INTRODUCTION
On this page you will discover my review and abstract of each output project I worked on throughout my capstone year. This document is a time lapse of the projects I worked on and a cumulative reflection on the things I learned during my capstone journey with Gaia. In the left hand column, I summarize each output package and articulate key un/learnings, outcomes, and life lessons from each specific cycle. When navigating this document read down the left hand column and then explore the right hand column to read my in-depth reflections on the 5 P's: Project, Professional, Political, Personal and Peer.
Zone Projections and Reflections
Original Zone Goals (LIPD)
Zone/Description Goals
|
Zone 0 (Self) |
. Get 8 hours of sleep every night . Practice French every day . Learn 3 new songs on the ukelele . Sing out loud more |
|
Zone 1 (Home, Family, Companions, and Close Friends) |
. Send $ every 3 months to Mom for support . Check in with Companion daily and express love . Create a worm bin for the house . Build greenhouse |
|
Zone 2 (Clubs, Schools, Associations, and Co-Op’s) |
. Finish all Gaia work by May, 2015 . Attend 3 Madison Area Permaculture Guild meetings . Host 2 Gaia Radio Calls . Obtain TESOLS Certificate by June |
|
Zone 3 (Locality, Community Interests, and Other Friends) |
. Attend the MREA fair in June, 2015 and present on Urban Permaculture . Volunteer with Central Rivers Foodshed . Attend the Farmer Tribute Dinner |
|
Zone 4 (Tended Wild) |
. Forage for edible mushrooms in 5 surrounding parks . Harvest wild rice in Wisconsin this fall . Forage for wild asparagus in late Spring |
|
Zone 5 (The World) |
. Teach by example |
Updated Zone Progress
Zone 0:
I have done a fantastic job at staying on top of sleeping 8 hours a night. I have also been working out regularly- with some exception of a week here and there. I found a specific work out that I liked attending to and a specific time (7pm) that I liked working out at.
My diet still consists of meat but it is definitely a lot less than what I used to consume. This has made me feel healthier overall. I noticed that I get pretty weighed down and groggy after eating a meal with meat.
French practice has been on the back-burner but I did get some books to help me with learning and found an old labeler that I had and will begin labeling my house hold items. I have decided to pick practicing up once I finish Gaia so I can fully immerse myself in the learning of the language.
I have been practicing my ukelele pretty consistently and have definitely learned 3 or more songs like I had wanted to.
Zone 1:
I sent my mom money about three times which was in comparison about every 3 months. I stayed on top of this goal, I even included a long note of gratitude one time which I haven't really ever expressed myself like that to my mom before so I thought that was a big edge pusher for me.
I built an awesome dome greenhouse that fits on my back porch. It has worked to start my greens and herbs. I have been trying to figure out what to do with it now that I will be moving. I think I am going to donate it to the Central Waters Farmshed which is a local greenhouse in the city that is trying to get the community more involved with sustainability.
Weekly potlucks were not weekly but we had one about every month or every other month. We had some great experiences with our friends during these moments and tried to make them as frequent as possible. We weren't good at pre-planning so much and we thrived off of impromptu potlucks.
I haven't gotten around to vertical gardening yet, my attention was focused more on the garden plot and keeping it maintained. My worm bin also didn't happen, but I did create composting bin for my house.
Zone 2:
I didn't finish all of my Gaia work in the beginning of May, however I am submitting it at the very end of May and majority of my work was completed by May 23, 2015. I had a lot of motivation to complete my work because I had jobs contingent on a Bachelor's degree and I also had friends who were graduating in May so that kept me accountable for my work.
I didn't host 2 radio calls during this year. I did however obtain a guild buddy, Kate Marnul, and we communicated for about an hour every other week. It's been a great addition to my pathway and I have found a lot of support from her. It also helps that we are in the same timezone and live only a few hours away. I have gained a good friendship out of this.
I have not paid any attention towards my TESOLS (Teaching English Overseas) course because it took away my time and dedication towards my Gaia work. I plan to work on it again once I have completed my Gaia work.
Zone 3:
I will be attending the MREA fair in a few weeks. I will not be presenting there, however, I will be presenting at a Permaculture Design Course in southern WI. The content will be on Social Permaculture and I am excited for this opportunity.
I didn't get an interview on the local university radio station as my friends already had their time slots all filled for interviews. I did get to talk to more people locally about my degree and intentions with it which felt liberating.
