FCS Service Learning Module - Permaculture and the Youth Project

14 - pictures

2007-12-02T01:28:00.000-08:00

want to see 234 pictures of the project? click HERE.

13 - the strawberry patch

2007-12-02T01:26:00.001-08:00

post by sarah

Sarah, Simone, and Ashley planted a small strawberry patch outside the YP building. They pulled strawberries from Craig Gibson's amazingly full garden and transplanted them next to the YP after clearing rocks and weeds from the area. Now the youth have a garden to be responsible for and reap the benefits of.

12 - older youth event

2007-12-02T01:25:00.000-08:00

post by ashley

After talking with the YP participants, we decided that
a. they were really cool
and
b. we wanted to spend more time with them.
We originally thought that focalizing an all-nighter in the CC would be a
great bonding activity and would be a smart way to reward them for having
such a positive role in the community. We ended up not doing it for a
variety of reasons. There was concern about how parents would feel about
letting their kids stay up all night. Additionally, we were tight on time
and energy ourselves! To pull an all nighter on a weekend would have
sacrificed our personal sustainability at this point in time.
However, I still think that this activity would work out well, provided
that time and energy are abundant. Karen suggested that the extension
could be a "quiet" space for those who want to sleep. In the remaining
parts of the CC, activities such as casino games, dance parties, and art
projects could be going on, and be overseen by FCS students.

11 - the budget

2007-12-02T01:11:00.000-08:00

post by Alexa

As treasurer, I am proud to announce that we completed our FCS
Permaculture Service Project WITHOUT SPENDING A PENNY! All the
resources were collected with Craig's help from around the park. He
lent us his tools and helped us scavenge all the materials together.
Not to mention our own ingenuity!

10 - the hammock

2007-12-02T01:08:00.000-08:00

Permaculture project: Hammock

Focalized by Kyle,

Supported by everyone.

So, the plan was,

We planned for a massive hammock big enough for jumping, swinging, and general awesomeness. The material was a found fishing net from the beach, sewn into a rectangular shape and a two-by-four was attached at either end. The site was a spot where the same project was attempted previously, and had two existing posts that we hoped to use for supporting the new hammock. We didn’t plan out how it would be done as far as the method of building it, but hoped for some creativity to take place on the day of the project.

What got executed?

The day of the project, we built a great hammock. We wiggled the existing posts to take them out. This took no time at all with the ground in Scotland and its constantly being rained on. The ground was forgiving, and didn’t create any obstacles for us. It seemed to enjoy our contributions. Once the holes were dug, we tossed in the two pine posts. There was a construction site of a stone building down the road where we borrowed a wheel barrow, and collected chips of stone. These acted as a sturdier and less prone to the rain connection to the ground for the posts. We pounded the stone into the hole around the base of the two posts, with a heavy tamping rod to hold the posts confidently in the ground. Once the posts were secure, we connected the net to them using twisted recycled rope.

This was a good way for the hammock to stay, but could be improved upon. The idea came up to add a top post that would connect the two standing posts. We went out with Craig to the forest to find a post and trailer it back. The bark was taken off, and long nails driven to connect the posts. Our project was completed and the people were flying from right and left into the net.

Who helped it all happen?

Everyone helped it all happen. There was Emily digging away from the start. Josh was keen on smashing rocks with the tamping rod, and driving nails into the top post. Craig was the forester, forager, and tractor driver. Emma brought a lot of fun while taking pictures, joining in on the rock smashing, and hammock tester. Oren came to the forest to collect the top post, and added to the de-barking efforts. I was focalizer, and jack of all trades. There were countless hammock quality testers, laughers, gigglers, piles ups of people in the big fish-net. There was support in getting materials from Craig. The YP was supporting us with excitement about a hammock. The project felt like a day of play, and the hammock was built as a manifestation of out enjoyment of working together and creating.

Tell somethin’ good

As the day was coming to an end, the YP started to come home from school. The hammock was just about to be completed, and as soon as it was they were hopping in, climbing all over the posts and loved to have a huge net to toss themselves in and look at the sky while held hanging over the ground.

9- kids event

2007-12-02T01:07:00.000-08:00

post by oren

Through our consultations with the YP kids and YP workers, and feedback from our meetings, as part a of our permaculture project we held a fun event for the kids. Seeing as how this required the kids, it was not done on our workday, but was held on the 13^th of November. I, Oren, focalized this event, and was helped by the company and enthusiasm of Sarah, Simone, Steph and Emma. It was planed as a games night, intended, and embodied, as a time to spend more time with the kids, to facilitate some fun, to be positive role models, and to help the YP workers have some time to enjoy themselves and the kids with out focalizing. It was a great time. We played name games, Love (a variation of Bang), Sumo, “Yes Let’s”, and learned the song “jig-a-lo”. Each game got the kids and us moving and enjoying life. Great success! Thanks to everyone involved including the YP kids, and Gabrielle and Karen.

