Eugene Permaculture Guild

Event: 2009 Spring Propagation Fair
Venue: Lane Community College Cafeteria
Time: 10.00 a.m. - 4.00 p.m. Saturday, March 14

A free, volunteer-driven event designed to support
home orchardists and vegetable gardeners
in and around the S. Willamette Valley.

The 2009 Spring Propagation Fair consists of two parts: a free exchange of fruit-tree cuttings (called ‘scions’) and a free exchange of vegetable seed. You don’t have to bring any scion or seed to the event to be able to attend and share freely in the bounty. All are welcome.

The 2009 Fair marks the first occasion of a joint scion-exchange and seed-swap in our bioregion, and is co-sponsored by a broad array of local, non-profit and volunteer groups including: the Eugene Permaculture Guild, the Seed Ambassadors Project, Lane Community College Garden Club, Victory Gardens For All, the School Garden Project of Lane County, Huerto de la Famila, ECOS, the Springfield Transitions Garden, Food Not Lawns, the Gardens Program of Food for Lane County, the Urban Farm Program of the U of O, and the OSU Extension Service in Lane County.

A great variety of scions, and vegetable seed, will be provided free of charge by local fruit enthusiasts and seed-savers at the exchange. Rootstocks will be available for a nominal fee. Grafting assistance and workshops will be provided at and around the Propagation Fair.

For a brief description of what’s involved in designing your own fruit trees, and how a scion-exchange helps make this possible; or to learn more about how you may support this free, participant-driven event, please see notes attached below

Bus service to LCC is available from Eugene Station.
To car pool, call Julie at 541-762-1051
Free parking is available at LCC.

Spanish-language support will be offered.

www.eugenepermacultureguild.org

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Event update

Here’s a list of speaking engagements we will have at the event:

3.00 Incorporating native plants into food gardens. Why and how? Devon Bonady (Fernhill Nursery, Cottage Grove), Brian Basor (President, Emerald Valley Chapter, Native Plant Society of Oregon)
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Here are directions to LCC from I-5 (coming from the north):

Heading south on I-5, you will cross a bridge over the Willamette river. About 1-2 miles further on, take exit 189. Turn right at the light and go straight (past a bunch of gas stations, including Sequential biofuels) until the next intersection (a little less than a mile). Turn right at the intersection (I believe that is 30th street). Make a quick left turn on Eldon Shafer Drive. Once you get into the parking lots, the event should be signposted toward the Cafeteria. The journey from the I-5 exit to the LCC parking lot should take under two minutes.

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Designing your own fruit tree

Most fruit trees are actually two-trees-joined-in-one - just above their root collars you will often notice a swollen union or ‘graft’ where a ‘scion’ (a cutting of a fruit variety such as a ‘Gravenstein’ apple or ‘Bing’ cherry) was originally joined or ‘grafted’ onto a type of tree called a rootstock. We use rootstocks because they help us determine, among other behaviors, the size of a mature tree growing on top of them - anything from 4’ to 50’ depending on the rootstock selected. A scion exchange provides an opportunity to design these two-in-one trees, by making a wide variety of common and rare fruit tree varieties and rootstocks available to mix-and-match with. Only the tiniest fraction of scion and rootstock combinations made available at this Propagation Fair are available from commercial fruit tree nurseries.

How can you join in supporting this free, participant-driven Propagation Fair?

Although devoted local fruit enthusiasts are already gathering scion to bring to the event to share freely with others, we are encouraging everyone able and willing to harvest scion to join the collection effort. The more, the merrier. Cutting and storing scion is a simple task. Here are a few pointers:

Be very careful with ID and labeling - collect from trees that have fruited already so the variety is known. Preferably, cut scion about the diameter of a lead pencil, to 12” lengths, although shorter pieces are fine. ’Pruning cuttings’ often fit the bill perfectly. Tightly tie or rubber-band a dozen or so healthy cuttings in a clearly-labeled bundle.
.
Collecting scion is time-sensitive. Scion wood needs to be cut in the winter while it is dormant (before the buds have very visibly begun swelling), then kept cool until it is grafted onto rootstock in the spring, ‘when the sap is rising’. Late-January-early-February sees the end of our ‘dormancy collection window’ for stone-fruit such as plums and cherries. Asian and European pears quickly follow, then apples. Some varieties ‘bud out’ earlier than others.

Vigorous shoots are best but avoid collecting from suckers or water-sprouts (these shoots, which grow vertically from the base of the tree or vertically from lateral branches, are slowest to bear fruit). Collect first-year wood (last year’s growth) preferably from laterals. Next-favored are the terminal shoots at the top of the tree.

