Willow Way Permaculture offers the Permaculture Design certification course, workshops for the general public, internships, consultation and design work for your home, commercial property or farm.
Permaculture is an integrative design science rooted in deep observation of nature that offers practical skills drawing on both ancient indigenous knowledge and innovative modern technology. It was developed as a modern grass-roots sustainability training more than 30 years ago, and is now taught in more than 100 countries worldwide.
The Mission of Willow Way Permaculture is to help re-build the bond of intimacy between nature and humans through a learning environment that integrates mind, body and heart with receptivity to the land. Our goal is to inspire deep respect for the Earth and the satisfaction that comes from a relationship of reciprocity and friendship. Our perspective is that the Earth is alive and carries a field of intelligence that, when approached with sensitive receptivity, can teach us appropriate collaboration.
From Bill Mollison, the originator of Permaculture, “We are essentially designers of practical working models, more than theoreticians…working models (that are) accessible to everybody; explicable, measurable, beneficial, reproducible, realistic, available to and understandable by everyone.”
Check out our new blog... some good info and pics there.
PERMACULTURE DESIGN COURSE
In our 100 hour Permaculture Design Course (PDC), you will learn how to work with the wisdom of nature to create Permaculture designs that conserve water and energy, produce healthy food, regenerate social and ecological systems, build resilience and self- reliance, and save you money.Instruction will be rooted in hands-on practices at Willow Way permaculture farm which means being actively involved in the evolution of the projects and the design of a working Permaculture system. We also visit several other local Permaculture sites, and work on community projects.
Core Curriculum and Electives of your choice.
Our Core Curriculum is based on the Permaculture Academy’s internationally-recognized 72 hour curriculum which provides the Permaculture Design Certificate upon completion. In addition this course includes a series of diverse Elective Workshops from which you can choose. This format allows you to deeply explore the topics that interest you most while providing a firm grounding in the essentials of Permaculture Design.
Within the Elective curriculum, four learning tracks are available: ecological building, four season gardening, urban and cross-cultural design, and plant wisdom. Or, you can mix and match these tracks within the 33 hours you are allotted for Electives.
We include “invisible structures” such as consensus facilitation, Bioregionalism, organizing & activism tools, body awareness and earth-based spirituality. All these help us “come to our senses” to rebuild our bond with the land and each other.
These videos are helpful for getting a basic understanding of Permaculture.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHJwLz_AFG8
www.youtube.com/user/earthactivistas#p/u/1/lT_2VVXA7SY
www.youtube.com/watch?v=sohI6vnWZmk
www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YYZTw_xBBs&feature=channel
www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bdKgBt6LbE
WORKSHOPS
The workshops/elective courses are also available to the general public. To register call Zia Parker at 303.530.1415 or email ZiaParker@yahoo.com.CORE CURRICULUM• Permaculture Principles and Ethics• Permaculture Design Method • Observing Nature • Site Analysis • Nutrient and Water Cycling • Designing for Diverse Climates • Creating Microclimates • Four Season Gardening • Ecological Building • Renewable Energy • Sustainable Community Design • Urban Permaculture • Group Design Projects |
WORKSHOPS/ ELECTIVES• Fruit Trees: Selection, Grafting, and Care• Raising Poultry • Building Soil Fertility • Multiple Benefits of Fungi • Low Cost Solar Dehydrators • The Wisdom of Plants I • The Wisdom of Plants II • High Country Wilderness Plant Trek • Building with Earth Materials • Hoop Houses and Greenhouses • Bioremediation with Constructed Wetlands and Living Machines • Rainwater Harvesting • Greywater Systems • Aquaculture |
SCHEDULE
We begin with a 3-day weekend in April followed by two Sundays each month through October 10.The dates: April 2, 3, 4; April 18; May 2; May 23; Plant Wisdom Camp Out June 6, 19, 20; July 11; High Country Plant Trek July 21-25; Aug 15; Aug 29; Sept 12; Sept 26, Oct 10.
REGISTRATION
Register for the 2010 Permaculture Design Course.PC Design course Fee is $1,200. Registration includes the Core Curriculum, plus 33 hours of Elective Workshops of your choice. Limited work-study exchanges for up to 50% of course fee are available based on skill and financial need. Please inquire if needed.
To register, send registration fee to 6481 N. 63rd St, Longmont, CO 80503, made to Willow Way. Registration and full payment is due by March 21.
Discounts for early registration:
$ 1,000.00 if registered by 1/21/10 Full payment is due with registration.
$1,100.00 if registered by 2/21/10 $100.00 cancellation fee until 3/21/10
$1,200.00 due 3/21/10. No refunds after 3/21/10.
