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OFIW (On Friday's I write)

Back in BCN (OFIW)

Montjuic, any Friday morning

Back in BCN (OFIW)

Lou is back in Barcelona after 6 months away on adventures. This post is an update about what's going on with Boodaville Permaculture Association.

So here I am, back at my desk for the first time since February, and writing an OFIW post for the first time since.. I don’t know. Things got incredibly busy before the trip; creating that adventure is a whole story, or even a book in the making.

I will publish a post with the top 50 photos as soon as I have the technological capability. And for now – I just hope you can read this post! We STILL have some kind of malware in the wordpress, but are one step closer to getting a government grant to employ a website manager since I spoke to our accountant last week.

So what would a Friday post look like this season?

Well there will inevitably be comments on how I am: Today I’m fantastic because I did some incredibly successful parenting this week and got both kids tucked up for the night by 21:30. This is an all time record and will hopefully become normal. I aim to have evenings and children that aren’t so tired they are like zombies.

Then I think it’s really important to let people know how Boodaville is going, maybe with a bit of Rovira Regenerativa thrown in.

My exciting permaculture / eco activities  would be a good section and I hope there will be many things to report.

Then an important part of any post would be other Boodaville projects – what’s coming up, where we might need participants, ideas or help.

And for my own benefit I guess it would be very useful for a comment on the overall admin of the Aso and what’s occupying my time this week. Ok – let’s give that a shot!

How is Boodaville Finca going? and Rovira Regenerativa?
Thanks to Angela and Jessica who have become regular visitors, and are supporting the overall vision and strategic plan of the association we have an INCREDIBLY tidy and organised space. A few of our favourite Permaculture Design examples have been lost over the years and we are working to reintroduce them. The land is suffering after a very harsh drought, we got 60mm last week — let’s hope for more.
 
In about a month we should have another nail biting moment when we receive news about our application to run the “Rural Classroom” at Boodaville Finca. If it’s a YES then we are FINALLY absolutely ready to open and start offering workshops and guided tours legally!! If it’s something else then we have some serious issues.
 
Jessica is onsite right now preparing a winter veg bed, and showing our new volunteers how it is possible to live at Boodaville – water, energy, waste, comfort. Ooh and hopefully making some compost tea as well – with a barrel of whey she brought down from her current home with the goats in Navarra.
 
Rovira Regenerativa – well there’s no grape harvest, Angela is monitoring the vines, we are planning to keep working to see what happens next year.
 
The 1000 trees we planted were looking pretty good in June and I’ll be honest.. I didn’t dare go back and look at the end of August. So you’ll have to wait for more info on that.
My exciting permaculture / eco activities

Well I’m reading “At Work in the Ruins” by Dougald Hine and absolutely loving it. I folded down the page about the difference between knowledge – arm’s length facts – and “knowing” which is when we let the knowledge in and it becomes part of our way of being.

I really feel I’m in the second category; and that teaching Environmental Systems and Societies in a white classroom was just knowledge and less wisdom.

And my other most exciting of adventures is an invite to submit a story to Looby McNamara’s next book. This is huge, and a tight deadline. I’ll be achieving one of my goals to share more about the Europe Trip and how and why I designed that into our lives.
 
And, as someone who sometimes says yes to things now.. I have a teaching gig up at WildLab in two weeks! I’m not sure about the details and have a call about that.. well ..now!
 
So for more categories and another update I’ll be back next week.
 
Anna Louise
 
 

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ESC volunteering 2024

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ESC volunteering 2024

Permaculture volunteering opportunities in 2024 with Boodaville - the call is open for European Solidarity Corps volunteers!

BOODAVILLE CASERES

(Scroll down to read about Boodaville Barcelona)
APPLY HERE!
WHO?

This is a placement for participants with a maximum age of 30 as it is funded by the European Solidarity Corps. We are looking for people who are highly motivated to learn and apply Permaculture, who are responsible and have an interest in nature and outdoor activities and education projects with young children. Applicants should have good communication skills and be ready to live in a small community. They should be prepared for quiet village life, and be ready to explore the area by bicycle.

