A Ritual for Brigid, Goddess of Fire and Water

Renew your spirit and replenish your energy at Brigid’s well! Imbolc, the ancient Celtic Festival sacred to the Goddess of the Holy Well and Sacred Flame, marks spring’s beginning. After a winter of storms, blizzards and floods, we are ready for regeneration! Brigid is the midwife, aiding the birth of all new things, and the patroness of poetry, smithcraft and healing. Join us for a guided meditation to her Holy Well to find our sources of personal and earth healing, and the inspiration to forge a world of justice and balance

Learn about disaster prevention, mitigation and community response through a permaculture lens. One that works with nature and in a way that applies to your unique situation and needs. 

Climate Change and disasters impact everyone, and we all have a role to play in keeping our communities safe. So we invite you to join us in this timely, vital training and solutions-focused think-tank.

THIS CLASS IS CLOSED NEXT SESSION IN WINTER 2024

This course is designed to give you hope, resources, and direction to support and deepen your work.

Climate change is upon us—and we can easily feel overwhelmed and hopeless when we consider the changes we need to make in response. But when we confront enormous challenges, we are most effective when we know what we are working for—not just what we are against. If we see climate change as massive ecosystem degradation on a global scale, then the response we need is massive ecosystem regeneration with justice and equity to heal our human ecosystems. 

The good news is that we know how to do it! 

Permaculture is a global movement of regenerative design that offers many approaches to healing our environment. In this course for climate activists we provide an overview of positive approaches to mitigation and adaptation. What is the most effective way to think about the problem? 

What policies should we advocate for, and which should we be wary of? How do we determine where best to put our energy?

If you feel a responsibility to do more than complain about our problems, if you are committed to doing something, you are an activist. Whether you are on the front lines of a pipeline blockade, or wondering where best to donate an extra ten dollars, whether you are a policy maker or a teacher, a parent struggling to raise conscious kids or a volunteer at an urban garden, you are an activist. 

This course is designed to give you hope, resources, and direction to support and deepen your work.

Climate change is upon us—and we can easily feel overwhelmed and hopeless when we consider the changes we need to make in response. But when we confront enormous challenges, we are most effective when we know what we are working for—not just what we are against. If we see climate change as massive ecosystem degradation on a global scale, then the response we need is massive ecosystem regeneration with justice and equity to heal our human ecosystems. 

The good news is that we know how to do it! 

Permaculture is a global movement of regenerative design that offers many approaches to healing our environment. In this course for climate activists we provide an overview of positive approaches to mitigation and adaptation. What is the most effective way to think about the problem? 

What policies should we advocate for, and which should we be wary of? How do we determine where best to put our energy?

If you feel a responsibility to do more than complain about our problems, if you are committed to doing something, you are an activist. Whether you are on the front lines of a pipeline blockade, or wondering where best to donate an extra ten dollars, whether you are a policy maker or a teacher, a parent struggling to raise conscious kids or a volunteer at an urban garden, you are an activist. 

Water and Site Design is a six week deep dive into water management and restorative site design. The First three weeks will be focused on design and the final three weeks will focus on water. This class will cover:

SITE ANALYSIS & RESTORATIVE DESIGN

• Orientation, Ecoliteracy, and Citizen Science. Introduction to ecology, citizen science, and record keeping from a land restoration perspective along with indigenous approaches to land and cultural competency
• Holistic Goal-Setting and Design Principles. Practice holistic goal-setting and development plans. Learn how to write and design quality management plans
• Mapping, Site Analysis, and Systems Theory. Learn the needs of a site and to design clear and effective maps for clients and community organizations. Explore the power of thinking in systems and how to apply ecological system centered designs

WATER HARVESTING & LAND RESTORATION

• • Water Harvesting, Water Cycles, Drought, and Flood Control. Learn the intricacies of how water moves in the landscape, how human systems impact this movement.  Delve into strategies for water harvesting and retention along with flood and drought mitigation.
    
  • Water in the Landscape: Erosion Control and Stream Restoration. Learn about water remediation strategies in urban and rural systems. Explore techniques for healing degraded lands suffering from erosion, drought, and water pollution

• • Water Management Plans and Case Studies. Review case studies around water management and write your own water management plan.
    

