. Print. Todd Jones cited this book multiple times during his Skype presentation to our class
Colorado State University is where I received my undergraduate degree and interdisciplinary certificate
Colorado State University’s department of Soil and Crop Sciences is where Addy Elliot is based and is who I was trying to establish a memorandum of understanding with to create an exchange program with WITS.
Denzer, Kiko, and Hannah Field. Build Your Own Earth Oven: A Low-cost, Wood-fired Mud Oven, Simple Sourdough Bread, Perfect Loaves. Blodgett, OR: Hand Print, 2007. Print. This book was used as a reference during our cob oven construction
Food And Trees For Africa is a non-governmental organization that supported the Siyakhana Food Garden
KRFC is the radio station that I did my first on-air interview on
Mollison, B. C. Permaculture: A Designer's Manual. Tyalgum, Australia: Tagari Publications, 1988. Print. This book was used as a text book for our Permaculture Work Study class
Norbel Credit Union is where I applied for a scholarship
Salatin, Joel. Pastured Poultry Profits. Swoope, VA: Polyface, 1993. Print. This book was referenced when building our poultry program, chicken mobile, and movable fencing.
Savory, Allan. Holistic Resource Management. Washington, D.C.: Island, 1988. Print. The way Sunrise Ranch manages their beef cattle draws mainly from the work of Allan Savory and Holistic Resource Management
Stella Natura: 2011 Kimberton Hills Agricultural Calendar. Kimberton, PA: Bio-Dynamic Farming and Gardening Association, 1997. Print. We used this calendar as a planting guide in our Sunrise Ranch Garden.
The Cottonwood Institute was an organization that brought a youth group to Sunrise Ranch
The Siyakhana Food Garden, a project supported by Food And Trees For Africa and WITS University is where I got my first taste of Urban Permaculture
University of The Witwatersrand (WITS University) is the institution that supported the Siyakhana Food Garden—specifically the department of Public Health
Wright, Hilary. Biodynamic Gardening: For Health & Taste. Edinburgh: Floris, 2009. Print. This is another book that we (Susanna, my garden co-manager, and I) used throughout the season for tips and techniques on biodynamic preparations and methods.
OP1B
Be Local Northern Colorado www.belocalnc.org which is now http://www.nocofoodcluster.com/ was referenced in my Ignite Fort Collins presentation
Fambidzanai Permaculture Center in Harare Zimbabwe was the host of the international permaculture design course that I referenced in my Ignite Fort Collins presentation
Mollison, B. C. Permaculture: A Designer's Manual. Tyalgum, Australia: Tagari Publications, 1988. Print. This book is where I drew the zone model from to articulate my "zone goals." I also reference this book in my Ignite Fort Collins presentation
Morrow, Rosemary, and Rob Allsop. Earth User's Guide to Permaculture. Pymble, N.S.W.: Kangaroo, 2006. Print. I used some pictures from this book in my Ignite Fort Collins Presentation
Sunrise Ranch is the intentional community that I speak about as being host to an education institution. I also show some pictures of the internship program and garden in my Ignite Fort Collins Presentation
The Siyakhana Food Garden project (Supported by WITS University in Johannesburg South Africa) was referenced in my Ignite Fort Collins presentation
Transition Colorado http://coloradotransitionnetwork.org/ was referenced in my Ignite Fort Collins presentation
"World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms:Linking Volunteers with Organic Farms and Growers." World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Nov. 2014. I referenced this program in my Ignite Fort Collins presentation
OP2
Hemenway, Toby. Gaia's Garden: A Guide to Home-scale Permaculture. White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green Pub., 2009. Print. Used in the development of my permaculture design course.
Jeavons, John. How to Grow More Vegetables: (and Fruits, Nuts, Berries, Grains, and Other Crops) than You Ever Thought Possible on Less Land than You Can Imagine. Berkeley: Ten Speed, 2012. Print. This book was also used and referenced during our permaculture design course.
