Sunday

Birch Head, Q. Cassetti, 2010Went to the Pourhouse last night to hear the GoCats, a rockabilly group. They were excellent. Packed house. We went to bed with the assumption that our dear boy would be home by midnight, the time the Homecoming Dance would be over. At 3:15 our eyes sprung open. No boy. So on went the clothes—on went the brains and we clicked into problem solving. Before we started to launch into search mode, said boy walked in the door kind of shocked to see us fully clothed and functioning. Oops. Lesson, I think, learned. 

Today, there is talk about a crew coming here to watch the Godfather. I will make a mess of pizza shells and pizzas for this crew to keep things interesting. Now that I think of it, I will make the pizzas…and have popcorn def for them. Maybe the pizzas just for us. Rob will be installing the fixed computers over at the neighbors. Its a day without deadlines or focus—so maybe some beginning pictures around Sagamore that have been floating around my brain (in the Silhouette/ Home Sweet Home mode). Will be pulling out the pens, dredging up all the iconography from the week and putting it all together.

Vegging. I feel like coffee, flour and ink. That’s planning.

Back from Shangri La

Old Forge Hardware, Old Forge, NY, Q. Cassetti, 2010Rob gave a great presentation Friday morning about the “three legged stool” of budgeting and how to compress your strategy into a single, workable document that becomes the milestone from which management, the museum board and each individual contributor can work off the same “song sheet”. The day was brilliant and surprisingly warm, “indian summer” with all of us searching our bags for the singularly cooler thing to wear contrasted with the clothes of the week. All the participants were melancholy as the time dwindled and they all had to go back to reality—energized and motivated by all they had heard, participated and responded to during the week of The Museum Institute at Sagamore from Museumwise. It was thought provoking for me to hear about the work and tribulations of these focused and stressed individuals trying their best despite odd board dynamics, small budgets, high expectations and the general accountability and record keeping around each and every accessioned object in their collection whether it be a museum or a historic building, site or event. Each shared in the same push pull…and took heart from each other.

While on the other hand, there was little old me, reveling in the language and nods to Adirondack fabricated romance and romanticism, imagery and iconography, language and form.

Sagamore Yin Yang, Q. Cassetti, 2010Where I am going with that is this: I am fascinated by the iconography of what makes up “Adirondack”. You know the drill: birch bark, canoes, ADK guide boats,  log or tree inspired architecture, twig chairs and furniture, adirondack chairs, taxidermy and “trophies” on the walls, snowshoes, enamelware, pine trees, hemlock trees, pinecones, stone, mossy/lichen, fish/ jumping fish, all things fish (creels, rods and reels, tied flies etc.), loons, ducks, herons, glassy lakes, rocks, pack baskets, bear, moose, deer, pine scent, wool blankets, plaid, all things native american, lean-tos. You get the drift.

What is curious to me is that all of this stuff is derived from a victorian style that emerged in these Great Camps (with Mr. Durant driving this forward) that romanticized the working man’s Adirondack lifestyle for these imports, these city dwellers who came North for vacation to participate in sampling this rough and ready, scrappy life that the loggers and true outdoorsmen lived. It was adapted and modified into this lovely depiction for these brownstone dwellers of fresh air, and a refined unrefinement which were polished and presented “naturally” (with hordes of servants and staff in the background) and became the style that we think of as Adirondack. Not to just make it stylistic, Tuffitts of Moss, Q. Cassetti, 2010Durant and others borrowed quite liberally from James Fennimore Cooper’s writings (Sagamore and Uncas being just two of the characters from his books)…to the naming of houses and lakes, places and things that were derivative of this victorian view of Central New York and the Adirondacks. It is inspiring me to see if I can chew on this a bit, read a few of these books and see how this romanticism is manifested (when John Muir lived in nature and spoke cleanly, and purely on his interpretation of his experiences). When it all comes down to it, it is a fictionalized, romanticized view of this life, which we have just accepted…somehow as more historic than it really is…a “disney-ifcation of reality”.

And yet, if we think of the Adirondack identity—it is the art, architecture and craft from this golden era, this fantasy—which is presented to us as the historic reality it isn’t.

