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Nashville Permaculture Action Day
November 11th 2019
November 11, 2019, marked the 100th ever Permaculture Action Day since PAN was founded back in 2014, as well as the third in three years in Nashville, TN. The day was hosted at a 14-acre public park stewarded by local non-profit, GROW Enrichment. A larger and more ambitious site than most PAD’s have been hosted at, GROW has been planting a food forest, hosting educational programs for children in collaboration with the neighboring school and doing large-scale permaculture design including silvopasture since its recent founding. After mobilizing folks from the Rising Appalachia concert the evening prior, over 200 people showed up despite rain in the forecast, including a whole elementary class on a field trip as well as many parents with their children, to get hands-on experience in permaculture.
What makes a Permaculture Action Day so special? A full slate of live music, ongoing
hands-on permaculture projects, workshops and skillshares hosted by local experts
and a full hot lunch that many exclaimed to be “better than a meal that I pay for,”
and several kids activities throughout the day were provided for the participants at no
cost. Extra touches that made the day special included a hot tea elixir lounge,
myotonic fainting goats the kids could pet and play with and an impromptu afterparty
because of an early sunset and cold rain that featured local hip-hop artist,
Foundation.
The main hands-on projects included sheet-mulching and inoculating the existing
food forest with King Stropharia mushrooms, building a retaining wall that will be a
kids tea garden and planting native trees. While the music was great throughout the
day, The Keymasters stood out with their soulful blend of funk, r&b and jazz that fit
the cold wind and rain outside.
Overall, it turned out to be an exceptional day and a testament to why events like
these exist and why they are important in shaping a new cultural paradigm.
Permaculture Action Days provide a safe, family-friendly space for folks from all
walks of life to network, be entertained, fill their bellies, learn new skills, gain roots-
based education and expose themselves to a model society in which folks act directly
in collaboration with each other for a collective common good instead of from a place
of scarcity, self-interest and near-sightedness.
It takes a village to transform the world we live in. Join us and help plant hope and
seed change with us no matter where you are in the country. You can volunteer, find
out more and stay in touch with us by following these links and keying in your
information.
Follow our work at www.permacultureaction.org
The main project for the day consisted of sheet-mulching the existing food forest. This technique is an effective way to suppress unwanted grass and weeds that compete for nutrients with the trees as well as add biomass to the rootbase of the trees; in this case, woodchips. Additionally, we inoculated the woodchips with mushrooms, resulting in food for us and an expedited decomposition of the woodchips for the soil.
Other projects included a retaining wall that was backfilled with soil with future plans to plant it out with a variety of teas for children to tend to, removing opportunistic species such as privet and honeysuckle from the park and planting more native trees and shrubs.
A group was formed to remove general trash and debris from the park as well that had collected over the year.
Workshops and skill shares
Jeremy Lekich of Nashville Foodscapes led the retaining wall project as well as an educational plant walk.
Julia Sickler led a captivating workshop on Environmental Economics.
Intern at GROW Enrichment, Caitlin Craig, led several of the kids activities throughout the day.
Christian Mangrum Alsider taught the participants about the category of plants labeled dynamic accumulators, those support species that make subsoil nutrients available to others.
Tracey Burks taught children how to make natural play-dough.
Sizwe Herring of Earth Matters TN and host of GROW Enrichment, Ginger-Rose Krueck, tell their stories.
Not pictured: David Hughes led a workshop on pollinators and trees.
It is important to keep action day participants fed! We had a feast of entirely locally-sourced food, including butternut squash soup, collard greens, chicken casserole, roasted sweet potatoes and potatoes, roasted brussel sprouts,
a big salad, baked apples as well as bread and fruit for the people.
Four main people collaborated to make the delicious food happen; Joana Amorim from the Mid- Appalachian BioRegional Crew of PAN, Ashley Masterson, Sheldon Diggs from Souls United and Stephanie from Alexander’s Catering. All spent several days prior to the action day preparing. Thank you!
One of the key elements to a Permaculture Action Day is the redirection of social energy. We partner with bands to harness the excitement that live music creates into direct on-the-ground action in communities that are vulnerable
and marginalized.
Leah from RA with her
new friend, Manifest.
Rising Appalachia has been a partner of ours for several years now and have helped us mobilize thousands of people to Permaculture Action Days over recent years. Thanks to Rising Appalachia band members for showing
up on the day and spending some time with us!
KidLandia was busy all day with nature-based education and crafts. Turnip Green
Creative Reuse did up-cycled crafts with the kids. With the help of Caitlin Craig and,
Tracey Burks, the littles made natural playdough and learned the art of stick weaving as
well as going on walks to learn about plants. I heard some of the adults even tried their
hands at the crafting! Additionally, we had the mini goats there for the kids to pet and
play with.
Performing Artists
Magic of Science and friends
Laura Reed
Joel Karabo Elliott of Roots Run Deep
The Keymasters
DJ Nexus
Foundation
Ngawang Losel
Not pictured: Nashville recording
artist Laura Reed, local band The
KeyMasters, WXNA’s DJ Nexus who unfortunately could not finish his set as a result of rain and impending
darkness, and Foundation who performed at an indoor afterparty.
Magic of Science and friends putting spells on us.
Joel Karabo Elliott from Roots Grown Deep North Amerika/South Afrika grounds us with his South African-
inspired music.
Ngawang Losel hosted a singing bowl ceremony as well as a calm grounding to lead off the day.
Thank you to all who contributed
to make this day happen!
Partners: Sponsors:
Deep Culture
Permaculture Action Network
Grow Enrichment
Greenwood Nurseries
Henosis
Spiral Ridge Permaculture
Brooklyn Heights Community Garden
Pig & Leaf
Tria Prima
Infinitea
New Earth Matters
Ozark Mountain Permaculture
Tennessee Women in Green
Souls United
Urban Ecovillage
Hip Donelson
Two Rivers Middle School
Nashville Metro Parks Dept.
Your Green Homestead
Turnip Green Creative Reuse
Tennessee Environmental Council
WXNA
Lightning 100
TN Chapter of the Sierra Club, Middle
TN Group
Plant the Seed
Nahko and Medicine for the People
Marathon Music Works Deep Tropics
Rising Appalachia
Julie Martinson
Nashville Foodscapes
Gardens of Babylon
LabCanna
Harbin Hollow
Nectar Urban Cantina
Mountain Rose Herbs
Gaia Herbs
Twice Daily Thrive
Mid-TN Trees
Richland Park Farmers Market
Photos taken by Ashley
Williams/Beyond Pixels Photography
and Ashleigh Eve Newnes
Individuals:
Charles White, Ginger-Rose Krueck, Michael Beck, Joana
Amorim, Mage Brent, Sheldon Diggs, Ashley Masterson, Kaytlen
Cruz, Caitlin Craig, Joel Atchison, Blake Atchison, Cliff Davis,
Jeremy Lekich, David Wells, Christian Mangrum Alsider, Julia
Louise Sickler, Callie Solflower, Sizwe Herring, David Hughes,
Tracey Burks, Wil Hansen