Courses, Workshops & Events

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

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2008, Living Mandala
creative services by: 360 Degrees

Including

PERMACULTURE & ECO-VILLAGE DESIGN

INTEGRATIVE ECO-SOCIAL CURRICULUM

HANDS-ON ACTION LEARNING

SUSTAINABLE SYSTEMS

COMMUNITY BUILDING

SOCIAL PERMACULTURE

NATURAL BUILDING

DESIGN TOOLS

GROUP PROCESS

& MUCH MORE

In Association With

Laytonville Ecovillage

Mendocino Ecological Learning Center

Facilitators, Instructors & Consultants

John Valenzuela

Sage Mata

Jay Ma

Max Meyers

Dan Antonioli

Alison Pernell

Devin Stubblefield

Cassandra Ferrera

Additional Guest Instructors to be Announced Soon!

Course Inspiration

In this era of great transformation, falling oil supply, and global warming — we are on the edge with an empowering ability to design our world to be the change we wish to see. Imagine a world where humans live harmoniously with the natural systems of the Earth and where we live in abundance from our local resources... where food and medicinal plants grow everywhere while sequestering carbon from our atmosphere... where everyone rejoices in celebration from the blessing of living in community... and where we can enjoy the view of life from resting in your hammock! This is the life in a Permaculture homestead or Ecovillage - whether in the city or the county. During this 17 day course, participants will be immersed in this way of designing our lives to create these beneficial relationships that we call Permaculture while experiencing living in community and contributing to the design of a real life Eco-Village development project.

Course Description

A holistic approach to sustainable development begins with land use and community design. We are excited to announce, for the second year in a row, a 17-day unique Permaculture Design Certification Course that will be hosted on the beautiful site of the newly forming Laytonville Ecovillage in Mendocino county of Northern California. This course will immerse participants in the design system of Permaculture to create and maximize the beneficial relationships between our natural resources, our daily needs, and the regeneration the Earth. The course will integrate the theory of sustainable living with social permaculture through hands-on, real experience. This year with an additional 3 days, course participants will experience living in community and contributing to the design and development of a real Eco-Village project lead by an amazing cast of teachers and special guests in a fun and supportive community learning environment.

Topics to Include:

Certification Applicability

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

2nd Annual Laytonville Ecovillage

Permaculture Design Certification Course

Creating an Ecovillage From the Earth Up

June 17- July 3, 2010

Mendocino County, Northern California

at the newly forming Laytonville Ecovillage

Tuition & Registration

Course Tuition is $1500 U.S. dollars, which includes instruction, basic camping accommodations, and 3 delicious, nutritious meals a day for the duration of the course. Participants who successfully complete the course will receive a Permaculture Design Certificate.

Affiliate Marketing Co-Opportunity

Help us spread the word about this course and earn cash! Earn $65 for Early Birds and $100 for regular tuition for individuals who sign up for the course referred by you personally or from a specific e-mail list, organization, or flier location. Commissions will be paid after the course is complete on June 30th. For details e-mail afiliates@livingmandala.com

Site Details

Laytonville Eco-Village

The course is being held on the Lay an emerging Eco-Village development project on a ten acre, beautifully forested property about a mile outside of Laytonville, California. Laytonville is a small, rural town in Northern Mendocino County located right off Highway 101, about a three-hour drive from San Francisco. The property is zoned for subdividing and is in the process of being subdivided into five two-acre parcels that together will consist of the EcoVillage. Existing infrastructure on-site includes a two-story, two-unit farmhouse that's about 65 years old, a barn with loft, a carport, and storage buildings.

Laytonville Eco-Village Vision

The vision of the Ecovillage is to develop the land and homes with community and sustainability as the core values. All of the models of ecological design, permaculture, green building, etc. will be applied to the fullest extent possible. Lots are available to people who agree to a common vision, to community, and to working with a set of guidelines that are developed by the community. Individual lots will thus fit into a "commons" wherein they co-create and agree to a set of sustainable and community parameters.

Some of the sustainable lifestyle features we envision include microgrid, biodiesel, an electric car co-op, sauna/hot tub bath house, locally harvested materials, rainwater catchment, graywater, permaculture landscaping, etc. For more information on the Laytonville Ecovillage visit the website or contact Dan Antonioli at dantonioli@earthlink.net.

