Estelline, SD

Four area residents will give an introductory talk on permaculture at the Legion Hall (Main Street) on Saturday, March 29^th.  The one-hour talk starts at 1 pm and is free and open to the public.  The talk is hosted by the Estelline Area Horizons project.

Permaculture (permanent agriculture) is a design science which integrates landscape and people providing their food, energy, shelter, and other material and non-material needs in a sustainable way.  The philosophy behind permaculture is one of working with, rather than against, nature.

“The permaculture concept originated in Tasmania, Australia, in the 1970s,” said Karl Schmidt, one of the four presenters.  “From Australia it has spread across the globe and is practiced and taught in virtually every country on the planet.”

Schmidt, and his three colleagues, Jane Hegland, Dean Isham, and Jessica Miller, were trained in permaculture design by Bill Mollison, one of the two originators of the concept, and Geoff Lawton, managing director of the Permaculture Research Institute in Australia.

Permaculture draws information from many fields, including agriculture, horticulture, soil science, animal systems, geography, agroforestry, interior design, construction, and engineering.  Its goal is to integrate this information into sustainable planning and design.

“This talk will be of interest to anyone concerned about the future of the planet, food security, and sustainability,” said Schmidt.  “But more than that, it is about sharing the proactive message of permaculture and what people can do themselves in dealing with these concerns.”

For more information, contact Karl Schmidt, 688-4913, or kjschmidt@mchsi.com.

Saturday’s meeting with Rhoda Burrows was attended by 10 community members, some new to Horizons.  We were impressed by the amount and helpfulness of the materials she shared, and much of it was left with us for reference.  Rhoda is also very interested in responding to further questions when we figure out what we need to know!

Next educational opportunity is this coming Saturday;  the venue for the Permaculture presentation has moved across the street to the American Legion Hall,  due to the Sr Citizen dinner, meeting, and games scheduled in conflict.  We hope some Seniors will come across the street for the educational session after their activity. 

And speaking of Senior opportunities,  anyone 60 years of age or better is invited for BBQ and salad supper evening of the 24th  (that would be tomorrow, Monday) sponsored by an aging grant which is wanting your input in improving wellness and health services;  show up to have your say.  

See you there?

Readers of the Estelline Blog–please notice that the right-hand bar now contains links to the minutes of the Horizons Executive Committee meetings (in Microsoft Word).

Estelline senior citizens are invited to the American Legion for a free supper on Monday, March 24 at 5 PM.  The menu consists of barbecues, macaroni salad, potato salad, cookies, milk and coffee.  They have the chance to win four fruit baskets as door prizes. 

Hamlin County Extension Agent, Sandra Namken, will interview those present who will first list the positive aspects of the town and then what we could improve on as related to aging health concerns.  The group will be asked to prioritize the list that night. 

 I

The Welcome Wagon subcommittee has had several meetings to get started on putting a Welcome Wagon together for our area.  They are now looking for businesses and area groups that wish to get their information out to new residents in our area.  Please  contact Lisa Loomis at 873-2261 with questions on how to be part of this program.  If you need to develop some promotional materials for your business, help will be available to create flyers, coupons, etc.

 I do not know if anyone else put the crew up that completed the Leadership Plenty Series last fall with the “Can Do” T-shirts but I have one to share with the group!  Again, since I attended the blog traning, I am trying to catch up by sharing some photos. 

I learned how to blog this week at the blog training in Estelline from Cheryl and am sharing photos of the group that attended the program last September in Huron.   Harvey was part of the panel discussion of communities attending and represented the Estelline Horizons group extremely well.

The next monthly meeting of the Estelline Area Horizons will be Tuesday March 18th at 6:30 p.m., at the Trails Edge.  Everyone is invited to hear updates on current projects or to become involved in various projects or bring forth ideas.  Monthly meetings are scheduled for the 3rd Tuesday of each month.  Please plan on attending.  For further information, please feel free to contact David Ebbers at davide@reliabank.com or 873-2261.

Join the SD Extension Educator specialist for computer training and access to this blog site as an editor, contributor, or administrator. Class Tuesday March 11th at the High School Library from 6:30-9:00p.m. with take home materials and sign on at the site. Snacks and baby-sitting available. No beverages in the library though, sorry. See you there!

Gardening and Selling Saturday March 22, 2008 1-3 p.m. at the Estelline Community Center, 219 Main Street
Rhoda Burrows ( you know her from Garden Line ) is coming to help us get ready for summer growing and markets.

Permaculture - an IntroductionSaturday March 29, 2008 1-3p.m. at the Estelline Community Center, 219 Main Street
Sharing from down-under, 4 locals recently returned from Australia offer good news on how each of us can do something about providing our food, shelter, energy, and other material and non-material needs in a sustainable way. Watch for more and longer sessions later this spring.

BLOG TRAINING Tuesday evening March 11, 2008 6:30-9 p.m. at the school ; bring laptops
Cheryl Jacobs, specialist educator in blogging whom you also know as our Horizons Community Coordinator, will help get writers, story-tellers, minutes-takers, as well as already tech savy individuals started on the Horizons blog. We are wanting some synergy here between folks of all ages.