I volunteered with Central Waters Farmshed during the potluck series. They were held the first Tuesday of the month from January-May. They were a lot of fun bringing people together and coming up with themes. It also promoted Central Waters as a whole to the local community.
I got to attend the Farmer Tribute Dinner and meet a bunch of local farmers from Central Wisconsin. It was an awesome experience to get to meet the people who I was buying from at the local Co-op in town. I felt blessed to be given the opportunity to eat a 5 course meal that was local and organic (including the beverages)! My partner got to volunteer with Urban Street Bistro which is a catering service for the event, this helped me get even more details on the food.
Zone 4:
I found some great locations for mushrooms and just got back a couple weeks ago on an excursion for Morels which came back bountiful. I have noted which parks I found success in and which ones I didn't. I think I have gone to more than 5 parks, however, I definitely made it to 5 surrounding areas.
I have a great area to forage for wild asparagus. The last time I went out (last week) there were only little babies coming up out of the ground so I am hoping to go back in the next two weeks and see what is available.
I unfortunately will not be harvesting wild rice in the fall this year as I plan on moving to Washington state in August 2015.
Zone 5:
I strongly feel like I have taught with intention this year and have made a mental note on how I have had a lot of success with it. I feel like from a professional standpoint I sky-rocketed and had a lot of positive feedback on my support towards the kids I worked with and really trying to get on their level. This has been a great source of encouragement with my pathway as a lot of my work has focused on intentional based learning.
I have traveled to at least 6 states this year to visit family and friends. I haven't really traveled internationally but I plan to in the fall or spring next year to visit my partner in France. This is when I hope to also get a little bit more insight into culture. Otherwise, I have been watching culinary shows that discuss other countries way of cooking and eating.
Professional Review:
This past year I had been working full time as an Advanced Line Therapist for children 7-15 years of age who were on the Autism Spectrum. This job taught me a lot about myself and my patience. I have a very calm, collected manner that works really well with children. I took on this position and gained more responsibility which is what I was seeking. I had to create behavior management plans, develop and track data, learn more behavioral therapy theories and apply them. They wanted to give me a promotion however I declined it to take a job with a therapy company down in Madison. I had been looking at other jobs in Madison, such as a Gardener-In-Residence position for K-2nd grade, which the position was offered to me but at the time it was too soon to move and couldn't find a place to move that quickly. I am glad that I have taken the opportunities though so I can practice my interview skills. I will say, I am kind of kicking myself in the butt for making this transition with therapy companies as the job in Madison was dishonest about their needs and what they would be able to give me and I am being spoken to like I have no clue what I am doing. Essentially, I took a demotion. I am trying to not get too wrapped up and concerned about this as my plans are to move across the country in 2 months to start anew.
Soon, I will be able to promote myself with a Bachelor's Degree. This will help me thrive even further in the workplace as sometimes experience can only take you so far. I am elated to take the skills and tools that I have learned with Gaia and put them to action. I had a more recent chat with a woman in Sweden, Ariane Burgess, where we discussed my passion for implementing Sensory Gardens. We talked about how this will become my career whether I am the one that is making mobile units throughout cities or I create my own hub that people can come to. She provided me with a lot of insight into what my next actionable steps should be and helped me define my overall goals.
Personal review:
This year has been a wild and busy year. I have found myself in a lot of different emotions when it comes to the relationship side of things in my life. I have had a pretty stressful relationship with my partner as he is dead set on moving to France for almost a year. I am super proud of him for this, I just didn't enjoy the way he went about it and the lack of communication on his end. Without any input from him I felt like I was constantly nagging and obsessing over it until it got to the point where I left and I was done talking about it. We had lived together for over a year and it was a bit of a shock to no longer be coming home to him everyday or not know where things stood. I keep trying to remind myself that I have put so much time and energy into the relationship to make it work when he has put very little into it so if he wants to take actionable steps to talk to me or see me that is in his hands to do so. For now, I'm going to live my life and do what's best for me. That means moving 2 hours away in Madison where my friends and family are. I'm going to spend this summer rekindling my friendships and connections, I am also going to be turning 25! I have decided to kind of reward myself for going independently, graduating, and turning another year older by getting a puppy. I am beyond excited to get her and put my loving attention towards her instead of negative people. The opposite of destruction is creation.
