Kenai Resilience
Earth Day & Beyond . . .
Earth Day will be hosted by the KPC Sustainability Club @ the Kenai River Campus on April 19th from 2-9. There will be many interesting informational tables & speakers. Be sure to take advantage of this free event!
Kenai Resilience will resume meeting next September. The theme next year will be “Resilient Household” and will be a more inter-active style. It will be a great chance for you to share your sustainable knowledge & projects with like-minded folks!
Have a great Summer filled with lots of hearty laughs & sustainable adventures & endeavors!
Rocket Mass Heaters & Natural Building Techniques
Thank you to Lasse Holmes, a natural builder from Homer, who discussed his experience, methods, & materials for putting together homes out of local & natural materials! A lot of really good advice was given about forming your own earthen (mud) recipe and putting together your own self-designed natural house. Lasse also shared a great deal of knowledge about rocket mass heaters and how the natural home building movement & philosophy compares to green home construction.
If you missed hearing about Lasse’s experience, there are many great books out there about natural home building. A good place to start would be the Wikipedia sight for a general introduction of this trade. The Natural Building School is also a great place to investigate.
An Evening of Resilient Holistic Medicine at Home
Resolving to Invest Locally in 2012!
Many thanks to Eric Treider, who presented an evening presentation of “Local Currencies”. Eric pointed out that sustainable local economies:
*Ask how local needs might be supplied from local resources,
*Strive to increase earnings within the community, and decrease expenditures outside the community,
*Acknowledge that money paid into the local economy should circulate within the community as long as possible before it is paid out,
*Look into possible uses of local currency, community-funded loan program, systems of barter, and the like, and
*Recognize the value of neighborliness.
Eric also presented the video “Time Banking is Changing Lives“, which is worth a look, if you missed the last meeting.
The Best Christmas Present Ever: An Old-Fashioned Homesteading Story!
Many thanks to Aby & Tinker Ala who talked about growing up in Fairbanks & Soldotna during the Homesteading Days. Their stories, pictures, & conversations brought up visions of the way things used to be and could be again in the future (if we just work toward building up a strong home-grown agricultural base here).
In addition, thank you for participating in the Christmas Book Exchange!
We hope you had a Merry Christmas & we wish you the best in 2012!!!!!
We’re so Thankful for Attention to Climate Change in November
A lot happened with Climate Change in November, 2011!
Many thanks to John Morton of the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge for presenting “The Impacts of Climate Change on the Kenai Peninsula”. It was a very interesting presentation about not just our local peninsula, but also about how climate change will impact the state of Alaska. If you missed the speech, you can read an article about it at the Clarion’s website.
In addition, thanks to the many folks who encircled the White House on November 6th to encourage the president to reject Keystone XL (pipeline) and live up to his promise to address Climate Change in a meaningful & heart-felt way. To learn more about the result of that protest, go to the 350.org website.
Resilient Bioneers Adapt to a Spooky October!
Thanks to all who came to our presentation about the Bioneers. We had an informal presentation for folks who couldn’t make it to the actual event in Anchorage in October. The Bioneers theme this year was “Resilience: Adapting to a Changing Planet”. Click here for more information.
If you missed the Bioneers Conference this year, check out their website. They’ll host another conference next year.
Moving Towards a Clean Energy Future!
Thank you to the approximately 35 people who participated in the “Kenai River Moving Planet” event on September 24th! “Moving Planet” was a worldwide human-powered trek on one day in September to communicate the need for solutions to climate change. The “Moving Planet” event was sponsored by 350.org, and a video of the global event can be seen here. Our Kenai photo of the day can be seen here on our Facebook page. Incidentally, 5 locations in Alaska participated (Kenai, Mat-Su, Anchorage, Sitka, & Juneau). Yahoo!!!!!
Garden Workshops on June 16
Kenai Resilience and Kenai Peninsula Garden Club are co-sponsoring two special workshops on June 16 featuring permaculture expert Saskia Esslinger of Red Edge Design in Anchorage, 9am – 12 pm and 1 pm to 4 pm. Registrations must in by June 10. Email your interest to Marion Nelson – mmkn@ptialaska.net ASAP and send 1/2 of the workshop fee to CPGC, PO Box 767, Kenai 99611.
9am-Noon – Workshop #1. ECOLOGICAL GARDEN DESIGN: Learn how to use Permaculture design principles to begin designing your abundant, low-maintenance landscape. Good design reduces inputs of money, time, and toxins to maintain the system. It helps us make better decisions and learn from our failures. In this workshop you will learn the basics of design and how to take cues from nature to help improve your designs. We will practice applying Permaculture design principles to come up with some novel ideas for our landscape.
1pm-4pm – Workshop #2. INSTANT GARDENS aka, yards to gardens: Tired of mowing? Turn your lawn into a garden in just a few hours, using mostly recycled materials. Sheet mulching is a great technique for building garden beds for many reasons: they are quick and easy to install over grass or other poor or degraded soil, they are significantly warmer, and they are easier to maintain. In this workshop we will talk about why and how it works as we build a garden together.
FOR WORKSHOP #2, PLEASE BRING A SHOVEL, AND BAG UP YOUR NON-MEAT KITCHEN WASTE INCLUDING COFFEE GROUNDS, TO ADD TO THAT GARDEN BED.
Workshop fee: $35 per workshop or two workshops for $60. (for same person)
Group size limit: 15 people (register by June 10!)
Location: Off K-Beach Rd., off Cannery Rd.
Workshop times: 9-12 and 1-4 on Thursday, June 16
Kenai Soil & Water Conservation District now hiring
The Kenai Soil & Water Conservation District is hiring for a seasonal position to work full-time June through September. The successful candidate will have good organizational, interpersonal and computer skills and have a reliable vehicle. This position works closely with the NRCS District Conservationist; the duties include outreach to local agricultural producers, planning and coordinating community events, data entry and clerical tasks. Competitive pay, mileage and some other benefits. Candidate must be available to work through the end of September.
Application deadline is June 1. Please submit a resume and letter of interest to:
Kenai SWCD
110 Trading Bay Drive, Ste. 160
Kenai, AK 99611
Questions may be directed to: 907-398-2432