Quail Springs Annual Giving Campaign: November 2014 through January 2015
Dear Friends of Quail Springs,
As the new Executive Director of Quail Springs I am in a very unique position. It is my privilege to reflect with the Quail Springs community, not only upon our organization’s first 10-years of evolution, but also to project ahead to the next decade and beyond – to consider the impacts that our decisions and actions will have over the next 200 years. How is the work we are engaged in today going to effect this land, future generations, and through our example, the world? We are deeply searching our souls for our most important mode of service and contribution. I continue to be humbled by the power of the connection that Quail Springs offers, and by the culture and community that has been created and continues to serve in deep and essential ways. Although numerous challenges have come to us over the years, our village heart beats as strong as ever.
“This Permaculture Design Course was not a course, it’s so much more than a course. This has been the most impactful, life changing experience I`ve ever surrendered to. I feel like my spirit has been recharged or rather nourished & enriched in a way that has never happened to me before. I feel like this experience was both a practical & spiritual initiation in life.” – PDC participant
Quail Springs serves a unique and broad spectrum of people. In the last year alone over 500 people, ranging in age from nine to 70, arrived at Quail Springs to take courses, teach, contribute their hearts and hands to various projects, or gain practical skills. The skills learned are inspiring and preparing people for a more sustainable way of living for themselves, their families and their communities.
We, too, have been inspired by all of our many students who have crossed through our gates! College students from Minnesota traveled to us in the heart of winter to immerse themselves in permaculture through service learning projects such as natural building, earthworks, gardening, and planting trees. Students of ethnobotany, regenerative culture, and origin skills arrived from Washington State to lend their helping hands, bring their songs and gifts, and to engage in the living community of Quail Springs. Students from three different Permaculture Design Courses offered by the local city college had their end-of-course practicums at our learning center, and bright-eyed 4th and 5th graders from Los Angeles spent time with us learning about our watershed, playing outside, milking goats, collecting eggs, and growing food. This is just a small sampling of the people we served this year.
As a “living experiment” and demonstration site, we push the edges of possibility, work with nature in this extreme environment, and adjust as necessary, in order to create a thriving community that will endure for hundreds of years in a rehabilitated landscape. It is no small undertaking to recreate streams with salmon flowing through our valley. But inevitably the energy and effort invested by all of us will indeed return an abundant surplus. As our watershed regenerates, ecosystems re-build, soil radically improves, food is grown in formerly barren landscapes, and surrounding wild lands positively respond to our practices; all the while providing a hands-on learning context for our students. We are also pleased to be stepping out beyond our landscape and are taking steps, together with the broader Cuyama Valley community, other regional non-profits, local businesses, and concerned residents, to vision for a positive future and promote sustainable land and water management practices region-wide.
As fall settles in around us and we move into a time of deep reflection, we acknowledge that our community is so much larger than the boundaries of the land on which we live. It is only with your collaborative support that we thrive, and that lives and landscapes locally and globally continue to be transformed in profound and mysterious ways. We ask that you reach deep into your heart and ponder what you are able to give to further our work, knowing that your financial alliance is also an essential form of community service. We offer our deep gratitude to you, knowing that with your alliance we are able to positively impact the world.
With Oceans of Gratitude,
Janice Setser
Executive Director
Quail Springs Permaculture
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Warren Brush
Sonia Connors
Roberto Garcia
Brenton Kelly
Trish Stone-Damen
Alex Vincent
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Thank you for considering a tax-deductible year end gift to Quail Springs Permaculture!
Quail Springs Permaculture is a project of True Nature Society, our 501c3 nonprofit organization, tax id # 38-3692928.
To make a donation online, please visit Donate Now.
To make a donation with a check in the mail:
Please make checks payable to “True Nature Society,” and mail to True Nature Society,
35070 Highway 33, Maricopa, CA 93252. Please include a note with your proper contact
information as return addresses can be obscured on envelopes.
Contact with questions or comments: Kolmi Majumdar, Programs Director, [email protected],
or please call our office at (805) 886-7239.
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Quail Springs Permaculture is dedicated to demonstrating and teaching holistic ways
of designing human environments, and to facilitating deeper understandings of ourselves
and one another through immersive experiences in nature.
We believe that lasting ecological health and social harmony can be fostered through
emphasizing the connection between people, food, shelter, energy, and water.
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Quail Springs Permaculture
www.quailsprings.org
[email protected]
805.886.7239