We also invite participants with fewer opportunities.

WHERE?

For 24 hours a week volunteers will be at Boodaville Kindergarten, a developing family permaculture centre in the Matarranya region of Spain. Visitors learn about this permaculture education project applying, effective & sustainable design techniques in a place with challenging climate conditions.

Boodaville started in 2008 with the purchase of 1.5 hectares of olive terraces and pine forests in a stunning, tranquil location. Over the years, many people in an ever-growing international community have become involved and we’ve learned about, and applied, permaculture design during the development of the original site and the site of the new family project.

The long term goal is to create a working example of permaculture principles in action and create an eco-education centre with plenty of space for workshops and courses.

Volunteers will live in a fully-equipped caravan at the family project during the week, and have a room in rented accommodation in the small village of Caseres available for weekends and for 6 hours of online work related to the ESC program (youthpass diaries, writing up reports, organising and sharing dissemintion material).

Caseres is a rural village about 3 km from the demonstration site of Boodaville, and 6km from the family permaculture site. It is a small village of about 300 people located next to the Algars River where you can bathe. 

See more about Caseres here : http://www.caseres.altanet.org/

WHAT?

The volunteer will have the role of assisting the Boodaville Kindergarten during the school time (from 9.00 to 15.00), and occasionally he/she will have the option to work in the permaculture project belonging to the school families, or the Boodaville Finca, nr Caseres – In which the main activities are Regenerative Agriculture and taking care of 4Ha of olives, almond trees and a vegetable garden. The permaculture and educational practice, meetings and other activities take place during 30 hours per week.

There are three main activities within the volunteer project:

1) Training in natural environment education, creating and developing activities focused on nature pedagogy and outdoor education.

2) Learn practical permaculture skills, communication, group cohesion, sharing ideas, facilitation and developing self-confidence. 

3) Reflection work, write blog posts, post photos.

WHY?

This European Solidarity Corps program is an opportunity to make something for you and for the world. All basic living expenses are covered as well as the expenses to travel to Caseres, and you receive monthly pocket money. 

You will be living and learning ethical design, as well as experiencing life in a rural Spanish village. There are all sorts of possible day to day activities, please read the infopack for more information  and if you are eligible you can start the application process by filling in this form.

APPLY HERE!
WHEN?

From the 10/01/2024 to the 10/07/2024

———————————————————————————————————————————-

BOODAVILLE BARCELONA

WHO?

This is a placement for participants with a maximum age of 30 as it is funded by the European Solidarity Corps. We are looking for people who want to support our management of European Projects, who have a passion for social media, and are highly motivated to learn and apply Urban Permaculture. The ideal candidate is responsible and has an interest in ecosocial transition. Applicants should have good communication skills in Spanish as there will be networking and social media tasks. They should be prepared to come to the Poble Sec neighbourhood to work at least three days a week.

WHERE?

Volunteers will live in, or close to, Barcelona and will work in the Poble Sec neighbourhood to create regenerative projects. They will work in a variety of locations including co-working spaces, the offices of collaborating organisations, urban gardens and outdoor public spaces. 

WHAT?

Volunteers will work on three two main tasks 1) Support with online work – mainly Instagram/Website/Project Management  2) Working in the neighbourhood implementing ecosocial design in the Poble Sec neighbourhood.

The volunteers will help Boodaville Association grow by engaging young people and sharing opportunities, both online, and in person in the neighbourhood.

Volunteers can choose independent work, or take part collaborating with exisiting groups. There are also opportunities to be involved with permaculure networks across the city and at a regional, national and international level.

Volunteers will work closely with Anna Louise Gurney the coordinator and Emma Riboli the mentor for this project.

WHY?

This European Solidarity Corps project is an opportunity to engage in promoting ecosocial design with long-term effects in a city neighbourhood. All basic living expenses are covered as well as the expenses to travel to Barcelona, and you receive monthly pocket money. 