Below I have posted a list of personal goals I had set for myself in my LIPD at the beginning of the year. The ones that are written in bold have been focused on throughout the year, and I would say I focused on majority of my goals more than 50% of the time:
- Create my own home base, even if it is temporary
- Find time for myself, indulge in myself
- Spend time being healthy, exercise, yoga
- Expand my vocabulary
- Talk with intention - mindful of word choice
- Attention towards art projects, learning french, cooking and baking
Peer Review:
Connection with other's was a big part of my year in the personal world, peer world and project world. I wanted to foster deeper connections with local folks. I had just moved to a new town and didn't feel like I had much of a support system present but after living there for 1.5 years I would discredit that last statement. I have found some of the most beautiful and inspiring folks throughout the year that I have just truly connected with and built wonderful relationships with. I am excited to be back in Madison to reunite with some long time friends and build a community for the summer. I think I did a great job connecting within the Gaia community, especially by formulating a guild buddy with Kate Marnul. I used my time to Skype with her and other associates quite frequently. I feel like I have foraged supportive friendships and I look forward to where they might lead me after I finish my Gaia coursework. On tab 3 you will see more written documentation on my peer connections.
This is what I had originally stated for my peer goals in my LIPD at the beginning of the year (bold means achieved):
- Develop more quality friendships
- Expand my support system within my community
- Better listener
- Encourage more (continuing attention towards this)
Political/Patrix:
I had two main oppressions present throughout my work. A variety of actions made me more aware of them throughout my year and with the knowledge I tried to challenge and extinct them. I also made note of them in each of my output packets on where I felt like I noticed the oppression(s) arise. I challenged the behaviors by talking about it and doing certain tasks that might have seemed more masculine. I also encouraged others to question if they had genderized roles in their personal intimate relationships and I challenged them to try and switch their own roles a little.
- Gender Roles (OP 2, 3, 4)
- World Views (OP 3, 4)
This was my Life and Career Review "revamped". I had made the original one at the very beginning of my pre-castone Gaia pathway and was given a chance to go over it and make it fit for who I was in the present moment starting my capstone year. I didn't alter too much as I wanted it to be authentic to who I used to be as designer and output developer.
I am using this output to show you tidbits from my life that have shaped me to be who I am today. Throughout this OP you will discover stories from my adolescent years, school, adventures, heartbreak, growth, WWOOFing, to my current life at age 24. At the same time, I don't know if words can do justice or describe my life events but I hope you will be able to see in glimpses the real me. I have compiled a series of short stories, documents, and pictures to complete this OP. This project will be in constant evolution, as each day I am a new person. My vision of this output is to share my experiences and demonstrate my capacities as a student, coworker, daughter, sister, lover and friend. Welcome, to my life and the inner workings of my mind.
Capstone LIPD
This output is a requirement at the beginning of the year to see what projects I will be working on. This is utilized to kind of organize myself for the year. It requires a lot of time and attention towards my desires and intentions for the year. I found myself highly motivated and had some common areas of interest with self-foraging and becoming self-sustainable in all aspects of life. I deterred from my original LIPD plans of documenting and writing about my mini-greenhouse project. I did however still create my greenhouse. I also didn't follow through on the vertical gardening project either that I had proposed. I focused on smaller, personal projects because I felt like I needed to transition my whole life style to a life of self-sustainability before moving onto larger home projects.
This OP focuses on my plan for the year, it is called my learning pathway. I get into my personal and professional and project goals as well as skills that I want to focus on and why. I have determined 3 projects that I would like my projects to focus on, they are all in regards to Urban Ecology. I also go into my design process method in great detail.
View it here
This project is both a first time and repeated action for me. I have never grown mushrooms before so it was a new experience that I had been able to document. I have however been mushroom hunting on numerous occasions although this is the first time I initiated group foraging sessions.The idea itself however has been mulled in my head for awhile. I have wanted to always get more involved in growing mushrooms and my engagement with Gaia was a helpful push in that direction.
The project, in my opinion, was mixed with innovation as well as adaptation. The innovation comes from the social permaculture aspects that are used. Although it's really just taking mushroom hunting and adapting the principles to coincide with hunting in a more thoughtful way.
I would say that I built a small-scale capacity for this project by being able to disseminate my work through this output, attending a conference, hosting interviews, and then gathering people locally to mushroom hunt with. I have also gained a lot of skills by engaging in those activities that helped build my capacity as a student and as an educator.
I feel like I was engaged in utilizing as many resources as possible for the creation of my output packet. I foraged information locally, regionally and nationally. I don't feel like I addressed it worldly however and this is something I would still like to look into. I attended a mushroom convergence which I felt help broaden my connection on a national level as people came from all over to attend.
