Instructor: Jerome Osentowski of the Colorado Rocky Mountain Permaculture Institutue (CRMPI)
Dates: Saturday, June 2nd – Sunday, June 3rd
Times: 10am to 4pm
Some of the details that will be covered include, worm farming, pest traps, beneficial insects, banker plants, proper planting times for your indoor climate, amending soil, and forest gardens. The workshop will include on-site instruction in the Growing Spaces Growing Domes ® and a half day tour of residential Growing Domes® in and around Pagosa Springs. Also included is a virtual tour of Phoenix, the four season greenhouse at the Central Rocky Mountain Permaculture Institute where Jerome brings forest gardening indoors!
About the Instructor:
Jerome Osentowski is the founder and director of the Central Rocky Mountain Permaculture Institute in Basalt, CO (7000’). His half-acre demonstration site began as a successful commercial market garden operation. It has evolved into a series of greenhouses and a permanent forest garden, characterized by a complex integration of perennial edibles, fruit and nitrogen fixing trees, medicinal herbs, and annual vegetables.
Jerome founded the Central Rocky Mountain Permaculture Institute over 25 years ago, with a mission to develop the art and science of permaculture in our Rocky Mountain climate. Since then, he has developed an acre of pinon-juniper hillside on Basalt Mountain, into a lush paradise of edible forest gardens. The Permaculture Institute site includes four greenhouses, the largest of which supports tropical perennial plants year-round, including banana, papaya, passion fruit, mango, citrus, fig, and a large variety of annual vegetables and salad greens. He is a pioneer in the use of perennials in greenhouses as well as creating healthy self-supporting
indoor eco-systems. The fuel to heat these greenhouses is the sun – passive solar heat is stored in the soil as a “climate battery”, and supplies 75% of the heat needed during cold periods. The remaining heat is provided by a wood stove in an attached sauna, adding a beneficial aspect to a cold wave. Electricity for running the fans that distribute solar heat throughout the system comes from the grid, but the Institute’s large photovoltaic solar panel array creates more electricity than the Institute uses.
Cost for 2-Day Workshop: $80
Space is limited. To register contact Danyelle at 970-731-2120