Location
Brave Earth community and Finca Luna Nueva Eco-Lodge, La Fortuna, Costa Rica
Description
Join our diverse team of permaculture instructors led by Scott Gallant and Sam Kenworthy of Porvenir Design for this life-changing 2-week experience. The course covers the core Permaculture Design curriculum and emphasizes creating diverse multi-functional human landscapes based on ecological patterns. This is the first course ever offered in conjunction with the Brave Earth community and Finca Luna Nueva.
Utilizing these sites as a living classroom, the class will mix lectures and hands-on work, exploring design solutions for both temperate and tropical regions. Putting Permaculture into practice, the course concludes with students working in teams to create their own permaculture site design. This course is applicable to anyone with an interest in designing resilient and regenerative futures as well as professionals in the fields of architecture, planning, ecology, education, farming and community development.
The whole-systems design thinking outlined in the course will give participants the tools to re-design and improve their surroundings; from gardens, farms and homes, to livelihoods, relationships and communities.
To learn about who this course is designed for, learning outcomes, what to bring, and much more, please read our PDC Course Information Book. Please note this booklet is specific for our April course at Rancho Mastatal, but much of the information is relevant for the October course as well.
Topics covered include:
History of Permaculture
Principles and Ethics of Permaculture Design
Design Methodologies and Site Analysis & Assessment
Pattern Languages in Culture and the Landscape
Reading the Landscape and Pattern Recogintion
Simple Mapping and Surveying Techniques
Client Interviews and Goal Setting
Map Reading
Master Planning and Design Presentations
Climate and Microclimate Design
Water: Cycles, Catchment, Ecology, Conservation, Treatment
Greywater and Blackwater Systems
Earthworks, Pond Construction, & Water Storage
Soils: Biology, Ecology, Fertility Strategies
Biochar, Biofertilizers, Mulching, Biomass Production, Microorganisms Cultivation, Compost Making
Introduction to Keyline Design and Holistic Management
Gardening from the Tropics to the Temperate Regions
Orchards Management and Agroforestry
Plant Propagation, Grafting, Nursery Management
Silvopastural and Aquaculture Systems
Fermentation, Post Harvest Handling, and Harvest Strategies
Shelter and Siting
Natural Building Techniques
Urban and Suburban Permaculture Applications and Case Studies
Energy and Appropriate Technology: Photovoltaics, Biodigestor Design, Alternative Cooking Models
Regenerative Economic Models
Social Structures, Decision Making, and Community Organizing
Professional Designer Project Case Studies
The Place
Finca Luna Nueva, is a living classroom, regenerative, biodynamic farm and rated one of the top 10 ecolodges in Costa Rica. Offering a restaurant, miles of hiking trails through the lush rainforest, a Sacred Seed Sanctuary, featuring 300 plants prized for their medicinal or sacred uses, spa services, and an ozonated pool and jacuzzi. There are several on-site activities available such as night wildlife hikes, birding, a tour of our sacred seed sanctuary and regenerative farm.
Brave Earth (Tierra Valiente), partner and sister-property to Finca Luna Nueva, is a living laboratory in service to regenerative living and co-evolution with Nature. Initiated by a diverse group of change-makers, artists, creative innovators, activists and thought leaders from around the globe with the intention of prototyping a model for community based on biomimetic principles, ancestral wisdom, sacred activism and solidarity economics. The location is a treasure of biodiversity located amidst endless tropical rainforests and world-class, natural thermal baths.
Instructors
Scott Gallant
Scott Gallant is an agroforester and food system designer with nearly a decade of experience working in Central America. He is the co-founder of Porvenir Design, a landscape design firm specializing in productive landscapes. He graduated from Wabash College in 2008 with a degree in Economics. He was the farm manager at Rancho Mastatal for nine years, and has worked with diverse projects such as VersaLand, Open Source Ecology, Project Bonafide and many more as he has developed his skill-set in permaculture design.
Passionate about regenerative agriculture, holistic thinking, ethnobotany, community development, and re-skilling, he still makes time to hike and bike, read exhaustively, and work on his basketball jump shot and frisbee throw. He has traveled extensively in Latin America, leading to a love of the culture, food, and language, which he attempts to speak. Scott writes for the Permaculture Research Institute and has been featured on the Permaculture Voices and Abundant Edge podcasts.