I was horrified and delighted by the real life photographs at the Adirondack Museum of the loggers ridingfrom the collections of the Adirondack Museum, Blue Mountain Lake,  these sleighs atop pyramids of enormous logs…with the narrative speaking to how these vehicles might lose control with the drivers jumping off and the poor horses left to fend for themselves if the sheer weight got the downward momentum of the load got to be too fast/too much. The impaled logger poster…and the descriptions of the camps and the absolutely primitive life these men had…eating and working with outdoors sport and hunting as the fun independent of family, or others. It was gritty, hard and though outside, as hard a job as any coal miner or railroad man might have had at the time. The trick was to stay warm, fed and active during the winter…and not to die getting the logs from the forest to the trains where they were taken away to the cities. Imagine the black flies and issues in the summer. At least if you fell in the river— the water might not freeze you…but being swept away with the tide and millions of pounds of wood would be horrendous. Not the cushy, pine scented, warm rooms with blazing fires in stone fireplaces with inglenooks and tea, oysters and champagne, (and people to make it for you and heat up your beds). 

Curious. Bring on the Cooper.

Speaking of continuing the fantasy, we left on our trip home to stop by the Old Forge Hardware Store.

Old Forge Hardware is the Vermont Country Store of the Adirondacks. They have all things woven, camping, enamel, food, outdoors wear, from bungee cords to campfire percolators (enamel or stainless?), from cast iron to smoked food…You could provision a cabin or a castle here…with chairs and back baskets, to canoes to Orvis fly fishing gear. It was fun. I was tempted but did not succumb. We have enough stuff regardless of how much I love this stuff. I mean, canoes and portable saw mills—beautiful enamel dutch ovens and tons of cool crockery that you can add a spiggot to in an instant (I adore these things). Gradient and colorful Pendleton shirts that put both of us in the way back machine (def. need to start thrifting for this sort of stuff). Crusher hats…the whole magilla. All there with brass sleigh bells on things, and huge jugs of maple sugar to go. Hardware store meets brand identity for ADK.

We got back late—and then up early this morning to get Alex to school to catch a bus to get to the Baldwinsville Cross Country invitational. “Bee Ville” is always one of the best meets, so we always go…and did. Alex and team did very well with some happy surprises in the JV, and a new varsity crew that did well. Tonight is a homecoming dance. I have thrown all sorts of leftovers from the week into a pot with some tomatoes and have a recycled soup in the works for the team next week.

Need to go…Alex awaits. More later.

Morning Mist: Sagamore Day Four

Lake View, Q. Cassetti, 2010Another day in the Adirondacks. Someone thinking about where we need to be and what and when we need to eat, talk, perform. Bliss. It really is a landlocked cruise boat experience where all you need to do is either go with the flow or do what you want to do. Its crazy, but just over the few days we have been here, you can literally see the trees changing color in the landscape as the evenings are cool/cold and the mornings just a bit warmer to give us mist rising over the lakes, these mirrored lakes that dot the horizon around here.

The words and ideas of James Fennimore Cooper seem to pop up even here. Not just Cooperstown, but points north with Sagamore and Uncas being characters in his books. I guess the Leatherstocking nomenclature and reach is part of this culture here—east and north of Cooperstown and Otesaga…but I hadn’t linked the two. Niagara Region, the burned out zone all have names and brands. The Finger Lakes with the lakes and waterfalls really do not capture any sort of romance or nod to anything beyond natural history…something with some toothiness that we could work with (I am thinking this with regard to Farmer Ground Flour and Stefan’s bakery). Where is our history with the plumb line county maps, the Greek named towns with the Greek Revival Buildings? Where is our history beyond that of fossils, salt mines, and deep cold lakes with the avian flyover? Where are our icons like the Adirondacks of pine trees and cones, snowshoes, loons, baskets, quilts, fishing gear, chairs, birch trees and the like? I am looking and cannot find a link. What is the key? How do we capture it? Time will tell. Often just letting it simmer, something will pop out.

Today is work on the Feline and Baker and then a trip to the Adirondack Museum for a talk by John Buchinger, Associate Director of Education at New York State Historical association and Program Development Consultant—on the cycle of community/individual that Rob has told me about so many times. We are applying this good thinking to localvore food…and I am anxious to hear it from the conceiver of this big idea.

More later.

Treat time

Treat trip to Uncas, Q. Cassetti, 2010

We had the distinct pleasure and honor to go to visit Uncas, one of the Durant Great Camps near Sagamore thanks to the private owners and to one of our generous* Camp Uncas was developed 1893 to 1895 on Mohegan Lake in what is now the Adirondack Forest Preserve.

Writer John Warren, upon the designation of Uncas becoming a National Historic Landmark in 2008 says:

“US Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne announced yesterday that Great Camp Uncas on Mohegan Lake has been selected as a National Historic Landmark.

