“In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt.”
– Margaret Atwood

CRMPI Update & Spring is Here!

Ahhh, spring is finally in the air after many months of snow! 
The site is being given some tender loving care as the food forest is just beginning to wake and smell of Earth and blossoms.
Many changes have gone underway, we've welcomed three new staff members (say hello to them below!), we're working on many site improvements, preparing for events and classes and tending to the greenhouses.

We have also welcomed four brand new baby rabbits last week!
Did you know that baby rabbits are called kits? We've been witnessing their little personalities emerge each day, they're so fun to watch grow!
Stay tuned to our social media for more adorable posts to come of our sweet new family members.

Greenhouse Highlight: Phoenix

As the food forest slowly wakes up outside, our greenhouse, Phoenix, has been booming back to life as we see more and more fruit, herbs, and many other edible plants each day


During the winter months, we saw our kumquat tree come to life! It’s still producing fruit in April and we’ve enjoyed sharing the abundance with friends and neighbors


The vibrant red blossoms of the pomegranate tree have speckled the greenhouse with color! We’re going to be working on hand pollinating the flowers this week and can’t wait to see fruit in November! 


Check out our papaya! 

In addition to seeing the many changes happening in Phoenix, we have recently harvested a new batch of worm castings

Vermicompost, or worm castings, are broken down organic matter overtime with the help of our best friends, the worms! 
If you’re interested in purchasing worm castings, send an email to Cuatro at jerome@crmpi.org 

     
Our grape propagation station! 

 

Jerome grafting trees from last season

  
A little peek at our guild in Mana which hosts a pomegranate, Pakistan mulberry, Russian olive, comfrey, and cucumbers 

Media & Events

We will be at the Dandelion Days Pop-Up Plant Sale hosted by Mana Foods in Carbondale, while practicing safe social distancing, on Monday, May 11 from 10AM to 6PM

Come stop by, take a plant home, and say hello! 



This month, we had the pleasure of interviewing Rob Hopkins, the author of From What Is To What If
We discuss how Rob's book has become more relevant than ever during this time of COVID-19, reshaping the landscapes of our ideas and futures in part 1 of our interview.
Part 2 comes out on Wednesday, May 27th at 4:30PM
You can click the image above to listen! 
Click here to purchase Rob's incredible book



In March,Taylor and Jerome spoke about the current pandemic and the countless ways in which permaculture is one of the answers to the numerous issues in our world.
Click the image above to give it a listen! 



“We need to imagine a new world and start designing it,” Osentowski said. “Let’s get serious about living off the land. We should be getting a lot more land prepped for planting.”
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A excerpt from the April Aspen Times article we were featured in regarding sustainable agriculture and how we can change our local farming system to support one another and the valley.
Click the image above to take a peek at the article

Classes & Workshops

 
Jerome demonstrating the hand pollination of our passion fruit to the 2019 CMC PDC class  
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We are working diligently to adjust our classes and schedule for 2020 to meet the requirements of social distancing and form balance in our new world.
Keep an eye out for updates in our next news letter and on our social media!
If you are interested in our classes or have any questions, please reach out to Erin at admin@crmpi.org

New Staff Members

We are welcoming Taylor, Erin and Cuatro to the team as the new full time staff here at CRMPI! To learn more about them and what they do, visit the Team page of our website here