Matching Donations Sought for PAL Kennel and Basketball Court
Last month, an article in PRT talked about PAL’s “Buy a Block” donation strategy, in which individuals can purchase a “block” or more of the Rastra brick construction material PAL plans to use to build an animal control dog kennel. Charlie Montoy, one of the volunteers who are working on this project, says that many people in town have told him they plan to pitch in with a donation, but not too many have actually come forward with a check. Charlie says he has a donor who is offering to pay up to $5,000 in matching funds—a most generous offer—but so far, no resident has taken him up on it.
Charlie and Patrick Hatfield are also trying to build support for the cost of expanding the basketball court in Richardson Park. The popular court is getting a lot of use, and players have to take turns because it is so small. The Town Council has approved the project, and several Patagonia Regional Business Coalition members are donating their time to the construction work that’s needed, and have designated $1,000 as a matching donation. There are collection jars at the gas station and Patagonia Market, and donation checks for either this cause or the PALS kennel can be dropped off at the Town Business Office.
Newlyweds
Cecilia San Miguel of Patagonia and Bernard Walter Neugebauer of Oxkutzcab, Yucatán, Mexico, were married in a simple ceremony at La Misión de San Miguel in Patagonia by local magistrate Constance Brocamonte on June 28.
The bride is the proprietor of the Velvet Elvis Restaurant and La Misión. The groom owns Chan Ka Vergel, a permaculture farm in the Yucatán. Bernard met former Patagonia resident Philip Ostrom on a research trip to the Yucatán, and when Bernard visited Phil’s plant in Rio Rico last December, they had dinner at the Velvet Elvis. Cecilia and Bernard were introduced and found they had similar outlooks. There was a flash of interest, but Cecilia soon left on a trip to India. However, after her return, she corresponded with Bernard, sharing her experiences about the journey—which coincided with some of his own. The couple began to meet, and a short while later Bernard proposed marriage. Cecilia says that she thought to herself, “This is crazy . . . but, why not?”
Bernard was born in Germany and had long dreamed of coming to the Americas to study the destruction of the rainforests. In 1976 he moved with his family to a traditional Mayan Indian village of 25,000 people. The village had one telephone, and inhabitants carried water from a central deep well. With funding from Germany and Mexico, Bernard did an intensive study of how and why the rainforests were being decimated. He concluded that the primary cause was projects financed by the Government of Mexico and the World Bank—not small farmers, as was generally held to be true. Bernard says that the government declared his report to be “confidential” and did not release it to the public.
Since then, Bernard has been learning the ancient food processing and preservative practices of the Mayans. He created Chan Ka Vergel farm from deforested lands, at which he produces medical restoratives. The couple intends to sell these restoratives at the Velvet Elvis and to run workshops at La Misión to raise public awareness about deforestation and the benefits of the products being produced at the farm. They plan to divide their time between Patagonia and the Yucatán.
The ringtail is buff to dark brown in color with white underparts and a flashy black and white striped tail that has 14–16 white and black stripes and is longer than the rest of the body. The eyes are large and black, each surrounded by a patch of light colored fur. It is smaller than a housecat with a body of 12–17 inches long and the tail adds another 12–17 inches.
The ringtail is the state mammal of Arizona. It is also found in Central America, Northern South America, California, Colorado, eastern Kansas, Oklahoma, Oregon, New Mexico, southern Nevada, Texas, Utah and throughout northern and central Mexico. It nests in hollow trees or abandoned wooden structures. Like the raccoon, the ringtail is nocturnal and solitary. It is also timid towards humans and seen much more rarely than raccoons. It eats fruits, insects and refuse, as well as small vertebrates, and will climb tall yucca stems to eat the flowers. Ringtails make a variety of sounds including clicks and chatters. Their typical call is a very loud, plaintive bark. Miners and settlers once kept ringtails to keep their cabins free of mice, so ringtails are sometimes called “miner’s cat” though they are not in the cat family.
Town Award $5,000 for Trees
Under the stewardship of Patagonia’s Tree and Park Committee (Jason Bethany Brandt, Yunghi Choi, Barbarta Ellis, Susan Englebry, Ann Gosline, Harry Hower, Mary Mckay, Cornelia O’Connor, Andy Wood, Caleb Weaver), Patagonia has achieved the status of a Tree City USA. This national program provides the framework for community forest management.
Because Patagonia is a Tree City, it is eligible for state grants, and the town has just been awarded $5,000 by a program administered by several Arizona agencies. This competitive grant program provides reimbursement of $1,500 to $5,000 to assist Tree City USA communities “with the management, improvement, or conservation of community trees.”
The Tree and Park Committee will use the money to plant new trees and gradually remove old trees that are in decline. Congratulations to this volunteer organization for writing such a successful grant.
Seminars To Be Offered at Avalon EcoVillage
Avalon Organic Gardens and EcoVillage will host a four-day seminar on a broad number of topics related to sustainability beginning October 23, at their model community in Avalon. The community, developed over the past 25 years, was created as an experimental prototype, and is the largest EcoVillage in the United States.
The seminars will offer groups and individuals the opportunity to learn about their methods of sustainability, through practical advice, providing the necessary consciousness tools to replicate this model of living anywhere.
Seminar topics include Environment and Agriculture—choosing land with good soil and water above or below ground; Village Development & Housing—focusing on alternative architecture, alternative energy, and water conservation; Economics—on creating environmentally sustainable enterprises and forming alliances with other organizations; Education—childhood development and parenting in community; Media, Marketing and the Arts; Health Care; and Leadership & Procedures—the nuts and bolts of order, holding a community together, and growing together.
Avalon Gardens community members, a total of 115 adults and children, see the seminars as a way of sharing vital information they have learned in response to a rapidly changing world in which many of our resources are being mismanaged or are in short supply.
The cost includes housing and organic meals, and is $500 for those who register by September 23, or $700 after that date.
All seminar proceeds benefit Avalon Organic Gardens & EcoVillage Agricultural Internships, the Personality Integration Rehabilitation Program, and the Homeless Is Not My Choice program.