Camp Uncas is located a few miles south of the hamlet of Raquette Lake, in the Town of Long Lake, Hamilton County. It is close to the geographic center of the 9,300-square mile Adirondack Park. The camp was built by William West Durant, pre-eminent architect and builder of the Park’s most famous and well-preserve great camps (including the adjacent Great Camp Sagamore, also an Historic Landmark and open to the public for day trips and overnight stays).

The designation of Great Camp Uncas marks the third building in the tiny hamlet of Raquette Lake to be awarded National Landmark status. The other two are Great Camp Sagamore and Great Camp Pine Knot, all built by Durant.

Great Camps are compounds of buildings meant as a self-contained (often self-sustaining) seasonal retreat for a wealthy family, mimicking a tiny rural village. Great camp architecture reached its peak around the dawn of 20th Century, as the industrial magnates of the Gilded Age were spending their fortunes on ways to escape the crowded and polluted cites of the Northeast. Each building served a separate purpose, with dining halls, libraries, game rooms, blacksmith shops, boathouses, carriage houses, barns, farms, guest quarters, servants quarters and lounges.

Many great camps fell into disrepair as the wealthy owners passed away or lost their fortunes in the Great Depression. Some were later purchased by scout groups and other institutions that had the means to keep them in order. 

Perhaps the two most important features of Durant’s great camps are his use of the landscape to conceal the buildings from view until you are right next to them, and his use of whole logs, rock and bark to create a rustic look that matched the landscape but also provided great comfort within. It was a combination of the American log cabin and the opulent European ski chalet. The style has been widely emulated, serving as the prototype for nearly every major lodge and administrative structure built by the National Park Service, including Yellowstone Lodge in Montana.

While Durant built Great Camp Uncas for himself, he was forced to sell it to pay his debts. New owner J. P. Morgan used it as a wilderness retreat for many years.

For the past 30 years, visitors to Great Camp Sagamore have been given tours of Uncas as well. More than 20 group tours came through just this past summer. Uncas and Sagamore have each hosted the Adirondack Council’s Annual Forever Wild Dinner and Conservationist of the Year Award celebration. This year, Uncas hosted the Adirondack Architectural Heritage organization’s annual meeting as well.

The Sagamore and Uncas roads are designated bike trails, surrounded by Adirondack Forest Preserve lands.


* Camp Uncas is one of the best examples of Adirondack camp architecture, which was designed for leisure. It is of exceptional historical and architectural significance as the first Adirondack camp to be planned as a single unit by William West Durant, widely recognized as one of the most important innovators of the property type.

* At Camp Uncas, Durant developed the camp as a single cohesive unit: a “compound plan” for camps that provided for an array of separate buildings, all subordinate to the natural setting. Camp Uncas was built as an ensemble from start to finish.

* The Adirondack camp had a strong and lasting influence on the design of rustic buildings developed for national and state park systems in the 20th century.”

Get the Work Out!: The Sketchbook Project: Brooklyn Art Library

We know how precious a sketchbook is. You carry it with you everywhere, spending months working on it. It becomes a part of you. When you’re finished, share your hard work with the world. We’ll make sure you stay connected with your sketchbook as it tours the country and after we catalog it in The Brooklyn Art Library.

After signing up, you’ll receive a 5 .5x8.5 inch Moleskine Cahier sketchbook. Every artist who completes their sketchbook and returns it to us will have their book included in the tour. Your book will visit galleries and museums across the country, putting your art in front of thousands of people. (Psst - this is a great way to add some new lines to your résumé.)

Keep in mind that you can also access individual groups by typing their names into the search box and following the direct link that appears.Every person who views a book, whether it be at the exhibition or in The Brooklyn Art Library, receives a library card to use while browsing. As a participating artist, you’ll receive a limited edition library card with your name on it. With artists participating from all around the world, we know it’s impossible for everyone to be able to see our exhibitions. But we don’t like “impossible.” We’ll be filming exhibitions from the tour so our far-away artists can see first-hand how viewers interact with their work. And the exhibition at The Brooklyn Art Library will be broadcast live over the internet! Take that, impossible.

