Day 9 

Ageya Wilderness Education Center 

Homer, Alaska 

DESIGN BEGINS

After standing back and watching the invisible structures of people and teams and how they work, their interests and abilities, Rico and I placed the student in design teams.  

The first activity was to get them to practice working together on something really silly, just to test out the waters. 

The scenario was that they crash landed in the Alaskan wilderness on their way to shoot an Alaskan Reality Show.  The camera was still intact as was the radio.  The TV network decided to drop in whatever they needed to survive for the year and they would be paid for the film after the year was over.  They went exploring and found 2 streams and a low flow hot springs, several clearings and lots of trees. 

They were given 3 cabins, a bunk house, a high tunnel, an old car that didn't run, a bear, a cave, chickens and a coop, 9 barrels, plastic flexible pipe, a stack of steel pipes, and some other random stuff.  They had to place them on their map and decide why each item was placed there.  

It was fun to listen to them talk it out.  And then calamity----a big gang of muscular, tatooed men with machine guns on their backs, riding 4 wheelers pulled up.  They had to have some way to deal with them. 

Anyway, we all had fun listening to the story that was built about their imaginary year and where they placed and especially why they placed it.  AND, bonus, they all still were communicating well at the end. 

Day 7 

Field Trip to the Dean/Harrison Farm 

Sorry---we were invited in to their homes and lives and hung out all day milking goats, spinning yarn, practicing using the reins on the donkey, petting the long horn Yow (yak and cow mixture), meeting the chickens and the rabbits in their nice homes and sharing homemade goat cheese with incredible friends.   We had such a fantastic day---words can't even describe it.  We honored their request not to take pictures.  So you will have to imagine it! 

Day 8
DAY OFF IN HOMER

Several us jumped in cars and went over to see Nancy Lee Evans' house. 

Two years ago at this time, some of us in the design course were designing her home site.  

We had an incredible picnic on her deck and checked out her High Tunnel (which she planted on June 21st).  Check it out! 

Friday, Day 6

Ageya Wilderness Center

Homer, Alaska

Seed Ball Making

One of the things that some of us have been trying, but haven’t been successful at is Seed Ball Making.  The idea is that instead of simply scattering seeds to feed the birds, we use some clay/soil and other amendments to keep the seeds together, give them an extra boost in the spring and allow they to grow as they melt in the spring.

We dutifully gathered seeds and brought other seeds from home and began making a concoction of support materials:  Dirt from the path, lime, bone meal, etc and mixed it all together.  We added just a tiny amount of water until we had the consistency that it would hold together. 

Then we gathered our seed guilds into bowls.  We put a few seeds in each ball and then laid it out to dry in the sun.  Actually we put corners on the balls so that they didn’t role down a slope.

One of my personal errors before was using only vermicompost around the seeds.  That glued up so well, that it was like cement and I found the ball the next summer untouched.  So…. Diversity is always good. 

We will distribute some of our seed balls around here, some we’ll take home and others we will guerilla garden in downtown Homer, Anchorage and Fairbanks.   Watch for an unexpected flower to show up next spring and think---ah, that permaculture group is at it again!

  Try it!  It's fun!!!