December Newsletter - Thank you to all our supporters...

Newsletters
Written By SL

The December Newsletter went out this morning. You can find it here with numbers, testimonials and stories from 2017, upcoming permaculture and growing workshops and more...

Permaculture changes lives - here some testimonials:

"The course gave me direction and the opportunity of transforming a passion into a job"
- Anonymous Permaculture Design Course participant

"I feel like I know a secret and want to share it with the world" 
- Natasha after completing the Permaculture Design Course

"It has completely changed my perspective towards every aspect of my life: my health, my relationship with family and friends, my relationship to the planet." 
- Anonymous Permaculture Design Course participant

"The experience was transformative, thought provoking and life changing." 
- Anonymous Permaculture Design Course participant

"Building my confidence, embedding resilient ways of thinking and inspiring healthy ways of interacting with my surroundings." 
- Anonymous Permaculture Design Course participant

A recent quote from Anna, community gardener at Clapham Manor Estate, after attending a gardening session at Bandstand Beds:

"It was inspiring and very useful – we learned so much and will put that knowledge to good use by planting four crops in the next week or so – garlic, onions, broad beans and spring cabbage. The course was really well organised with a very friendly bunch of people, and the course leader did a great job with a light touch."

Upcoming workshops and courses
Embodied Ecology Retreat: Rest & Collapse
Feb 21
Embodied Ecology Retreat: Rest & Collapse

For this upcoming winter retreat ‘Rest & Collapse’, we will be exploring the embodied experience of rest as a natural stage in the continuous cycle of life and how it relates to its close relative, the often experienced collapse or break down. We give space to play with this juxtaposition of rest and collapse and discover the edges that keep us in a constant dance between rest and re-emergence, self care and engagement, our inner world and the outer worlds.

Tread Well on Earth - A 2-Day Introduction to Permaculture
Mar 15
Tread Well on Earth - A 2-Day Introduction to Permaculture

Learn the basics of Permaculture Design on this two-day Introduction to Permaculture and be ready to try it out in your garden, your workplace and your life.

London Permaculture Design Course - Creating Resilient Communities
Apr 26
London Permaculture Design Course - Creating Resilient Communities

6 weekends between April 27th and October 13th 2024 at Global Generation’s Story Garden in Central London.

The Permaculture Design Course is a 72-hour often life-changing experience, accredited by the UK Permaculture Association. Over the period of 6 weekends we will explore practical and creative solutions for building resilient communities and designing abundant eco-systems.

Permaculture Design Course in Wales
Apr 29
Permaculture Design Course in Wales

The Permaculture Design Course (PDC) is a 72-hour internationally recognised training engaging head, heart and hands of participants to discover the principles and techniques of permaculture. We will explore the patterns of our predominant consumerist culture and compare them to the sustainable and regenerative patterns of the natural world. We will not only apply those patterns and principles to the example of ecosystems and the land but also communities and and our own embodied selves.

Embodied Ecology Retreat: Engage & Connect
Jun 3
Embodied Ecology Retreat: Engage & Connect

For this upcoming summer retreat ‘Engage & Connect’, we will be exploring the nature of our engagement and our intrinsic embodied connection to life. Through our actions in the world we create relationships and affirm our ecological belonging. We will cultivate presence to ourselves and meet the land and people from there. The venue in Tuscany gives us the opportunity to bring the embodied principles and practices into engagement with the land and the local people through volunteering activities in the community.

Embodied Ecology Retreat: Gift & Gratitude
Sep 29
Embodied Ecology Retreat: Gift & Gratitude

For the autumn retreat ‘Gift & Gratitude’ we explore the generosity of the natural world and our ability to receive the gifts we are offered. Autumn is a time for harvest and integration of what was given to us and what is already available, whether those are physical gifts of the land or lessons we have learnt, friends we have made or projects we have embarked on over the course of the year. We will engage in practices that allow us to stop and appreciate the little and big things that give us life, support, resource and capacity to be more fully here.

Tuscany Permaculture Design Course - Italy
Sep 21
Tuscany Permaculture Design Course - Italy

The Permaculture Design Course (PDC) is a 72-hour internationally recognised training engaging head, heart and hands of participants to discover the principles and techniques of permaculture. We will explore the patterns of our predominant consumerist culture and compare them to the sustainable and regenerative patterns of the natural world. We will not only apply those patterns and principles to the example of ecosystems and the land but also communities and and our own embodied selves.

Other posts
Bursaries for this year’s Online Permaculture Design Course
Bursaries for this year’s Online Permaculture Design Course

We’re excited to share our surplus from previous courses by offering 4 bursary places on our upcoming Online Permaculture Design Course!