You will be living and learning ethical design, as well as experiencing life in an urban neighbourhood. There are all sorts of possible day to day activities, please read the infopack for more information  and if you are eligible you can start the application process by filling in the google form.

WHEN?

From the 10/07/2024 to the 10/06/2024

Interviews for shortlisted applicants will be held via zoom with Anna Louise, project coordinator

1) Training in natural environment education, creating and developing activities
focused on nature pedagogy and outdoor education.

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Joy and opportunities (OFIW)

Dr David Dixon Leadership for sustainability

Joy and opportunities (OFIW)

Joy as an act of resistance, and a summary of the activites this year and opportunites that might be for you!

I slept and dreamt that life was joy. 

I awoke and saw that life was service. 

I acted and behold, service was joy. 

– Rabindranath Tagore

I would say it depends on what you are in service to! I find it to be true when you’re in service to life, in all it’s forms; whether it be microbiology that creates the soil food web that has sustained food production for humans for thousands of years; or whether it’s the living world, promoting a rich biodiverse, interconnected, thriving, ecosystem; or whether it’s humans, and you are in service to create communities where people can thrive.

Thanks to Schumacher college for tweeting that quote yesterday, and Idles for having such a brilliant album title!

Leadership for Sustainability – changing the world one school at at time

This week’s image is a slide from a presentation I saw by Dr David Dixon, ex-head teacher. I have said on several platforms, most recently replying to a tweet by George Monbiot on education, that the ONE thing schools can bring in everywhere to improve education is creating a Sustainable (regenerative even!?) School. Even if they don’t implement, the thinking and learning involved in designing and trying to move in the right direction is what education in our world should be.I love the practical ideas he shares that can really give a vision of what can be done in schools. I emailed him – maybe we’ll collaborate as I move forward with Donut Economics projects in schools this year! “Getting your school in the Donut” is a more fun way of expressing “ecological design”! The beauty of the Donut model is that it is so holistic, it includes everything!*  

*It probably doesn’t quite – I guess people are working away to improve it as I write. 

boodaville caseres and balsas

We nearly did some earthworks this week, but Oscar couldn’t find a clear path to get to the almond terraces with his machine. We’ll try again in February. He was in the Vall Rovira working for Kate our neighbour and I believe that she paid him to properly fix the track where it crosses the bottom of the valley. We are very grateful!

Alex and Sara have been exploring local culture at the fiestas in Bot, working with Jordi at his farm, and organising and exploring the contents of the Boodaville cupboards. 

boodaville barcelona

Things are getting moving, see the blog and our instagram channel. We will be setting up the “Ecosocial Info Point” on Fridays from 17h – 19h at the library Blai 34, Poble Sec, Barcelona every Friday from now on – see our instagram story “Ecosocial” for ideas and inspiration!

opportunities and activites coming up this year

FEB

18- 19  Feb : At Boodaville Finca we are going to plant 100 trees! 

MARCH

12-13 March:

21 – 28 March : Youth Worker Training – “Leadership in Regenerative Education” We are looking for 4 youth workers, adults of any age, to go to Lagos, Portugal for this fully funded activity. 

APRIL

6 April: Arrival of Klif, Boodaville Caseres volunteer

6 April: Opportunity for new site manager to start at Boodaville Caseres. Apply here

MAY

1 May : We are looking for an ESC volunteer from Europe (not Spain) to start an 8 month contract 1st May. (Under 30 yrs old) Apply here

5 – 12 May: Youth Exchange “Regeneration Camp” We are looking for 5 young people (under 30) from Spain to participate in this fully funded exchange in Lagos, Portugal.

16 – 22 May : Youth Exchange “Active Permaculture” at Mas Les Vinyes We are looking for 1 youth leader (any age from Spain) who is interested in being a key part of the organising team in this collaboration between Boodaville and Mas Les Vinyes. We are looking for 5 young people (under 30) from Spain who would like to participate in this fully funded activity in Catalunya.

