March 6, 2012
Westside Permaculture Presentation 
Time: 7-9 pm 
Where: Monroe County Library Auditorium 
Who: McDoel Garden, Maple Heights, Near Westside and Prospect Hill Neighborhood Association 

Come join the first Westside Neighborhood Association Event and learn about Permaculture from Keith Johnson!

Permaculture is about designing ecological human habitats and food production systems.  It is a land use and community building movement which strives for the harmonious integration of human dwellings, microclimate, annual and perennial plants, animals, soils, and water into stable, productive communities.

A central theme in permaculture is the design of ecological landscapes that produce food.  Emphasis is placed on multi-use plants, cultural practices such as sheet mulching and trellising, and the integration of animals to recycle nutrients and eat weeds.  However, permaculture entails much more than just food production. Energy-efficient buildings, waste water treatment, recycling, and land stewardship in general are other important components of permaculture.

Permaculture has expanded its purview to include economic and social structures that support the evolution and development of more permanent communities, such as co-housing projects and eco-villages. As such, permaculture design concepts are applicable to urban as well as rural settings, and are appropriate for single households as well as whole farms and villages.

Keith is an experienced permaculture site designer and teacher.  He has been providing consulting advice and design since 1979.  He has developed an intimate knowledge of various regional landscapes, botany, soils, earthworks, natural building and other skills.  With a wealth of experience in temperate climate permaculture systems he offers a range of consulting services to regional and distant clients.

Now resident in Bloomington, IN, Keith participates in a number of local activism projects including the editorial guild of the Permaculture Activist (since '97), the founding of Transition Bloomington (Indiana's first Transition Town Initiative), boardmember of the Local Growers Guild, contributor to Bloomington's Peak Oil Task Force, member of the Bloomington Permaculture Guild & of the Bloomington Food Policy Council.  Renaissance Polyculture is the suburban forest garden he co-manages on the 2/3 acre site where he homesteads with Peter Bane (publisher of the Permaculture Activist) and a regular flow of interns.  A frequent public speaker and radio interviewee, he works constantly to share a vision of cultural and ecological regeneration and continues to provide ecological design and consultation services via Patterns for Abundance.  He is currently assisting in various projects to bring about increased food security for the City of Bloomington and Monroe County including a city composting program, community gardens and orchards, urban ag and aquaculture, and more.