Your sketchbook will be given a barcode with a unique number - this allows us to keep track of your book and record who views it at every tour date and while it’s in The Brooklyn Art Library. And after we catalog it, artists will be able to log-on and view realtime statistics about their book for years to come. Each and every single time your book is viewed, you’ll receive an e-mail or a text message alerting you what city it was viewed in and the first name of the person browsing through it (well, only as long as they provide their name!) Even better, you can turn these notifications on or off at will. Just like your local library, we know exactly where each sketchbook is hiding. You can send friends, family, and art lovers to The Brooklyn Art Library and we’ll be able to immediately pull your book - or any other work you may have displayed with us - for them to view. Same goes for our tour. We like to keep things organized. here’s a handy pocket attached to the inside cover of every sketchbook. Inside this pocket, you can place a card that contains your artist information - anything from a short biography to your website address. The Brooklyn Art Library’s main goal is to improve our collection so as many viewers as possible will see your finished products. That in mind, we’re putting our collection of sketchbooks online for the whole world to see. Starting in the Spring of 2011, we’ll begin the task of meticulously digitizing each page and posting them online.

L E A R N M O R E

All things Adirondack

We visited the Adirondack Museum for a “meet up” with Museumwise on Monday night. It was fun and even better, we met old friends and acquaintances of Rob’s from his past and from his professional past. So we have new friends and another chance to be in that museum. I was in the gift shop looking for pine pillows and pancake batter (for the project I am working on) and looked at the art there. There was an interesting vector poster that said “Adirondacks” with vector illustration. I googled the artist, to find out that she is part of the Wild Apples stable of illustrators. Beyond that, I was looking at all the stuff, and the pretty solid iconography that says “Adirondacks” to the general populace: snowshoes, chairs, pinecones and boughs, pinetrees, loons, bear, wicker backpacks and those things homey and simple like quilts and soup pots. And I thought,” hey you! Icons are your middle name—puhease get yourself in gear and sell some stuff….you already have the loons” . And then I thought, and now I know people. So put it together princess! Get going.

More later.

Sagamore: Day Two

Evening at Sagamore, Q. Cassetti. 2010Another day at Sagamore with blue skies, clouds, rain and then a clear evening. From frost to warm and back to cool again. I love the brilliant swing that the weather, light and day gives us that for me, is united by cups of tea, many pixels and intermittent visits of Robbie to check his email, his facebook and to make sure I am breathing and where he left me.

The new crew for the week came in today. I am invigorated by  the 2010 group of interesting, bushy tailed and serious people who have come to The  Museum Institute at Sagamore. Paralleling the board, this crew are vital, engaged, intellectually engaged and actiively open and social—within the first three hours in meeting their fellow participants and peers. Its learning in the classroom with seminars and discussion continuing here at the beautiful Sagamore and then mixing at dinner with different people. By the end of the week, the collegiality and new connections that each individual will make gives each person confidence, a new group of peers and an appreciation (at least for me) for all things New York.

Today, I met the new Director of the History Center (Ithaca), the Director of the North Country Underground Railroad Historical Association, and the Executive Director of the Bartow-Pell Mansion. Active minds actively working, connecting, actively engaging at The Museum Institute at Sagamore. Lets just say, I feel a bit overwhelmed albeit I got a lot done on the Cornell work and some roosters for another project. Having a bit of time to myself just to work outside of a schedule is delightful and on par with the time I had in graduate school just to collect myself and get my wits together. By the end of the week, I hope that all my loose ends will be gathered and straightened.

Sagamore: Day One

We had a great visit with Kitty over the weekend. Saturday, we met her on campus and went to pick up some of the computer stuff we are having repaired in Amherst (great resources at a great prices that we do not have in Ithaca). Then we took her and a friend to the Korean Restaurant to have dinner and catch up.

She is in fine feather—all is right with the world. We are delighted as she has settled and is herself again. Not fretful and finicky (the pronouncement day one that she will need to change dorms) has dissolved and she is loving every minute of work and play that is being handed her way. Surprisingly, her favorite course is the Indian Epic course (The Ramayana) with the Penguin book translator (abridged) as her professor. She cannot get enough of it…and she is reading and recounting, talking about mythology and culture…alll those things that makes me crazy with glee. I love the stories but even more, I love the nutty pictures that depict all this Indian Superhero on steroids type of content. It will be interesting when Kitty gets around to thinking across topics from Indian Epics to animation. This is when the real fire will engage. She was quite pointed about ideas and points of view she has developed over the years on the topic of art which really lights her fire…and she will take no prisoners when it comes to that. So our girl with no opinions might have a few of her own. It is wonderful to see our girl blooming in this new culture of growth, learning, talking, trying. I know its premature, but it feels like great things might happen out of this experience. You all know that I certainly hope it does…but it really has energy behind it.