Contact

For questions and more information regarding the course

e-mail: laytonville@livingmandala.com or

call: (707) 634-1461

Permaculture Design

Permaculture Principles

Natural Patterns

Pattern Application

Reading the Landscape

Nature Awareness

Forests

Soil Food Web

Water Cycles

Tropical, Arid & Cool Climates

Design Process

Sustainable Systems

Natural Building

Renewable Energy

Appropriate Technology

Rain Catchment

Graywater

Humanure

Home Gardens

Food Forests

Agroforestry

Fungi & Myco-Remediation

Bio-Remediation

Animal Systems

Aquaculture

Instructors, Facilitators & Guests

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. John has been a lead permaculture design course instructor at the Bullock Family Homestead in Orcas Island Washington for 11 years, and also has experience teaching in Costa Rica and throughout urban and rural California. Living in Hawaii for 15 years, John has studied and practiced tropical permaculture and taught extensively in the Islands. 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.

Veteran Lead Instructor

Saga Mata

Sage 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 Hawaii (www.gingerhillfarm.com). Sage 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). Sage 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.

Lead Instructor, Admin, Production

Max Meyers

Max Meyers is an Ecological Designer, Permaculture Teacher, Farmer and Director of the Mendocino Ecological Learning Center, a nonprofit educational organization and ecological reserve that offers green job training and practices sustainable stewardship of land, plants, animals and energy systems. He has been studying, practicing and teaching Permaculture and Ecological Design for 12 years. In addition to the work at MELC, Max provides Ecological design services to the public, organizations and schools. He is passionate about all things related to a more just and sustainable world. Since graduating from New College of California's Culture, Ecology and Sustainable Communities B.A. program and Santa Rosa Junior College's Sustainable Agriculture Program, Max has become a certified Permaculture designer/teacher, Aquaponics system installer and sustainable water systems specialist. He has been fortunate enough to study with people like Bill Mollison, Geoff Lawton, Sepp Holzer, Tom Ward, Jude Hobbs, Penny Livingston and many others in places like the United States, New Zealand, Australia, Thailand, Mexico, Colombia, Brazil and Hawaii. Some of his fields of study and practice include: Natural Building, Biodynamic Farming, Integrated Rainwater Collection and Storage, Alternative Transportation, Mushroom Cultivation, Sustainable Forestry, Beekeeping, Animal Husbandry, Renewable Energy, Biogas Production and use, Greywater Systems design and installation, Vermiculture, seed saving and many other sustainable technologies, methods and skills. Max has experience teaching Permaculture, Natural Building, Cob Construction, Renewable Energy, Organic farming, Beekeeping and others. Maximillian Meyers lives with his wife and partner Maria Luisa in Willits, California.

Lead Instructor

Jay Ma

Jay Ma is a permaculture designer, facilitator, and community organizer committed to cultural healing through Peacemaker Principles. Hereceived his first permaculture designcertification 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 Universityin Organized Learning for Eco-Social Regeneration, working on organizing educational courses in the Pacific Northwest and beyond. Jay is also a certified Permaculture Teacher, aFire Walk Instructor through Sundoor International,and is passionate about renewing Rites of Passage experiential programs for people of all ages.

Lead Instructor, Outreach, Production

Dan Antonioli

Dan Antonioli is an ecovillager with an extensive background in green building and ecological design. He has over twenty years of experience in general construction and fifteen years in alternative construction and green building. He's a licensed general contractor, a registered green builder with Build It Green, and has memberships with the United States Green Building Council, the American Solar Energy Association, the Northern California Solar Energy Association, and the Eastern Oregon Renewable Energy Association. He has a BA in psychology and a masters degree in transpersonal psychology and is interested in the social-psychological dimensions of ecovillage living.

Founder of the 611 Ecovillage, an inner city Oakland urban ecovillage, he's now spearheading the formation of the Laytonville Ecovillage which is hosting a two week permaculture design course this June. Dan has lived on permaculture sites and is excited to fulfill a dream of bringing permaculture into an ecovillage, from the ground up!

Ecovillage Developer, Host, Support Instructor

Alison Pernell

Alison Pernell is a community planner, facilitator, grantwriter and permaculturist with a passion for teamwork, creative solutions and unique partnerships. Alison works with individuals, local and tribal governments, designers, and non-profit and community organizations to build more livable and sustainable communities and to build social capital. Alison is a member of the Laytonville Area Municipal Advisory Council, and has been a leader in planning for more human-scaled development, and creating a more walkable community. She is a co-founder of Polcum Springs - a burgeoning intentional community that is re-creating the rural village. She is pleased to host workshops at Polcum Springs this year on: Mushroom Cultivation, Forestry & Fire Ecology, Braintanning Furs, and Rejuvenation. Alison lives there with her daughter and husband, where creating inspiring space, gardening, biodynamics, composting, solar cooking, respectful hunting, sustainable forestry, hiking, and gathering together connect her to the wheel of life and enliven her spirit.