Mollison, B. C. Permaculture: A Designer's Manual. Tyalgum, Australia: Tagari Publications, 1988. Print. Used in the development of my permaculture design course
Morrow, Rosemary, and Rob Allsop. Earth User's Guide to Permaculture. Pymble, N.S.W.: Kangaroo, 2006. Print. Used in the development of my permaculture design course
Morrow, Rosemary, and Rosemary Morrow. Earth User's Guide to Permaculture: Teacher's Notes. Kenthurst, N.S.W.: Kangaroo, 1997. Print. Used in the development of my permaculture design course
Permaculture Institute permaculture.org was referenced when creating the curriculum for my permaculture design course
Sunrise Ranch was the host of the permaculture design course and work study program
The Sustainable Living Association is the organization I partnered with to promote my permaculture design course
Young, Jon, and Tiffany Morgan. Animal Tracking Basics. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole, 2007. Print. Jon Young's 8 Shields model was first introduced to me at the my Gaia U orientation and I used it as a community building tool in my design course.
OP3
Harris, Marjorie. Four Season Gardening. Toronto: Random House, 1993. Print. Used by Devon in her greenhouse project
Harrison, John, and Val Harrison. How to Store Your Home-grown Produce: Canning, Pickling, Jamming, and so Much More. New York, NY: Skyhorse Pub., 2010. Print. Used by Curt in his independent Study project
Hemenway, Toby. Gaia's Garden: A Guide to Home-scale Permaculture. White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green Pub., 2009. Print. Used in the development of the work study program.
Jeavons, John. How to Grow More Vegetables: (and Fruits, Nuts, Berries, Grains, and Other Crops) than You Ever Thought Possible on Less Land than You Can Imagine. Berkeley: Ten Speed, 2012. Print. This book was also used and referenced during our work study program
Mollison, B. C. Permaculture: A Designer's Manual. Tyalgum, Australia: Tagari Publications, 1988. Print. Used as a reference in teaching the work study courses
Morrow, Rosemary, and Rob Allsop. Earth User's Guide to Permaculture. Pymble, N.S.W.: Kangaroo, 2006. Print. Used in the development of the work study program
Morrow, Rosemary, and Rosemary Morrow. Earth User's Guide to Permaculture: Teacher's Notes. Kenthurst, N.S.W.: Kangaroo, 1997. Print. Used in the development of the work study program
Stamets, Paul. Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help save the World. Berkeley, CA: Ten Speed, 2005. Print. Used by Daniel in his independent study project
Sunrise Ranch was the host of the works study program.
OP5 (First Version)
Ruiz, Miguel. The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom. San Rafael, CA: Amber-Allen Pub., 1997. Print. This book was used to formulate the initial portion of this document
OP5 (Second Version)
Albert Bates was an inspiration to me when he said at the NAPC “Permaculturists must seek to be invisible and become so integrated into society that we disappear as a fringe group”
Allan Block http://www.allanblock.com/ This is the website where I found most of the information on how to install retaining walls.
Alpine Gardens www.alpinelandscaping.com/ This company is one of the companies that I included in my field research.
Apple Seed Permaculture www.appleseedpermaculture.com This company is one of the companies that I included in my field research.
Creasy, Rosalind. The Complete Book of Edible Landscaping. San Francisco: Sierra Club, 1982. Print. I also used this book when creating the design for Sharon Knorr
Lindgren Landscape and Irrigation, Inc. www.lindgrenlandscape.com Was the company where I learned much of my hardscaping skills and was also included in my field research
Oster Landscaping and Irrigation www.osterlandscaping.com This company is one of the companies that I included in my field research.
Porches and Patios. Alexandria, VA: Time-Life, 1981. Print. I referenced this book to aid in the construction of the patio I built
Sunrise Ranch and Emissaries of Divine Light was the source of the design methodology that I utilized for this OP. There, they refer to it as the Creative Process.
The Growing Project www.thegrowingproject.org This company is one of the companies that I included in my field research.
