Learn about Permaculture with Keith Johnson

Tuesday, March 6, 7-9 pm
Monroe County Public Library Auditorium

Keith Johnson

Sponsored by Maple Heights, Near West Side, Prospect Hill and McDoel Gardens Neighborhood Associations

Permaculture Defined
Permaculture is an ecological design system for sustainability in all aspects of human endeavor. It teaches us how build natural homes, grow our own food, restore diminished landscapes, catch rainwater, tend animals, and much more.

A central theme in permaculture is the design of ecological landscapes that produce food. Emphasis is placed on multi-use plants, cultural practices such as sheet mulching and trellising, and the integration of animals to recycle nutrients and eat weeds. However, permaculture is much more than just food production. Energy-efficient buildings, waste water treatment, recycling, and land stewardship are other important components of permaculture.

Permaculture has expanded to include economic and social structures that support the evolution and development of more permanent communities, such as co-housing projects and eco-villages. As such, permaculture design concepts are applicable to urban and rural settings, and are appropriate for single households as well as whole farms and villages.

Keith is an experienced permaculture site designer and teacher who has been providing consulting advice and design since 1979. He has developed an intimate knowledge of regional landscapes, botany, soils, earthworks, natural building and other skills.

Now a Bloomington resident, Keith participates in projects including the editorial guild of Permaculture Activist magazine, Transition Bloomington, the Local Growers Guild, Bloomington’s Peak Oil Task Force, Bloomington Permaculture Guild and the Bloomington Food Policy Council.

With help from interns, Keith co-manages Renaissance Polyculture, a suburban forest garden on the 2/3 acre site where he homesteads with Peter Bane, publisher of Permaculture Activist.  A frequent public speaker and radio interviewee, he works to share a vision of cultural and ecological regeneration. Keith provides ecological design and consultation services through Patterns for Abundance, and is currently assisting in various projects to bring about increased food security for the City of Bloomington and Monroe County, including a city composting program, community gardens and orchards, urban agriculture, aquaculture, and more.