Eco-weekend-o

Permaculture class transferred to the great outdoors with a trip to the Blackwood Institute This beautifully designed home and teaching center is made of straw bale
I never did find out what the significance of these stones is, anyone know?
The tool shed (with rainwater collection)
Brick oven
Guests enjoying a wonderful vegan lunch
Parsley, an apparent companion plant of citrus
It smelled absolutely wonderful in here....

The Make-out house, I mean, the Tree-house
How much wood would a woodchuck chuck...?
Oh la la, an outdoor shower!
Now that's what I call rainwater harvesting!
Row crops, but as in all good permaculture design, the rows do not consist of uniform crops

The Labyrinth
The Sweat LodgeDouble-vision in the Sweat LodgeThe ol' chicken coup The perfect end to a perfect day, shove over Eco....

Eco-weekend-o-continue-o

Owned by Cas & Gita Vanwoerden, Animal Farm is a working farm designed on the Permaculture principles. Located in Cat Spring, about 1 hour north west of Houston, the house and facilities are completely off the grid, relying on solar power, propane gas and well water. It's said to be remarkably cool during the summer, designed to maximize air-flow and shade. We'll see, another Permaculture field trip is scheduled for later in the year.... The house

Al fresco napping


Panoramic view from the rear balcony

One of the compost toilet systems

Straw bale wall revelation
Team One deciding where to create swales to help prevent flooding by storm water run-off

The education center, north face The rear of the education center, south face


The intricate makings of a thatched roof

Wonderdog

I should have been preparing for the SuperYawn, I mean, Bowl...

...instead I was playing in the mud. If you let your eye wonder along the line of newly laid mulch, you will see how weedy and overgrown it is in the section I haven't gotten to yet. Four more bags of mulch and some stakes are in order for that to happen.

Sims Bayou Urban Nature Center

Just managed to catch the long-necked goose flying over...

Spence waiting for the peep-show to begin...

...he wasn't disappointed

The missing ingredient in our compost pile...

WORMS!

Harvest Time at Levy Park

E-Rockin' in F-Burg

Eco-Teacho and I appreciating the great outdoors.

233 miles and over 4-hours later, we backpacked, we hiked, we climbed, we (he) decended into dark, creepy caves, we pitched a tent, we started many fires, we beat off the cold and the 40-mph gusts, we spotted road runners, falcon, deer and rufous-sided towhees, we snapped many photo, we drank lots of tea and we ate many powerbars.

Meet Mad-Eye Moody

After conducting extensive research, my amphibian consultant suggested a few changes to Mad-Eye Moody's surroundings and I must say he appears much happier in his new habitat. Apparently the filter was freaking him out; it states online that living in an environment containing a pump of any kind is like us living with a jack-hammer blasting in our eardrum 24/7. M-E-M was swiftly relocated to shallower, quieter, more solitary confines, where he happily swam around all day and chowed down on preserved bloodworms. Yummy.

Downtown Bayou Walking Tour

Willow Street Pump Station.















Previously seeded, currently mowed.












Abandoned 1900's grocery store, soon to be converted into Buffalo Bayou Partnership HQ with canoe/kayak rental on first floor which is prone to flooding...















Commerce and Main looking southwest, I think...















It was a great day for walking, and paddling : )
















The merging of White Oak and Buffalo Bayous, if you look down from the Main Street bridge you can see the muddy waters of Buffalo mixing with the greener waters of White Oak.
















Our docent, Joe. I would guess around 60 to 70 people attended. There were five or six groups. Great job GHPA and BBP.