Water Wise Land and Waterscapes www.waterwiselandscapes.com This company is one of the companies that I included in my field research.
Wiki Quote http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Seneca_the_Younger This is the website where I found the source of the quote “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.”
Wollam Landscapes www.wollamlandscape.com This company is one of the companies that I included in my field research.
Yeomans, P. A., The Keyline Plan (1954) This was the book presented the Yeoman Keyline Planning strategies to the world. In it he puts forth the concept of the scale of permanence—a scale that I utilized on the Outcomes section of my Core Report
OP6/Other Resources that I have assisted me on my pathway
Bane, Peter. The Permaculture Handbook. Gabriola, BC: New Society, 2012. Print.
Chapman, Gary D. The Five Love Languages: How to Express Heartfelt Commitment to Your Mate. Chicago: Northfield Pub., 2004. Print.
"Clean Water Crisis, Water Crisis Facts, Water Crisis Resources - National Geographic." National Geographic. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Nov. 2014.
Sunrise Ranch Permaculture Resource book. This is a handbook that I have put together to use in conjunction with my PDC. It is a collection of diagrams, articles, and charts that I copy and distribute to all of my students.
Fay, Jim, Charles Fay, and Foster Cline. More Ideas about Parenting with Less Stress: Journal Collection Years 2000 to 2005. Golden, CO: Love and Logic Institute, 2005. Print.
ALG Notes
As I approached the completion of my pathway with Gaia University, it was brought to my attention that although I participated in many action learning guild activities, I failed to include the ALG Notes in my previous OP's. My adviser told me I could do a cumulative ALG note section and include it in my Learning Review. Below is a list of some of the various ways in which I participated:
I hosted a Gaia Radio Call on the topic of Natural Philosophy--July 11, 2013
The process of hosting a Gaia Radio Call was very invigorating to me. I chose a topic that I have been very passionate about but hadn't yet found an outlet to share it with the world. In my heart and mind, I feel like I have something of great value to offer and sharing it in the format of a Gaia Radio gave me enough of a platform of authority to speak with the confidence that I needed to adequately convey my ideas. This further reinforced my passion for a topic that is at the core of all my teachings.
I fulfilled a buddy request chat for Kate Marnul to chat with her on the topic of Astronomy—January 2014
Often, I would see other Gaia associates reaching out for various types of support and dialog and this particular posting my Kate Marnul caught my attention. Not only am I personally passionate about astronomy, I was terribly curious to find out more about this other person who seemed to understand the cultural significance of the topic. We had a great chat and I got to know Kate who, prior to that conversation, I had never met. She was open and brought a genuine desire to learn and listen which was a perfect match to my desire to share and teach. She was conducting research so I did not feel as though I was imposing my ideas; rather I feel like I was able to contribute to the context of her research.
I had a series of buddy conversations with Amelia Parisian and reviewed an OP for her (outside my normal requirements)--Spring 2013-Winter 2014
Amelia and I met at our my orientation at RDI in 2014. I was a first year associate and she had already completed one year. Our initial connection was actually doing acro-yoga together during an off night of the orientation but as we returned to our home towns and time passed, we reached out to each other; first to conduct peer reviews for each other and later as moral support for the various projects we were working on. She had dedicated much of her energy to creating a youth education program and I had been doing something similar so we had a common point of connection. Moreover, we both navigated a transition away from the field of youth education and were able to be there for each other (mostly over skype) to provide encouragement and moral support.
I participated in three webinars for TALC 1 , 3, and 4—Winter 2013
Participation in these webinars was not originally part of my pathway design but as the Gaia U program evolved and as my personal pathway took shape, it was deemed an important element for me to participate in. Interestingly my key harvests that I gained from these webinars didn't necessarily come as I participated in them (although it was nice to connect with other Gaia U associates from a social perspective) but rather as I completed the assignments that were associated with each module. Most notably, I was given insight into the true concept of the influence that our cultural perspective or lense has on our beliefs, feelings, values, and actions . Andrew Langford refers to this as the Patrix
I attended the North American Permaculture Convergence and represented Gaia University by wearing a promotional button, manning the booth for a few hours, and by pouring wine at a happy hour event they hosted.--August 2014
Follow this link to see a short write up in which I describe my role in this engaging event and how I was impacted.
