We are happy to annouce to have Stefan Sobkowiak
from Les Fermes Miracle in Canada with us in Spain for a 2 day intensive
Permaculture Orchard workshop. Stefan is well know from his Movie" The
Permaculture Orchard -beyond organic " and has over 20 years of
experience in Permaculture and Orchard management. The course covers
following topics:
Introduction to Forest Gardening
Introduction to Permaculture
Commercial Permaculture Orchard economics
Propagation essentials
Evaluate and establish a site
Site plantings
Observation Skills
Soil
Integrated pest management
This will be a special experience with one of the leading
Permaculture Orchard Professionals and will show that Permaculure can
create economically viable and ecological sound buisnesses. Dont miss
this chance! www.permacultureorchard.com http://miracle.farm/
Tension between management and more flexible units in an organization
can prevent a company from truly adapting and gaining from the deeper
potential possible. Sociocracy is one form of governance structure.
Practitioner and expert on Sociocracy James Priest explains.
James
Priest is an interdependent consultant, facilitator and trainer
specialising in holistic organisational development, distributed
leadership implementation, and complex systems optimisation. He works
alongside organisation’s towards optimising capacity to dynamically
navigate changing environments, empower collaborative innovation and
build resilient, harmonious teams. www.jamespriest.org
As organisations restructure and find better and better ways to serve
customers, be motivated and powerful at work and drop the social mask,
we move towards self-managing holistic fractal systems.
James Priest talks about those systems with his framework Sociocracy 3.0.
A brief introduction to the history and key elements of classic sociocracy.
The following presentation was recorded live in San Jose, California,
October of 1996, at The 1996 ACM Conference on Object-Oriented Programs,
Systems, Languages and Applications (OOPSLA).
A Swiss farmer named Ernst Götsch (Goetsch) has developed an
agroforestry system based on natural succession of species and soil
recovery. Götsch, who moved to Brazil in the 80’s, has successfully
proliferated his techniques throughout South America and Europe.
Using a productive agriculture design free of artificial fertilizer,
he has revived 480 hectares (1,200 acres) of degraded soil in south
Bahia (Brazil). The farm has developed its own microclimate, water flows
again in 14 springs, and wildlife has repopulated the area. What began
as an experiment in mimicking nature has become a model sustainable
farming system in an area otherwise awash in slash-and-burn agriculture.
The forest-farming techniques have been adapted to a variety of
climates and conditions for the last 30 years.
A film documentary of Götsch’s work is currently in production: http://www.agendagotsch.com/
David Korten author of "When Corporations Rule the World" on "The Great
Turning: From Empire to Earth Community" at the Veterans for Peace 2006
National Convention in Seattle
From Serving Money to Serving Life: A Sacred Story for Our Time
When we get our story wrong, we get our future wrong. Much like the
Trans-Pacific Partnership "trade deal", everything we are told about
capitalism and our economy is a pack of lies. Time for a new story,
says preeminent scholar and critic of corporate globalization, David
Korten, the best-selling author of When Corporations Rule the World and
The Great Turning. David has a brand new book, Change the Story, Change
the Future - a Living Economy for a Living Earth. He is the co-founder
and board chair of YES! Magazine, co-chair of the New Economy Working
Group, founder and president of the Living Economies Forum (formerly the
People-Centered Development Forum), a member of the Club of Rome, and a
former board member of the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies
(BALLE) and associate of the International Forum on Globalization.
This Earth Day address was recorded April 22, 2015 at Seattle University Pigott Auditorium.
Gaia loves our diversity and knows we can harmonize our perspectives to
create a future that works for All. In this talk we will discover the
secret of living a better future right now! Elisabet Sahtouris is an internationally known evolution biologist and futurist.
Dr. Greg Cajete spoke as part of the "Alternative Forms of Knowledge
Construction in Mathematics and Science" lecture series in Portland,
Oregon which is co-sponsored by Portland State University and Portland
Community College. The series features guest speakers who examine forms
of mathematical and scientific practice in a variety of cultural
settings.
Native Science Presentation by Dr. Gregory Cajete
In honor of Native American Heritage Month, join Dr. Gregory Cajete,
Native American educator and author of “Native Science: Natural Laws of
Interdependence,” as he examines the levels of meaning that inform
Native astronomy, cosmology, psychology, agriculture, and healing arts.
Gain insight into the perspectives of indigenous peoples, whose ability
to live in harmony with the land could steer us toward much-needed
solutions in an age of environmental crisis.
This October we are returning to the magical La Garrotxa, near Barcelona, for our 3rd Permaculture Design Course in Spain.