JUNE

Early June – Activity week with Klif and friends

26 June – 3 July: Youth Exchange “Inspired by Nature” at Sanilles, Pyrenees, Catalunya with Aline from La Casa Integral and Anna Louise from Boodaville. Save the date! We are applying for this exchange now, and will offer funded places to 1 Youth Leader (any age) and 6 participants (under 30)

SEPT

 1 Sept : We are looking for an ESC volunteer from Europe (not Spain) to start an 4 month contract 1st Sept. (Under 30 yrs old) Apply here

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My experience volunteering at Boodaville Barcelona 2022! – Vianna

10

My experience volunteering at Boodaville Barcelona 2022! – Vianna

Vianna's experience of a year volunteering for Boodaville Barcelona 2022; urban permaculture, eco-festival and more !

In 2022 I began the 12 month volunteering project to start the Boodaville Barcelona, I have been involved in several European Solidarity projects over the years and have spent the last 3 years involved with Boodaville. It was my goal to complete the volunteering before I turned 30, although with COVID causing many delays, I am 7 months later than planned…

Saul and I had the opportunity to build this project with Anna, from the very structure of the timetable and our schedule and to identify our own personal and collective goals with this project. Throughout the year I spent a lot of time in Poble Sec, getting to know the barrio and attending and organising events with the associations who are already supporting the community in a big way and bringing ecosocial transition into conversation and action. For many reasons, it has become one of my favourite neighbourhoods in Barcelona, with Montjuic’s nature being a regular escape from the city. 

Throughout the year I spent many Friday’s in Hort de la Font Trobada, a community garden which is also tucked away in Montjuic. With rows of allotments growing aromatics, fruits, veg and edible flowers… This was a real oasis for me, reminding me of how my mum used to tend the garden when I was a kid, she always planted a lot of lavender. I spent a lot of time continuing to learn about the medicinal uses of plants, and collecting things that were growing in abundance to make herbal healing salves and oils. 

Some days I spent hours on the computer, researching, learning, writing and organising, completing the necessary, behind the scenes tasks. Mostly I loved being outdoors, with the plants and insects, in the shade of the trees and getting my hands dirty. I love being fully immersed in nature, most of the year I was living in La Floresta and that meant that I had a lot of time to spend with the trees and occasionally running into wild boars.

We achieved many things this year, including building and maintaining some petit jardinets, working in Hort de la Font Trobada and organising and supporting community events as volunteers or participants, learning about permaculture design and sustainability in the city, organising the 4th Maranya Festival and starting our weekly ecosocial meet up.

It’s difficult to summarise in a short blogpost how this year has changed me, and all of the things that we achieved. I will say that I am grateful for the growth and learning that took place, for the reflection and the challenges. This has helped to shape my values and perspective on the world in a more positive and loving way.

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Thinking about the year (On Fridays I write OFIW)

Map Boodaville Caseres paths

Thinking about the year (On Fridays I write OFIW)

This week we advanced with the tree planting activity planning and you can see what Lou is thinking for rest of 2023.

Today is a day for GREAT celebration! Joanna slept all through the night for the first time in her life. 11.5 hours without touching another human. I didn’t actually think she was capable of this and the relief is incredible. Let’s see if it happens again!!

the glass is half full

The kids are in great health. Kira is getting on better with reading and things other than tv, and enjoyed reading a whole book (comic) and going to reading club at the library. 

We are going to get 100 free trees from Life Terra and the process was pretty straight forward. We can get more and more.. 1000 or more in autumn.. in fact I don’t think we need to buy trees again. This is amazing! A big project really getting down the grass roots. I’ll keep you updated and the tree planting activity will be open for people to join us. Dates will be confirmed soon, likely mid-february.

Alex has been getting really organised down in Boodaville Caseres, fixing the sink, and I love the map he made showing the routes from Caseres to Boodaville Finca. 

the glass is half empty

Well to be honest, sleeping 7.5 hrs straight wipes out most of this. My partner is feeling better today after 5 days straight of high fever, groaning, tonsilitis, and paranoid crazy dreams preventing any real sleep. The child care/ house work implications of this were high for me and our neighbours. The babysitter canceled yesterday and I won’t get either of my free from kids afternoons this week. 

