Earth Activist Training Permibus - Needs Fuel to Go!!

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Hey friends, our Earth Activist Training Permibus has been travelling the
country doing great work, bringing new ideas and green solutions, trainings
and permaculture tours to every place from inner city gardens to WalMart
parking lots. Some of you may remember the drama last summer, when the
Minneapolis police illegally confiscated the bus during the protests against
the Republican National Convention. We got the bus back‹thanks to pressure
and support from many of you‹and it¹s been having adventures and (alas!) a
big mechanical breakdown ever since. Now its reborn, back on the road, but
we desperately need your support to keep it going, and to keep our bus
family in food and basic supplies. If you can donate anything, it will make
all the difference. If you can donate regularly‹or a lot‹that could help
the bus get needed repairs and refurbishment. Thanks so much! All the info
is below...

Starhawk

Howdy Permibus Supporters,

Imagine dozens of children of all ages playing, laughing, learningŠ Did you
know chickens are dinosaur cousins? one child asks her mom over by the
chicken workshop. If bio-accumulator plants collect stuff from the soil can
you eat them? asks another at the seed ball workshop. Meanwhile inside the
Permibus a group of kids are doing a child led tour. ³Where do the chickens
ride? Where do you go to the bathroom?² ³You have a garden in the bus?
Then over 60 kids of all ages gather for the Permi-Puppet Show as the good
town folk of Anywhere, USA successfully resist the Evil CEO of 'Omnicorp'
using the skills they learned from the Permibus Crew. On Permibus afternoons
like this, seeing the spark as children imagine the possible, all the
challenges of the road are worthwhile.

This has already been a big year for the Permibus Crew. As many of you know,
at the end of last year the first Permibus cracked a piston in Spiceland,
Indiana. We spent the first two months of 2009 building the Permibus II. It
has all the permaculture systems of the first permibus with a fresh new
look. You can see pictures of the Permibus II creation when you visit our
new website at www.permibus.org . We hope you
are as thrilled about our website as we are.

Another exciting change in 2009 is more festival opportunities. Though
festivals are not good fundraisers, they offer an unprecedented opportunity
to introduce hundreds of people to Permaculture. At the Whole Earth Festival
in Davis, CA well over half of the people who toured the Permibus
permaculture systems had never heard the term Permaculture. Though many of
the folks were familiar with some of the tools of Permaculture, the idea of
a design system that can create sustainable abundance was new and exciting.
And, while turning folks on to permaculture, we pass out hundreds of Know
Your Rights fliers, introducing many folks to the idea of being a proactive
citizen. We just finished up a weekend as part of the ecovillage at Harmony
Fest in Santa Rosa, CA and we are going to cap off our west coast tour at
the Oregon Country Fair.

Despite a rocky start as we raced to rebuild the Permibus by late February
for the Public Interest Law Conference in Eugene, 2009 looks like it¹s going
to be even busier than last year. As you can see below, thanks to your
generous support in 2008, we surpassed our 2008 objectives. Now we aspire to
reach even more folks in 2009.

In addition to festivals, much like 2008, we continue to offer a variety of
sustainability trainings. Already this year communities like yours have
hosted permaculture 101, canning, magical activism, rearing wild children,
seed balls, chickens, a three day street medic training, and more. From
college students in Olympia, WA to home school students in San Louis Obispo,
CA, the Skills Tour is on the road successfully cultivating revolutionary
ways of living.

As busy as we have been in the first part of 2009, the rest of 2009 looks
even busier. In the next month, if we have funds to purchase the fuel we
need to get there, we have a Permaculture 101 training and a Canning
Workshop at the Greenwood Senior Citizen Center in Seattle followed by two
days in Tacoma, WA including events at local youth shelter and the Tacoma
Center for Spiritual Living. In addition we are bringing Permaculture
trainings the Earth First! Round River Rendezvous. After the Oregon Country
Fair, we head east where we already have trainings schedule through the
fall.

Your support is invaluable if we are to continue our mission. Providing
folks like you with the skills needed to live sustainably and organize
communities is more important then ever in these times of a crumbling
economy and ever growing corporate power. Only with your help now can we
keep teaching people the skills they need to change the world.

If we do not raise $3500 for biodiesel and keep our cell phone and Internet
on, we may be forced to cancel upcoming trainings. Further, if we can raise
$500 by mid-July for parts we have a heavy equipment mechanic who will
donate labor for a much needed brake repair on the Permibus. We also need
to raise another $4500 in order to pay off the loan for the Permibus II. To
donate visit our website at www.permibus.org or
send checks to Delyla Wilson 150 Daly Ave, Hamilton, MT. For tax deductible
donations send checks to ACT POB 160757 Austin, TX 78716. Be sure to put
³permibus² on the memo line.

During a Permibus open house a homeless man, after learning about our
project, donated everything he had made that day to support our amazing
work. Consider, as we are out here on the road working hard to make the
world a better place, how much stronger and more effective we would be if
those with the most gave as much as those with the least. Regardless of your
income if you give just one days wage, 1/365th of what you make in a year,
to support us in teaching people like yourself how to make a better world
for all of us, the ripple of our work could grow into powerful waves of
change.

Blessed Be and Thank You for Your Support,

The Permibus Crew,
Stan, Delyla, Megan (people)
Poco, Rowan, Sage (dogs)
Isis, Ginger, and Emma (chickens)
Šand a box of Worms

PS. As we walk the path we are called to, we thank you for doing your part
to support the Skills Tour as we cultivate revolutionary ways of living from
coast to coastŠ

2009-2010 General Tour Schedule
Spring West Coast
Mid-July to Early September -Midwest
Mid-September to Mid-October- North East
Mid-October to Mid-November - East Coast
Mid-November to Mid- January - South East
Mid-January to March - South
March to April - South West