Note: I prepared this word doc for the Bloomington Planning Department in their meeting with Green Acres Neighborhood Association on September 9, 2006. — Ann K.

A PERMACULTURE DESIGN
FOR GREEN ACRES NEIGHBORHOOD

Visioned by Kevin Polk, Sylvia Van Bruggen, and Ann Kreilkamp as a design project during a permaculture training at McCormick State Park in May 2006 with Peter Bane and Keith Johnson, recent Bloomington transplants and long-time teachers of permaculture who publish the magazine, Permaculture Activist.

(Please note that this design is a “thought experiment,” one possible way to see the future of Green Acres. Both the design itself and the various elements in it are of course open to interpretation, question, cancellation, substitution and above all, improvement!)

Introduction to Permaculture

Permaculture, or “permanent culture,” is a philosophy, a science, an art and ultimately, a way of life that uses the protocols inherent in nature to design agricultural, architectural, economic and other cultural systems that sustain, enhance and integrate human life with nature’s capacity to nourish and protect all living things. Though this description may sound abstract, permaculture actually teaches us a new (and very ancient) way to perceive, understand, and engage with the natural world. Consider two permaculture principles:

1) There is no such thing as waste. All waste is food for something. Everything in nature eventually recycles — is both food for and feeds other things. So, it is our job, for example, to find out what likes to eat radioactivity, or toxic chemicals.
2) The edges are where the action is. Ecologists have long understood that where two ecosystems meet, like forest and meadow, both animal and plant species proliferate. And the more species the better, for diversity creates stability. Monocultures — like modern agriculture, suburban housing developments, or extreme reliance on one form of transportation — tend to be unstable, because they adapt poorly to changing conditions.

The old television series, “Green Acres,” is an apt metaphor for our Green Acres permaculture design: that sitcom took city slickers and stuck them in the country, whereas we would like to reintroduce aspects of the country back into the city. In sum, we would like to see our suburban neighborhood transform into a sustainable village. My own motivation both to become a neighborhood activist and to learn permaculture is fueled by the prospect of peak oil conditions, and our increasing need to learn to live and work and nourish ourselves in place while greatly reducing the need for motor transportation. — A.K.

How we created a permaculture design for Green Acres
The three of us approached our design problem by walking in the woods of McCormick State Park for five days and taking notes on our discussions. Giving ourselves permission to dream as wildly as we wished and let no obstacle stand in our way, in those five days we went from a stubborn sense
of hopelessness and futility in considering the future of a neighborhood that is 66% registered rentals (and who knows how many unregistered rentals) to a feeling of great hope and excitement as we began to recognize what we can do to ensure the well-being of both the common good and individual initiative in our Green Acres neighborhood.

We identified the biggest stickler, and a long-running problem in most college town neighborhoods, as the wild parties, lack of care for homes in, and lack of identification with our neighborhood — caused, apparently, by some student renters. Eventually, another principle of permaculture came to our rescue: the problem becomes the solution. We realized that student energy, so young and wild and free, and often wasted in late-night parties, can be harnessed and directed to ensure the future. This, coupled with the recognition that SPEA is housed only a few short blocks from Green Acres, led to the synergistic conclusion that we could link with SPEA to offer credit courses for permaculture experiments — pocket parks, trellised neighborhood paths, green building design, greenhouses, power-generating see-saws, organic gardens — who knows what else? Indeed, we realized, Green Acres could become a magnet for eco-minded IU students who would first rent in our neighborhood and then, with the help of a Green Acres credit union, buy a house, and raise a family.

So many ideas flew out of us during our walks and talks that we decided the only way to show an overall picture was to create a pie diagram with concentric rings to indicate time zones (2006-2007, next five years, and long term), and the pieces of the pie to show different sectors of interest and
necessity. Those items with stars next to them have already started or are in place.

Yesterday (9/8/06), Maggie Jessephs and I moved the words on the diagram to this document, so that you have something to take home and read. We plan to better organize and articulate the elements of the design before we turn it into a power-point presentation for the city council.

Here are the zones and sectors we identified, and what we wrote inside them.