I lost my notebook. This is incredibly annoying and I hope I don’t miss anything important.

What else.. I could mention some minor health issues. Ah yes, I also felt feverish and really really struggled through Tuesday and Wednesday.  My goodness!! I’d almost forgotten. What a difference having a good day makes.

Oh and we’re set for a 3000 euro cash flow issue if we don’t get money we are owed for EU projects before 1st Feb.

plans ideas dates mishmash 2023

I was going to stop writing here and leave to get my thoughts together for 2023, but why not just share it all here!!

JAN 

– Starting Boodaville Barcelona / Boodaville Caseres 2023

– Preparing Doughnut Economics Barcelona Accio Clima funding bid

– Finish accounts 2022

– Possible KA2

– Call for 2 more Boodaville Caseres volunteers

– Call for Site Manager to start mid-april

FEB

Event Boodaville Caseres : Tree Planting

Deadline : 15 Feb Accio Clima. Possible Doughnut Economics project application

Deadline : 23 Feb Erasmus+ and ESC deadline. Vianna Red Tent? Elena Training? Sanilles reapply? Anything else?

Get a job for a week?

MARCH

Final report : Volunteering 2022

Event : Biochar making weekend nr Caseres?

Focus on delivering SPARK project

Revive Rovira Regenerativa – video?

– Evaluate Boodaville Caseres structure and hopefully get committed site manager through to at least sept 2024

APRIL

9 April Easter, when are school holidays?

Event : end of April till 3rd May : REBUILD THE DOME

MAY

Youth Exchange Mas Les Vinyes

JUNE

JULY

AUGUST

UK EVENT? Re-connect / real connect at CAT and weekend with UK friends. End august better

SEPTEMBER

MARANYA FESTIVAL / BIORNE @ MARANYA? – need a team 

OCTOBER

– Big tree planting and agroforestry implementation, part of Rovira Regenerativa, get a team back in and talk funding to buy the vineyard

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Syntropic experiment 1, and wishing you a Happy 2023 (On Fridays I write)

Planting Mulberry cuttings in Boodaville Food Forest

Syntropic experiment 1, and wishing you a Happy 2023 (On Fridays I write)

Happy 2023! Lou is back with details of our syntropic agriculture experiment and updates on other activities over holidays.

I’m back! and catching up after the long Spanish holiday. With King’s Day on the 6th January, the first day back in the office (read : kids back at school) was 9th January! Alex has moved in to Boodaville Caseres, the cats have mostly moved out, and the place is looking tidier than ever after some intense days clearing out the yearly build up of random stuff. 

The children are healthy, energies are restored and I’m even feeling in many ways “back to normal” and my motivation is similar to the good old days. On Monday we are meeting to put projects and objectives into a plan for the year. Any input / ideas are welcome over the weekend. 

pooless

Before I say any more about the syntropic agriculture experiment, first I have to make the kind of comment i don’t usually make.

“Never mind what I’m doing with that stick, look at my hair! Doesn’t it look amazing!!” 

That was my first thought when I saw the above photo and now I can share with the world that I haven’t washed my hair with shampoo since June 2021. Inspired to action by Paul Wheaton and Shaun Klassen-Koop’s book “Building a better world in your backyard” and the fact I was pregnant and not going to be going out very much, I stopped washing. It took 15 months, but now I never need shampoo again. I use a comb to clean my hair, a nailbrush to clean the comb, and it really does look and feel great. Hooray for reducing the number of chemicals in my house, reducing costs, going the natural way. Not to mention savings by avoiding packaging, transport and prodcution embedded energy, water, fossil fuels and quite probably buying from a huge multi-national company participating in a degenerative economic and financial system. But mainly – it’s easy and it works!

syntropic seeding experiment 1

“Plants grow in community, just like the human beings in villages, and the ground seeks to protect itself from the sun, just like a person at noon wants the shadow of a tree.” – Emilio

We seeded a forest! The theory is that nature decides, based on incredible wisdom and ecosystem knowledge, when the seeds will germinate.

The different species are ready to fill roles in the natural succesion, soil restoration and ecosystem of plants growing together. We are creating conditions for life and more life. The more science based element of the experiment is to see what two adjacent fields will look like in ten years – one with all species planted from seed (although we did put some tree cuttings in there) and the other with the “normal” method of planting trees from a nursery.

The theory is that growing from seed, in company, gives the bushes and trees such an advantage that they will “overtake” the bigger trees next door within ten years. I love learning about theories that are so deeply based in designing as nature with a holistic approach to ecosystems of soil, plants and all living beings. Not only is it beautiful, and regenerative, but we hope to demonstrate how effective these ideas are in practice. 

We have a googledoc with exact details of what we introduced. See the titles of the photos and the map below that show what we did.

This was a joint project with seeds and cuttings donated from Sam Miller, Jessica, and Anna Louise at Boodaville. As always we are infinitely grateful to Sam for his brilliantness and generostiy. We did most of the work on 29th December 2022, and will continue to add seeds to the area as they are in season, and whenever we can. On the 4th January we added more seed balls with various species of edible plants thanks to Jack and Jacqueline.

ants

We’ll keep you updated on whether ants take the seeds or not! so far not.. but you don’t see so many of them around on these dark days of winter. 

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Boodaville Caseres Site Manager and Volunteer Mentor 2023

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Boodaville Caseres Site Manager and Volunteer Mentor 2023

Apply for Boodaville Caseres Site Manager opportunity 2023

UPDATE

Site Manager – we have the site manager role covered until August 2023 with Alex currently in the role, and Sara ready to take over if he moves on before then. We are looking for applications for the role of Site Manager and Volunteer Mentor starting in September 2023. We will make a new appointment based on the best person for the role between all the applicants. If you are interested in coming to live and work and manage Boodaville Caseres please get in touch to organise visits and training before August to see if you role is for you!

 

We are seeking a Site Manager and Volunteer Mentor to live onsite at Boodaville Caseres for the 2 year period of Jan 2023- Dec 2024. This is a volunteer position without a salary, all expenses will be covered. The Site Manager will be able to claim expenses for living, running the Boodaville site and general expenses including “pocket money”.

The day to day tasks include, maintaining the food forest and small scale regenerative agriculture project, maintaining buildings and spaces, running a nursery and managing the volunteers weekly timetable. This includes meeting with volunteers and assigning tasks for the volunteers to work 4-5hours from Monday to Friday. Please see the links (below) to the Infopack for the project to know the volunteers roles and expectations as well as the website and Instagram.

Ideally the person who will take this role will visit Boodaville for several days to a week in 2022 to get to know the space and project and meet with Anna Louise, the project coordinator, online or in person..

Links:

 

Essential Skills: Driving license, over 25 years old, Spanish and English speaking to conversational level, PDC 

Highly desirable: Bilingual Spanish/English, passionate about sharing knowledge and skills, excellent communication skills (via whatsapp), able to efficiently manage the weekly timetable for the volunteers, enjoy nature immersion, interest in community and cultural activities of the Matarranya region, work within a budget and keep all receipts in order for expenses claims, proactive and takes initiative to make events and exciting things happen, self-care skills and practices, effective leadership skills and self-motivation and encouraging the volunteer team, practical experience in agriculture, plant nurseries, bio-construction and water management, recognition of the importance of reflection and evaluation, over 30 years old, peace-making skills, flexibility and keenness to learn from the experience through rough and smooth, accountability for job list, able to give and receive feedback in a constructive manner, a comfortable and flowing relationship with Anna Louise, project coordinator.

APPLY HERE

 

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After the storm and before meeting Kate Raworth and DEAL (On Fridays I write)

Visit to the flower market to buy aromatics for my daughters school garden

After the storm and before meeting Kate Raworth and DEAL (On Fridays I write)

Boodaville Caseres got hit by a huge storm, and we have some amazing images of our water retention design in action, and Lou can't get Doughnut Economics out of her head.

