Quality Training in Permaculture and Regenerative Design
When we work with nature, we can meet human needs while healing the environment around us. We teach permaculture design grounded in spirit with an awareness of social dynamics and a focus on organizing and activism. Become a skillful advocate for People Care, Earth Care, and a fair, just, and thriving future.
All are Welcome. Come Learn with Us.
Thank You to all of our donors for the 2023 Holiday Auction!
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Upcoming Courses & Events
Introduction to Permaculture
September 11th – 25th
Introduction to Permaculture is the first 3 weeks of our full 15-week Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) training. This is a great place to start your Permaculture journey. This class will orient you to Permaculture and give you a solid grounding in the history, philosophy, and some core tools used in permaculture design. Once you have finished this class, you will have the option to continue on with the full PDC if you desire.
Permaculture Design Course (online)
September 11th – December 18th
A Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) is an internationally recognized 72 hr. design course. Earth Activist Training’s PDC builds on the basic curriculum by adding a grounding in spirit and community activism. Join lead instructors Starhawk and Charles Williams, along with guest presenters for an indebted exploration of permaculture tools and techniques, along with hands-on interactive activities.
CLICK HERE for more information or to register
Adv. Permiculture - Food Forests & Forest Ecology
September 12th – October 17th (online)
Food Forests & Forest Ecology is a six week deep dive into designing and managing food forests, urban 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.
Permaculture Design Course (Nova Scotia, Canada)
Sept. 2024- June 2025
Halifax, NS Canada
Earth Activist Training’s Permaculture Design Course is an intensive that combines theory and practical hands-on learning with a grounding in spirit and a focus on social justice and ecofeminism. Come learn practical earth healing and gain the skills to regenerate land and community. We use a diverse set of teaching tools that encourage experiential and participatory learning, combining theory with practice, lectures with hands-on projects, sound science with ritual, meditation, song and story—and lots of fun! We will challenge the current paradigm and explore ways to advocate for and create a culture of sustainability, compassion, and equity.
Completing the course earns participants a Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) – the foundation for further permaculture work and study and a prerequisite for the Diploma in Permaculture Design. Participants will learn Permaculture design principles & techniques. The PDC covers a broad range of subjects to provide a holistic overview of Permaculture systems and sustainable living.
This in-person Permaculture Design Certificate Curse will meet once a month for 9 months with one weekend-long intensive in the spring of 2024
Empowering Collaborative Groups
October 9th – November 13th
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.
Bioremediation & Earth Repair
October 15th – November 19th
What is Bioremediation?
Bioremediation is the use of microorganisms, plants, and fungi to remove or neutralize contaminants, allying with living systems to detoxify contaminated environments. Many micro-organisms, plants and fungi are able to bind, extract or transform contaminants to create less toxic, healthier, and increasingly resilient ecosystems.
Bioremediation & Earth Repair will provide an introduction to different bioremediation tools and techniques for detoxifying and revitalizing the gardens, lands and waters that sustain and nourish our communities. This class will highlight bioremediation projects and inspiring practitioners who are working with regenerative remedies to heal toxic realities.
Maven Makers
Maven Makers: Have you been working on building a new business? Or have you launched a business that now needs support? Earth Activist Training offers affordable, collaborative coaching for regenerative business development.
Adv. Permiculture (online)
Advanced Permaculture (online)
February to October 2025
Advanced Permaculture (AP) is a one-year, (four-module) certificate course focused on understanding natural systems and cycles, learning tools of regenerative land stewardship, and developing a plan to implement restorative design practices. This course will bring you into a more comprehensive understanding of the land you live on, shepherding you through the process of designing a more resilient landscape.
Certificate Program Modules
- One: WATER MANAGEMENT Feb. 1-March 2
- Two: SITE PLANNING March 14-28
- Three: SOIL & ANIMALS April 4-May 9
- Four: FOOD FORESTS & FOREST ECOLOGY Sept. 12-Oct. 17
Personal Growth and Learning
Modules two, three, and four can be taken individually for personal growth and education.
