Aloha_Aina 2009

Course, Workshops & Events

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2008, Living Mandala
creative services by: 360 Degrees

Including

HANDS-ON ACTION-LEARNING

INTEGRATIVE ECO-SOCIAL CURRICULUM

ANIMAL SYSTEMS & FOOD FOREST GARDENING

NATURE AWARENESS & INDIGENOUS WISDOM APPROPRIATE TECHNOLOGY & NEW ENERGY

FUNGI & MYCO-REMEDIATION

RAW FOOD & EMBODIMENT PRACTICES

SONG, CEREMONY, RITES OF PASSAGE & MORE

In Association With

Wai’ Aha Farms

Regenerative Design Institute

Gaia University

Facilitators, Teachers & Constants

John Valenzuela

Penny Livingston-Stark

Additional Special Guests

to be announced soon!

Course Inspiration

“Aloha ‘Aina” is Hawaiian for “love of the land”, or “to love, respect, and nurture the land.” As human beings now facing a time of great environmental and social transformation, we believe that it is through this spirit of reconnecting to ourselves, to our communities, and to the Earth with a spirit of love and care that we will renew and restore a healthy balance of human beings living in harmony with each other and their natural environment. We are inspired and grateful to be offering this holistic permaculture design intensive at Wai’ Aha Farms and to the greater Island Community to further empower and synergize our efforts of ecological and social regeneration.

Course Description

The Aloha ‘Aina Holistic Permaculture Design Course will include the standard 72-hour permaculture design curriculum based upon the original Mollison and Holmgren ideas and design philosophies published in The Permaculture Designer’s Manual, as well as be a nourishing retreat and hands-on immersion experience of sustainable living. We are excited to announce this year that around 90% of the food for this course will be grown on-site or near by! Participants will learn and experience first-hand the process and cycle of growing and producing food in a community setting all the way from seeds in the soil to where it ends up as nutritious meals on their very own plates. In addition to the standard permaculture design certification curriculum, we recognize permaculture as an expanding, holistic design philosophy encompassing many fields. Accordingly, this permaculture design course will include and integrate additional content and activities such as nature awareness, indigenous wisdom, holistic nutrition, embodiment practices, inner work, group process, and more. With a focus on tending the inner as well as the outer landscapes, course participants will work with each other and local community residents on tangible design project scenarios to implement positive transformation within themselves and in the local community. For a more detailed description of course contents and instructors see below.

Range of Course Topics to Includ:

2nd Annual

Aloha ‘Aina

Holistic Permaculture Design Course

August 7-24, 2009

Wai’ Aha Farms
Holualoa, Big Island, Hawaii

Tuition & Registration

Course Tuition is $1600 U.S. dollars, which includes instruction, lodging, and 3 delicious, nutritious, and locally grown meals a day for the duration of the course - nearly 17 days. Participants who successfully complete the course will receive a Permaculture Design Certificate.

Early Bird Discount

Lodging & Food

Various lodging opportunities are available for the course on-site. Standard lodging will be a choice of camping or sleeping on mats in a large group bunking facility. Smaller private or shared rooms with beds are available for individuals, couples, or groups for an additional cost. Please contact us if interested.

Site Details

The course will be held at Wai’ Aha Farms - a beautiful agro-forestry and animal system farm and emerging sustainable living demonstration, events, & retreat center. The site is located on the Big Island of Hawaii in Holualoa about 20 minutes from the Kona Airport (KOA). It is filled with lush tropical vegetation, trees, gardens, agro-forestry, animal systems, various light-foot print buildings, and has a stunning view of the Pacific Ocean. The site is currently installing a methane digester for energy production, and is committed to growing as much food for this course as possible, already in works. We are aiming to grow 90% of the food for this course on site or near by.

Photos from Aloha ‘Aina 2008

Check out photos, stories, and feedback from last year’s course.

Certification Applicability

Participants who successfully complete the course will receive a Permaculture Design Certificate. Design Certification is applicable towards Gaia University Degree Programs.

Designer's Tools

Design Methods & Process

Maps and Mapping

Zones, Site Analysis

Design Projects

Hands-On Activities

Social Permaculture

Eco-Village Design

Cultural Mentoring

Zone Zero, Inner Work

Heart Circles

Improvisation

Personal Empowerment

Group Facilitation

Invisible Structures

Green Economics

Archetypal Biology

Biodynamic Farming

Geo-Political Landscapes

Holistic Nutrition

Yoga & Embodiment’

Physics & Unified Field Theory

Permaculture Design

Observation & Nature Awareness

Indigenous Wisdom

Natural Pattern Recognition

Pattern Design and Biomimicry

Bird Language & Tracking

Water on the Landscape

Swales, Keyline, & Pond Building

Integrated Animal Systems

Rain Harvesting & Catchments

Grey Water & Bioremediation

Tropical Permaculture

Natural Building

Organic Gardening

Forest Ecology

Food Forest Gardening

Agro-Forestry

Soil Ecology & Soil Building

Appropriate Technology

Alternative & Renewable Energy

Urban Permaculture

Mushrooms/Myco-Remediation

Aquaculture

Facilitators & Instructors

Penny Livingston-Stark

Director & Founder Regenerative Design Institute

Penny Livingston-Stark is internationally recognized as a prominent permaculture teacher, designer, and speaker. She is the founder of: Sustainable Living Designs (SLD) - a professional permaculture design/build firm integrating landscapes and structures with water, soil, plants and energy efficiency; The Permaculture Institute of Northern California (PINC) - an educational and research organization promoting sustainable technologies and methodologies; and Regenerative Design Institute (RDI) - a non-profit education program focusing on hands-on skills development. Penny has been working professionally in the land management and development field for 25 years and has extensive experience in all phases of ecologically sound landscape design and construction as well as the use of natural non-toxic building materials. She specializes in site planning & design of resource-rich landscapes, integrating rainwater collection, edible landscaping, pond and water systems, habitat development and watershed restoration for homes, co-housing communities, businesses and diverse-yield perennial farms. Penny is currently on the board of the Solar Living Institute in Hopland, California and has served on the Redwood Empire Chapter of the Green Building Council. She co-created the Ecological Design Program and its curriculum at the San Francisco Institute of Architecture and co-founded the West Marin Grower’s Group, West Marin Farmer’s Market, and the Community Land Trust Association of Marin.