Good morning! If you are a follower of the blog you will have noticed that I didn’t write last week. That means “bad week”. I can sum it up with one word – gastroenteritis. Things took some huge swings for the better and this Friday (in keeping with a regular pattern since September) I’m happy to report that it has been a good week. I mean, it’s quite insane the amount of things that happen in a week. I’m going to go ahead and just plough through them.

Argh! “plough” now that’s a metaphor I need to drop, along with “concrete”. Ok it’s probably not a metaphor at all, James you can correct my understanding of English in the comments! From now on I will use vocabulary in line with the more beautiful world our hearts know is possible. A world which has very little ploughing and concrete. 

I’m going to go ahead and just beaver on through the list

– Friday night Joanna started eating and hasn’t stopped since. This is a big change and we love it – may it continue more than a week. She also slept 7 hours straight and so did I! Best night’s sleep in two years. 

– Saturday I got news that my application for 2000 euros to teach Doughnut Economics in Barcelona schools and the Poble Sec neighbourhood has been approved! Goodbye private maths classes for privileged families and hello to something much better for the world!!

– Friday Kira ended up in a reading workshop at the library instead of eating sweets with her friends.

– Saturday me and Kira went together to a sewing workshop at MoMu. She got on and fixed the holes in her tights by herself and I used a sewing machine for the first time in 20 years (to nearly fix my jeans!). All organised by the Aula Ambiental project and in the company of wonderful folk from our neighbourhood Poble Sec. It actually made me feel happy to be in the city. Shocking.  

– Sunday we spent hours in the Font Trobada huerto where they had a community work day and vermut going on, and I saw the vegetable garden plot which is now 50% my responsability. I say “my”, obviously the plan is to use it not just as the offical “Families of Tres Pins school” garden, but also as a Boodaville Barcelona project. First step – buy 150 plants later today on the way down to Caseres. Next step.. uffff when to plant them. 

After the storm at Boodaville Caseres

The rain that hit the finca last weekend was exceptional (by the standards of the last few decades). This kind of event will be normal in the future. We had more than 150mm of rain in 24 hours. In a year we expect to receive 400mm. 

The track at the bottom of the valley was washed away – but weirdly was SO washed away that all the mud we had problems with in 2020 was gone, and you could actually drive though on the base of rock as soon as the torrent of water subsided! This loss of mud and soil is bad news for the ecosystem, and the erosion caused by these heavy rains is one of the problems we need to design to solve. 

Apart from the track, which our wonderful neighbour has ALREADY fixed! We had no problems, except a rather pathetic amount of water actually made it into the 10000 litre deposit behind the house. We’ve been waiting for rain, urgently, since September – when we usually expect rains to start, and were just a few days away from a work day “optimizing the water catchment” with Jessica. The storm was not predicted, and we were not ready. But by a brilliant stroke of luck, while Jessica was at the finca yesterday there was another brief storm so she could observe and gather all the information needed to make absolutely sure that we are collecting all we can from now on. 

I’m incredibly happy to have so many photos, and the brilliant video footage which shows the water catchment to the upper tank (1:00), the swales in function (1:24), the effect of the earthworks to take the water from the road to the terraces.

before meeting kate raworth

The other amazing piece of news this week, which has got my mind going close to overdrive is that I have been shortlisted for the DEAL- Schools and Education Lead job, and that Kate will be there with the other members of DEAL for the interview. One of  my favourite Ghandi quotes is “I have so much to accomplish today that I must meditate for two hours instead of one” and I’m holding on to that as I live with the excitment, and get on with the preparation tasks. In my case it will be “10 minutes instead of 5 minutes” but the concept is there. Imagine what I could get done if I actually meditated for two hours!!! 

The thing about preparing teaching activities is that you can always make them better, so the challenge is to finish the task. I wish the drilling would stop. Right, I’m going back to the park with a fruit smoothie, then will get packing for the weekend. Interview preparation is for next week

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permaculture

Boodaville Barcelona Volunteers 2023

WhatsApp Image 2022-09-23 at 12.09.44 PM (9) (1)

Boodaville Barcelona Volunteers 2023

Urban Permaculture opportunities in 2023 with Boodaville Barcelona
WHEN?