CLICK HERE to learn more or register
Regenerative Land Management Multi-year Diploma Program
Regenerative Land Management (RLM) is a multi year advanced permaculture diploma program designed to further your permaculture practice and provide a deep comprehensive training needed to apply these regenerative skills in your life! Whether caring for the land, building urban gardens, or decolonizing farmland, the Regenerative Land Management diploma program will prepare you for your earth healing endeavors, and to provide a livelihood for yourself and your family.
- The Regenerative Land Management diploma is a minimum two-year program with a deep dive into earth healing and land management
- It encompasses five core online courses, one in-person Restoration Intensive, individually tailored applied learning projects
- During the program students will develop three comprehensive land management plans
- Students are matched with mentors to guide and support them throughout the program
- Students will be matched with a cohort to provide solidarity, community-building, and resource-sharing about individual learning experiences
Permaculture Design Course (Cazadero, California) 2025
January 11th – 25th 2025
Earth Activist Training’s (EAT) Permaculture Design Certificate course (PDC) is our longest running and most requested course– we’ve been teaching it for 20 years. This is our foundational permaculture course where your learning about resilient land management and climate adaptation begins.
Are you concerned about the environment and want practical solutions? Are you an activist, organizer, policy maker, advocate?
Are you a farmer, homesteader, land manager, gardener, or want to be? Whether you have many acres, a suburban backyard or an urban balcony, learn how to generate abundance where you are.
Are you worried about fire, flood, drought, and the impacts of natural disasters? Learn how to design resilient systems that can mitigate some of the effects of climate-caused disasters.
Are you a teacher, parent, educator, caregiver, mental health professional wanting to bring nature education into your work?
Are you a young person looking for a livelihood where you can make a difference? Or at turning point in your life, wondering what the next phase should be?
We firmly believe that everyone can benefit from learning how to apply the tools and insights of permaculture toward the broad goal of earth regeneration. Permaculture has solutions not just for landscapes and agricultural systems, but also for social design, public policy, and survival strategies for these challenging times.
CLICK HERE for more information and to register
In-Person Courses
Permaculture Design Course (PDC)
January 11th – 25th 2025
Earth Activist Training’s (EAT) Permaculture Design Certificate course (PDC) is our longest running and most requested course– we’ve been teaching it for 20 years. This is our foundational permaculture course where your learning about resilient land management and climate adaptation begins.
Are you concerned about the environment and want practical solutions? Are you an activist, organizer, policy maker, advocate?
Are you a farmer, homesteader, land manager, gardener, or want to be? Whether you have many acres, a suburban backyard or an urban balcony, learn how to generate abundance where you are.
Are you worried about fire, flood, drought, and the impacts of natural disasters? Learn how to design resilient systems that can mitigate some of the effects of climate-caused disasters.
Are you a teacher, parent, educator, caregiver, mental health professional wanting to bring nature education into your work?
Are you a young person looking for a livelihood where you can make a difference? Or at turning point in your life, wondering what the next phase should be?
We firmly believe that everyone can benefit from learning how to apply the tools and insights of permaculture toward the broad goal of earth regeneration. Permaculture has solutions not just for landscapes and agricultural systems, but also for social design, public policy, and survival strategies for these challenging times.
CLICK HERE for more information and to register
Restoration Intensive: Fire, Forests, & Animal Allies
February 23rd – March 3rd 2024
There’s a quiet revolution going on in the woods, of communities banding together to take responsibility for their forests and grasslands and create more safety and resilience in the face of climate-intensified wildfire. This ten-day intensive will immerse you in one such community, focusing on deep listening to the land, hands-on skills for land restoration, and practical tools to mitigate the impacts of climate change.
We’ll gain experience with many aspects of forest and grassland management—understanding fire ecology, assessing the forest and fire danger, thinning, pruning, limbing up and creating shaded fuel breaks, pile burns, prescribed burns (weather permitting), working with government and other local agencies, making biochar, inoculating mushrooms, and creating other value-added products from the woods.