I had a design charrette with fellow Gaia student Coco Gordon on our way home from the event—August 2014
This was a short and informal yet incredibly inspiring session in which I shared some of the visions I had for the permaculture gardens at Sunrise Ranch. It took the form of me drawing a rough base map and walking her through the various potential points of intervention and design, and me receiving her insight, wisdom, and critique on my ideas. I left the session inspired and encouraged to follow up with some action steps.
Engagement with Academic Advisers and Skill Flex Advisers
Overall, my advising sessions have been fruitful and energizing. I have adopted the attitude that my advisers are like my personal consultants, and that they have my best interest and success in mind. When I received feedback and/or guidance from them, I often took it to heart and made adjustments/improvements to my project work, output work, or pathway design.
I had skill flex advising session with professional landscape designer from Lindgren Landscaping: 10/20/2014
About 6 months ago, when I was still working at my previous landscaping job, I met for an hour with one of the company’s three main designers, Mitch Benshoof. He was a younger fellow who had designed a couple of the projects that I had installed over the summer.
Earlier in the season, I approached him to see if he would give me some advice on a job that I was working on and that I would compensate him for his time (knowing that I would be able to utilize my learning support budget to pay him). He agreed we had a very useful meeting. A couple key harvests that I gained from our session included some tips on how to sell a design and have a proposal accepted. For example, by showing the client glossy photos of what their landscape will look like out of a magazine/catalog you get them excited about the project first. Then, you show them piece by piece what the project is going to cost, with the final number on the last page. This way, they can understand the costs involved with the project without necessarily getting intimidated by the final estimate. Secondly, Mitch gave me an example of how he likes to manage the payments of the project: first, collect 30% prior to starting the job as a down payment, then another 30% midway through, and another 30% toward the end of the project. The final 10% is collected after the final walk through with the client.
Lastly, and perhaps the most inspiring aspect of meeting with Mitch, was to see this guy, younger than myself, earning a nice living for doing landscape design. He was confident in his skills and had a genuine approach to creatively helping his clients meet their landscaping needs. He also looked the part. He was well groomed and dressed with style—an important part of making a positive impression on a client.
I had a skill flex advising session with Kirsten Liegemann on business administration
At 9am on October 8, 2014 I met with Kirsten Liegmann for two hours as part of my skill-flex advising time for Gaia University. The conversation was rich and although I met with her to discuss some very specific details regarding business administration, the conversation stretched and I was able to gain some new perspective on some of my meta-level goals.
Before meeting with Kirsten I sent her a summary of the current output package I am working on and a few intentions that I had for our meeting. These were: to get some strategic advice on organizing my new start up business; and to help me make some decisions about how I intend to grow my business.
Interestingly, when I arrived to her home for our meeting, due to some family matters that had arisen prior to my departure from my home, I was not in a space to discuss the details of my business right away. We decided to do a slightly extended personal check-in, which was exactly what I needed. From there, we naturally transitioned into a conversation about some of my larger meta-goals regarding “Padden Gakku” which I hadn’t really planned on getting into, but provided a critical context for Kirsten to understand the nested goals in which my new business resided.
From that point on, we were able to discuss some details about business administration and I had a chance to get some answers to questions I had about book keeping, and other financial considerations.
An interesting harvest that I came away from our meeting was a new perspective on a potential working relationship that my wife Stephanie and I have dappled in. There is a possibility that she will be doing some of the book keeping for Padden Permaculture, and Kirsten helped me to see and assess some of the potential risks involved with a working relationship (especially one oriented around finances) with one’s partner. She suggested to really feel into it determine if it is something I really want to embark upon with my wife. Though I have not made a final decision yet, I highly value the new perspective.
