This seminar, co-sponsored with Pima Community College, is an evening of seeing a complete start to finish slide show on straw bale construction, looking at the tools used in strawbale construction, and covering the existing strawbale code. Learn about strawbale construction and the advantages of thick walls, super insulation, and user friendly construction. Catalina Methodist Church, 2700 E. Speedway Blvd, Tucson, 6:30 PM to 9:00 PM. Cost is $45. Register through Pima Community College at (520) 206-6468.

Brad’s second volume of his three volume set on Rainwater Harvesting is in bookstores and available from his website. This second volume is all about how to set up water harvesting earthworks.

In the April 2008 issue of Tucson’s Green Magazine, Barbara and Dan (and their sites) are featured in an article on Permaculture. They describe how Permaculture is about observing and duplicating nature’s patterns, so we can design and build places that take care of people and take care of the environment.

From the article…  ‘ A fine local example (of Permaculture) is Dan Dorsey’s place in central Tucson. Known today as the Mesquite Tree Permaculture Site, a decade ago his yard was devoid of practically everything except packed down dirt.

“It was a totally barren site, hardly a blade of grass growing”, he said. “In fact, this used to be the neighborhood parking lot.” Today Dorsey’s lot is a thriving site in the middle of Tucson that bears fruit, attracts wildlife, and used naturally collected water.’

‘Barbara Rose, sitting on a rock filled cage that slows overland water flow at her own site, stresses another important point in Permaculture: “Get a buddy, find even one person in your neighborhood (already) doing Permaculture”. She added that resources to learn from are also widely available on line, in books, and through Permaculture teachers in the Tucson area.’