We are excited to offer a 17-day PERMACULTURE DESIGN CERTIFICATE (PDC) PLUS Course with over 90 hours curriculum, full of practical knowledge, hands-on experiences and design exercises in a place of great natural beauty.
The PDC program integrates with optional daily yoga sessions ,mindfulness practices, Deep Ecology/ Nature Connection exercises, outdoor learning and community living. The course takes place from the 2nd-18th of October 2015 in a wonderful, rural, stone house and stunning natural surroundings of La Garrotxa, near Girona and Barcelona. Participants will be immersed in an inspiring learning environment while living close to nature for the full duration of the course.
We have Rico Zook from the US joining us as the main facilitator. In addition to academic and professional credentials, Mr. Zook has spent more than 25 years living in nature, including long-term residencies in California’s Yosemite National Park, the demanding Sangria de Cristo Mountains of Northern New Mexico, and as a homesteader in Northern California wilderness. For more than a decade as Land Manager for the Lama Foundation, a spiritual community and retreat center North of Taos, NM, Mr. Zook designed and transformed the rugged, semi-arid high-altitude site that had been decimated by wildfire into one of beauty and productivity.
Outdoor learning with Rico during last year's PDC (La Garrotxa)
Using permaculture practices, a lifetime of observation and interpretation of the natural world and the knowledge of how to create human harmony with it, he has built a visible and successful permaculture demonstration and teaching site. It is a model of design, integrating the needs, resources and yields of community and nature in proactive and abundant ways with respectful and restorative impacts on the environment.
Mr. Zook is a graduate of Sonoma State University, from which he holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Environmental Studies focused on land restoration, with minors in Biology and Philosophy. You can find out more about his work here:
www.i-permaculture.org
Kate and Roman from Soil Sun Soul have been involved in organizing and working with Permaculture and alternative education since 8 years in 5 Continents. Visit their blog here http://soil-sun-soul.blogspot.com/
Our aim with Soil Sun Soul is to design and offer whole person learning experiences which aim to:
increase ecological literacy,
empower individuals to design regenerative life systems using ecological principles,
reconnect us to the Earth
encourage holistic thinking and decision making.
As Warren Brush says in his podcast interview: ¨The Permaculture Design Course is a basic training for living in the 21st century in a way that actually makes sense.¨ This course helps you to awaken to the fundamental patterns in nature and reconnect yourself to the web of life.
Once again, the course location is in the area of La Garrotxa Volcanic Zone Natural Park, in Catalonia, northeastern Spain. Some parts of the park, including the best preserved volcanic cones, are fully protected as nature reserves. The mountain landscape, the sun and climate provide a variety of vegetation, with holm oaks, common oaks and beech trees of exceptional value to the landscape.
Breathtaking landscapes of La Garrotxa
The Mas Pujou Team: Artiz, Narcis, Carmen and Oliver came to this beautiful site in 2014. Their home is an ideal place to enjoy the peacefull nature and sorroundings.They started to work together in the forest, to renovate the old stone house and establish vegetable gardens.
The restored stone masia where we host the course at Mas Pujou
Stunning views from Mas Pujou
They also joined the CIC, Cooperativa Integral Catalan, a Transitional initiative for social transformation from below, through self·management, self·organization and networking.You can learn more about CIC here:
http://cooperativa.cat/en/
The local Regenerative Agriculture Farm Planeses usally is our main organic, local food supplier. This project is another amazing initiative in the La Garrotxa area and we had the pleasure of volunteering there ourselves, planting and harvesting vegetables and taking care of chickens.We aim to support the local economy, by keeping money circulating in the neighbouring community and cooperating with people from our local area.
Overview of Planeses Farm
This farm runs a CSA project with over 90 custumers and is using cutting-edge direct marketing and regenerative agriculture techniques. During our 17 day PDC PLUS Course we also plan to visit this inspiring project.
Vegetable production at Planeses
This time, the Mas Pujou team will be organizing and preparing much of the delicious, healthy food we serve. It will be sourced from their organic gardens and from a local cooperative they are working with.
This 17 Day experience will give us time for some hands-on experiences on site at Mas Pujou.We also integrate optional morning yoga sessions. some midfullness practises and some Nature Connection excercises during the course. There will be a "Food as Medicine" talk by special guest Martina Wastl from PranaKitchen who will also share some of her delicious recipes to try.
Overall, this will be a one-of-a-kind experience as the Soil Sun Soul team always does its best to take everyone involved on another transformational learning journey!
Slideshow from one of our past courses with Rico Zook in Spain here:
