Transition Toronto put in strong showing at Permablitz

[Andrew James Knox]

This past Sunday was one of the first of the many "Permablitzes" to happen this summer.  The Permablitz Programme is run by The Permaculture Project - GTA (TPP - GTA) and involves people showing up at a garden, back yard, or any space, and turning it into a permaculture food garden.  Participants learn about permaculture through the direction of TPP - GTA Director Toyin Coker, the designs of certified Permaculture Designer Douglas Barnes, and, most importantly, through doing the work required to build a permaculture garden.  Permaculture is about designed systems that mimic nature to obtain a greater yield than conventional gardening or agriculture and improve soil at the same time.  In this blitz we learned to do just that by transplanting plants, building a Berkeley compost pile, learning about swales, and planting in a hugulkultur bed.  All of those experiences were great.  I had heard little about hugulkultur previously and am very excited to get going with it now.  Hugulkultur mimics a forest floor, one of nature's most productive soil types, to improve soil fertility and health.

 

The experience was incredible, and while Toyin did explain that healthy soil releases chemicals that make people feel euphoric, there was more than that that contributed to the mood of the day.  We all just had a a lot of fun working together, and it was amazing how much work we could do in such a short time with all of us pitching in.  I guess the rapid completion of the garden conversion is why it's called a "blitz".

 

We had a great time and did some great work (and learning) and Transition Toronto members made it happen!  6 of the 8 of the people working on the blitz were from TTo (7 if you count Toyin, who is a member of ours).

 

Also, Toyin gave us lunch.  Check out the photos here from the blitz here:  http://transitiontoronto.ning.com/photo/permablitz-transplant-june-12

 

Don't worry if you missed this chance, there are more Permablitzes to come this summer.  Here are the details for the next one:  http://transitiontoronto.ning.com/events/permaculture-blitz-1

 

Andrew