Yesterday, before our trip, we had breakfast with Kit at Atkins Farms, the wonderful grocery store just across the cornfield from Hampshire College.  They have a great breakfast, plus we get a chance to poke around the store and buy great stuff we cannot get at home…so a gigantic bottle of maple syrup on special, some bee capsules (magic feelgood energy etc…I believe!), some gourmet pancake mix for competitive discussion on a project, and a brine for pork and/or turkeys that came in a really nice, basic foil pillow pouch (two color label on matte silver).  It was nice sitting outside and watching Kitty talk and update us on the wheres and whatfors of her friends and life while watching something go on that we do not have in Central NY (and seems to be a waaaay easy way to fundraise).

Fee: $15. to get a pair of used pants, old shirt and all the hay you can stuff into it. There were hats (fromWilliamsburg Snack Shack, Q. Cassetti, 2010 Oriental Trading Company or the like) for the scarecrow’s head. No huge skills out there for the making and stuffing of these hay beings. And little and big around here cannot get enough of this entertainment. The local fire departments (as posted at the Williamsburg Snack Shack) even get into this holiday offering fun. Lunch was good at the Snack shack. So, this sort of selling seasonal fun hasnt crept into Central New York. People were tying corn sheaves onto their roofracks yesterday along with the odd carrying of these haymen under calm daddies’ arms…limply wiggling, deadweight figures that were a bit eerie in  their likeness….but well worth considering to do in our Tburg Farmers’ Market space.

We visited The National Yiddish Book Center at Hampshire. The Book Center is remarkable from the moment you park in front of the asian inspired facility, framed by beautiful gardens with meaning with comfortable places to park yourself with in the sunshine or in the soft pine woods with adirondack green chairs in a circle around a generous table. There is a pond and an orchard with a garden devoted to Yiddish literature and writers. There are performance spaces that we saw peering in through the windows. Combined with the Eric Carle Museum, the book world, illustration, imagery, photography, storytelling all hugs our little Hampshire giving the students an amazing source for their own work, their own stories, their own images and illustrations.

Sagamore Rooftops from our room, Q. Cassetti, 2010We drove across Massachusetts and up 87(?) to poke into the Adirondacks at Exit 23. It was a beautiful blue green drive with golden light and trees beginning to turn. There were ski gondolas as lawn ornaments the minute we turned off. The drive was inspired into and up the mountains to arrive at Sagamore just in time for dinner, a gathering of all the interesting people on the Museumwise board and then cold, cold sleep.

Today has given us blue skies and a cool day. I am surrounded by historians, curators, conservators, preservationists, organizers and planners. It is a most wonderful group of active minds, passionate about their topics, their work, their learning, this group. There is such vibrancy that there are glimmers of the travel with Hartford and Syracuse. I have needed some time to think and reflect. As much as I have brought project work to do, which I will do, it is nice to have an expanse of time to think, to do, to draw. Tonight there is a “meet up” at the Adirondack Museum (which I love)—and more ideas and interesting people.

One more thing>> take a look at this>> the Eye Fi>> too cool for school.

Work in Progress, Rooster, Q. Cassetti.2010Too wild here. The stuff hit the fan…and I am trying to bail water and keep the boat afloat. Here is the chicken as it keeps evolving…

Holiday card mania. Endless variations and alterations. Phone problems, technical booboos. I am ready to rip the hairs out of this aging head.

I think I am going to knock off , drink some cherry tea and wind some wool to peel myself off the wall.

Sorry for my lack of interest today…its just I have maxxed.

Early Start

Rain at the Sagamore, Q. Cassetti, 2010Yearbook this a.m. I have “sales tools” created for the team to use to sell books right out of the gate. We have pricing, examples and the works….so maybe we can generate a bit more interest while parents and students are focused on writing checks and getting things done for the seniors before the crush of college applications happen.

Alex needs to be dropped off at 7:15 for the second half of his music theory class. So, we have been rolling since the early side of things this a.m. Rob got up in the middle of the night to the clanking of the radiators which had heated up to winter strength due to one of the back doors blowing open and changing the heat in the house. Shady got a midnight break to do her business too…So its been an up and down sort of morning.

I have a massive hunk of pork crockpotting and the soup is ready for the team (prepped last night). I got all of Alex’s paperwork done (school pictures and a sheet with phone numbers and the like). So, at least I am not starting the day at a deficit like some days.