Grazing can be one of our key tools for fire prevention and grassland regeneration, when done right. In our animal care segments, we’ll have a chance to work with sheep, goats, cows, poultry, and live-stock guardian and herding dogs, learning animal care, psychology and training, fencing, herding, and other aspects of humane care.
Responding to climate change is not something we can do alone, and wildfire doesn’t stop at your property line. Community organizing is one of the key regenerative strategies. So the culmination of our time together will be a community action day we organize and present, where we can share some of our new tools with the larger community and celebrate our progress toward resilience.
This intensive will have two tracks: a Welcome Track for those who are taking this as a stand-alone course and a Leadership Track for those who are taking this as part of our long-term Regenerative Land Management Program. Our RLM students will have opportunities to take leadership on group projects and present tools and information during our Community Action Day.
CLICK HERE for more information and to register
Homestead Medicine: Caring for People and Animals
May 17th – 19th
Cazadero, Califorania
Disasters Happen: Be Prepared
– become a healer –
We humans, our furry friends, and our farm critters are all animals. We all need the magic of healing from time to time. We all breathe, have beating hearts, eat, poop, and are made up of muscle and bone. We all require similar approaches in medical emergencies to stay healthy and survive trauma. In this course we learn about the commonalities and differences in the care and treatment of humans and critters alike. The class focuses on assessment skills, wilderness first aid, and longer term injury and health management as they apply to a variety of homestead denizens; including people, dogs, cats, goats, cows, chickens and more.
Sacred Flow
May 31th – June 2
Cazadero, California
Join Starhawk and permaculture designer Steve Breadlove for a long weekend intensive on water. We’ll share hands-on practices for stream restoration and erosion control, held in a framework that honors water as the sacred, life-giving force it is. Together we’ll learn to read the rhythm and pulse of flowing water, acquire a palette of tools for healing disturbed and incised streambeds and hillside erosion, and build small rock dams, brush dams, and beaver-dam analogs while doing fuel reduction and fire mitigation in the woods. You’ll get a tour of the water systems, storage, ponds, roof catchment and drip irrigation on our host site. We’ll start each day with ritual, work and play together throughout the day with time for just being in a beautiful natural setting, and share stories, songs and water ceremonies in the evenings.
Mud Magic – Natural building – Art – Spirit
May 24th to May 27th
Cazadero, California
Come join us for a long weekend in the beautiful Cazadero Hills, playing with mud and unleashing your creativity while learning the skills of building with natural materials. We’ll be building with cob: clay, sand and straw, to create an oven in the age-old pattern in use since Neolithic times, and we’ll bring our dreams and myths to life with sculpture and mosaics. Each day will begin and end with ritual, and we’ll have time to relax, listen to nature, talk to the redwoods, and meet the cows, sheep, goats, ducks, chickens, and livestock guardian dogs on Starhawk’s ranch. And everyone will have an opportunity to make a small project to take home.
To learn more or register CLICK HERE
Permaculture Design Course (PDC) at OUR Ecovillage
June 30th – July 13th 2024
Shawnigan Lake, British Columbia, Canada
Earth Activist Training’s Permaculture Design Certificate course (PDC) is a most needed and ethical choice for learning in these certainly uncertain times of change. Learn how to design human systems that mimic natural systems, explore climate change adaptation strategies (and the new IPCC Report for 2022), use a minimum of energy and resources to create real abundance and social justice.
CLICK HERE for information and to register
Permaculture Design Certificate Course
September 2024 – June 2025
Halifax, NS, Canada
Earth Activist Training’s Permaculture Design Course is an intensive that combines theory and practical hands-on learning with a grounding in spirit and a focus on social justice and ecofeminism. Come learn practical earth healing and gain the skills to regenerate land and community. We use a diverse set of teaching tools that encourage experiential and participatory learning, combining theory with practice, lectures with hands-on projects, sound science with ritual, meditation, song and story—and lots of fun! We will challenge the current paradigm and explore ways to advocate for and create a culture of sustainability, compassion, and equity.
