Permaculture education and hands-on weekend: weaving habitat restoration and human use

Cedar Song Centre for Wild Belonging is a 54 acres of mostly forested land in the heart of Highlands. A few acres had been deforested decades ago and are now entire scotch broom fields.

One of the missions of Cedar Song is to restore these lands, both the diversity, wildlife habitat, regenerate the soil and increase the capacity for humans to grow some of the food they eat.

On September 21-22, we will have Brandon Bauer and Krystel Saunders to teach and guide us in the thinking behind the acts of “restoring”. This will be a 1/3 teaching and 2/3 hands on experience. Sharing the steps of restoration with the greater community, hence making it a learning community building opportunity the community has been a priority for the stewards at Cedar Song.

This is a free workshop and donations are graciously accepted to help pay for the teachers’ fee. Please register if you intend to come as we have a maximum number of participants.

The spaces open for food growing may be shared with young agrarians looking for land if there is a good fit. The space will also be used to teach propagation of plants.

Below is a picture of the field we plan on restoring.

In the long run, we are hoping to achieve a mix of gardens and wildlife habitat:

Before the course, we will have done earthwork to remove broom, chip it, remove roots and rocks, and terrace. Then we will add cover crops to most of that space and then plant some plants.

During the weekend, we will hear about:

• Preparing terraces for winter and spring
• Protecting soil from erosion
• Rainwater infiltration on slopes
• Integrating human and non-human uses
• Reclaiming unusable land into usable land
• The point of diversity
• Restoring to a more diverse ecology
• Supporting a complex ecology
• The use of cover crops and nitrogen fixing plants

The hands on tasks may be around:

• reinforcing the terraces
• spreading and working the cover crops in
• planting trees and shrubs
• making paths in the terraces

You are welcome to make a donation to help pay for the teachers’ fee. We are hoping these and future teachings will offer learning and bring community together.

Ride sharing / carpooling is encouraged. Please let us know if you can offer a ride or need one.