Once collected, don’t let the scion dry out. Experienced hands will tend to label each variety clearly, place it in a moist (not saturated) medium such as paper towels or old cloth, and wrap in plastic. (The plastic bags the newspaper comes in work well. Double the bag because one will often have a hole in it.) Place in the refrigerator at about 34° to 38° until grafting time: keeping the scion cool keeps it dormant; keeping it damp, keeps it fresh.

Further questions about scion collection? Google: “Penhallegon scion” or call Nick at 541-284-3703

Also, bring labeled cuttings and divisions of figs, grapes, berries and other fruits to share freely with others at the Propagation Fair; along with fresh seed, plants and divisions of food crops.

For updates, see www.eugenepermacultureguild.org

How did your garden fare with the cold weather?

 Come and share your stories.  What plants did well, what insulation techniqes worked and what didnt.

Monday, Feb 9; 7 PM

212 Benjamin, Jan Spencer’s place

Veggie Potluck at 6

Tour of the property 5:30

The 4th annual Winter Cropping Workshop and Seed Exchange, sponsored by the
Eugene Permaculture Guild and Food For Lane County, is scheduled for 3.00 p.m. on
Saturday June 23 at the Food For Lane County Youth Farm in Springfield. The workshop
will be facilitated by Ted Purdy, FFLC farmer, and Nick Routledge, nursery manager
for the School Garden Project of Lane County.

The Eugene Permaculture Guild’s Summer Solstice Potluck will follow the workshop
at 6.30 p.m., at the Youth Farm, also.

Directions:
From Springfield, go north on Pioneer Parkway. At the big roundabout, go west
on Hayden Bridge Rd, turn right on Game Farm Rd. At the Baptist church, turn
left on Flamingo and go two blocks to the end of the street. You’ll see the Youth
Farm on your left.

From Eugene, take Coburg Rd north, then Harlow Rd east, cross I-5, pass Gateway,
and turn left on Game Farm Rd (if you hit the big roundabout, you’ve gone one block too
far). Six blocks down, at the Baptist church, turn left on Flamingo and go two blocks
to the end of the street. You’ll see the Youth Farm on your left.

From I-5 going north: Take Beltline Rd east exit (the first as you past the Gateway
mall on the right). Continue east on Beltline, cross Gateway. Follow Beltine east
until you have _passed_ the large hospital development on your left. Take the next
right, which is Cardinal, then go immediately left on Game Farm. At the Baptist
church a few blocks up, turn right on Flamingo (the road after Mallard) and go two
blocks to the end of the street. You’ll see the Youth Farm on your left.

EPG steering committee meeting

June 12 at Bryna's

Present: Jude, Jan, Aleta, Julie, Bryna, Nick

Minutes by Julie

Next meeting- July 23rd at either Jude Hobb’s or Julia Mallalieu’s…to be
announced between now and then. This will be a combined meeting for July
and
August.

REGIONAL GATHERING-
John Sundquist knows that it will be at the farm and he is very excited!
There is lots of work to be done there but there are insurance issues that
need to be tackled first. John doesn’t have the liability coverage
necessary
to allow for us to descend upon the farm like a swarm of anal-retentive
locusts on a cleaning spree. For a mere $300.00, event liability coverage
for $1,000,000.00 can be gotten so that ALETA DOESN’T DO ALL THE WORK!
Aleta will be the “point person” with John and will tell us as soon as we
can all offer to pitch in and help.
More people are showing up for the gathering organizational meetings as
the
time draws near. The next meeting is Tues. June 12 (time?) at the Maritrea
(?) straw bale house.
Jan spoke of 4 points for the Gathering:
-WORKSHOPS- would include :
‘fun with bamboo’- making stuff like flutes, ladders,
trellises,fences,screens,cups,etc out of the 40 or 50 varieties John has
growing at the farm.  Can anyone research techniques of working with
bamboo
or outreach to people that know how to and who might be interested in
teaching a workshop? Might be fun to have bamboo projects for the kids
also.
’solar cooking and preserving’- if there are any apples ripe at the time
of
the gathering we could harvest,slice, and solar dry them on site. Perhaps
someone could show the rest of us how to cook and bake with solar boxes
and
ovens. Can anyone research this?
-Bioregional aspects
-To transform the Sundquist farm into a permaculture site…or at least
come
up with a site plan during the gathering and move in that direction.
-Zonation-applying the permaculture design principle to the gathering
site/event as a way to illustrate the concept.
Funding for the gathering-we agreed to give $500.00 in loan as seed money.
Now it gets more complicated. Perhaps we agreed to forgive one to two
hundred dollars of the money in case the event isn’t the smashing success
we
hope it will be. If it is a success perhaps we expect the money back with
a
little kicker as thanks/interest. Was a specific percentage mentioned?
Also,
we discussed not requiring an entrance fee of those who cannot afford to
pay
it. We could allow for “scholarships”…work/trade…or simply let them in
for free. We should probably decide this soon…while Jan and Bryna are
still here.
Pre-registration-of utmost importance. We need to know how many will be
there to allow for food, sanitation, camping space, etc. Also, we may be
able to squish more people into fewer cars if we can help with rideshare.
Anyone who says they will be driving there should be asked if they would
be
willing to give other people a ride to or from, etc. Jan might be floating
in! The river is only 1/2 mile away! Camping will start on Thurs. night
and
will be in the filbert orchard.
Showers- We should look into “batch”water heaters which are 55 gallon
drums
painted black used once the sun heats the water to a comfortable level.
“Save water…shower with a friend”. Also, Aleta knows of some cool kind
of
portable showers they had at the “festival in the trees”.

