Resilience Garden Program
In Partnership With:
Cultivating Health and Connection Through Gardening
There is a renewed focus on food security and resilience in all corners of our community.
The Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Environmental Office (SYCEO) has recognized the need for individuals and families to rapidly and effectively learn the foundational skills of growing one’s own food and medicinal plants, while also being in relationship with the living systems that sustain us.
In order to meet these needs, SYCEO and White Buffalo Land Trust have collaborated to offer the Resilience Permagarden Program. This program provides internal capacity development for the SYCEO leadership staff and key community members in order to better serve their full community in the field of food production and land stewardship.
Program Details:
The program consists of a series of training courses, open house events, and the Resilience Permagarden Training curriculum specific to the context of place and people.
November 10, 2022: Virtual Panel Event (Watch Recording)
March 2023: Train the Trainer 5 Day Program
May 2023: Spring Open House
October 2023: Weekend Community Training
November 2023: Fall Open House
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About The Facilitators
Thomas Cole
Thomas has spent more than 25 years in sustainable agriculture, livelihoods, community development and humanitarian response work. Presently based in Santa Barbara, he has many years field experience across Sub-Saharan Africa- with significant time in Mozambique, Uganda and Ethiopia. His focal areas are in urban agriculture, food production system design, post-conflict recovery, organic horticulture, agricultural extension, permaculture, natural resource management and food security. He spends much of his spare time in these countries climbing the odd mountain and researching succulent plants, primarily aloe, euphorbia and sansevieria.
Thomas currently works as an agroecology and drought management advisor for global USAID food security programs, and provides technical agricultural support for numerous communities recovering from conflict and disaster. Over the last few years he has broad experience with internally displaced populations in Ethiopia, Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan and in refugee camps in eastern Chad and Northern Uganda. Previously he worked as the Africa Region Food Security and Livelihoods Advisor for Save the Children.
Warren Brush
Warren Brush is a global resilience design consultant, educator, lecturer and storyteller. He has worked for over 30 years in agroecological education and regenerative system design for communities, private and public organizations, households, farms, and conservation properties worldwide. He is co-founder of Quail Springs Permaculture, Wilderness Youth Project, True Nature Design Consulting and is an advising founder of the Permaculture Research Institute of Kenya. He was also a member of the USAID’s TOPS team where he helped to develop the Resilience Design Framework and currently working as a consultant for the USAID Food for Peace funded SCALE award.
His efforts with youth globally has spanned working with former child soldiers in West Africa, teaching organic gardening skills with refugee families, inspiring inner-city youth to discover their inherent gifts, to developing unique education programs to inspire nature connection and the expression of their true nature.
Thank you to our funding partners for making the Resilience Garden Program possible! Thank you to the TomKat Foundation, Zegar Family Foundation, Saxon Foundation, and Schwemm Family Foundation.
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