Introduction to Permaculture Weekend Workshop at MA Center

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2008, Living Mandala
creative services by: 360 Degrees

Including

PERMACULTURE OVERVIEW

PERMACULTURE ETHICS

PERMACULTURE DESIGN PRINCIPLES

OBSERVATION & NATURE AWARENESS

PATTERNS IN NATURE

PATTERNS APPLICATION IN DESIGN

CORE ROUTINES

BIRD LANGUAGE

ZONES & SECTORS

STATE OF THE WORLD

AND MORE

In Association With

Green Friends

Facilitators, Instructors & Consultants

Kat Steele

Jay Ma

& Special Guests

Course Inspiration

In response to many inquiries from individuals interested in taking a Permaculture Design Certification Course, but who are not able to take over two-weeks off from their lives, jobs, and family responsibilities to attend a residential course, we are excited to offer this Introduction to Permaculture Weekend workshop in conjunction with Green Friends at the beautiful site of the M.A. Center in the East San Francisco Bay Area - U.S. headquarters of international humanitarian & India Saint - Amma. www.embracingtheworld.org. The beautiful 180 acre grounds of the M.A. Center are becoming a demonstration & educational hub of leading permaculture, holistic management, and regenerative design practices.

Course Description

Permaculture is a holistic design philosophy described as the art and science of creating community ecosystems in which plants, animals, human beings, and all forms of ecological diversity interact to produce a prolific, ecologically-sound, and regenerative system that can support itself and life indefinitely. Join us for this weekend workshop intensive as we dive into the art and science of permaculture for two long days at the beautiful site of the M.A. Center in the East San Francisco Bay Area. Topics & Activities include a general overview of permaculture; ethics, design principles & applications, nature connection, observation, patterns in nature, biomimicry & pattern design, core routines, bird language, zones & sectors, & more. This workshop will include and engage a variety of learning styles including lecture, small group discussion, experiential activities, slideshows, & video. Participants will gain a solid understanding of the history, philosophy and foundations of permaculture; experience a deeper and renewed connection to Nature, and learn practical skills, principles, and practices to take home & apply in their lives.

Course Details

The weekend workshop will occur over the weekend of May 8 & 9, 2010 at the M.A Center in Castro Valley, CA.

Workshop Times:

The workshop will begin at 9:00 am and end at 5:30 pm on both Saturday and Sunday. Lunch will be served by the M.A. Center on Saturday. Potluck Lunch on Sunday. To register click here.

Weekend Permaculture Design

Certification Course

Participants of the weekend workshop will have the option to continue with the full Permaculture Design Certification, which will continue over a period of 7 weekends on Sundays from March 26 - May 8th. Additional topics include, water, rain water catchment, grey water, bioremediation, mushrooms, mycoremediation, aquaculture, keyline, design process, carbon farming, social permaculture, ecovillages, food forest gardening, sustainable forestry, and much more. In addition to the standard permaculture design course curriculum, we recognize permaculture as an expanding, holistic design philosophy being applied to an ever-growing landscape of diverse fields and skill sets including business, government, economics, group process, social systems, inner work, and more. Accordingly, this permaculture design course will include & integrate additional content and activities such as nature awareness, indigenous wisdom, organizational design, financial permaculture, inner ecology, group process, natural building, hands-on activities, and more. For a more detailed description of the entire Weekend Permaculture Design Certification Course click here.

What is Permaculture?

Permaculture is a holistic design philosophy described as the art and science of creating community eco-systems in which plants, animals, human beings, and all forms of ecological diversity interact to produce a prolific, ecologically-sound, and regenerative system that can support itself and life indefinitely. The focus of permaculture is to design and establish societal systems that provide for humanity’s material and non-material needs such as food, water, shelter, energy, and health in a way that is symbiotic and synergistic with the Earth’s natural ecosystems. More recently permaculture is incorporating an ever-growing landscape of diverse fields and skill sets and is being applied towards areas such as business, government, economics, group process, social systems, and inner work.