I need to get my stuff together for next week’s Adirondack charette. I have my new beautiful (and amazing battery life) powerbook, I have my mini scanner (size of a piece of paper and about 1/2” thick) and my wacom that all fit into a totebag. I am planning on illustration illustration and illustration along with some walks in nature. I have a little stack of electronic reference…and am getting excited about vectorizing a bit…along with sketching. I have a few books on the Kindle and need to check to see if my audible collecction is up to snuff. Will be listening to books on tape as I work (which I love to do). There is an internet connection at the public library outside of the confines of the Camp, so I will be making trips to see what is boiling here…and whether phone calls need to be made, or projects to be amended.

The Society of Illustrators Show submissions opened this week along with those for Society of Illustrators LA. I think there will be some of the Hangar Posters (def. The Man of La Mancha), a cat, and some of the decorative stuff (home sweet home, nutcrackers, and one or two of the fraktur inspired pieces). Feeling less than confident these days, so we will see.

Gotta go to class…and more coffee…

Let the Sunshine In

Phoenix rising from the flames, Q. Cassetti, digitalRefinement coming on with this bird. Not finished yet. Some of the shapes are not working…and need a bit of the retouching white out and some reshaping. Rob thinks he looks cranky. Cranky works for me. Rising from the flames takes determination and crankiness. So there.

More birds planned for this project. Only, instead of them being the whimsical birds, they will be fauxcuts like this. Getting my reference for the trip next week so as to focus on the Hangar illos. I hope this can gel. It would be great to nail this stuff early.

The back hallway sketch (placing windows in place, working with the open area) is getting interesting and real. I will cut in a picture so you can see what is happening on the construction front. I have been cooking down pork in a crockpot to make pulled pork (which is absolutely the easiest, nicest way to slow cook the meat…and to that, cheaper than cold cuts for the crowd I am feeding everyday. We have David and John and their new team member and wonderfully interesting Henry. There isBack porch redux. Q. Cassetti, 2010 Bruce and Erich and sometimes a few more depending on who is on site to work on the project. So, fast, hot lunches are my expertise. I will make a gigantic pot of soup and have it drained by the end of lunch. With it getting colder, the hot things will be more and more important. Note the new roof. and the pulled back dimensions. Also, you can see the rubble and the gigunda dumpster (second one) to just clear out the crap that has been bolted on, taped to and retrofitted to this hallway which,, now we are back to the original dimensions and roofline, we are getting tons of light in the first floor of the house. The Cave has gone. Let there be light…and there was light (after a big hot lunch of pulled pork).

Henry is interested in all sorts of things…permaculture in particular. There is a permaculture expert here in the Tburg environs who takes on apprentices to teach them about permaculture practices, and putting those practices into use. Wikipedia describes Permaculture in a clear way that even weak minds can grasp (like mine):

Permaculture is an approach to designing human settlements and agricultural systems that mimic the relationships found in natural ecologies.

Permaculture is sustainable land use design. This is based on ecological and biological principles, often using patterns that occur in nature to maximise effect and minimise work. Permaculture aims to create stable, productive systems that provide for human needs, harmoniously integrating the land with its inhabitants. The ecological processes of plants, animals, their nutrient cycles, climatic factors and weather cycles are all part of the picture. Inhabitants’ needs are provided for using proven technologies for food, energy, shelter and infrastructure. Elements in a system are viewed in relationship to other elements, where the outputs of one element become the inputs of another. Within a Permaculture system, work is minimised, “wastes” become resources, productivity and yields increase, and environments are restored. Permaculture principles can be applied to any environment, at any scale from dense urban settlements to individual homes, from farms to entire regions.

The first recorded modern practice of permaculture as a systematic method was by Austrian farmer Sepp Holzer in the 1960s, but the method was scientifically developed by Australians Bill Mollison and David Holmgren and their associates during the 1970s in a series of publications.

The word permaculture is described by Mollison as a portmanteau of permanent agriculture, and permanent culture.

The intent is that, by training individuals in a core set of design principles, those individuals can design their own environments and build increasingly self-sufficient human settlements — ones that reduce society’s reliance on industrial systems of production and distribution that Mollison identified as fundamentally and systematically destroying Earth’s ecosystems.

While originating as an agro-ecological design theory, permaculture has developed a large international following. This “permaculture community” continues to expand on the original ideas, integrating a range of ideas of alternative culture, through a network of publications, permaculture gardens, intentional communities, training programs, and internet forums. In this way, permaculture has become a form of architecture of nature and ecology as well as an informal institution of alternative social ideals.

Here is the Finger Lakes Permaculture Institute >>

Certainly something to think about.