Completing the course earns participants a Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) – the foundation for further permaculture work and study and a prerequisite for the Diploma in Permaculture Design. Participants will learn Permaculture design principles & techniques. The PDC covers a broad range of subjects to provide a holistic overview of Permaculture systems and sustainable living.
This in-person Permaculture Design Certificate Curse will meet once a month for 9 months with one weekend-long intensive in the spring of 2024
CLICK HERE for information and to register
Permaculture Design Certificate Course
August 11-24 (2024)
Grain&Sens, France
Family-Friendly & Bilingual (English-French)
Earth Activist Training and 12P Permaculture Design are happy to invite you to a two-week intensive Permaculture Design Course (PDC), offering the internationally-recognised 72-hour permaculture curriculum with an additional focus on social permaculture, organizing tools, and spirit. This will be the first training Starhawk and Alfred have offered in Europe that is family-friendly (bring the kids!) and will be live translated between English and French. Come and share a life-changing experience with an intercultural mix of participants and a pair of dynamic and international permaculture educators!
CLICK HERE for more information
Sacred Garden – Ecological Place Making and Ancestral Traditions
August 16th -18th
With Erik Ohlsen
Come join this magical weekend of ecological landscaping, homestead design, and traditional skills.
In this 3-day, hands-on program, learn how to design, build, and manage a self sustaining, ecological food forest.
Learn about ancient traditions of kitchen gardens and sustainable homesteads from around the world.
Explore vital systems of sustenance developed by ancient peoples, discover how these systems are in use today, and how to incorporate them into your homestead.
CLICK HERE to learn more
On-Line Winter Courses
Fire, Flood, Drought & Heat: Creating Community Resilience
COURSE POSTPONED: New date TBA
Our climate and world are changing at an accelerating rate. We face many new and unprecedented challenges.
This course will help you develop the confidence to step into this unknown future and prepare your family and community for a disaster or crisis.
Join our positive and proactive community to learn innovative ways to design, adapt, and prepare for climate change.
CLICK HERE to learn more or register
Introduction to GIS Mapping
March 19th to April 23rd
Learn the fundamentals of making a map with Geographic Information Systems known as GIS.
This is a practical how-to course designed to introduce students to digital mapping tools. We will demystify digital tools’ complexity and translate professional mapmakers’ jargon into easily understood terms. During this class, we will be using QGIS mapping software. QGIS is an open-source (free) application that stands alongside with ESRI ArcGIS (paid service) as the industry standard for digital mapping.
No prior GIS mapping experience necessary to take this course.
CLICK HERE to learn more or register
Permaculture Design Course (PDC)
January 11th – 25th 2025
Earth Activist Training’s (EAT) Permaculture Design Certificate course (PDC) is our longest running and most requested course– we’ve been teaching it for 20 years. This is our foundational permaculture course where your learning about resilient land management and climate adaptation begins.
Are you concerned about the environment and want practical solutions? Are you an activist, organizer, policy maker, advocate?
Are you a farmer, homesteader, land manager, gardener, or want to be? Whether you have many acres, a suburban backyard or an urban balcony, learn how to generate abundance where you are.
Are you worried about fire, flood, drought, and the impacts of natural disasters? Learn how to design resilient systems that can mitigate some of the effects of climate-caused disasters.
Are you a teacher, parent, educator, caregiver, mental health professional wanting to bring nature education into your work?
Are you a young person looking for a livelihood where you can make a difference? Or at turning point in your life, wondering what the next phase should be?
We firmly believe that everyone can benefit from learning how to apply the tools and insights of permaculture toward the broad goal of earth regeneration. Permaculture has solutions not just for landscapes and agricultural systems, but also for social design, public policy, and survival strategies for these challenging times.
CLICK HERE for more information and to register
Regenerative Business Design
February 4th to March 25th
Regenerative Business Design: In today’s changing world, our planet is calling for businesses to follow Earth-based ethics, principles, and ecological design processes– also known as permaculture!
Regenerative Business Design will guide you through a step-by-step process to build a business that can sustain you financially while staying true to your core values.