GARDENING/HARVESTING

2006-2007

• Plant Share *
• Inventory edibles in neighborhood (especially fruit and nut trees, berry bushes)
• Fruit and nut pie contest
• Shared vegetable gardens
• Seed and tool exchanges *

Next five years
• Roving gardeners and gleaners guild
• Food processing center
• More home-grown food events
• Village perma-gardens (food/medicine) — start on pocket parks
• Nursery co-op
• Green Acres label for food

Long term
• Food now secure and sustainable
• Export of finished value-added foods and cookbooks
• Share or host neighboring communities
• Continue to diversify and increase yields
• Surplus food plus seed equals cash export
• Reputation attracts eco-students to IU and Green Acres

COMMUNITY/BOUNDARIES/CIRCULATION/SECURITY

2006-2007 (since most of these ideas expand and evolve into both the next five years and long-term, we identify them that way)
• Pick-It-Up Day. * Evolves into (next five years):
• Twice-yearly Pick-It-Up Day
• Adventure playgrounds: activity pockets for parents to meet next to vegetable gardens or in pocket parks; tree trunks, branches, mud, to play.
• Start the first pocket park at the gazebo triangle (7th and Overhill) for meetand-greet bulletin board, potlucks. Ask landowners to borrow the land for the park. Expands into (next five years):
• Establish more pocket parks throughout Green Acres with identity and variation. Evolves into (long-term):
• Backyard commons with network foot paths, parks, ponds, gardens, farms.
• Solstice event. * Evolves into (next five years):
• Yearly returning seasonal celebrations and art/music. Evolves into (long term):
• Green Acres Art and Music Association
• Trellis walk: existing footpath (4th from Jefferson to Roosevelt) for green center community education. Evolves into (next five years):
• Establish more green, quiet back alleys, foot paths, and start connecting.
Grows into (long term):
• Circular (perimeter) neighborhood pedestrial/bike trail “Green Acres Loop” with green, trellises, flowers, benches.
• Spray paint (City Repair style) intersection 5th and Hillsdale to establish village nucleus. Evolves into (next five years):
• Beautiful nucleus intersection with four pocket parks on each corner and bulletin boards. Grows into (long-term):
• Reclaim Hillsdale and some other streets for pedestrians, and solve flood problem on Hillsdale by greening street with fountain at nucleus intersection. Add clustered parking at three Green Acres gates.
• Neighborhood Watch
• Inventory old and handicapped. Grows into (next five years):
• Security: house and animal sitting. Services provided: lawn and garden, transportation to groceries and doctors, snow removal, visitation.
• Block captains *
• Newcomer meet-and-greet
• Inventory interest in mini-bus through Green Acres. Expands into (next five years):
• Lay out routes and stops, billboards for mini-buses. Beautify. Evolves into (long term):
• Connect mini-bus system with gates and other neighborhoods
• Banners with logo *
• Logo with announcements at intersections for events *
Next five years
• Community green house, community compost and recycling center.
• Permanent gates at existing entrances and new foot bridge over 3rd Street. Segues into (long term):
• Add pick-up stops for one car to pull over and pick up person from entrance (which has bike racks).

Long Term
• Former furniture store on 3rd becomes community building. 3rd street entrances is Green Acres face to the world. Edward Row entrance for Green Acres community. Functions: GANA office, small business incubation office, small offices for rent for GANA community, kitchen, dining/meeting
room. Play area for kids. Segues into:
• Community radio for East Bloomington. Continues to grow and becomes East Bloomington City Hall.

LIVELIHOOD AND WORK

2006-2007
• Annual Yard sale * (fund-raiser for GANA?)

Next Five Years:
• Annual barter fair.
• Many, many cottage industries for essentials. Examples: cloth and clothing; leatherwork; basketry and weaving, pottery, welding, engines and engine repair, woodwork, book trades, cooking/catering, soap and cleaning materials, healing arts.

Long-term
• Customer/producer associations. Crafts associations. Skills resource bank.

INFORMATION/TEACHING/RESEARCH

2006-2007
• Workshop ideas: plant ID walk, medicinal and edible plants, bat houses, bird houses, instant mulch garden, how-to-build a swale, how to build a water catchment tank, how to grow mushrooms, “school bus workshop” (what do Green Green Acres kids want?)
• Speaker series *
• GANA website*
• GANA list-serve *

Next five years
• Teaching/learning center (IU Green Acres links through SPEA and religion department to create credit courses for sustainability projects and experiments).
• Apprentice/mentor program
• Expeditions
• Demonstration homes, parks, streets, workshops
• Think tank
• Publications and leaflets
• Recruit eco-renters and buyers

Long-term
• Green Acres is a national and international model for suburban conversion to village sustainability with tours, books, DVDs, workshops, etc. sending out seeds everywhere and cross-fertilizing with other sustainability locations and beyond.

SHELTER/ENERGY (Power generation and collection)
• Passive solar greenhouses. * Expands into (next five years):
• More passive solar greenhouses
• Front porches *
• Increased energy efficiency: doors, windows, insulation, furnaces.
• Work parties *
• Benches on private yards facing street * and other City Repair structures (tea stands, little lending libraries)

Next five years
• Green designers, contractors and consultants
• Active solar
• Water catchment systems
• Swales
• Appropriate technology association
• Mutual lending society (e.g., meet monthly with X amount of money for each member’s project)

Long term
• Neighborhood windmills on three highest points, 850’ elevation.
• Community bank and credit union