Soil and Animals is a six week deep dive into soil science, building and management, along with managing animals for restoration. The First three weeks will be focused on soil and the final three weeks will focus on animals. This class will cover:

BUILDING SOIL & CARBON  

• Soil Analysis. Learn the ecology behind regenerative theory of soil management. Gain skills in soil biology, chemistry, and structural analysis.
  

•  Strategies for Soil Healing and Management. Examine regenerative soil strategies ranging from small urban settings to large-scale farming systems. Learn how to build and maintain healthy soils through techniques such as no-till, compost teas, ferments, crop covers, biochar.

• Applied learning. Take what is taught in class and apply it in the real world. Through class exercises and case studies write your own soil management plan.

LAND MANAGEMENT WITH ANIMALS & FIRE

• Integrating Animals Into Ecological Systems. Learn how to design wildlife and domestic animals into systems for resilience and restoration.

• Practical Soil Management with Animals. Explore the role of animals in building soil, sequestering carbon, and improving ecological resilience.
  

• Perennial Systems Thinking: Integrate animals, perennial plants and a systems approach to write your own holistic animal and perennial system design.

Managing land ecologically is a resource-intense activity that requires finding a balance between consumption, ecological impact, and financial solvency. This course will provide practical answers on balancing these often complex and sometimes competing needs. Sustainable Infrastructure centers student understanding on the fundamentals of farm and ranch scale energy systems, material choices, and waste management. We will explore how to design, maintain and manage energy systems, integrate cyclic waste management strategies, and evaluate and find low-impact materials for landed projects.

Food Forests & Forest Ecology is a six week deep dive into desiging and managing food forests, urband and rural forests.  The First three weeks will be focused on the development and care of forests and the final three weeks will focus on food forests and perennial systems. This class will cover:

DEVELOPMENT & CARE OF FORESTS

• Forest Ecology. Explore the intricacies of forest ecology, disturbance and succession, forest architecture, and fungal/bacterial relationship. Gain skills in reading and understanding your local forests.

• Applied Forestry Learn forest measurement, analysis and best management practices (BMP). Apply what you learn in class to your context ranging from classic rural woodlands or complex urban forests.
  

• Forest Management Plans. Using concepts from class write a forest management plan.

FOOD FORESTS & PERENNIAL SYSTEMS

• Designing and Building Food Forests. Learn how to approach food forest design, ranging from how to select cultivars to how to arrange your plans for beneficial relationships
  

• Management of Trees and Food Forests. Gain tools and techniques for food forest maintenance and care. Learn how to adapt food forest theory to a range of places and spaces.
  

• Building a Design. Building from what was discussed in class design a food forest for your region and write a plan for management and maintenance.

We will need to do the hard, long-term work of making systemic change. Online or in person, the work of change and transformation must be done with other people–those annoying beings who do not always agree with us, and want their own way!

Collaborative groups may be healing, nurturing, and inspirational—or they may founder on the rocks of conflict and poor communication. But when we understand their patterns and challenges, we can design structures that favor supportive, nurturing relationships.

In this six-week online course, Starhawk guides us through her book,
The Empowerment Manual: A Guide for Collaborative Groups. It’s the book she wrote that draws on her decades of experience—often wonderful, sometimes painful—in activist groups, spiritual groups, permaculture groups, collective households and more.

Resilient Land Design (RLD) is an 18 week advanced permaculture course focused on: understanding natural systems and cycles, learning the tools of regenerative land stewardship, and methods for applying restorative principles in design. The course is divided into three  6 week sessions which can be taken all together for a Resilient Land Design (RLD) Certificate or individually for personal growth and education.

• Session one: WATER & SITE DESIGN,
• Session two: SOIL & GRASSLAND MANAGEMENT
• Session three: FOOD FOREST AND FOREST ECOLOGY

Permaculture in Pracice (PIP) is a mentorship program lead by Charles Williams. Meeting regularly in small groups we discuss the ideas, designs, and challenges the members are grappling with. This program centers discussion and learning around the needs of its members. When not discussing topics brought forward by members, we will be discussing seasonally relevant regenerative land care. This is a space to get support and mentorship on your  projects.