Introduction to Permaculture Weekend Workshop

March 26 - 27, 2011

M.A. Center

Castro Valley, California

Tuition & Registration

Price Reduction! Course Tuition for this first weekend is only $75! Lunch provided by the M.A Center on Saturdays is an additional $10 paid in cash on-site; potluck lunch on Sunday. Fees can be applied towards tuition for the entire design course, should you choose to continue and there is space available.

Meals

Lunch will be provided by the M.A. Center on Saturdays. Potluck lunch on Sundays.

Site Details - M.A. Center

M.A. Center is the U.S. headquarters of international humanitarian & India Saint - Amma. www.embracingtheworld.org. The beautiful 180 acre grounds of the M.A. Center are becoming a demonstration & educational hub of leading permaculture, holistic management, and regenerative design practices.

Site Projects Include

•1,000 tree holistic food forest
•Dynamic watershed restoration
•Broadacre land contouring & water infiltration
•Keyline patterning & ploughing
•Native reforestation & agroforestry
•Holistically managed grazing
•Soil food web management
•Solar energy
•Community garden & orchards
•Sustainability & spirituality programs

GreenFriends: A Global Environmental Movement

GreenFriends is a global grassroots environmental movement that promotes environmental awareness and participation at the individual and community levels in activities aimed at preserving our precious environment. In the United States, GreenFriends’ main activities include tree planting, organic food production using organic farming techniques, a plastics project, solar energy and beekeeping. GreenFriends is a satellite project of the humanitarian organization Embracing the World (ETW). ETW is a member organization of the United Nations Billion Tree Campaign. Since its inception in 2001, GreenFriends has become a global environmental movement with thousands of members of all ages in the United States, Europe, Australia and Japan working together to preserve the environment through local participation in GreenFriends projects.

GreenFriends Projects

Since its inception, GreenFriends has made a tremendous impact on the environment by planting more than 1 million trees globally since 2001. Other GreenFriends projects found around the world include permaculture, building eco-friendly dwellings, promoting the use of Efficient Micro-organisms (EM), preserving land and water ecosystems, and recycling/reducing waste. To reconnect people with nature, GreenFriends also conducts workshops, nature retreats and group meditation in forests and other natural settings.

Contact

For questions and more information regarding the course

e-mail: education@livingmandala.com or

phone: (707) 634-1461

Instructors, Facilitators & Guests

Kat Steele

Kat Steele is a permaculture activist, designer, educator and founder of the Urban Permaculture Guild in Oakland, CA. She facilitates workshops on ecological design, sustainability and permaculture as well as publicly speaks about eco-social design, city repair and the power of placemaking. Trained in Ecovillage Design with the Findhorn Foundation of Scotland, Natural Building with Kleiwerks International, and Permaculture Design with the Occidental Arts and Ecology Center, she also holds an MA in Creative Arts from San Francisco State University. She presently serves on the board of a Bay Area nonprofit organization devoted to peace, justice and sustainablity, the NorCal Chapter of Architects, Designers, Planners for Social Responsibility (ADPSR). In 2006 she became one of a 1,000 Climate Project trainees empowered to present a version of Al Gore's Inconvenient Truth slide presentation. Kat recently moved to Big Sur, CA to lead sustainability initiatives at the Esalen Institute. She is devoted to localization and community resiliency, believing it to be a key strategy towards sustainability and "thriveability.”

Lead Instructor & Facilitator

Jay Ma

Jay Ma is a permaculture designer, facilitator, natural builder, 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. Jay is a graduate of the pioneering two-year training intensive in Regenerative Design & Nature Awareness. Jay has facilitated 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, Gaia University, Omega Institute, Harmony Festival, and others. Jay is co-founder and director of programs and development of Living Mandala, and works with other regenerative educators and institutions organizing educational courses, workshops, and events for ecological and social regeneration in the Pacific Northwest and beyond. He is currently an associate with Gaia University in Organized Learning for Eco-Social Regeneration. 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.

Lead Instructor & Facilitator

Bios of Additional Instructors & Special Guests Coming Soon!

Affiliate Organizations & Sponsors

Become a sponsor of this course!

For details email: affiliates@livingmandala.com

For Upcoming Courses, Workshops, & Events Click this Spring & Summer in Permaculture, Ecovillage Design, Sustainable Living Skills, & More Click Here.