A 12 month contract starting in January 2022.

(Application deadline 10th December 2021 – these positions have been filled)

WHO?

This is a placement for participants with a maximum age of 30 as it is funded by the European Solidarity Corps. We are looking for people who are highly motivated to learn and apply Urban Permaculture, who are responsible and have an interest in ecosocial transition. Applicants should have good communication skills in Spanish as there will be networking and social media tasks. They should be prepared to come to the Poble Sec neighbourhood to work at least three days a week.

WHERE?

Volunteers will live in, or close to, Barcelona and will work in the Poble Sec neighbourhood to create regenerative projects. They will work in a variety of locations including co-working spaces, the offices of collaborating organisations, urban gardens and outdoor public spaces. 

WHAT?

January will be a month of observation, planning and training, after which volunteers can implement projects they choose ranging from: organising events and workshops promoting ecosocial transition, implementing permaculture design in the Poble Sec neighbourhood, communication tasks for Boodaville, collaborating with existing organisations on publicly funded projects, creating the project “Permaculture Poble Sec”, helping the Boodaville Association grow by engaging young people and sharing opportunities. 

There are many opportunities for independent work, as well as roles collaborating with exisiting groups. There are also opportunities to be involved with permaculure networks across the city and at a regional, national and international level.

Volunteers will work closely with Anna Louise Gurney the coordinator and mentor for this project

WHY?

This European Solidarity Corps project is an opportunity to engage in promoting ecosocial design with long-term effects in a city neighbourhood. All basic living expenses are covered as well as the expenses to travel to Barcelona, and you receive monthly pocket money. 

You will be living and learning ethical design, as well as experiencing life in an urban neighbourhood. There are all sorts of possible day to day activities, please read the infopack for more information  and if you are eligible you can start the application process by filling in the google form.

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Food forest and thyme terrace (On Friday’s I write)

Spot the plants in this picture : quince, cherry, almond, olive, apple, sugar cane,

Food forest and thyme terrace (On Friday’s I write)

Lou has been at the Boodaville Caseres project all week and this week gives updates from Boodaville's food forest and thyme terrace in July 2022

This week I am able to write because Vianna our wonderful Boodaville Barcelona volunteer has already uploaded the photos I sent her a few days ago. In my 15 minute window between taking some cuttings and planting some seeds at the Boodaville finca, and going to pick up Kira and Joanna from their respective child care I will add captions to the photos to explain what is working well and not so well with our design. 

We were lucky – or not so lucky – to have a huge 48mm storm 8 days ago, so the ground is still humid to a decent level (this is why we are planting cover crop seeds in july !! – to start gettting some life into the new medicinal herb garden the volunteers have created)

I say not so lucky because the day before the storm a farmer here in town commented to our volunteer Fran “If it didn’t rain again all summer I’d be happy”, and because along with the storm was intense hail which has destroyed all of Marc Boldo’s vineyards (and many other people’s farms as well), that’s 15000 euros of income gone, plus the fact that he’s put an incredible amount of labour already into those fields.

These extreme storms, heatwaves are exactly what models predicted climate breakdown would look like. We are living it, and also living under a crazy system where the media are spreading propaganda and taking us towards catastrophe. This week we’ve seen media continuing to support the Tory party – when internationally Britain is basically seen as a failed state right now; we’ve seen the reality behind the destruction of the Podemos party by the media in Spain uncovered (See Pablo Iglesias on twitter – you won’t find it in MSM!) and we’ve seen media ignoring hugely important news about climate (again!)

Anyway, here’s the food forest update, hooray for solutions to desertification and regenerating soil and LIFE!

Sadly the Robinia has died, we are investigating but there may have been 1) a map error and it didn’t appear combined with 2) a lack of a “sponsor” ie noone on site who deeply loved this tree!!!

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