Guest Instructor

Devin Stubblefield

Devin Stubblefield is a Regenerative Real Estate agent in Sonoma County. With her partner, Cassandra, Devin is evolving the practice of real estate toward a connected and sustainable relationship with the planet. After graduating from New College North Bay with a degree in Culture, Ecology and Sustainable Community, Devin co-founded the R.I.T.E.S. project, a non-profit committed to educating on sustainable practices through permaculture. While working on the Sebastopol Skate Garden project, Devin met a Realtor who opened her eyes to the role real estate agents could play in supporting and inspiring whole communities to have a deeper and more regenerative connection with their bio-region. Upon completing her licensure as a Realtor, Devin joined the first green real estate company in the Bay. After teaming up with Cassandra in 2008, her practice has accelerated in a direction that provides true personal and professional satisfaction. Devin's activist voice and permaculture know-how have found fertile ground! Blending years of traditional real estate experience with permaculture principles, Devin and Cassandra work with visionary clientele who are creating eco-villages, cohousing, and multi-family farms. They give professional, educated, and comprehensive real estate service to all residentil real estate transaction including single family home sales. In every case, Cassandra and Devin bring the context of permaculture and community perspective to their real estate practice. Currently practicing through Creative Property Services in west Sonoma County, this dynamic duo is available to consult and represent you and your community in grounding your vision into reality.

Guest Instructor, Laytonville Ecovillage Real Estate Agent

Cassandra Ferrera

Cassandra Ferrera is a Regenerative Real Estate agent in Sonoma County. With her partner, Devin, Cassandra is dedicated to restoring the balance of human and natural ecology through conscious land ownership. Cassandra's interest in housing began as an undergraduate student at Humboldt State University where she graduated with an Interdisciplinary degree in Humane Structures in 1995. As a student she was an avid environmental and student right's activist, and went on to work with student leaders after graduating. Cassandra also worked for Real Goods and GAIA bookstore before bravely entering the field of real estate in 2004. Cassandra's passionate focus in real estate is community building. In 2008, she teamed up with Devin Stubblefield and momentum started building rapidly to support the many people who seek to create land based, residential community. Blending years of traditional real estate experience with permaculture principles, Devin and Cassandra work with visionary clientele who are creating eco-villages, cohousing, and multi-family farms. They give professional, educated, and comprehensive real estate service to all residentil real estate transaction including single family home sales. In every case, Cassandra and Devin bring the context of permaculture and community perspective to their real estate practice. Currently practicing through Creative Property Services in west Sonoma County, this dynamic duo is available to consult and represent you and your community in grounding your vision into reality.

Guest Instructor, Laytonville Ecovillage Real Estate Agent

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.

PERMACULTURE & ECO-VILLAGE DESIGN

INTEGRATIVE ECO-SOCIAL CURRICULUM

HANDS-ON ACTION LEARNING

SUSTAINABLE SYSTEMS

COMMUNITY BUILDING

SOCIAL PERMACULTURE

NATURAL BUILDING

DESIGN TOOLS

GROUP PROCESS

Permaculture Design Certification Course

Creating an Ecovillage From the Earth Up

at the newly forming Laytonville Ecovillage

Permaculture Design

Permaculture Principles

Natural Patterns

Pattern Application

Reading the Landscape

Nature Awareness

Forests

Soil Food Web

Water Cycles

Tropical, Arid & Cool Climates

Design Process

Sustainable Systems

Natural Building

Renewable Energy

Appropriate Technology

Rain Catchment

Graywater

Humanure

Home Gardens

Food Forests

Agroforestry

Fungi & Myco-Remediation

Bio-Remediation

Animal Systems

Community Building

Group Decision Making

Compassionate Communication

Education

Cooperatives

Non-Profits

Sustainable Finance

Land Access

Bio-Regionalism

Eco-Villages

Indigenous Wisdom

Design Tools

Design Methods

Zones & Sectors

Site Analysis

Maps and Mapping

Social Permaculture

Invisible Structures

Urban Permaculture

Hands-On Activities

Zone Zero

Design Projects

Embodiment Practices

Wildcrafting

Nutritious Meal