Abstract:
This output will be centered around harvesting wild mushrooms and will offer tips and tricks for when you're mushroom hunting. I will also focus on the social permaculture you can incorporate into this hobby. In this project phase I will try to grow my own Oyster mushrooms indoors in a bag below my kitchen sink. During this output I will attend a 4-day Mycology Convergence in northern Illinois and I will share information that was gleaned from the experience.
View it here
Mushroom Harvesting
Urban excursions for wild mushrooms and other edibles.
Radical Mycology Convergence in Illinois, WI.
4 day Mycology conference
Grow my own oysters inside, under the sink
Go wild foraging for mushrooms
Fall dinner party with creations from wild mushrooms!
I didn't get into this too much in my actual output but there was a bigger picture that was present and was the underlying pressure for me to create this output packet. I am constantly hearing that, 'this', is good for you and that, 'that', is bad for you but it still seems that it is ever-changing and you can't trust that a product will ever be good indefinitely. There are studies that link food coloring, corn syrup, and bleach and other unnatural ingredients to negative health effects. Those studies will also be ever-changing as science gets stronger and we understand more. It has only been a short amount of time for us to truly understand those products fully, but the Earth has been around for 4.5 billion years and it knows what it needs to be a happy and healthy planet. I know that my goal in life is to be happy and healthy, as it should be many other people's goals. To be happy and healthy, I need and want to promote my lifestyle and prevent as many of those unnatural ingredients into my life and for others. WE are an integrated part of everything and I strive to protect the environment so the correct amount of sunlight, soil, and rain can be present to grow what we need to survive. I feel like transitioning to this lifestyle of doing-it-yourself and repurposing is a process between interdependent and independent influences. It comes down to support and knowledge and that's all that I want to spread because participating in actions that are unsustainable to the planet, is just as unsustainable to myself and to others.
I thoroughly enjoyed creating this output and spent a lot of time developing recipes and finding ways to disseminate my work. In order to come up with a product I felt competent on creating and reproducing large quantities of I had to proceed with a lot of rapid proto-typing. This was probably what made the project so fun by getting to experiment of a variety of ways and taking notes to support my evidence and outcomes along the way.
Abstract:
This output will provide samples of DIY Recipes I have created or compiled on my journey to having an Urban Homestead. Homesteading is a life of self-sufficiency it isn't confined to a specific place. You can live in a city or on the countryside. It varies from agriculture, preservation of foodstuff, and small-scale production of health and beauty products, cleaning solutions, and clothing and food supplies. The categories I have chosen to talk about during this project output are: Arts and crafts, Food Creation, Health and Beauty products, and cleaning supplies. I will also discuss my specific goals in relation to the permaculture principles. Throughout you will find information on the benefits of Urban Homesteading.
View it here
I pushed myself really hard to complete this output packet. I was challenged by not creating a physical project as I am a hands on learner. I noted that was a big obstacle in creating this output. It took me about 3 months to complete when I thought it would only take about one. I had many meetings with my advisor and he helped me clarify and define my outcome and goals for the overall project. I also had many chances to talk with my guild buddy.
I foraged through the internet to develop some of my content. I also managed to meet up with co-workers to chat about common tips that are associated with helping a child on the spectrum learn. I noticed how they tied in closely to permaculture principles as we were talking and it was a big AHA moment that I thought couldn't go unnoticed. I added this into my work and it kind of helped it all come back to full circle.
Abstract:
This output focuses on the idea of teaching youth and kids on the spectrum. I have tied some of my previous projects (Mushrooms, homesteading, teaching with intention, and worm bin) into this output by using them to make curriculum. This is a little bit more of a hands-off project and focuses a lot more on the act of doing and teaching and it provides insight into working with kids on the spectrum.
View it here
CONCLUSION
This output packet was incredibly rewarding to write as I was able to reflect and reminisce about all the projects I have engaged in over the year. I am proud of myself for staying on task and completing my work. Going back to school was something I had been so on the fence about and I am happy that I found something that engaged my attention to learn. I cannot believe I am wrapping up my capstone year. It has become really prevalent that a Bachelor's is a required qualification for jobs that I have been looking into. This leads me to disclose that I want to be moving to Seattle, WA at the end of July or beginning of August. I am beyond excited to move onto this next chapter of my life. My next steps are to create my EoY presentation and present at the end of June. I have already contact Jennifer to set it up.