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Lorraine Ciarallo 's Profile
Lorraine Ciarallo
Details
Joined:
28/12/2011
Last Updated:
28/02/2012
Location:
Vancouver, BC, Canada
Climate Zone:
Cool Temperate
Gender:
Female
Web site:
www.cpribarbados.com





My Projects

(projects i'm involved in)


Projects

(projects i'm following)

Wa Samaki Ecosystems PermEco Inc. Zaytuna Farm, The home of the permaculture Research Institute   Permaculture Research Institute-Kenya Permaculture Research Institute of Turkey PRI New Zealand (Koanga Institute) The Permaculture Research Institute of Saskatchewan Greening the Desert Project The Permaculture Research Institute of Hellas (Greece) Permaculture Research Institute Chile Cri San Temo Panama
Followers
António Monteiro Benjamin Vidmar Berber van Beek Brian Kerkvliet Camille Messer Carlo Makhoul Dan larke Dennis Edwards Dylan Graves Erle Rahaman-Noronha Ethan Roland Fraser Bliss Grant Van der Merwe Grifen Hope Helder Valente James Reid Jeff Reidl Jonathan Ramsay Kenton Zerbin Lawrence F María Luz Cardozo Miguel Afonso Mustafa Fatih Bakir Owen Hablutzel Ras Binghi Iword (Eddie) Nicholls ROHITH RAJENDRAN Sergio Nicolás Torrego Sharon Zvonar Sherry Dwire Tara MacDonald
Following
Bill Mollison Bruce Horowitz Bruce Molloy Catherine Dale Delvin Solkinson Erle Rahaman-Noronha Ethan Roland Fraser Bliss Geoff Lawton Jeff Reidl Jesse Lemieux Kenton Zerbin María Luz Cardozo Nadia  Lawton Nick Huggins Owen Hablutzel Pat Simmons Paul Taylor Samuel Bonello Sharon Zvonar Tamara Griffiths Theron Beaudreau
View Updates

About Lorraine Ciarallo

I moved to Canada's west coast from Montreal in 1993 to start my own business and since then I've been an entrepreneur for most of my working career. It wasn't until I discovered Permaculture in the autumn of 2008 while listening to a live web-stream with raw foodist David Wolfe, that I intuitively knew my life was about to take a turn. During that broadcast he announced 10 open spaces for a Permaculture retreat at his Noniland home in Hawaii with grassroots Australian Permaculture Teacher, Tania Leilani Manea-Strebel. Within minutes of hearing the one condition to winning a spot, I began to write my essay on why I should be selected, and within weeks I received notice that I had been selected and in January 2009, I was on a plane headed to Kauai, Hawaii.

I am forever grateful to David, but especially to Tania, for her inspiration and positive fun attitude and high energy throughout the design and implementation of Noniland's garden. Her authentic connection with nature inspiried me to rethink my goals and to help make a difference in the world.

Upon my return from Hawaii, I signed up for a PDC course in WA. state and in December 2011, I completed my PRI Internship at Zaytuna farm with Geoff Lawton. Thank you Geoff, Nadia, Paul and Nick for the blessed teachings and for my new skills which I intend to cultivate and share with others.

Inbetween Hawaii and Australia, I completed Dr. Elaine Ingham's Soil Food Web workshop, and the Master Gardening Certification through Gaia College in BC. I have also cultivated 2 successful food gardens from seed, created herb spirals, seed saved, built a 3 layer compost system, built cold frames and set up a green house. The thing that fascinates me most about Permaculture is the more I learn about the natural complexity of ecological systems, the more I want to accelerate my learning.

Ever since I could remember, my heart's desire has been to experience life in the Caribbean and now that I am PRI Certified, I would like to set up PRI Barbados if permitted. A Permaculture Reseach Institute and demonstration site that teaches Caribbean's about Permaculture ethics, principals and the whole system design science that Bill Mollison developed in the early 1970's.

With food security high on Barbados National Agenda and a goal to become the Green Island of the Caribbean, what better time to introduce Permaculture to the region. Besides, Permaculture is expanding throughout 180 countries worldwide with tens of thousands of organic food gardens and projects building up bio-diversity, soil fertility, sequestering C02, self-reliance, dynamic communities and so much more. Paul Taylor's Bio-Vital course on building up soil fertility and regenerative agriculture is a perfect example of why I am so drawn to permaculture.

I recently discovered that the Caribbean region imports $5 billion U.S. of food annually and Barbados accounts for $700 million U.S. Realistically, food cost will continue to increase due to peak oil and unsustainable global economic monetary policy therefore, increasing local food production is crucial and it will free up the regions foreign currency for other vital expenditures.