JAN’S EXCITING ADVENTURE- Jan will be gone from July 2nd to August 2nd and
will travel from the Okanagan area of Washington through Bellingham,
Everett, Seattle, etc. and will be networking with permies in all of those
areas. Anyone who knows folks that Jan should meet up with should contact
him. Jude has some good contacts and will pass them on.

WINTERCROPPING EVENT-No need to bring anything except for food/drink for
the
solstice potluck afterwards. Aleta mentioned that we should make sure to
allow for time to make announcements about upcoming events.

THE COBB DISPLAY AT SUE’S-It shall be smashed to smithereens whilst in the
basement to make for easier disposal. Tarps shall be used and eye
protection
shall be mandatory. Anyone feeling the need to vent? Anyone have one of
those wood-splitter thingys?

POTLATCH-Sept 23rd. That day is open at the longhouse and Aleta will
reserve
the whole day for us. Perhaps we could combine it with Heather’s Food Not
Lawns fall seedswap…sans libations. Music would be great…and dancing!
We
need to think about what we might be doing soon after the potlatch so we
can
spread the word that day.

CITIZEN’S STATE OF THE CITY- January. Traditionally one week before the
Mayor’s State of the City address. Has been organized by the Citizens for
Public Accountability (CPA) in the past. Are they still doing it? Do we
want
to take part?

FARMLAND PRESERVATION COALITION-Jude has been very active with them. Pete
Sorenson came to a recent meeting. Jude spoke of Lesley Ryna (?)…a
visiting Prof.. of land design at the U of O who recently had her students
do an assessment of arable land within the city of Eugene. She also wants
to
put her students to work compiling the information necessary to write a
book
about Eugene…mapping the city out along some lines. Need to find out
more.

COUNTRY FAIR-July 13,14,15. Bryna and Julia offered to work the booth
which
is a combo booth with Lost Valley and another group(?). There are no
camping
passes available and may not even be day passes for those who staff the
booth. We will have literature there and can promo the Gathering and the
Seed Swap/Potlatch. The tent will be in the Energy Village in a nice shady
spot. Speaking of which….the Shady area gets bigger every year and is
beginning to impact the energy folks with solar displays. Perhaps we need
to
somehow get them out into the sun somehow. Talk of bridges between the Ag
folks and energy folks. We could be that bridge. Jude is our liaison.
Anyone
interested in WOmanning the booth is encouraged to contact Rick Valley.
Julia needs his number if anyone has time to e-mail it to her! The Zumwald
campground (Bryna!) is supposed to be a cool place to camp…a real
extension of the fair!

BIKE TOUR IN TIARA STREET AREA-Hopefully will happen towards the end of
June. Neil Spangler may be organizing it. It will be sent out to the
website
when the info.
becomes available. After that, perhaps we can organize a bike tour out at
Linda Lu’s area on Kinkaid in the Sundance area. It would be nice to be
able
to advertise that at the Gathering if we can get it together by then.

EPG Steering ‘Committee Meeting

May 14, 2007, at Bryna’s

Present: Julie, Aleta, Bryna, Krishna , Jan and Nick

Minute taker: Julie

We need to commit to sending out e-mail reminders before meetings. Jan suggests

taking turns doing this (for several months?) so it doesn’t all fall on Nick’s

shoulders. Nick fesses up to laxity of attitude.

Feedback on recent events:

WINTERGREEN: hedgerow work party went swimmingly.

COSMIC PIZZA: Low turnout (about 12 people) but some new faces. There

were some good conversations around the topics. Either Bryna or Aleta

suggested that spring/summer might be a hard time to get people in to

these types of events and that we might concentrate on them more at other

times of the year. Jan wants other people to take a turn organizing

upcoming events. He will continue to organize the Cuba video showing

this coming Sunday at 

6:00

BIKE TOUR: great turnout. About 30 people at the beginning…some

drop-off…then a bunch more joined up in the second neighborhood.