I had a skill flex advising session with Basira Kroll to help me set up quickbooks on my computer and track my business finances.
This was a very wise investment that I made in my personal business. Basira helped me to get oriented to the new software and provided me with some useful tricks and tips to streamline the process of entering data and tracking income and expenses.
Updated C.V
Follow this link to view my Updated C.V
Original OP6 Presentation
Here is an update on my progress with those goals
Zone 0
I began the year by doing 2 pull-ups in January, 4 in February, 6 in March and so on. By the time I got to October of 2012 I was able to do twenty pull-ups. I learned a wonderful technique to increase the number of pull-ups that I could do and although I was not able to get to 24, I was satisfied with my efforts.
I did not play tennis 3 times, nor did I learn to juggle 5 balls or do a triathlon. I attribute this to a lack of effective prioritization in regards to my time management. I recognize that in the moment, pursuing one of my longer term goals often seems to be of a lower priority than the daily engagements before me. In the future I would like to be more diligent about carving out the time needed to pursue the things that I know are important.
My diet has improved tremendously, in large part thanks to my fiancée Stephanie. She and the kids are on a very strict diet that omits all refined sugars, grains, and processed foods. I am so grateful to have a partner who cares so deeply about the care of her and the children’s’ body temple.
The goal of remaining spiritually conscious during all activities I realize was too vague to really get an accurate measure on how I did with regards to this goal. I can say however, that I am aware of much room for improvement. I think that by cultivating a habit of centering myself through posture and breath multiple times a day will assist in coming closer to this goal. After all, everything goes more smoothly when I am spiritually centered so it ought to be very high on my list of priorities.
Zone 1
I did not marry Stephanie yet, however, we did select a date for our wedding which was a great accomplishment for us. It follows of course that we have not yet had our Honeymoon.
I did not build a greenhouse, but I did build a compost bin and begin composting our household humanure. I am taking it one step at a time when it comes to my home design.
My relationship with my folks has a new golden light. Charlotte, my daughter, brings so much joy to all of us and my relationship with my folks is richer because of her presence.
Zone 2
Our garden team succeeded in exceeding our projected revenue by $1,000. We produced $26,000 worth of produce and this year we are hoping to up that to $35,000.
Our outdoor community space underwent some fine improvements however we did not manifest a covered kitchen. This coming season I intend on making this happen by involving our PDC students with the design of the outdoor kitchen and tasking our work study participants with building it.
We did not create a base camp for tent camping and our rainwater catchment plans are still on the table. There are some other important design considerations that need to be looked at before establishing these smaller elements—namely our storm water strategy and access roads. With that being said, we probably could have created some temporary rain gardens to make us of our hardpan runoff from structures in our garden.
We did get goats and pigs and not only that, but we got horses too!!
I made some progress on cutting the plastic for our dome greenhouse but have not assembled it yet. This will be a good March project.
Zone 3
I can’t say for certain whether or not our 2012 PDC was the best in Northern Colorado, but I can say that it was pretty darn successful and the students had great things to say about it.
We continued to expand Camp Sunrise and our CIT program was larger last year than ever before.
I consciously chose not to develop a curriculum for a course in Natural Philosophy (see my op5 to find out why).
I gave it a valiant effort to influence the direction of our waste water system upgrade (op3) and although the results were not what I had hoped, I am satisfied with the way I rocked the boat!
I am happy to say Japanese Class starts Thursday March 21, 2013 as part of the Big Thompson Elementary School “Fun Club” program.
Zone 4
Gaia U no longer hosts live orientations so obviously these will not be happening here at Sunrise
We did have two interns from Colorado State University who satisfied their internship requirements by participating in our work study program.
Each season I feel that Sunrise Ranch has a greater presence in the greater community, and the development of the work study program is positively influencing our reputation for being and ecologically conscious community.