You can find him on instagram here.
Sam Kenworthy
Sam Kenworthy is a water systems specialist and landscape manager with nearly a decade of experience in the tropics. He has experience designing and developing educational curriculum for students of all ages, particularly focused on conservation, practical skill building, and applied research. Originally from the east coast of the United States, Sam currently resides on the southern Pacific coast of the Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica.
Dedicated to continued learning and improving his skill sets, he is passionate about self sufficiency, water management, generating more and better yields, and well executed design for human eco-systems. Experienced in working in a wide variety of environments, he enjoys the process of designing around problematic landscapes. Sam holds a B.A. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in Political Science and Hispanic Studies.
Melania Muñoz García
Melania is a Costa Rican biologist. She graduated from the University of Costa Rica with a master's degree in Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources with an emphasis on Biotechnology and a specialization in Project Management. She worked for eight years managing the orchid conservation project at Bosque de Paz Biological Reserve.
She is a professor of sustainable development and environmental awareness, with seven years of teaching experience at the Center of International Programs and Sustainability at Veritas University. During the last few years she has studied permaculture, natural building, analog forestry and teaching methodologies to encourage students to build knowledge and develop practical skills through “learning by doing”. She implements field work on permaculture design during her classes.
She is passionate about sustainability practices, which involve the balance between social, economic and environmental aspects in all human activities, especially those related to sustainable production and consumption habits. She loves growing her own garden, running, hiking with her dogs, practicing yoga and learning continuously.
Hugo Soto
Hugo Soto is an organic agriculture technician, who after learning how to produce soil and food realized he needed more tools to design projects and take a whole systems approach into his visions. He started studying permaculture in 2012 and from there grew a passion for regenerative design in all aspects; ecological, social, cultural and economic. He is part of the Red Permanezca network which promotes creole permaculture and a partner in Raíces Diseño Regenerativo, a design firm that mixes permaculture, regenerative design and corporate social responsibility.
His path creating community is his biggest focus yet, opening a passion for invisible structures and the key role they play in any dream which is on the way to becoming reality. Tools such as Dragon Dreaming and Sociocracy are some of his favorites. Cocreating an ecovillage and connecting with others around Latin America are part of his plans, for this he went last year to the Latinamerican Permaculture Convergence in Veracruz, Mexico. In his free time he enjoys swimming and hiking.
Robin North
Robin Noelle North is a steward of the land within the blossoming community at Brave Earth. She plays a strong role on the ground to bring design into form through permaculture and biomimetic principles. A mother of two young daughters Robin is dedicated to listening, learning and connecting with the thriving land to co-create a model for regeneration.
Robin is inspired by the pure nature of the Earth- valiant, fully authentic, unapologetic, rich and bursting with life. She is dedicated to her yogic practices of movement, breath and mindfulness while sharing gifts of touch therapy and Reiki energy healing, and is a dental hygienist by trade. With over 11 years immersed in the lush lands of Costa Rica, Robin is thrilled to be living her dream of creating a living centre where students, teachers and seekers convene to learn and share.
Start and End Dates
The course will start at 9 a.m. on October 17th. Students are encouraged to arrive on October 16th. Lodging the night of October 16th is included in the cost of the class.
The course will end at around 5 p.m. on November 1st. Most students will depart on the morning of November 2nd. Lodging the night of November 1st is included in the cost of the class.
Costs
There are different accommodation options available:
Camping (bring your tent, access to hot showers & composting toilet) - $1000
Farm Loft Single (semi private /shared toilet) - $1500
Farm Loft Room (private /shared toilet) - $1950 (single) $1500 (double)
Gaia Domes & Tambos (private /shared toilet) - $ 2260 (single) $1650 (double)
Costs include instruction, 14 days and 15 night accommodations and 3 organic meals per day. Transport to and from the lodge or airfare is not included.
Enrollment
For questions about the course content please email Scott Gallant
scottgallant@porvenirdesign.com
For enrollment please email the Brave Earth community
hello@braveearth.com.
