Mark Krawczyk: Bringing Permaculture to Burlington

BY: EMILY CUMMINGS
January 27th, 2010

BURLINGTON - Frigid temperatures didn't keep a crowd of about 20 locals away from Mark Krawczyk's Winter Tree Identification course on Sunday, January 24th. Krawczyk, a University of Vermont (UVM) alum, graduated in 2001 with a degree in Environmental Studies.

Krawczyk hosted the course in the small park in front of City Hall. He passionately discussed with the group the steps necessary for identifying trees, without leaves. The crowd, equally enthusiastic, absorbed every word - often times taking notes and drawing diagrams as Krawczyk spoke.

Krawczyk, originally from Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, a suburb of Milwaukee, explains how he began speaking about tree identification, "Probably one of the most memorable classes I took at UVM was 'Dendrology' with John Shane in the Forestry Department. 'Dendro' refers to the study of trees. We learned to identify over 110 woody plants that grow here in Vermont - without their leaves!! In fact, for our final exam, John laid out 100 twigs (more or less) - just twigs - and we had to identify them."

The experience left Krawczyk wanting more, "I just ate that class up," he says," I loved it and became pretty addicted to developing my tree observation and identification skills." From there, Krawczyk wanted to share his passion with others in the community.

"I started to organize seasonal workshop series' through Burlington Permaculture," Krawczyk says. Permaculture, which was first coined in the 1970s in Australia, is the contraction of two words, permanent and agriculture. "To help fill up our listings, and to get more experience teaching and presenting," says Krawczyk, "I signed myself up for several workshops - winter tree ID being one of them." Krawczyk explains how he had an interest in having discussions with people prior to his pursuit of teaching, "I've always enjoyed talking at length about things I know about, especially when others are interested in listening. So that's really how it started - part of a bigger picture."


Krawczyk thinks there are a lot of things people in the area ought to be informed of. "If I was to prioritize, I wouldn't necessarily put 'tree identification' particularly high on the list," he says. But, he also sees the value in such a unique knowledge. "I'd love to see people interested in learning more about it have an opportunity to do so for many reasons," Krawczyk says, "It connects them to their environment, helps them get to know their fellow inhabitants a bit better, explains how things are made and how natural communities evolve and serves to retroactively replace a gaping void in many of our lives - a pattern language and deep understanding of the natural world around us."

Krawczyk goes on to demonstrate his profound thoughts on people connecting to their environment by adding, "That said, I think it's more important that people grow more informed about strategies they can take in their lives to be more positively proactive - to start providing for their own needs and minimizing the extractive impact of their lives on the environment and on the lives of people around the world. I think we need to rediscover what it means to be human in the world and remember the fact that 'we are nature working.' This is where I see the potential for real leverage and longstanding change in our world."

Krawczyk is definitely thinking on a much larger scale than this one example - his Winter Tree Identification class. He is constantly involved in events. "Burlington Permaculture is about one-third of the way through the third annual Winter Workshop Series," Krawczyk says. Events include: beehive building, coppice forestry, hand tool sharpening, edible forest garden design, financial permaculture, model making, lawn to garden conversions, landscape plan graphics, beer brewing 101, and a weekend introduction to permaculture. That's not all; there is a fourteen day permaculture design certification course at Rock Point planned for this summer, as well as more tree identification walks, and monthly potlucks.

"[There will be] a fruit tree giveaway, lawn to garden conversion parties, the Village Building Convergence, cob and earth oven building workshops and hopefully a film series," says Krawczyk. More information, and a full listing of these events, can be found on the Burlington Permaculture website http://burlingtonpermaculture.googlepages.com

Krawczyk, along with friend and fellow Permaculture activist Michael Blazewicz, founded Burlington Permaculture in 2007. The idea was to create a channel to unite with like-minded individuals in the area and create connections between people, land and resources.

Krawczyk also founded Keyline Vermont in 2007. Keyline Vermont's mission is to bring holistic site planning and design services for landscapes of all sizes. For more information on Keyline Vermont, visit www.keylinevermont.com.
Even before Krawczyk ventured Keyline Vermont and Burlington Permaculture, he was using his knowledge to craft his own custom made furniture. Krawczyk uses traditional tools and techniques to make the furniture. Check out www.rivenwoodcrafts.com to order your own piece of his woodworking, or just to find out more about the process.

Mark Krawczyk is a fascinating individual with a sincere desire for educating others on permaculture. If you are interested in learning about some of the other ways he gets involved, you might also want to check out www.sgnb.com and www.ecosystems-design.com. He's always looking for others to join him in his various efforts. If you'd like to get involved, Krawczyk says, "Please let us know if you've got skills, passions or wisdom you'd like to share. We'd love to help make it happen.

Otherwise, let us know what you'd like to learn about and we'll see if we can find someone to help." There are some great internship opportunities through Burlington Permaculture and Krawczyk seems dedicated to passing on his unique knowledge and interests to others almost as a part of his own captivating life mission statement.