Zone 5
One of the members of our garden team who was a participant in the original work study program that we hosted in 2011, will be returning from a three month permaculture experience in Australia. I can’t say I had much to do with his travel arrangements but I am holding the space for these types of trips to happen. In the future I hope to help work study participants attend the international permaculture convergence that happens every two years, or travel abroad for other permaculture related service or learning work.
I have not been putting much attention into relationship building with communities abroad but still believe that writing letters is a powerful way to foster these relationships.
Just this morning I had a student in Mexico contact me who wants to take our PDC and try out our work study program. If he comes, he will be the first foreign student to participate in our permaculture programs at Sunrise Ranch. Yippee!!
Patway Management, Original Ending
Written December 31, 2014
Wow, I didn't realize it until now how unhealthy my pattern actually is. Even now as I write this, I am up against a self imposed deadline. Ironically, as if to amplify this personal reflection as I realize it in real time, I am looking at my clock which says December 31st, 12:32am. My goal was to be complete by the end of December and here I am again with sleepy eyes, a cup of coffee (way to late to be healthy), and a heap of tasks I would like to get done before that ambiguous hour when crawling into bed with my wife becomes a sin --or even worse, when she appears at the top of the stairs in her robe and wearing her most unhappy, let down, tired, frustrated, and pissed off face saying "do you realize what time it is?" "You do know you have to be with the kids tomorrow" And to put a nail into the coffin of repeating old patterns, tomorrow is new year's eve and I have not only planned a special evening for us, I have dropped $320 on a hotel party package. What am I doing staying up this late?
A big part of me wants to continue this reflection. I want to explain how critical it is to change this pattern as I embark upon a new career--one that is based on committing design hours to clients (how big will I allow the bags under my eyes to get by staying up late the night before presenting an important design--or worse, what If I don't get it done at all, or to the standard that I had promised?)
I have two solutions. The first is that I am going to send an email in the next five minutes to my adviser to extend my self imposed deadline and consciously intervene in this pattern that I have identified by not staying up past 1am.
The second solution is proving to be a bigger solution to wider variety of issues I have been coming up against in the last couple years of my life and it entails a renewed commitment to my personal spiritual practice of observing the Sabbath. Not because the practice itself is going to improve my life, but because my renewed faith and personal relationship with God is being called to deepen. It will replace a string of bad habits and addictions I have acquired and give me the power and passion to walk upright in my world--free from broken commitments and bags under my eyes.
Process Reflection
I have been dreaming of creating this output package for some time now and I am happy that it is finally complete. It feels so satisfying to be able to gather all my material into one place and see it all together. I began this op 6 by first creating a Prezi presentation. I knew that the purpose for the op6 is to serve as a sort of entry point for all the other ops and because of that, I wanted to create a presentation that was as clear, concise and impactful as I could. Prezi itself however, does not contain the sort of reflective analysis that Gaia U expects to see in an op 6 which is why I created the two columns in the Mahara platform. In the end I decided not to include this original prezi in my output package but rather to save it for my end of year presentation. I am pleased with the way this op turned out and I am eager to hear the feed back from my adviser and peer, and eventually from my external reviewer as well!!
Conclusion
After 16 months of being enrolled with Gaia University, my pathway is coming to an end. This is likely my final output package for Gaia and thus my final conclusion. As I reflect back on my experience, I am grateful to have had the motivation and the purpose to document the projects that I worked on. I am sure that I will reference my portfolio in the future and share it with those who desire to have a glimpse into my world.
Spring is around the corner and I am excited to get outside and work more with my hands. Gaia work has been the perfect winter task for me to gather and present my project material and to reflect on the past year but I know deep down that I do not belong on the computer; rather I belong out in nature.
My enthusiasm for the work I am doing has been heightened during my time with Gaia and now I have a clear and concise story and articulation of my vision that can be easily shared.
I am eager to give my end of year presentation, and look forward to concluding this cycle with my peers, friends, and family.