Low-cost permaculture student loans are available through the Permaculture Credit Union, 866.954.3479, pcuonline.org.
PROJECT GROW: CHILDREN'S PERMACULTURE PROGRAM
In this summer program for children ages 7 to 11 we will teach the fundamentals of sustainability, traditional wisdom ways and bioregional awareness through activities such as:• Permaculture gardening and pragmatic earth-skills
• Expressive arts: theater, imaginative nature quests, storytelling and crafts
• Animal wisdom: What can we learn from chickens, fish, bees, worms?
"Children need nature for the healthy development of their senses, and therefore, for learning and creativity." Richard Louv, Last Child in the Woods
Session I. June 14-18, 9 am- 3 pm, $300.
Session II. July 12-16, 9 am-3 pm, $300.
Information and material in Session I and II will be distinct and new for those who want to enroll in both sessions.
Maximum enrollment: 12, not more than 4 students per teacher.
To register, call Zia Parker at 303.530.1415 or email ZiaParker@yahoo.com.
THE WILLOW WAY TEACHING TEAM
Director: Zia Parker spent the 70s homesteading in British Columbia. Her great grandparents homesteaded 40 miles West of Boulder, in Grand Lake, CO. In '88-90 she directed the Finca Permanente Agroforestry Project in W. Africa, which was used as a model for a $2.5 million project by the EU.(articles) She has joined the PC teaching teams at Central Rocky Mountain Permaculture, the Black Mountain Navaho Permaculture Design Course and the High Altitude PC Institute. She has taught or designed PC systems in five different climate zones, including the Wind River Arapaho/Shoshoni Reservation. She is currently working to develop Willow Way Wellness, N. of Boulder, into a model of sustainable community.Coco Gordon, an Eco-Artist/ Poet/ Papermaker/ Publisher/ Healer/ Bioregionalist with a naturally indigenous heart. Coco has an inspirational creative energy that comes directly from cells that make up Nature. She was PC certified in 1997 by Bill Mollison. She has been a pioneer in the Bioregional movement, a predecessor to Permaculture, for several decades.
Jeff Graff is an avid Permaculture practitioner and designer from Denver. His business, Earth Rebirth, provides educational services, consulting and design in Permaculture. Jeff ran a solar design and energy education business for seven years, is a Journeyman Carpenter and worked in the biofuels and biomass energy fields for 15 years. He is experienced in food preservation and storage, and gardening in a variety of climates. Jeff is a certified Permaculture Teacher, has a BA in Solar Design and Energy Education, and an MS in Higher Education.
Mait Walker is an ecological engineer with a passion for water. He has spent the last seven years promoting, designing and permitting various systems which conserve water or reuse treated wastewater. Mait has partnered or worked with several leading innovative design companies such as Ecological Engineering Group, Natural Systems International, SEEDS, and John Todd Ecological Design on projects spanning the US. He is active in the Denver-Boulder area working to change local perceptions of water and wastewater reuse.
Jim Gibson has studied with the mycology genius, Paul Stamets, and will share info that has given him astonishing results in his own gardening endeavors. Jim is a Colorado native and has been a mushroom hunter and gardener for many years.
Marco Chung-Shu Lam has been practicing and teaching permaculture and sustainable living skills for over a decade in diverse climates from the Andes to the Hawaiian islands. Originally trained by the founder of Permaculture, Bill Mollison, Marco teaches Permaculture at Naropa University. He practices both acupuncture and Taoist medicine and wrote the The Herbal Therapeutics Manual, a guide to using local plants in the energetic tradition of Chinese herbalism. Marco is a founding member of the Regenerative Design Guild, a multidisciplinary professional design organization, that is creating reproducible templates for urban regeneration.
Brigitte Mars is a professional member of the American Herbalist Guild, a nutritional consultant working with Natural Medicine for over forty years. She teaches Herbal Medicine at Naropa University, Omega Institute, Hollyhock, Boulder College of Massage, Esalen and Bauman Holistic College of Nutrition. She has a weekly radio show called "Naturally" and a private practice. She blogs for the Huffington Post. Brigitte is the author of twelve books, including The Desktop Guide to Herbal Medicine, Beauty by Nature, Addiction Free Naturally, The Sexual Herbal, Healing Herbal Teas, and Rawsome!.
CONSULTATION
Permaculture consultation and design work from Willow Way can help you see your home, commercial property or farm in an entirely new light. By showing you other possibilities and a higher level of integration, you will discover how Permaculture design principles can enable the various elements of your landscape to serve multiple functions. Call us to start upgrading your property's sustainability, make it more beautiful and benefit the Earth today.INTERNSHIPS
These hands-on learning experiences will be conducted through Willow Way Permaculture under the stewardship of Zia Parker, and in the company of the many experienced gardeners and Permaculturalists working to bring Willow Way to true sustainability.Willow Way currently has openings for Internships available.
