Paul Revere SchoolPermaculture Design

•Spanish immersion school•pre-K to 8th grade•470 students, 80 staff•Becoming a local neighborhood school

Visions & Goals

• Build community within and outside the school• Foster social awareness and responsibility for the

Earth• Vary the Learning Environment

o Bring the classroom outsideo Enable teaching art outsideo Environmental & Conservations studieso Social Awarenesso Science & Math 

Visions & Goals

• Show students where food comes fromo Create food they can use in cafeteriao Students can take food homeo Get families more involved with growing

food• Support healthy eating 

o Nutrition classes outdoorso Wean kids' palettes off processed foods

Esthetic Visions & Goals

• Beautify the school environment• Eliminate erosion at the upper school yard• Block the wind tunnel effect• Create more shade in areas with vegetation• Create warm and welcoming campus

Assessment - Area

Assessment - Area

Assessment - Area

Total Area: 1.75 acres

Assessment - Zones

Assessment - Zones

Assessment - Zones

Assessment - Water Sector

Assessment - Water Sector

Avg. Annual Rainfall (gallons)

Upper yard 350,000

Upper roof 232,000Lower yard 204,000

Lower roof 161,000Total 947,000

Eroding Soil at Terrace Level

 

Assessment - Solar Sector

Assessment - Wind Sector

Assessment - Resources

Passionate People

&Involved Community

Assessment - Existing Resources

• 10 galvanized metal horse troughs• $700 credit to Berkeley Horticulture• 75% of waste recycled or composted• A few water spigots• Commitment by school to hire a year

round gardening coordinator• Grassroots "Greening Committee"/ Slow

Food

children 4 - 10 years of age

• Small-scale water catchment

• Bamboo and vines for wind break

• Plant above groundo Avoid toxic soil / break up

asphalto Use horse troughs, bogs,

straw bales, potato towers

Strategy: Lower School

Lower School

Strategy - Water Catchment

• Divert rain spout, capture in 55-gallon drums (80K g.)• Elevate drums if possible, otherwise use bicycle pump

for kids to pump water to troughs• Main benefit: teach kids water is precious resource

Strategy - Bamboo and Vines

• Provide break for strong winds

• Grow next to and up fences• Will need irrigation until

established

Problem: Massive Winds 

Wind Break Simulation

 

Strategy: Wind Break ~Bamboo & Vines

• Bamboo (Phyllostachys Rubromarginata, P. Myerri, P. Aurea, or Semi-Arundinaria Fastioso

• Clematis (Clematis hybrida, Clematis Paniculata• Climbing fig (Ficus Pamilia• Five Leaf Alba (Akebia Quinata• Confederate Jasmine (Trachelospermum

Jasminoides)• Burmese Honeysuckle (Lonicera Hilderbrandiana)• Boston Ivy (Parthenocissus Tricuspidata Lowii)

Strategy - Seasonal Horse Troughs• Fall and Summer planting schedule.• Create a plethora of activities for students.

Fall Planting• Trough 1: artichokes, borage, rosemary, nasturtiums,

carrots, peas, broccoli and cauliflower• Troughs 2 & 3: kale, onion, chamomile, collards,

lettuce, spinach, celery, cosmos daisies and snap dragons

• Trough 4: mustard greens, cabbage, peppermint, radish, turnips, snap pea, beets and garlic

Spring/Summer Planting

• Trough 1: Tomatoes, basil, oregano, parsley, carrots, celery, borage, nasturtium and petunias. 

• Trough 2: The three sisters:  beans, late corn, and squash, peas, parsley, amaranth and white geranium. 

• Trough 3: cauliflower, celery, cucumber, chamomile, lettuce, kale, swiss chard, and collards.

• Trough 4: sunflowers, peas, ornamental flowers,  pumpkins

Herb trough    

• Basil, chevril, dill, lavender, peppermint, lemon balm, lemon verbene, oregano, parsley, sage, thyme, tarragon. 

Straw Bale Planting

• Great for people with bad backs

• Wheelchair friendly

• Easy to maintain

• Retain water

 Sample Straw Bale Curriculum 

• Orient to receive full sun and set vertically

• Thoroughly soak

• Light fertilization every 1-2 weeks, water daily • Activity: Pull apart the bale, creating a small hole.

Add a little soil, place the plant. • What to Plant: tomato, pepper, beans, squash;

Ornamen-tal/medicinal: borage, basil, cilantro, parsley, nasturtium.

Potato PowerTowers

• Great class activity

• Set up 3-6 potato towers

• Love full to partial sun

Upper School

kids 10-13

Strategy - Upper School

• Control water flow and erosion o Islands or french drain in upper yardoEarthworks along edge of upper yardoTerrace slope to create amphitheater

• Bamboo and vines for windbreak

Upper School

Strategy - Islands or French Drain• Goal: Slow & sink water• Islands: Cut out blacktop squares and start with

gravel• Later add plants and border with rice bales• Alternately, french

drain diverts waterto cistern or storm drain

Strategy - Terrace Slope

• Terrace slope to stabilize erosion undercutting yard• Use terraces to create amphitheater seating and

outdoor teaching area

Strategy - Terrace Slope

• Three terrace levelso Retaining walls: wood/rebar or

concrete• Planting

o Thyme or ice plant ground covero Planters for class projects 

• Seatingo Tree stumps or cobb crescentso Design needs further investigation

Strategy - Terraced Cobb Seating

Strategy - School-wide

• On-site composting and/or worm binso fun, ooey gooey teaching tool

• Expand rain capture to all available sitesocapture from upper blacktopocapture from roofs to cisterns

future planting areasgravity watering hoses

TimelineYear 1• Plant horse troughs, straw bales, potato towers,

bogs

• Assess water flow at upper school

• Begin planting bamboo and vine wind breakso requires some blacktop breakup along fences

• Create "islands" at upper school 

 

Timeline

Year 1 or 2• Divert downspout at lower schoolyard• Begin composting or worm composting

Year 2 • Plant into "islands" at upper schoolyard• Continue planting bamboo and vines  Year 3•  Create terraces on the slope

 Remaining Questions

• Observe water flow during a rain event

• What is the soil like under the blacktop where we propose to create islands?

• More observation of wind pattern to determine predominant direction.

 

 

pictures

 

 

 

 

 

 

Upper playground