“We look forward to a time when we’re really able to harvest all of the fruit trees in the city that aren’t being fully utilized,” envisions Katy Kolker, founder and executive director of Portland Fruit Tree Project. Volunteer groups harvest trees whose fruit would otherwise go to waste. Half of the fruit goes to neighborhood food banks, and the remainder goes home with the volunteers. Tree Care workshops offered to the public cover pruning, thinning and pest and disease control. They also train Tree Care Teams who adopt clusters of fruit trees in a neighborhood. From harvesting 8000 pounds of fruit in 2008 to three times that in 2010, this growing project is bearing fruit and benefitting thousands. [portlandfruit.org]

Blip TV (high resolution video) | iTunes | Audio | Janaia’s journal: A Gleaning Project Shares Fruitful Abundance

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Caren Black and Christopher Paddon couldn’t find mentors to teach them self-reliant living when they became aware of peak oil. So they created a homestead and opened their doors to training others. People can take a personalized Lifeboat Course online or in person, where hands-on learning includes food production with domestic animals and gardens, renewable energy, and carpentry skills. “We’re all in this together,” Christopher notes, so the couple educate, volunteer and share to also make their community more resilient. [titaniclifeboatacademy.org]

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“I think it’s very very important to know you can provide things for yourself… build your own house… grow your own food… make your own medicine.” Walking his talk, Greg Crawford shows the magical wattle-and-cob house he built with hand tools using local materials: alder trees in the surrounding forest, and clay from what later became the house floor. Building his house was an “experiment in intuitive architecture … using common sense while “letting the building evolve, change and grow on its own.”

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Mike Hatfield says the magic of a rocket stove is getting the heat into what you’re trying to heat. His tour of a rocket stove reflects designs perfected for decades at Aprovecho Research Center in rural Oregon. They also test and suggest improvements to stoves from developing countries, aiming to reduce smoke to help children’s respiratory health. Fred Colgan shows specialized stove parts and assembly jigs he ships to developing countries, where local people construct rocket stoves from mostly local materials. Appropriate technology at its best! [aprovecho.org]

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Read Janaia’s journal: A World of “Rocket” Wood-Burning Cookstoves.

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At first Judy Alexander was reluctant to share a car with neighbors Richard and Sue Dandridge. But their invitation intrigued her, especially since her aging car felt unsafe for long trips. After a trial year, she found the arrangement freeing and sold her car. Judy and Richard discuss their process — the agreement, scheduling, upkeep, and changing life circumstances. Beyond saving money on maintenance and insurance, there are a lot of unexpected benefits: shared errands, closer relationships, and simpler living.

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“This is a very important piece of music, a very powerful piece of music,” says Ken Hardin, conductor of Sierra Master Chorale. In advance of their performances on May 17 and 20, 2012, he provides a musical guided tour of this contemporary work by Karl Jenkins, commissioned by the Royal Armouries Museum for their Millennium celebrations.

Although outside of Peak Moment TV’s normal scope, this music can move us beyond our heads and into our hearts. With texts drawn from many continents, and musical idioms from the middle ages to modern, this music is challenging, moving, inspiring, disturbing, and uplifting. As one chorister notes, “It’s like nothing I’ve ever done musically.” [inconcertsierra.org]

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Innovative farmer Joel Salatin says sustainable agriculture requires both perennials (like native grasses) and herbivores (like cattle) to build soil. Mimicking patterns from nature, this maverick Virginia farmer rotates cattle followed by chickens into short-term pasture enclosures, where their poop fertilizes the earth. His new book  Folks, This Ain’t Normal is a critique of the industrial food system, and envisions a future where humans are participants in a regenerative, sustaining community of abundance. [polyfacefarms.com]

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“Sharing really is going to save the world!” declares Janelle Orsi, author of The Sharing Solution, noting that it’s fun, doesn’t require special skills — and we can start now. She and Jennifer Kassan co-founded the Sustainable Economies Law Center to help people formalize collaborative structures like producer cooperatives, cohousing developments and tool lending libraries. They’re working to reduce the hurdles to investing in locally-owned and locally-controlled enterprises. No wonder law students are excited to intern with them! [theSELC.org and sharingsolution.com]

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