Facilitated by Starhawk and Alfred Decker
Earth Activist Training and 12P Permaculture Design are happy to invite you to a two-week intensive Permaculture Design Course (PDC), offering the internationally-recognized 72-hour permaculture curriculum with an additional focus on social permaculture, organizing tools, and spirit. Come and share a life-changing experience with an intercultural mix of participants!
Register for the course HERE
If you have questions about the course, contact us HERE
If you have questions about the venue or registration, contact us HERE
Course Objectives and Content
Earth Activist Training (EAT) is an intensive course combining theory with practical hands-on learning. 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 course includes lectures, discussions, hands-on learning, slideshows, and design projects. We will examine the underlying assumptions of the current culture of consumerism and economic globalisation, and encourage exploration of ways to contribute to the emergence of a culture of sustainability, compassion and equity. The PDC covers a broad range of subjects to provide a holistic overview of Permaculture systems and sustainable living. Some of the topics / themes to be covered are:
- Evidence for change & the ethics of sustainability
- Principles of Permaculture
- Observation & landscape analysis
- Ecological planning & design methods
- Organic food production and food security
- Climatic factors in design
- Soils: natural soil improvement
- Integrated animal systems
- Water : harvesting, conservation, and management
- Agroforestry & forest gardening
- Appropriate technologies & renewable energy systems
- Mapping & design exercises
- Techniques and design strategies for both urban & rural applications
- Ecovillages & sustainable human settlements
What Can I Do After This Course?
- Embark on new farming practices
- Start a permaculture diploma program
- Advocate strategically for policies that address climate change and environmental justice
- Find ways of dramatically reducing energy consumption
- Begin land-based ventures & small businesses such as: nurseries, landscape design consultancies, etc.
- Realise goals towards self-sufficiency
City dwellers have found that even with little or no land, Permaculture shows them how to work with their home to produce food, reduce energy needs, live more ecologically and in closer connection with their communities. Educators, farm advisers, international development workers, garden directors, builders, master gardeners, and landscape architects have all reported that what they’ve learned in this course has become a foundation for their work. Farmers, nursery owners, foresters and livestock farmers have all found that Permaculture design has multiplied their incomes, reduced their work, and improved the health of their stock.
This course aims to be a courageous space for people who are/were exposed to any form of discrimination. Welcome!
EAT Facilitation Team
Starhawk
Alfred Decker
Alfred Decker is an award-winning permaculture designer, a certified educator with the Permaculture Association of Britain, and one of Europe’s leading permaculture educators. Since his first PDC in 1998 in California (where Alfred and Starhawk were students together), he has been involved with permaculture projects and social movements and projects throughout Europe and the Americas. Based in Catalunya (Spain), Alfred is the founder of the 12P Permaculture Design consultancy, and teaches widely throughout Europe. These days he is dedicated to facilitating permaculture teacher trainings with a focus on refugees.
2023 is the sixth year that Starhawk and Alfred will be teaching together in Europe, having already collaborated on 10 courses together.
Course Venue
Permakultur-Hof Stein-Häger is a permaculture project in the hilly Uckermark, one hour by train north of Berlin in the Brandenburg region. Wild nature, wide views and young trees offer space for beautiful camping close to nature. The facilities are simple but beautiful.
The project is the work of Johanna Häger, a permaculture designer since 2009, putting herself at the service of the earth and future generations. She has lived at this site since 2007, intimately involved in its design and development. She is a carpenter, landscape architect and ardent forest gardener. Together with a small team, she will support and provide the course with practical sessions and vegetables from the farm.
When
Course Begins: Dinner on the night of Monday, August 14, 2023.
Course Ends: Certificate ceremony on the afternoon of Sunday, August 27, followed by optional dinner, party and “No Talent Show”.
Food & Accommodation
The food is mostly organic and a lot of the vegetables will come straight from the garden. There will be vegetarian, vegan, and omnivore options, the latter being ecological and locally-produced meat and dairy products.
Camping in your own tent or caravan is the normal accomodation. However, it is possible to rent a nearby apartment, for more information please send a message HERE
The costs for food and accommodation charged by the site are 600€ total per person.
Course Fees
For the other costs beside food & accomodation (teaching, materials, travel, large tent rental, accounting, etc.), EAT offers a sliding scale that encourages people with higher incomes to give a bit more. The scale for this certified training is between 1130€ – 1480€ per person, in addition to the food & accommodation costs listed below. This is the normal pricing for the PDC courses offered at this site. Those who can afford to pay more on the higher end of the scale will help those who can only pay less. The sliding scale recognises the differences in economic reality depending on what country a participant comes from, as well as their individual circumstances, so this is a practical way that people with more resources can act in solidarity. If you want to propose a different price based on your economic situation, please share with us what you want to contribute and why you need support.
We also have some pay-what-you-can scholarships for people of color working in environmental and social justice movements. That is part of our way of supporting reparations and of bringing in more diversity to our permaculture movement. If you are a BIPOC or refugee/migrant and interested in one of these scholarships, please contact us HERE.
Starhawk and Alfred will participate in two upcoming EAT diversity scholarship fundraisers planned for Earth Day (April 22nd) and around Starhawk’s birthday in June.
If anyone is interested in helping with Europe-focused fundraising for this course, please contact Alfred HERE.
Your fees include:
- A life-changing learning experience
- A PDC Certificate
- Digital resources
- A new generation of permaculture doers for you to join!
Registration deadline: July 3, 2023
After this deadline we will confirm that the course has enough participants to go ahead!
Hope to see you in August!
Register for the course HERE
If you have questions about the course, contact us HERE
If you have questions about the venue or registration, contact us HERE