Finally, a Solution.

I arrived home from Toronto on August 5th, and enrolled for a course on permaculture offered at the U of S as soon as I landed. The course was from August 8-21 and ran us 9-5 everyday of the weeks! As with most other experiences in my life I came away with a new set of friends, and a new skill to continue developing.

Saskatchewan's newest permaculturalists! (...and Guelph's)

Permaculture is a way of designing landscapes so that they are able to sustain themselves more easily with less of a human element. Although we design mainly for the needs of humans, permaculture focusses on humans being one point amongst many within the complexly inter-connected webs known as ecosystems.

Here are some many principles I got out of the course:
- Earth Care
- Human Care
- Return of Surplus

Earth care - although the Earth isn't a sentient being, we really should take time to recognize it as a living body and take care of it as one as well.

Human care - to me this point means taking responsibility for your own life, and the lives of your children, in ways that ensure future security and self-sustainability. This means getting rid of destructive habits to your surrounding environments as we depend so much on nature for food, materials, water, and shelter. Not only that but it is caring for what you are putting in your body, be it food, air, water or medicines.

Return of surplus - this makes sense. Think about it - we take and take from the Earth, and what do we give back? We return garbage wrapped in plastics and chemicals, we throw away food and let it mould and rot away, and we flush "waste" to some sort of treatment plant (often open waters). Instead of taking and not returning we need to be replenishing our soils with the same nutrients we strip it of. This can be done by composting our organic items including humanure.

***Side note on humanure

Before you turn away with disgust I think you should consider what is more gross - wasting billions of litres of drinkable freshwater every day on flushing nutrients down the toilet and then recycling that water by treating it with unsafe amounts of chemicals not meant for human consumption at the levels we consume them. This current system then leads us to having to use intensive synthetic chemical fertilizers on our food that has numerous charges on our health and bodies as well as the air we breathe...or collecting the nutrients our body can't access and composting them so they are in their plaint available forms and can cycle again to feed us! It is pretty obvious that our western culture needs some desensitizing to what we find unacceptable!

one group giving their presentation for how to design a site on campus

collaborative supper! mmmmm

tons of talent in this class

Linda and Mike...dancing the night away?!

Paul gave us good vibes =)

we maybe should not have encouraged the beer chugging...

popular footwear choice amongst the parmaculture designers

Mon Québec

Well I've been away from the blog for quite some time but as school approaches it's time to do some housekeeping around here! I've been reminiscing about my time in Quebec and it has inspired me to turn this post into a virtual scrapbook of my time in Trois Pistoles. 

I hope you enjoy it, here is my Quebec!

the other students that I ate with - Suzanne cooked us lunch and supper

Overlooking Parc Du Bic - a good hike to an incredible view from the top

Aileen and me =)

walking along the pier at low tide

two close friends of mine - the sunset and ma bicyclette!

the view of the St Laurent from my backyard

on our bike home from school we would pull over in this area with giant pieces of concrete and wild flowers to watch the sunset

the sunset from my backyard

thank god for sushi! After a sub-par meal at Suzanne's we would head to Boite de Sushi (Sushi Box) for THE best sushi I have ever had! In Trois Pistoles, Quebec! Who would have thought?

performing a rap en francais for my communications class!

late night pit-stops to the boulangerie (bakery) were frequent

studying was difficult on hot days - the "chutes" were much more refreshing

the weekends were filled with long bike rides with Sarah, my roommate!

the incredible countryside of 3P

a secret bridge over train tracks Sarah and I found in the little valley behind our house

horses near the house

where the rocks meet Laurent

=D

my professeur loved mes bottes! I would wear them if the skies were any shade of grey just in case, so she used them as a sign that we would be getting down to business in class that day! I can still here her say "Oh! Tout le monde, Michelle porte ses bottes!" 

Aileen and Rachel in Quebec City for the weekend

ferrying across to Levis for some night shots of the Chateau

Quebec at night

Je l'aime the crazy Quebecois performers this guy was amazing!

I tried to get a shot of the sunset every night - this was taken inside the cafe

...we forgot our key

after our course ended Sarah drove me back to Quebec

a necessary pit stop - the best chocolate dipped cone in the world!

look who found me in Quebec! My old friend Andrew!

messing around with some night photography

a few of my favourite things!

parliament...

...this doesn't mean we are supporters of the Bloc!

I'm lucky to have been given the chance to learn French in Quebec. It was an amazing experience and one that gave me a lot of knowledge, and a lot of life-long friends! 

Now here is a short but sweet list of must-do's in QC:

- eat sushi at Le Boite De Sushi in Trois Pistoles

- go to Librairie Boutique Venus (bookstore-not library!) in Rimouski for the best selection of books - English and French! Upstairs is a unique collection of clocks and phones too...random but incredible!

- after the librairie, go to Le Crepe Chignon for some top-drawer crepes and a cappuccino to top it off!

- visit Les Chocolats Favoris for some gooooood chocolate. This is where Sarah and I picked up our chocolate dipped cones. Only one word will suffice - Amazing!

Bon appetit! Thanks for reading =)