Join in the Great Re-Skilling!

One weekend per month,
March - October,
in Seattle or Olympia

Instructors: Marisha Auerbach, Jenny Pell, and special guests.

In this 8 month weekend workshop series, you will learn valuable skills that will provide the foundation for sustainable abundance in your homes and neighborhoods.

We are experiencing rapidly changing global economic and environmental shifts that impact our everyday lives. Each of these workshops showcase design elements that create decentralized, resilient, income-generating, and biodiverse systems that provide for our most basic needs.

Who May Attend: Permaculture course graduates, or anyone with equivalent skills, education, and enthusiasm.

All workshops run 10 am - 5 pm, Saturday and Sunday.

Design and Plant a Neighborhood Edible Food Hedge Graft Street Trees to Delicious Apples, Plums, and Pears
March 20 - 21 in Seattle, 27 - 28 in Olympia

How can we provide food on a neighborhood scale? This workshop will focus on food production in common space. We will be designing an installing an abundant and diverse food hedge to provide nutrient rich food throughout the season. On Sunday, we will accelerate the neighborhood transition to food production by grafting street trees to yummy fruit!

Design and Plant an Urban Edible Yard
April 17 - 18 in Seattle, April 24 - 25 in Olympia

Imagine transforming an urban lawn into an abundant garden in a weekend! This weekend, we will design an average urban yard to a diverse garden that meets the needs of the inhabitants. We will discuss soil preparation, plant selection, strategies for growing food in small spaces, and water saving strategies. We will be planting annual vegetables as well as perennial berries, edible flowers, medicinal herbs, and fruit trees.

Design and Plant a Multi-functional Rain Garden
May 15 - 16 in Seattle, 22 - 23 in Olympia

In Western Washington, we get abundant rainfall in the winter and scarce rainfall in summer when we need it most. In the winter,the excess water is directed from impermeable surfaces, like roads, to the stormdrains. In this workshop, we will cut the roadside curb to reroute the stormwater into an intentionally designed garden. We will select plants that produce a yield and enjoy lots of water in the winter as well as tolerate dry summers. We will inoculate our raingarden with mycelium to remediate any contaminants from the roadside. This workshop includes a discussion on working with the city for sustainable retrofits.

Design and Install a Legal Graywater Filtration System
June 12 - 13 in Seattle, 26 -27 in Olympia

Everyday, each household dismisses slightly used water from sinks, laundry, and showers (called greywater) to the sewer. This water can be diverted to water the garden. The water may have cleansers or food particles in it. With intentional planning, these can be turned into a resource for watering and feeding our gardens. You will install a legal greywater system during this workshop. We will calculate the outflow of water, discuss permits and legal issues, practice plumbing as we install the system, and test it out! During this workshop, we will explore different strategies to install a greywater system in your own home or workplace.

Build and Install a Solar Hot Water Heater
July 24 - 25 in Seattle, 31 - Aug 1 in Olympia

In this workshop, you will learn how to build and install a solar hot water heater suited for our climate. Solar hot water demands minimal sunlight to heat water, making it a useful energy saving strategy for our climate. As the costs of energy increase, solar hot water technologies may become more attractive. During this workshop, we will discuss the different options available for incorporating solar hot water in your home in Western Washington. We will design and build a low-tech solar hot water heater and install it on site.

Design and Install a Solar Air Heater
August 21 - 22 in Seattle, 28 - 29 in Olympia

Home Heating costs are increasing. This workshop draws on the availability of sunlight to heat our homes. Solar hot air heaters circulate air from inside your home to a compartment outside oriented to the sun where the air is passively heated and circulated back inside your home. These simple technologies are easy to make and require minimum sunlight to provide a significant decrease in your heating bill. In this workshop, we will design and install a solar air heater together. We will have an indepth discussion on how this technology works and the variety of alternatives currently available.

Winterizing Your Home: From Energy Audit to Installation of Energy-Saving Strategies. For homeowners and renters.
September 18 - 19 in Seattle, 25 - 26 in Olympia

This workshop will provide you with the step by step process for saving energy in your home. On Saturday, we will begin with a full energy audit from air leaks to phantom loads. We will explore how our site can save on energy costs. You will learn how to use the tools of the trade to tighten up your home. On Sunday, we will install the prescribed changes. This workshop will include simple low costs adaptations for the home owner or renter to reduce your energetic footprint and subsequently your energy bill.

Putting up the Harvest: Food Preservation and Herbal Medicines
October 9 - 10 in Seattle, 23 - 24 in Olympia

Ah, the abundance of autumn in Western Washington! This weekend we will address the diverse options for storing your abundant harvest throughout the winter. We will discuss canning, drying, and freezing your fruits and vegetables. Our herbal allies are included in this workshop too! We will look at the various herbal preparations that one may want in their home medicine chest, highlighting those herbs that grow generously in our bioregion. You will receive a diverse collection of recipes and formulas to keep you and your family nourished and healthy during the winter.

Cost:

• One workshop - $250
• Any 3 workshops, prepaid - $600
• All 8 workshops, prepaid - $1,400
• Any one person may attend prepaid workshops.

The Only Constant is Change – Get Ready