Early bird Discount $50 Off Until July 1st!
Sacred Garden
Ecological Place Making and Ancestral Traditions
With Erik Ohlsen
August 8th, 9th, & 10th
Come join this magical weekend of ecological landscaping, garden design, and traditional skills.
In this 3-day, hands-on program, learn how to design and manage a self-sustaining, ecological food forest combined with an herbal medicine farm.
Learn about ancient traditions of kitchen gardens and skill sets 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 life and land
About this course
Overview
This course will look at magical and folk tradition practices for:
- Building a reciprocal relationship with the land
- Generating health and abundance for community
- Honoring the spirits of place through the giving of offerings
- Cultivating food, fiber, medicine, and fertility
Pratical Skills
- Home-scale water harvesting – collecting and storing rain
- Seed saving – cultivating, collecting and storing seeds
- Soil building – tending plants and microbes for soil health
- Planting layout – strategies for what goes where
- Tree planting – techniques for planting perennials
- Food harvesting – bringing abundance from garden to table
- Medicine making – healing ourselves with what we cultivate
Weekend Schedule
Friday
9:45 – Arrive and settle in
10:00 – Introductions, making offerings
10:30 -Morning Session-Ancestral Ecological Traditions
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- Conjuring of Place
- Calling Ancestor Wisdom
- Exploring your own Tradition of Place Making
- Thoughts as things, plant telepathy
- Choose a plant ally
- Listening, Perception, Observation.
- Unlock the patterns of Nature (Sit Spot, Utistea Practice)
- 1t harvest
12:30 Lunch
1:00 – Afternoon session
-
- Designing a generational food system
- Principles of regenerative design
- Energy flow design (Water, Sun, Access)
- Food forest tour and layout strategies (hands-on use of tools for layout)
- 2nd harvest + Evening exploration Assignment
4:30 – Afternoon gratitude and closing
**This is a tentative schedule to give you a feel for the class.
Saturday
10:00 Morning session – Seed Growing/Management/Harvesting
-
- Grounding and Reflections
- How to grow seed and why it’s the foundation of resilience.
- Pollination
- Soil Seed Bank
- Harvesting, Threshing, Screening, Winnowing, Storing Seed
12:30 – Lunch
1:00 – Afternoon session – Agroforestry
-
- Food Forest Growing and Management (Hands on)
- Tree Pruning,
- Coppicing,
- Grafting,
- Chop and Drop Systems
5:15 – Friction Fire
6:15 – Potluck dinner
7:30 – Ancestor Ritual Bonfire
9:30 Evening gratitude and closing
Sunday
10:00 Morning session – Conjuring Herbal Traditions
- Reflections
- Harvesting herbs
- 4th Harvest: Hands on making of hydrosols, herbal oils, tinctures (All Students go home with their own bundle of Hydrosols, and Oils)
- Biomass Management, Worm Bins, Compost teas. (hands On)
12:30 Lunch
1:00 Afternoon session – Traditional Ecological Knowledge
- 5th Harvest: Fibers of the Land (Harvesting for Cordage, Basketry, Wood Carving)
4:30 Weekend gratitude and closing
MEET Your Teacher
Erik Ohlsen is a master of regenerative design, an internationally-recognized permaculture teacher, a landscape contractor, author, farmer, herbalist, storyteller, and practitioner of Nordic folk traditions.
Since 1999, Erik has founded numerous organizations that regenerate ecosystems including his award-winning design and build firm Permaculture Artisans and The Permaculture Skills Center where thousands of students from around the world have learned ecological landscaping and regenerative agriculture.
Working as a regenerative designer with international renown, Erik has committed decades to repairing ecosystems and connecting people with the land, throughout the globe. He has designed and implemented hundreds of regenerated landscapes ranging from small urban lots to large tracts of land.