8 - graffiti boards and swings

2007-12-02T01:04:00.000-08:00

post by josh

i focalized the graffiti boards, the shoe rack, and the front swings.
i was very happy with they both turned out.
the graffiti boards were a simple process that alexa and i did. we
lost many screw-bits. like 5 or something. we did do do much in the
way of a shoe rack, which is funny because it was the only thing the
focalizers asked us for. the swings were a idea that some one brought
up during the day, so we decided to do it. it was hard to get them
balanced.
it was great fun to sit on a swing again, and it was nice to swing
into the southern sun.
a good day.

7 - the bench

2007-12-01T11:27:00.000-08:00

post by steph

it was quite the undertaking...

My team was made up of Oren, Zac and myself. As it had been my passion that we deliver the YP a funky cool new wooden bench, I took lead as focaliser. Oren and Zac were to be my man power :D

The original idea was to find some interesting "piece," made of wood or somthing else needing recycling, and then to create a unique bench around that center piece. The idea was tossed around that it would be paintable, to further the funky effect.

A day or two before our work day, Zac and I took a trip up to the wood piles to look around and have a chat with Jason. We asked what was available, and were happy to find out that mostly "everything to the left" was free to use...

Excited, but with no real plan in mind, Oren, Zac and I set off that Friday morning to the wood pile. Large hunks of tree trunk began to look appealing as we dreamt up rough bench designs; still, the funky appeal was missing. Not too far into the hunt, we found two old doors hiding out in the back of the workyard. One was rotting pretty badly, but the other looked just right to be a children's climbing/sitting place.

Oren envisioned the pieces we would need to set it up, and all three of us set to work digging them out. The first plan was to have three very tall posts along the back edge of the bench, which would be placed in holes in the ground for permanent placement. Three smaller posts along the front would provide balance. At this stage, we thought it a good idea to give the bench a back as well...

Craig soon enough came round with his tractor, and we all piled in. Had a real fun ride, and brought back more than enough wood to the YP building.

After a good long consultation session amongst ourselves and with Craig, our team determined it best to simply mount the door on six sturdy logs that would be dug into the ground. We had a permanent design for a permanent door-bench.

Next was prepping the door, digging the holes, and cutting the logs to size. The system we decided on to make sure the bench was even in the end was somewhat haphazard, but seemed to work at the time being.

I sanded the door's old paint chips down, while Oren and Zac rotated in cutting logs and digging holes. (I did dig a few holes too.) The idea was to determine the placement of the posts, mark that on the ground, and dig similar-depth holes in the appropriate spots.

This went well until it was time to fill in dirt around the logs in their holes. It seemed that the holes had shifted in unplanned directions, during the digging process. We had six very awkward looking logs sticking out at random from the ground, and we hadn't even touched the issue of making the door sit level on top of them.

After much debate, we decided it would be best to place the logs and fill in the holes two at a time, to make sure they were all standing at about the same height off the ground. This seemed to go well for awhile, until the door was placed on top... we couldn't figure out how to put the last two logs in the ground so that all six would be flush. (you had to be there to visually understand this... trust that it was mad frustrating!!)

Meanwhile, I realized the doorknob needed to come off of the door; it wasn't safe to have on a bench that kids would be fooling around on. The rusted hardware finally gave way, but even with all the screws out, the doorknob was still dangling from the door. I went begging to the most able man I know here... and Craig had the answer! He took a big metal... tool/thing... and with one WACK, knocked the sucker right off. YAYY!!

So the door was ready, four out of six of the logs were ready. Then a few group members came to our aid. We ended up sticking small bits of wood between the last two logs and the door to fill the gap. Then multiple group members helped with the nailing of the door to the logs (three nails to each log, please!), and the bench was complete!

The day was long, frustrating at times, energy intensive, yet sooo satisfying by the time I had a second to look around at what else had been going on in the yard. I thought we all worked very well together, and played off each other's strengths beautifully. In the end, the bench is more practical than funky, storing wood underneath it, and serving as a shelf for the kids to stand on while they paint on the high-up graffitti surfaces behind it.

I think my team was happy with the end product, and excited to have contributed to something that the YP will benefit from for years to come!

see pictures from the day here.

6 - odds and ends

2007-10-11T09:52:00.000-07:00

October 10, 2007

The group had a quick meeting to give updates on the various projects and to ensure that come Friday morning, everyone would have all the equipment they would need to see their projects through.

Focalizer updates:
Sarah - will need 2 people on Friday. Tasks include weeding the existing bed, bringing strawberries down from Craig's garden and mulching the area.
Kyle - will need one other person on Friday.
Steph - will need 3 people on Friday, and someone to come check out wood with her from a pile on the runway.
Josh - will need one person on Friday.
Emma - will be setting up a blog, and taking pictures on Friday. Focalizers will be invited to write about their different projects.

One issue that came up was including the work departments more in the consultations. Sarah spoke to Christian from Park Garden about the strawberry patch, and he had been under the impression that he would be more included in the consultation, rather than simply being asked permission to go ahead with a pre-determined project.

Stacie asked all the focalizers to get her a list of what they need for Friday, so that everything will be ready in the morning!

Two days and counting!

