Pikes Peak Permaculture

 Who We Are

ORIGIN OF A PERMACULTURIST
by Bonnie Willow

My husband Gary thinks his story of how he got into Permaculture would be boring to
you.  I think it makes an interesting map, for those who wonder what steps they could
take to begin on this path.  Here is Gary's story, from my perspective.

Gary had always been a semi-organic gardener and environmentalist.  In the 1990's
Organic Gardening Magazine inspired us to integrate more of those ideas into our
current gardening methods, and to learn more about organic gardening.  When we
both read the book "Behaving As If the God In All Life Mattered", by Machaelle Small
Wright at Perelandra Gardens (and then her book "Co-Creative Science"), we began
expanding our considerations to include interactions within the greater web of all life,
and the planet itself.

Around this time, careful stewardship of the Earth became a more central theme in
Gary's  life.  He became involved in year-round Earth Day activities, recycling, and with
the Pesticide Action Network.   Alternative energy sources (wind, solar, etc) and
alternative non-toxic and earth-friendly housing were subjects he studied thoroughly.  
His personal interests included how businesses could change their methods to go
from polluting and wasting, to clean and green and productive.  As he read dozens of
books on related subjects, he discovered "Introduction To Permaculture" by Bill
Mollison, and recognized it as an important turning point in his life.  He became more
serious about his calling, then.

We bought a home with 1/3 acre in Colorado Springs in 1999.  The yard was almost
entirely weeds as tall as our heads.  We began to garden and restore the place in an
organic manner.  My perennial interest in edible and medicinal indigenous plants and
lack of belief in "weeds" meant that our methods included those native plants, rather
than pulling everything out and starting over.  We have a large vegetable garden
which is tended according the the principles of organic gardening and Permaculture.

In 2000, Gary enrolled in an internet course with Windstar Wildlife Institute in
Maryland. Right away he put his lessons into practice in our yard, creating or allowing
habitats for various forms of wildlife.  In 2001 he was certified as a Wildlife Habitat
Naturalist.  Early in 2002, he participated in a discussion group/class on  Sustainable
Living. In the summer of 2002, he attended a two-week High-Altitude Permaculture
course at the Central Rocky Mountain Permaculture Institute in Basalt, CO.  Our friend
Becky Elder (already a gardener and award-winning environmental activist)  attended
the course too.  Both came back invigorated with new direction and purpose.

Since that course, Gary has dedicated the next year to re-building the hard clay soil in
our yard in a big way.  He has created more wildlife habitats around our yard, removed
almost all the grass in favor of drought-tolerant edible groundcovers.  As a large
greenhouse seemed necessary but was not within our budget, Gary designed and
built an affordable strawbale greenhouse.  He is planning a backyard forest garden
now, and has invited a pair of rabbits to live in our roomy hutch.  Next he will build a
worm bin beneath the hutch, to create our own super-fertilizer!

Pikes Peak Permaculture resource and education center is the result of our many
brainstorming sessions, to determine just what Gary's deepest earth-stewardship
desire is. We hope it lights your path somewhat and helps you along your way, just as
it is doing for us.

BECKY ELDER's AUTOBIOGRAPHY
By Becky

Becky Elder was raised in the tall grass prairie of Eastern Kansas. Bald rolling hills with  grasses towering over six feet in a good year, made the perfect fodder for cultivating a love for the natural world. Powerful weather, rattlesnakes and water moccasins instilled a healthy respect for the darker side of nature. Yips of coyotes, the buzz of insects, glorious sunrises and the vastness of the night sky sparked wonder and awe, rocked in the sheltering arms of a grand cottonwood tree. For 16 years, the homeland of her heart was the Flint Hills of Eastern Kansas.

Coming to Colorado as a young woman, she was introduced to organic gardening in 1975. The Front Range of the Rocky Mountains, where the Colorado mountains greet the Great Plains, became her home. A tiny backyard vegetable patch in Denver, squeezed between alley and garage, grew successfully. A few years later she tended much larger vegetable gardens, grapes and fruit trees. Intimate contact with the earth tuned her to the frequency of social activism and the environmental movement; she became locally active for wild lands, wilderness and ancient forests. 

As a Colorado State University Master Gardener (1995) Becky’s homespun gardening and nature intuition became a solid foundation. She continued her education working with the Master Gardener Programs for thirteen years, studying and teaching. 

Certified in permaculture design by the Central Rocky Mountain Permaculture Institute, 2002, Becky has taken the path toward sustainable design, and sustainable living for the future.  Gary Deetz and Becky founded the Pikes Peak Permaculture institute in 2002 as vehicle to bring permculture education and workshops to the Pikes Peak Region. She returns to the Central Rocky Mountain Permaculture Institute each year to teach.  Becky also earned the Earth Activist Training permaculture design certificate as well, 2005, at Black Mountain Preserve in Sonoma County, California. Since then, Becky has obtained an Advanced Permaculture certificate and a Permaculture Teacher’s Certificate. She teaches locally and offers workshops, as well as supporting other permaculturists up and down the Front Range...from High Altitude Permaculture in Ward, Colorado, to The Living Earth Center in Denver, to Sustainable Ways in Westcliffe, Colorado.

Keeping journals and penning observations, she shares her vision with others, writing for local magazines and newspapers. Her first book, Raven in the Garden, a foothills gardener’s journal will be available May of 2005 and reports over twelve collective years of writing, natural gardening and living in the front range foothills of the Rocky Mountains. Becky's classes and programs speak from her personal experiences with backyard habitats and the ethics of wild gardens.

  As a professional gardener, Becky has many opportunities to practice her organic craft through Blue Planet Earthscapes, an award wining organic gardening venture. Living in Manitou Springs, 6500 ft, she tends a forest garden and backyard habitat (certified by the National Wildlife Federation.)  Becky and her gardens were included in the Audubon's Society's book, Colorado Wildscapes.  Blue Planet Urban Farms was created in 2008, beginning simply with a small urban orchard and a few lasagna gardens.  The effort has grown in abundance and in scope.  Blue Planet Earthscapes supports Pikes Peak Permaculture, Pikes Peak Justice & Peace Commission, Transition Town Manitou, Manitou Springs Farmer's Market, Green Cities Coalition, and many other positive change organizations! 

Permaculture, organic gardening, protection of the soil, the fauna, as well as flora, learning, teaching and honing her life and living techniques is clearly Becky’s passion and her path.