What do you need to know, consider, and plan for in order to launch a business that will have a high likelihood of success and a plan for handling failures, fumbles, and hurdles?
Fully participating in this course, including completing homework between classes and utilizing the tools developed, will empower you to be significantly prepared to put your business plan into action.
To learn more or register CLICK HERE
Permaculture for Climate Activists
March 19th to April 2nd
This course is one of hope, resources, and tools to support and deepen your activism.
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.
CLICK HERE to learm more or register
Adv. Permaculture Water Management
February 1st to March 7th
Resilient design begins with water. Come learn to work with water, nutrients, and energy flows to create vibrant landscapes and resilient communities. Taught by senior instructors Starhawk and Charles Williams. This class will guide you through the art and science of working with water to promote productivity and resistance in your landscape.
This class will cover:
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.
URBAN AND RURAL COLLECTION AND TREATMENT
- Water Collection and Storage. Learn to design rainwater collection systems, including sizing, siting, and plumbing. Explore a wide range of water storage options and how to select which works best for a site.
- Treatment Strategies. Learn the basics of on-site wastewater treatment. We will review basic treatment strategies and go into detail about how to design and set up a treatment system.
- Remediate Toxins and Manage Humanure. Explore treatment strategies for polluted water through biological methods. Learn to safely manage humanure for pathogen removal and landscape use.
CLICK HERE to learn more or register.
The Five-Fold Path: The Craft of Skillful Facilitation
February 12th to March 12th
Join us and learn the tools of effective group process and skillful facilitation.
Meetings are the heart of any organization. We get together in meetings for many reasons: to discuss issues, make decisions, set priorities and respond to crises. In meetings, we learn who our colleagues are and decide whom we can trust. We may laugh, cry, rage, love and comfort one another as well as dealing with the business at hand.
Productive meetings allow an organization to move forward, keep members engaged and give them a sense of empowerment and efficacy. Meetings can be cauldrons of group creativity or occasions of intimate sharing. And, of course, they can also be long-winded, fruitless, pointless arenas of frustration. The difference is often what makes or breaks a group.
Come learn the keys to effective facilitation for successful groups.
CLICK HERE to learn more or register
Advanced Permaculture
February 1st to October 17th
Advanced Permaculture (AP) is a one-year, (four-module) certificate course focused on understanding natural systems and cycles, learning tools of regenerative land stewardship, and developing a plan to implement restorative design practices. This course will bring you into a more comprehensive understanding of the land you live on, shepherding you through the process of designing a more resilient landscape.
Certificate Program Modules
- One: WATER MANAGEMENT Feb. 1-March 2
- Two: SITE PLANNING March 14-28
- Three: SOIL & ANIMALS April 4-May 9
- Four: FOOD FORESTS & FOREST ECOLOGY Sept. 12-Oct. 17
Personal Growth and Learning
Modules two, three, and four can be taken individually for personal growth and education.
CLICK HERE to learn more or register
Regenerative Land Management
Multi-year Diploma Program
Regenerative Land Management (RLM) is a multi year advanced permaculture diploma program designed to further your permaculture practice and provide a deep comprehensive training needed to apply these regenerative skills in your life! Whether caring for the land, building urban gardens, or decolonizing farmland, the Regenerative Land Management diploma program will prepare you for your earth healing endeavors, and to provide a livelihood for yourself and your family.
- The Regenerative Land Management diploma is a minimum two-year program with a deep dive into earth healing and land management
- It encompasses five core online courses, one in-person Restoration Intensive, individually tailored applied learning projects
- During the program students will develop three comprehensive land management plans
- Students are matched with mentors to guide and support them throughout the program
- Students will be matched with a cohort to provide solidarity, community-building, and resource-sharing about individual learning experiences
Spring Courses
Advanced Permaculture
February 1st to October 17th
Advanced Permaculture (AP) is a one-year, (four-module) certificate course focused on understanding natural systems and cycles, learning tools of regenerative land stewardship, and developing a plan to implement restorative design practices. This course will bring you into a more comprehensive understanding of the land you live on, shepherding you through the process of designing a more resilient landscape.