His many years of experience observing and listening to landscape patterns while managing installation crews have led to an extensive knowledge of ecological land development and planning. He is a specialist in water harvesting systems, food forest design, community organizing, facilitation, vocational education, and much more. In all of his work, there is a presence of social equity, climate justice, and ecosystem restoration, and his stories and achievements continue to empower people worldwide.
The Regenerative Landscaper
By Erik Ohlsen
An awe-inspiring guide that weaves together permaculture design, food resiliency, climate adaptation, community organizing, and indigenous wisdom that you can implement in your own backyard.
Get your copy of The Regenerative Landscaper now and get 20% off.
CLICK HERE, search for The Regenerative Landscaper and enter the
Coupon Code: earth-activist-training20
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
Course Information
-
- Location: Sebastopol, California
- Dates: TBD
- Meals and Lodging: Students are responsible for their own food and lodging offsite.
- Location: Sebastopol, California
Typical Daily Schedule
10:00 – 12:30 —Morning session
12:30-1:00 —Lunch
1:30-4:30 —Afternoon session
*Community dinner potluck ancestor fire ritual on Saturday
Course Size
Due to the hands-on nature and personalized focus of this course, space is limited. Only 18 spaces are available. Once the course is filled, additional students will be put on a wait list.
PAYMENT
- Earlybird Tuition: $350
- Standard Tuition: $400
- Abundant Tuition: $450
- Work Trade: details below
- All amounts are in US dollars
SCHOLARSHIPS & GROUP DISCOUNTS
Group discounts and Diversity Scholarships available? Yes!
See below for details
QUESTIONS?
We are here for you. Reach us at: support@earthactivisttraining.org
FUNDING YOUR EDUCATION
Payment options
TUITION
- Early Bird Tuition: $350
- Standard Tuition: $400
- Abundant Tuition: $450
- Every Abundant Tuition helps support a Diversity Scholarship.
PAYMENT PLAN
- Payment of $135 when you register.
- Two monthly installments of $135 ($405 total).
- Our Student Support Team will assist you in setting this up.
WORK TRADE
- Limited work trade positions are available.
- Work trade includes a class fee of $300 and 5 hrs of course support.
- Work trade includes daily set-up and clean-up, along with ongoing support during the event.
- Work trade may require work at times when other students are taking a break.
GROUP DISCOUNTS
- Groups of 2-5 people – Discount of $50 off each ($350 for each person)
- Organizations of 6+ people – contact support@eat-activist.org for special group rates
- You must indicate who is in your group at registration.
Diversity Scholarships
DIVERSITY SCHOLARSHIPS
- Earth Activist Training is committed to increasing the diversity of global permaculture and regenerative land movements.
- We recognize the history of this land called the United States and Canada, and seek to do what we can to rectify the deep injustices and systems of inequity that formed and continue to shape society today.
- Diversity Scholarships are available for Indigenous Peoples and People of Color working in, or wanting to work in, environmental or social justice.
- These scholarships are 50% off standard tuition ($200) and pay-what-you-can above this. Any amount will be accepted and appreciated.
- To apply, select “Diversity Scholarship” in the payment section of the registration form below.
- Earth Activist Training’s Diversity Scholarship fund is supported by donations. Visit our Diversity Fund page if you wish to support our scholarship program.
If you have any questions, we are always here to help: support@earthactivisttraining.org
Register
Click here to register
WHAT COMES NEXT?
You may also be interested in our Advanced Permaculture program. This course is a year-long course broken up into three six-week modules focused on: design, water management, soil care and building, incorporating animals into a system, building food forests, and managing woodlands.
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.
CLICK HERE for more information and to register
OUR NETWORK
A core component of this course – and every Earth Activist Training course – is our private forum: Earth Activist Training Online network. This platform is where you will find course resources, your homework, and a network to connect with classmates and other Earth Activist students.
Recordings of each class will be available to you as a resource. You will have access to the course for a year after the course ends should you want to deepen your understanding of the material.
Have a question?
calendar
Check out the full schedule to find out when our programs and events are taking place.
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