thank you thursday

So it's been a while since I've acknowledged my thankfulness on a thursday, so here it goes....

Thank you Permaculture Institute. The permaculture design classes I have been taking are so inspiring... not just the knowledge I'm gaining, but the experiences and stories shared by my classmates gives me hope for the future. Here are some great permaculture articles.

Speaking of the future, thank you to Miranda for suggesting a wonderful Sustainable Studies bachelors degree at University of Massachusetts-Amherst. My application is in the mail and my fingers are crossed!

Thank you VH1 for bleeping out the words gun and bullet from Pumped Up Kicks by Foster the People. I might be negatively influenced and shoot someone.

Thank you to the guy who works with my dad who gave him the fresh honeycrisp apples and thank you to my dad for passing them along to me... they are delicious!

Thank you to Jonathan Tropper for writing This is Where I Leave You, which made me laugh and cry. It was also the first book I was able to read completely since To Be Sung Underwater by Tom McNeil, which is a tough book to follow. Now on to Work by CrimethInc.

and perhaps the biggest thank you to all of those who are gathering across the country to stand up for freedom and liberty.




I saw posts on facebook talking about Occupy Wall Street. Then I read this article in Yes! magazine. Please read and share... it's a great article and really captures the spirit and purpose behind this movement. People all over the country are uniting and standing together to occupy their cities... I am following Occupy Madison, Occupy Milwaukee, and Occupy OKC and hope to attend each of them at some point within the upcoming weeks. I'm feeling kind of sporadic and if I had the money to get to NY I'd be there right now.

Happy thursday!

permaculture (day 52)

Yesterday I announced how grateful I was to receive a scholarship for a course I really really wanted to take. Thank you all so much for your support and encouragement! I thought I'd elaborate a little on exactly what the course entails.

I had honestly never heard the term permaculture before... so for those of you who are in the same boat I was this explains it perfectly....

"Permaculture is an ecological design system for sustainability in all aspects of our lives. Permaculture teaches us how build natural homes, grow our own food, restore diminished landscapes and ecosystems, catch rainwater, build communities, take care of waste and much more.

The philosophy within permaculture is one of working with rather than against nature, and of protracted and thoughtful observation rather than premature and thoughtless action. Permaculture design techniques encourage land use which integrates principles of ecology and applies lessons from nature. It teaches us to create settings and construct ecosystems which have the diversity, stability, and the resilience of natural ecosystems. In the spirit of sustainability, it also teaches us to allow natural and designed ecosystems to demonstrate their own evolutions."

If you want to learn more, here's a link with some recommended reading.

Here's what I'll be learning (and of course blogging about!)

• Principles of Natural Systems
• Sustainable Design Methodologies
• Patterns in Nature, Culture and Society
• Reading the Land & Understanding Natural Processes
• Large Scale Land Restoration Techniques
• Water Harvesting Techniques
• Design Principles of Sustainable Human Settlements
• Grey Water Recycling
• Natural Building Strategies
• Cultivated & Productive Ecologies
• Food Forests, Plant Guilds, Gardens for Self-Sufficiency
• Energy Conservation Technologies
• Appropriate Technologies and Renewable Energies
• Urban Environment Permaculture
• Wildlife Management and Biological Pest Control
• Land Arts and Community Activism
• Invisible Structures: EcoVillages & Credit Unions
• Community Supported Agriculture
• Strategies for an Alternative Nation
• At the end of the class, students engage in a group design project. 

Can you tell I'm just a little excited about it?! 

treehugger.com also has a great overview of Permaculture Principles here.



Day 52 - A picture of your favorite sport.

oh college football, how I love you!  Every Saturday in fall is reserved for football, whether I'm at the game, outside the stadium tailgating, at a friend's house or at a sports bar watching it. I'm literally counting down the days until Sept 3rd when the Oklahoma Sooners play their first game... and it's in Norman! I <3 home games :)