Certificate Program
- One: WATER MANAGEMENT Feb. 1-March 2
- Two: SITE PLANNING March 14-28
- Three: SOIL & ANIMALS April 4-May 9
- Four: FOOD FORESTS & FOREST ECOLOGY Sept. 12-Oct. 17
Personal Growth and Learning
Modules two, three, and four can be taken individually for personal growth and education.
CLICK HERE to learn more or register
Advanced Permaculture – Soil and Animals
April 4th to May 9th
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.
CLICK HERE to learn more or register
Introduction to Permaculture
April 23rd – May 7th
Donation Based-Introduction to Permaculture class
Introduction to Permaculture is the first 3 weeks of our full 15-week Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) training. This is a great place to start your Permaculture journey. This class will orient you to Permaculture and give you a solid grounding in the history, philosophy, and some core tools used in permaculture design. Once you have finished this class, you will have the option to continue on with the full PDC if you desire.
The Five-Fold Path: The Craft of Skillful Facilitation
March 27th to April 24th
Join us and learn the tools of effective group process and skillful facilitation.
Meetings are the heart of any organization. We get together in meetings for many reasons: to discuss issues, make decisions, set priorities and respond to crises. In meetings, we learn who our colleagues are and decide whom we can trust. We may laugh, cry, rage, love and comfort one another as well as dealing with the business at hand.
Productive meetings allow an organization to move forward, keep members engaged and give them a sense of empowerment and efficacy. Meetings can be cauldrons of group creativity or occasions of intimate sharing. And, of course, they can also be long-winded, fruitless, pointless arenas of frustration. The difference is often what makes or breaks a group.
Come learn the keys to effective facilitation for successful groups.
CLICK HERE to learn more or register
Sustainable Infrastructure
May 16th to June 20th 2024
Learn the fundamentals of farm and ranch scale energy systems and waste management. This class will provide the technical know-how so you can more effictavly manage you space for better resiliance and long term sustainability.
Managing land or small homesteads 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.
CLICK HERE for more information and to register
Summer Courses
Advanced Permaculture
February 1st to October 17th
Advanced Permaculture (AP) is a one-year, (four-module) certificate course focused on understanding natural systems and cycles, learning tools of regenerative land stewardship, and developing a plan to implement restorative design practices. This course will bring you into a more comprehensive understanding of the land you live on, shepherding you through the process of designing a more resilient landscape.
Certificate Program
- One: WATER MANAGEMENT Feb. 1-March 2
- Two: SITE PLANNING March 14-28
- Three: SOIL & ANIMALS April 4-May 9
- Four: FOOD FORESTS & FOREST ECOLOGY Sept. 12-Oct. 17
Personal Growth and Learning
Modules two, three, and four can be taken individually for personal growth and education.
CLICK HERE to learn more or register
Sustainable Infrastructure
May 16th to June 20th 2024
Learn the fundamentals of farm and ranch scale energy systems and waste management. This class will provide the technical know-how so you can more effictavly manage you space for better resiliance and long term sustainability.
Managing land or small homesteads 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.
CLICK HERE for more information and to register
Social Permaculture Clinic
August 10th to August 30th
Living and working in community brings connection and collaboration. Yet, working and living with others comes with challenges too. These challenges are a natural part of the process and, if handled well, can strengthen ourselves and our groups. This clinic will explore tools and techniques to navigate challenging moments successfully. The format will be a mix of presentation and conversation.
Social Permaculture Clinic is an interactive discussion about living and working in community.
This series is a collection of four standalone sessions. Feel free to attend one, all or mix and match to fit your interest.
Each week will have a different theme:
- Aug 10th – Self-Care
- Aug 11th – Negotiating in Community
- Aug 23rd – Meeting Facilitation
- Aug 30th – Dealing with Difficult People
Sacred Homestead – Ecological Place Making and Ancestral Traditions
August 16th -18th
With Erik Ohlsen
Come join this magical weekend of ecological landscaping, homestead design, and traditional skills.