Bajan people are some of the most beautiful people I have come to know. If I can make my dream come true, I will have Bajans rethinking their residential and common space into small scale productive and regenerative gardens that will not only lower their food budgets, but will improve their diet, stress and health.

For me personally, empowering people to grow food using regenerative principals is the most rewarding contribution I can offer humanity. It's no longer about how much money I can earn or the car I drive, but rather how many people I can reach out to and make a difference in their lives and ultimately, humbling and valuing my own life. What better feeling is there than to create sprouting productive gardens everywhere all within a natural ecosystem that supports diversity than to shop in a grocery store for produce that has been picked unripe, lost its nutrient value and shipped from other continents which contributes to C02 emissions?

Caribbean, developing countries and people worldwide are waking up to the misconceptions and illusions of modern times that have failed us and because of this has us reconnecting back to family, back to community and essentially back to a place that our lives depend on, back to the land.

Several days ago, I stumbled across a much forgotten Barbados Free Press Blog that I commented on back in 2008. Not in my wildest dreams, could I have ever imagined seeing it again unless, I went searching for it which I didn't. My original comment shown below was the last comment on that feed before I recently added my second comment only days ago.

Here are my posts:

April 23, 2009 at 5:35 pm
I would pack my bags and head to the Caribbean in a flash to contribute my time and help create urban gardens everywhere and anywhere if my help is needed. Although, it would be my first go at gardening, I am eager to learn, a hard worker with a very positive attitude.
Peace and Blessings!
Canada

January 3, 2012 at 8:22 am
Well here I am almost 3 years later since my original comment above. Since then I decided to get educated in Permaculture. I completed my PDC (permaculture design certification) in 2009 and just recently Oct/Dec 2012 I completed my PRI Internship at the Permaculture Research Institute of Australia. So do you think Barbados is ready for Permaculture now? Growing food forest and learning about real sustainability? Hope so because I intend to move there and teach others how rewarding it can be to grow your own food plus a whole lot more. Blessings to my fellow Bajans. I simply love Barbados, Lorraine from Vancouver Canada January 2012.

Well the nice thing about this story is that my blog post was noticed and I've been guided to a couple of influential Bajans. If everything works out, I'll be needing a few permies to help out. Stay tuned...I'll keep you posted!

Updates

CPRI Get's The Go Ahead!

The Ministry of Agriculture of Barbados Officially Endorses The CPRI Project Proposal For A Permaculture Demonstration Site and Educational Centre.

Posted almost 11 years ago (4 comments)

Urban Gardens in Barbados

Headed to Barbados

Posted over 12 years ago (3 comments)
My Badges
Consultant Pdc teacher
My Permaculture Qualifications
Other course verified
10 Week Permaculture Internship Program
Type: Internship
Teacher: Geoff Lawton
Location: PRI Zaytuna Farm, Australia
Date: Dec 2011
Other course verified
Earthworks Course
Type: Earthworks
Teacher: Geoff Lawton
Location: PRI Zaytuna Farm, Australia
Date: Oct 2011
Other course verified
Unban Landscape Design Course
Type: Other
Teacher: Nick Huggins
Location: PRI Zaytuna Farm, Australia
Date: Nov 2011
Other course verified
Permaculture Design & Teacher Training Course
Type: Teacher Training
Teacher: Geoff Lawton
Location: PRI Zaytuna Farm
Date: Nov 2011
Other course verified
Compost Soil Biology Natural Fertilizer Course
Type: Soil Biology/Compost
Teacher: Paul Taylor
Location: PRI Zaytuna Farm, Australia
Date: Nov 2011
Other course verified
Permacullture Project Aid Worker Course
Type: Aid Worker
Teacher: Geoff Lawton
Location: PRI Zaytuna Farm, Australia
Date: Dec 2011
Verified
PDC
Type: Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) course
Verifying teacher: Bruce Horowitz
Other Teachers: Sarah Sullivan, Doug Bullock
Location: Inspiration Farm, Bellingham, Washington
Date: Apr 2009
Other course unverified
Organic Gardening
Type: Gardening
Teacher: Linda Gilkeson, PhD Entomology
Location: UBC Botanical Garden & Center for Plant Research
Date: May 2010
Other course verified
Master Gardener
Type: Gardening
Teacher: Catherine Dale
Location: Gaia College, Victoria, BC
Date: Sep 2009
Other course verified
Soil FoodWeb Course
Type: Soil Biology/Compost
Teacher: Christine George
Location: Vancouver, BC
Date: Jun 2010
0 PDC Graduates (list)
0 PRI PDC Graduates (list)
0 Other Course Graduates (list)
have acknowledged being taught by Lorraine Ciarallo
0 have not yet been verified (list)
Climate Zones
Lorraine Ciarallo has permaculture experience in:
Cool Temperate

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