From ornamental to forest garden
From ornamental to forest garden

One of the projects I work on is a private garden in Totnes. It is just under 1000 sq meters in size, has a couple huge yew trees and large laurel hedges surrounding it, which give it quite a lot of shade. It's been mostly kept as an ornamental garden, but includes some fruit trees and some nice edibles with ornamental value such as solomon's seal on the second picture. The brief for me is to turn the garden from an ornamental into a food forest, which is right up my street.

Stinging Nettles
Stinging Nettles

This a great time of the year to harvest stinging nettle (one of my absolute favourites) and have fresh in soups, stir fries, pestos or teas.. or as you see here, I’m drying the tips for tea later in the year..

Observing Flow
Observing Flow

As part of our online Permaculture Design Course, we encourage participants to spend time in nature to observe. Here are some reflections from Naomi, course participant in 2022/23 on observing flow, also published on her own blog livinglearninggettingolder.com.

Faces from the 2022 London Permaculture Design Course
Faces from the 2022 London Permaculture Design Course

Another Permaculture Design Course comes to an end. This was my first in-person course in a few years. I’ve really loved working with this group of talented and inspiring participants. I feel humbled by the course and encouraged for what’s next.

As, on these courses, we’re all learning from each other, we like participants to award the certificates to each other. Here are photos of some of the proud new certificate holders.

Permaculture Design Course Volunteering Opportunity
Permaculture Design Course Volunteering Opportunity

I am looking for one or two volunteers to support me on the upcoming London Permaculture Design Course and the Online Permaculture Design Course, both starting in November 2022.

Permaculture Pathways: Opening New Doors
Permaculture Pathways: Opening New Doors

Hi I’m Liz and I am very fortunate to live in the Stroud Valleys with my partner. I am originally from the West Midlands and am proud to consider myself as a Black Country “wench”, having grown up in a former mining village next to a steel making town, all now long gone. That background, where folks don’t have much, has inspired a resilience in me to make the most of what we have, help who we can and grow as much food as possible.

Permaculture Pathways: From Stand Up Comedy to Permaculture and Beyond
Permaculture Pathways: From Stand Up Comedy to Permaculture and Beyond

I’m in my early 30s and have spent much of the last decade ‘being a comedian’ which has mostly meant doing stand up, until the last few years during which I’ve been lucky enough to spend most of my time writing and acting in sitcoms for the BBC. I feel lucky and I enjoy it, but nevertheless I increasingly felt like something was missing from my life and more specifically I felt disconnected from nature and like I didn’t spend enough time outdoors, which I suppose is what ‘led me to permaculture’.

May 2020 Newsletter - Let us keep growing and learning through challenging times
May 2020 Newsletter - Let us keep growing and learning through challenging times

Here is the link to our latest Newsletter with links to our Online Courses.

Can you imagine the end...
Can you imagine the end...

Can you Imagine the end of our civilisation, the end of our world, the end of you?

Permaculture Pathways: Citizens' Science, Community Development and Farm Stays
Permaculture Pathways: Citizens' Science, Community Development and Farm Stays

People come to take Permaculture Courses for a number of reasons: some want to adopt a new way of thinking and bring more creativity into the work they are already doing, others don’t find meaning in their current occupation and are looking for alternatives; some are looking to buy land hoping to run a homestead, while still others have a small garden at home and would like to get more in touch with the soil and produce a few things for themselves.

Permaculture Pathways: Ecosystem Restoration, Mycology and Small-Scale Farming
Permaculture Pathways: Ecosystem Restoration, Mycology and Small-Scale Farming

People come to take Permaculture Courses for a number of reasons: some want to adopt a new way of thinking and bring more creativity into the work they are already doing, others don’t find meaning in their current occupation and are looking for alternatives; some are looking to buy land hoping to run a homestead, while still others have a small garden at home and would like to get more in touch with the soil and produce a few things for themselves.

Winter Newsletter - Onwards and upwards...
Winter Newsletter - Onwards and upwards...

Find our January 2019 Newsletter with a look back at last year and new plans here.

Learning from the Woods… A Permaculture weekend at Hazel Hill Wood in Photos
Learning from the Woods… A Permaculture weekend at Hazel Hill Wood in Photos

On our yearly London-based Permaculture Design Course we’ve made it a tradition to spend one weekend away from the city. We had photographer Amy Behrens Clark join us to document some of our journey and asked a few of the participants about their experience learning about Permaculture.

SL
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Dre's experience of the Permaculture Design Course
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Rob's experience of the Permaculture Design Course