In this 3-day, hands-on program, learn how to design, build, and manage a self sustaining, ecological food forest.
Learn about ancient traditions of kitchen gardens and sustainable homesteads from around the world.
Explore vital systems of sustenance developed by ancient peoples, discover how these systems are in use today, and how to incorporate them into your homestead.
CLICK HERE to learn more
Permakultur-Hof Stein-Häger, Germany,
2024 dates have not been release yet
Earth Activist Training’s Permaculture Design Course is an intensive that combines theory and practical hands-on learning with a grounding in spirit and a focus on social justice and ecofeminism. Come learn practical earth healing and gain the skills to regenerate land and community. We use a diverse set of teaching tools that encourage experiential and participatory learning, combining theory with practice, lectures with hands-on projects, sound science with ritual, meditation, song and story—and lots of fun! We will challenge consumerism, and explore ways to advocate for and create a culture of sustainability, compassion and equity.
Completion of the course earns participants a Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) – the foundation for further permaculture work and study and a prerequisite for the Diploma in Permaculture Design. Participants will learn Permaculture design principles & techniques. The PDC covers a broad range of subjects to provide a holistic overview of Permaculture systems and sustainable living.
CLICK HERE for more information and to read about last years course
Fall Courses
Introduction to Permaculture
September 11th – 25th
Introduction to Permaculture is the first 3 weeks of our full 15-week Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) training. This is a great place to start your Permaculture journey. This class will orient you to Permaculture and give you a solid grounding in the history, philosophy, and some core tools used in permaculture design. Once you have finished this class, you will have the option to continue on with the full PDC if you desire.
Permaculture Design Course
September 11th – December 18th
A Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) is an internationally recognized 72 hr. design course. Earth Activist Training’s PDC builds on the basic curriculum by adding a grounding in spirit and community activism. Join lead instructors Starhawk and Charles Williams, along with guest presenters for an indebted exploration of permaculture tools and techniques, along with hands-on interactive activities.
CLICK HERE for more information or to register
Bioremediation & Earth Repair
October 15th – November 19th
What is Bioremediation?
Bioremediation is the use of microorganisms, plants, and fungi to remove or neutralize contaminants, allying with living systems to detoxify contaminated environments. Many micro-organisms, plants and fungi are able to bind, extract or transform contaminants to create less toxic, healthier, and increasingly resilient ecosystems.
Bioremediation & Earth Repair will provide an introduction to different bioremediation tools and techniques for detoxifying and revitalizing the gardens, lands and waters that sustain and nourish our communities. This class will highlight bioremediation projects and inspiring practitioners who are working with regenerative remedies to heal toxic realities.
Empowering Collaborative Groups
October 9th – November 13th
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.
Advanced Permaculture
February 1st to October 17th
Advanced Permaculture (AP) is a one-year, (four-module) certificate course focused on understanding natural systems and cycles, learning tools of regenerative land stewardship, and developing a plan to implement restorative design practices. This course will bring you into a more comprehensive understanding of the land you live on, shepherding you through the process of designing a more resilient landscape.
Certificate Program Modules
- One: WATER MANAGEMENT Feb. 1-March 2
- Two: SITE PLANNING March 14-28
- Three: SOIL & ANIMALS April 4-May 9
- Four: FOOD FORESTS & FOREST ECOLOGY Sept. 12-Oct. 17
Personal Growth and Learning
Modules two, three, and four can be taken individually for personal growth and education.
CLICK HERE to learn more or register
Adv. Permiculture – Food Forests & Forest Ecology
September 12th – October 17th
Food Forests & Forest Ecology is a six week deep dive into designing and managing food forests, urban 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.
Regenerative Land Management
Multi-year Diploma Program
Regenerative Land Management (RLM) is a multi year advanced permaculture diploma program designed to further your permaculture practice and provide a deep comprehensive training needed to apply these regenerative skills in your life! Whether caring for the land, building urban gardens, or decolonizing farmland, the Regenerative Land Management diploma program will prepare you for your earth healing endeavors, and to provide a livelihood for yourself and your family.