1) Organic gardening, Permaculture-style
2) Permaculture Internship
3) Herbal CSA Internship
4) Permaculture Administrative Internship
This is an excellent way to extend your learning regarding Permaculture, to embody principles of sustainability, and to deepen your relationship with the forces of Nature. The Willow Way letter of recomendation following these internships can further job opportunities in many arenas.
Permaculture Growing Internship
Interns will fine tune gardening and permaculture systems and skills. Working side by side with others, they will work a variety of land care projects such as:
• Orcharding fruit tree production
• Forest gardening
• Composting
• Greenhouse contruction
• Nursery starts
• Plant propagation
• Soil building
• Long term land management
The goal of this learning experience to provide an in depth understanding of long term land management strategies, ecoforestry and organic gardening. Interns will be exposed to a wide range of permaculture practices and uses of appropriate technology. This is expected to be a life changing, transformative experience that will teach you to think, live and breath Permaculture.
Works in coordination with our land steward Zia Parker, designing and implementing land management activities including: orchard maintenance, eco-forestry, water conservation, and food production. Works to support the emerging CSA project and Permaculture Certificate Programs through site preparations and guiding students in hands-on projects.
Requirements: commitment to two months, spending a minimum of 6-8 hours per week on priority projects. We recommend three month period in this position to really get the lay of the land.
Organic Gardening Internship
Interns will refine the following skills: learn about and participate in growing a year-round garden in Boulder Valley within an educational community. Garden activities (dependent on time of year) include sheet mulching, soil preparation, sowing and saving seed, transplanting, composting, weeding, plant propagation, harvesting, food preservation, greenhouse management, and other skills. We grow food for the resident intentional community and for the emerging CSA. We seek to cultivate large quantities of a variety of vegetables with organic methods, placing a high value on sustainability. We emphasize hand labor and techniques including biointensive, "wild" gardening, and permaculture.
Qualifications: Qualified interns will have previous gardening experience and be excited about teaching others, coordinating projects, and working cooperatively. In summer we like to start early every day to "beat the heat." We pace ourselves, try to vary activities frequently, and attempt to use wits rather than brawn (of which we are often in short supply) whenever possible, but work can be strenuous and/or repetitive at times, and does require endurance in an outdoor environment. Important traits include interest, enthusiasm, responsibility, a cooperative orientation, and the ability for self-care, as we aim to practice sustainability with ourselves as well as with the garden.
Requirements: Commitment to a minimum of one month, spending a minimum of 6 hours per week.
The Herbal CSA Internship
This internship would involve working with Zia Parker, Willow Way director, to determine priorities and implementation of plans in terms of: planning planting schedules to meet CSA needs, marketing strategies for subscriptions, designing delivery systems. This position would entail research of other successful local and non-local herbal CSAs to help shape the Willow Way CSA into a story of success.
As well as planning, this position would also dovetail with the production work in the gardens, growing as well as processing herbs to bring the products to market. This would mean working closely with others that are involved with herb production.
Requirements: Commitment for a minimum of 3 months, spending a minimum of 6 hours per week.
Administrative Internship
This position would involve working closely with the director of Willow Way, Zia Parker to oversee all operations at Willow Way, including decisions and process regarding: crop planning and production, issues which help further the energy efficiency and appropriate technology applications for all structures, CSA design and implementation, the Permaculture Design course management, and issues that arise within the residential community.
Requirements: Commitment to a minimum of 3 months, spending a minimum of 6 hours per week.
HERBAL CSA
We are pleased to announce Willow Way’s Herbal CSA.The concept of Community Suppported Agriculture (CSA) has spread across the country quickly. It is an idea that is a good fit for the times. When you pay for a farm-share up-front before the growing season, you are provided with a weekly share of fresh organic produce throughout the growing season, while lessening the farmer’s risk. People are recognizing the importance of knowing where their food came from, and feeling urgent about cutting the petro-calories in each calorie of food. For the same reasons, Herbal CSAs are emerging out of the yearning for respect for the land, and relationship with it.
In our quest to provide a Permaculture model, we aim at growing what we need on our site to maintain a healthy nutrient balance in our soil. We are not certified as organic. However, we do not use any chemical fertilizer or toxic pest controls on our land.
Go to the Willow Way blog to find out how to join and what you will receive from the Willow Way’s Herbal CSA.