Lots of neighborhood interest…turned into kind of a party at the Zenco

intersection repair site.

City repair convergence in Portland starts next week.

Neal-lives on Tiara street and is interested in organizing a bike tour. In

his neighborhood. In addition, Jan has friends in the South Hills area who

live in a small, five property permaculture enclave next to, and across  the

street from each other. Perhaps we could do a bike tour there later in the

summer.

EARTH DAY: Very wet day but good turnout. Julia suggests that we need

banner(s) and offered to make some. Bryna suggests we need a booth.

Discussion about getting plans for building a booth from the Sat. market.

Nick suggests using one we particularly like at the market as a template.

Krishna suggests making one out of 2 by 4’s and plywood. He also offered

to borrow back a booth he donated to a local Buddhist group that only uses

it for short periods during the summer. Krishna will talk to them about

it. Both Jan and Aleta were keynote speakers inside and report low turnout.

Jan was excited to have made a connection with a Bob Grimes from

Berkeley , CA , who has been very active for years.

RELOCALIZATION EVENT: Two city councilors attended as did Mayor

Piercy. Otherwise kind of low attendance. Good discussions amongst those

who were there. Jan said that it went really well at the church on Friday

and that it was a good venue for the event. He believes many of the attendees

would not typically attend a permaculture gathering. Krishna spoke about

the food panel. John Sundquist, Kevin James ( Full Circle ) and Harry

McCormack (Ten Rivers Food Shed in Corvallis ) spoke. Harry spoke about

how they are organizing Corvallis by City Precinct. Councilmen/women

work with their local interfaith groups to get the food to where it is most

needed. Krishna videotaped the panel discussion and will edit it and figure

out what questions/topics to include in further interviews of the panelists.

NATIVE AND NON-NATIVE PLANTS CONFERENCE: began in town

with a reading at Tsunami books by David Theodoropolous (SP?) author of

“Invasion Biology:Critique of Pseudo-Science”. The bookreading was a highly

contentious affair. The conference at Lost Valley attracted about 100 people

and was considered a great success. 

Krishna brought up an interesting question. In light of the current  interest

in banning field burning… how do we feel about supporting the field

burning the native people did before we arrived if the concept were to be

rekindled now (ha! A pun!)

Upcoming events:

The regional gathering will henceforth be known as “Cascadia Ecofair:

Gathering to Create Sustainable Culture”. It will not be at the Country  

Fair site as not enough people are showing up to the organizing meetings 

to  Help out and it is too much for those who are organizing it to take on. 

Must  Keep it smaller until more people come aboard to help out. Two

possible sites  are John Sundquist’s farm in Coburg and Elkdream farm

in Pleasant Valley . Krishna wonders if John’s farm has enough room

for the event and the campers. It is heavily planted. Nick suggests the

possibility of camping in/behind the bamboo  area. In any event, it will

be August 24, 25, 26th. Last year Jan counted approximately 120 people (?)

at one circle. Aleta said 117 registered but that doesn’t include some of

the speakers and some folks who just dropped by.

WINTER CROPPING WORKSHOP/SOLSTICE EVENT: Sat, June 23rd

3:00 PM - as late as 9:00 at Nick’s/Springfield Food for Lane County site.

Nick is excited  about procuring some unusual seeds from Europe .

Unusual to this country but relatively easy to get overseas? Many of these

winter crop seeds need to be in the ground the last week of June which

precludes our getting an article about them in Oregon Tilth for this

season at least. If people commit to growing these seeds and saving them

then we can share them and get the Word out for next winter’s season.

Nick spoke cryptically of a threat to organic seed procurement  And

promised to get the word out on the website this week as a call to

arms…so to speak.

FALL POTLATCH/POTLUCK:

 Aleta suggests that it’s a beautiful, cyclical idea to have it 6 months

after the seed swap…to share the fruit of the seed that was shared.

Krishna suggests that we try to find out what sort of raw

product will be available and then have any people interested in cooking

work as a chef’s Corp in the kitchen and create a meal out of what is

brought right then. Aleta or Jan spoke of a table at the 2005 Gathering

that offered dishes composed of indigenous foodstuffs. Jan suggests

that while some people are cooking others might gather to share

information, skills, talk etc. in the “livingroom” at the longhouse.

JAN’S VACATION/OUTREACH JOURNEY: Jan will be travelling to the

Okanogan with his brother and will continue through the Tanasket

area, Mount Vernon , Snohomish, Seattle (Phinney Ridge,etc) Port

Townsend. He will ferret out like-minded groups at all stops and will

make connections that we can follow up on in the future.

SAT MAY 19- Suburban Conversion event at Jan’s. Time?

Our next meeting is on June 11, 6.30 p.m at Bryna’s.

Join us for a Permaculture Bike Tour