Community Supported Agriculture: Robyn Van En has taken on the job of national clearing house for CSA materials. Her farm in Massachusetts was the first in the US to be called a CSA. If you would like to know about CSA near to you, she’s a good place to start: Robyn Van En, Indian Line Farm, RR3 Box 85, Great Barrington, MA 01230, phone: (413) 528-4374. Additionally, Robyn has produced a manual, which she sells for $10: The Basic Formula to create Community Supported Agriculture, the best bet for any group wanting to organize CSA on their own. Robyn also sells a CSA Video for $35: It’s Not just About Vegetables, which Jan VanderTuin and Downtown Productions of Great Barrington made in 1986. If you would like a broadcast quality copy for airing on television, contact Mickey Friedman/Jon MacGruer, Downtown Productions, 22 Railroad Street, Great Barrington, MA, 01230, phone: (413) 528-9395. Your nearest Waldorf School, or Camp Hill Group may be involved with CSA. The related Biodynamic farm movement has taken up CSA with a passion: for certified biodynamicists in your area write Rod Shouldice, Box 550, Kimberton, PA 19442, phone: (215) 935-7797. Pcrmaculturc: This sustainable agriculture movement is often connected to CSA. In fact CSA in Japan, the teikei movement to supply organic vegetables without government certification, is the current cover story of the Tennessee-based magazine The Permaculture Activist. For information on the permaculture group nearest you, write to The Permaculture Activist, Route 1, Box 38, Primm Springs, TN 38476. While you're at it, subscribe to this eclectic, brass-tacks quarterly at only $ 16/year, $20/year overseas. They also distribute Australia's cutting-edge Permaculture International Journal, for US $20/year ppd. INSAN Newsletter is published in English by the Institute for Sustainable Agriculture in revolutionary Nepal. This lively native permaculture group does excellent research and farm extension work, reported on in detail in this semi-annual. Available for only $5/year overseas, or if you'd like to be a member, $25/year: INSAN, GPO Box: 3033, Baneshore - 10, Kathmandu Nepal, phone: 977-1- 471448, fax: 977-1-524509 Atm: INSAN, telex: 2439 ICIMOD NP Attn: INSAN. The Permaculture Drylands Institute is publisher of Permaculture Drylands, a fine, bioregion-specific sustainable agriculture quarterly ($12/year from P.O. Box 27371, Tucson, AZ 85726). They teach regular courses and hold workshops throughout the year: call (602) 824-3465 for more information. One workshop they're offering this March is entitled Building Your Bale Straw House — To Code! It's a risky game pushing permaculture's ecological design and alternative economics amidst the high-flying capitalist investment plexus of Hong Kong. This group tries to do respectable non-profit consulting to businesses and banks while holding onto its values: Permaculture Asia Limited, 1/F lot 1969 Tai Wan New Village, D.D.3 Lamma Isl., Hong Kong, phone: 852 9820703, fax: 852 9821452. "Skills for a Sustainable future" is the title of a four- day course in March through our local Willamette Valley Permaculture Association. Contact them at 80260 Highway 99N, Cottage Grove, OR 97424, phone: (503) 942- 7065. WVPA offers technical courses like this one, as well as native plant walks, plant and seed exchanges and other mutual support activities for permaculturists. An Urban Permaculture design certification course will run in Houston, Texas from late February through September. Besides standard permaculture training, course participants will set up a Local Exchange Trading System (LETS) for barter, create multi-layered spiral herb gardens from salvaged bricks, produce pond ecologies in huge pots, and terrace uneven yards. Contact Anne K. Devlin-Firth, 213 E. 24th St., Houston, TX 77008. Permaculture/Appropriate Technology internships at the Aprovecho Institute, nestled in the quiet, beautiful hills surrounding Cottage Grove, Oregon, are available for a mere $350 per month for room, board and tuition. Interns must commit to 3 months at first, after which they may be offered an additional 12-month internship. At the end of the 15-month program they will be reimbursed $1,000 to assist resettlement, and the institute will help the graduate find work in this country or overseas. Aprovecho is a beehive of activity, running permaculture courses all through the year. Contact: Aprovecho Institute, 80574 Hazelton Rd., Cottage Grove, OR 97424. Phone: (503) 942-9434. They also print the appealing News F’rom Aprovecho newsletter, available for either $15/yr or 1/10 of 1% of your yearly expenses. Sustainable Agriculture: Siegfried E. Gerber, a horticulturist working hard to change current agribusiness practice in Kenya, writes a concise, 63-page booklet of sustainable agriculture techniques with blunt, onsite critique of African export fanning. Modern Agriculture and its impact on the Environment is available for $5 postpaid from: Siegfried E. Gerber, P.O. Box 30496, Nairobi, 0154-41243 Kenya. AGTALON (meaning "to farm" in Filipino dialect) is a model non-governmental sustainable agriculture school and support group in the Philippines. Their program includes credit assistance, ecological training, co-op marketing, zero- import farming and the teaching of responsible social and economic behavior towards the local community. They would appreciate free copies of any pertinent publications; Agtalon, Nalsian Manaoag, Pangasinan 2430 Philippines. Page 8 Rain Winter/Spring 1992 Volume XIV, Number 2
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