Jay Ma

Jay Ma is a permaculture designer, facilitator, and community organizer committed to cultural healing through Peacemaker Principles. He received his first permaculture design certification through Naropa University in 2001, a B.A. through New College of California in Culture, Ecology, and Sustainable Community with a concentration in Eco-Dwelling/Natural Building, and is a graduate of the pioneering two-year training intensive in Regenerative Design & Nature Awareness. Jay has developed educational programs, retreats, workshops, and events as well as community land development projects with organizations including the Regenerative Design Institute, the Institute of Noetic Sciences, Earth Circle, Gaia University and others. He is currently an associate with Gaia University in Organized Learning for Eco-Social Regeneration, working on organizing educational courses in the Pacific Northwest and beyond. Jay is also a certified Permaculture Teacher, a Fire Walk Instructor through Sundoor International, and is passionate about renewing Rites of Passage experiential programs for people of all ages.

Julie “Bird” Moore

Julie "Bird" Moore is an Oregon farm born self-evolutionary and true voice of compassion and humor working on multi-faceted levels tending inner and outer gardens as an interpersonal counselor and visionary consultant. Leading by example she has gained extensive experience on her action-learning life path including: Metaphysical Advisor, Peer to Peer Counselor, Workshop Facilitator, Theatrical and Musical Performer/Edutainer" (Educational Entertainer), Visionary Networker, Business Manager, Multi Media Documentarian, and Professional Chef. Julie’s studies and interests have included: Public Presentation and Relations, Group Facilitation, Education, Micro-mimicry, Sustainability, Psycho-cybernetics, Psychology, Quantum Theory, Bio- Dynamics, and Interpersonal Communications to name a few. One of Julie’s most notable accomplishments is co-founding, managing, and teaching at a Mystery School which focused on the study and practice of Mysticism, Earth-based Consciousness, Magic, & Metaphysics. By invoking magical awareness, conscious evolution and free creative expression, Julie brings an inspirational toolset strategically weaving artists, leaders, thinkers, and activists to support the emerging culture and world building projects.

Steve Sakala

Steve served as volunteer, employee and eventually, co-director at the Campus Center for Appropriate Technology where he lived and worked in a demonstration home with sustainable, thriving systems. In West Africa, Steve spent four years working with local villages to identify areas of need around food security, and began introducing solutions like agroforestry and other organic agriculture demonstrations. For the past several years he has been working as an environmental consultant on a wide range of projects involving permaculture, green building, alternative energy, urban sustainability, sustainable disaster relief, and green economy. Steve is currently working with community groups and organizations on the Island of Hawaii, leading land cultivation, self-sufficiency and preparedness plans at an 18-acre research park. Steve's priorities lie in his desire to help communities design and implement beyond sustainable systems into thriving social, environmental, cultural, and economic models.

John Valenzuela

John Valenzuela is a horticulturist, consultant, and veteran permaculture educator with experience teaching and consulting a wide range of people including children, students, professionals, owners, renters, institutions, businesses, displaced sugar workers, and more. Living in Hawai'i for 15 years, John has studied and practiced tropical permaculture and taught extensively in the Islands. John has been a lead permaculture design course instructor at the Bullock Family Homestead in Orcas Island Washington for 10 years, and also has experience teaching in Costa Rica and throughout urban and rural California. His special interests are home gardens, plant propagation, rare fruit, food forests, agroforestry, ethnobotany, and native ecosystems. John is now based in his home state of California, where he maintains a small nursery and shares his passion for plants.

Emily Wacker

Emily is a permaculture designer, earthen builder, gardener, teacher and community organizer passioned by her love of the Earth. With nature and community as her teachers and inspiration, she spreads her laughter and light as she works to reflect the harmonious and regenerative patterns of nature into human design systems. She earned a Bachelor’s degree of Ecopsychology at the University of California, Santa Cruz, where she taught a UCSC course of Ecopsychology and Social Change and co-facilitated a UCSC cob bench building workshop in 2004. She received her Permaculture Design Cerificate in 2004 through the Earth Activist Training (www.earthactivisttraining.org) and has then been involved in various permaculture projects from British Colombia to Argentina. She worked as a natural building site leader at O.U.R Ecovillage (www.ourecovillage.org) and co-manager of the bountiful gardens at GingerHill farm/retreat center on the Big Island of Hawai’i (www.gingerhillfarm.com). Emily has worked for several organizations, such as the Homeless Garden Project (www.homelessgardenproject.org) and the Garden Path Project of Berkeley Youth Alternatives (www.byaonline.org/heat). Emily has completed a Permaculture Teacher’s Training Course at the Bullock’s Homestead, WA. Currently, she is an associate of Gaia University earning her Master’s in Integrative EcoSocial Design, where she is studying action-learning as a system to integrate patterns of consciousness and the development of culture.

Bios of Additional Instructors & Special Guests Coming Soon!