5 - nailing it down

2007-10-11T09:38:00.000-07:00

October 3, 2007

After much debate and discussion, seven things were decided on for our permaculture design project.

under plants and structures we aim to have:
-a strawberry patch beside the building
-an outdoor hammock
-grafitti boards for the sides of the building
-shoe racks for inside the door
-a bench for under the overhang

and under events we aim to have:
-a games event for the younger group
-a sleepover in the CC for the older group

It was decided that while the outdoor shed was definitely needed, it wasn't something that we felt skilled enough to build. It would be pointless to build a sub-par shed, only to have it fall apart or be replaced in a short time. We decided that smaller projects felt more manageable, and the completion of past projects should take priority, especially since a desire to see them through had been expressed.

It was also expressed by many group memebrs that some kind of event between FCS and the YP would be beneficial and most certainly fall under "People Care". There are not alot of people our age in the community, and we feel that spending time with the YP members would be a positive (and fun) way to begin to bridge the gap between the YP and the older community members.

Getting down to business...

Focalizers were appointed for various areas of the project, so that when our construction day came around (October 12) we would have some planning and instruction ready.

Project Focalizers:
Sarah - strawberry patch
Josh - grafitti boards and shoe rack
Kyle - hammock
Steph - bench
Ashley and Zack - older group event
Oren - younger group event

Administrative Focalizers:
Emma - documentation/secretary
Alexa - budget/treasurer

It's off to the races!

4 - meeting with the youth ages 13-15

2007-10-11T09:32:00.000-07:00

October 3, 2007

Our meeting with the older youth was shorter than our consultation with the younger group. Without much ado we split into groups for a similar brainstorming session, generating ideas around the YP space, and what would make it feel more "theirs".

Some of the silliest suggestions:
-a padded room
-a boxing pit
-a ball room
-fireman's poles
-a huge hamster wheel
-a cage with a lock

Some of the most expensive suggestions:
-an exercise gym
-a climbing wall
-a hot tub

Some of the most supported suggestions (probably because they had already been decided on but not completed)
-a strawberry patch
-a hammock
-graffitti boards

With consultations finished, it was now time to begin the design! Stay tuned for notes from our next meeting.

3 - meeting with the youth workers

2007-10-11T09:18:00.000-07:00

October 3, 2007

Over lunch we met with the three YP workers - Karen, Gabrielle and Ruby. We were interested in hearing what their take on the project was, and what kind of continuity would be needed for the project (i.e. if we built a garden, who would take care of it?). They mentioned that in our consult with the older youth members, that we should be aware of what had been started by the last FCS group and what needed to be finished. This included graffiti boards for the outside of the building, a strawberry patch beside the building and an outdoor hammock.

Ruby and Karen also expressed a need for an outdoor storage space that would be accessible to the youth outside of YP building hours. There were alot of basketballs and various sports equipment that consistently went missing since there was no place to keep them. They felt that an outdoor shed of some kind, with a combination lock, would be a good exercise in responsibility and ownership for the YP kids.

Some suggestions and ideas from the group included cleaning out the bombshelter as a place for the kids to meet outside of YP building hours and including the youth in the actual execution of the project to encourage a sense of ownership. It was decided that cleaning out the bombshelter would require alot of research and community permission, as well as conversations among the community and the YP about how to keep that space safe and drug-free. It was decided in the end that it was too far off the radar for the YP this year.

2 - meeting with the youth ages 8-12

2007-10-11T09:09:00.000-07:00

September 26, 2007

Today we met with the younger group that makes up the YP, ranging in age from 8-12. We did some brainstorming sessions in small groups about what they would like to see in the YP space.

Some of the funniest suggestions:
-huge rubber duck
-spaceship
-roller coaster
-sweet machine
-indoor snow machine
-shoe monster

Some of the funnest suggestions:
-party tent
-carnival
-pet show
-game day
-big hill to sled down
-climbing wall

Some of the most workable suggestions:
-barbeque
-zip line and tree house
-swing/bench/hammock
-teepee
-dance party
-shoe rack

After the small group brainstorming sessions each group presented their best ideas in charade form or a short skit. It was pretty hilarious. For the last hour, Simone and Oren ran games with the kids. Fun was had by all, and the whole group felt energized by being around the younger group.

1 - a day with craig

2007-10-11T08:50:00.000-07:00

September 21, 2007

Today our FCS group was introduced to the Service Learning Aspect of our Creative Expression Module - a permaculture project focused around the Youth Project here at the Findhorn Foundation, in The Park. Our project had three components - the project itself, the documentation of the process and a collective presentation to the community of what was concieved and achieved. The process was to begin in the next few weeks, while presentation was to take place on December 2 along with our art portfolio presentations.

Project Outline:

Using the primary principles of permaculture (Earth Care, People Care and Fair Share), how can we, the FCS student group, better equip the Youth Project's space in the Park to help the youth feel more included in the community and to feel a sense of place? Through consultations with the youth workers, community work departments and the youth themselves, we were to determine needs and wants of the various parties involved, and then execute a project based on permaculture design principles.

See pictures from the day here.