- The Regenerative Land Management diploma is a minimum two-year program with a deep dive into earth healing and land management
- It encompasses five core online courses, one in-person Restoration Intensive, individually tailored applied learning projects
- During the program students will develop three comprehensive land management plans
- Students are matched with mentors to guide and support them throughout the program
- Students will be matched with a cohort to provide solidarity, community-building, and resource-sharing about individual learning experiences
Advanced Permaculture Programs
Advanced Permaculture
February 1st to October 17th
Advanced Permaculture (AP) is a one-year, (four-module) certificate course focused on understanding natural systems and cycles, learning tools of regenerative land stewardship, and developing a plan to implement restorative design practices. This course will bring you into a more comprehensive understanding of the land you live on, shepherding you through the process of designing a more resilient landscape.
Certificate Program Modules
- One: SITE PLANNING Feb 8-22
- Two: WATER MANAGEMENT Mar. 14- Apr. 16
- Three: SOIL & ANIMALS May 9-June 13
- Four: FOOD FORESTS & FOREST ECOLOGY Sept. 12-Oct. 17
Personal Growth and Learning
Modules two, three, and four can be taken individually for personal growth and education.
CLICK HERE to learn more or register
Regenerative Land Management
Multi-year Diploma Program
Regenerative Land Management (RLM) is a multi year advanced permaculture diploma program designed to further your permaculture practice and provide a deep comprehensive training needed to apply these regenerative skills in your life! Whether caring for the land, building urban gardens, or decolonizing farmland, the Regenerative Land Management diploma program will prepare you for your earth healing endeavors, and to provide a livelihood for yourself and your family.
- The Regenerative Land Management diploma is a minimum two-year program with a deep dive into earth healing and land management
- It encompasses five core online courses, one in-person Restoration Intensive, individually tailored applied learning projects
- During the program students will develop three comprehensive land management plans
- Students are matched with mentors to guide and support them throughout the program
- Students will be matched with a cohort to provide solidarity, community-building, and resource-sharing about individual learning experiences
Ongoing Mentorship Programs
Maven Makers: Have you been working on building a new business? Or have you launched a business that now needs support? Earth Activist Training offers affordable, collaborative coaching for regenerative business development.
To Learm more or register Cllick Here
Permaculture in Practice (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.
To Lear more or register CLICK HERE
THE EARTH ACTIVIST TRAINING DIFFERENCE
OUR MISSION
Permaculture design with a grounding in spirit and a focus on organizing and activism
To bring the knowledge and resources of regenerative ecological design to communities with the greatest needs and fewest resources.
To teach visionary and practical solutions and personal sustainability to social change activists, and to teach practical skills, organizing, and activism to visionaries.
To cross-pollinate the political, environmental, and spiritual movements that seek peace, justice, and resilience.
Memberships & Affiliates
Support Earth Activist Training
All donations are used to support Diversity Scholarship Fund.
We teach ecological design with a grounding in spirit, and a focus on organizing and activism. As part of our commitment to reparations, we offer scholarships to black and indigenous students and students of color engaged in social and environmental work. One of the permaculture principles is that diversity generates resilience, and over and over again we see that in action!
In this last year, we’ve been able to give 47
scholarship places to our online courses, for a value of close to $50,000. Recipients have come from Burundi, Fiji, Gambia, Jamaica, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Pakistan and Puerto Rico, as well as the US and Canada.
JOIN OUR EARTH ACTIVISTS ONLINE FREE COMMUNITY
practical skills
Carbon draw-down, site analysis, design process, soil building, water harvesting, food forests, urban farming, bioremediation, mushrooms, animal systems, natural building, renewable energy, and more!
Organizing and Activism
Confronting oppression, fostering diversity, solutions-based strategies, community organizing.
Spirit and Community
Personal resilience practices to prevent and recover from burnout, communication skills, conflict resolution, social permaculture for nurturing and developing group efficacy, creating community ritual, spirit, and magic!
a mix of magic, Spirit, awareness, activism & community
calendar
Check out the full schedule to find out when our programs and events are taking place.
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