Ecovillage Training CenterEcovillage Training CenterSummertown, TN, The Farm community. This year we will be focusing work on preparations for hosting the Continental Bioregional Congress in October. We will be demonstrating Mexican styles of bamboo/earthen walls, plaster, and thatch, and creating many interesting projects, such as algae fuel ponds and cattail reedbeds, compost toilets, and solar showers. Volunteers are welcome to come learn ecology, energy and resource conservation, social and community skills, and the economics of sustainability. A small monthly fee is charged to offset food and lodging costs. To apply, contact us at ecovillage at thefarm dot org.
View these workshops listed in chronological order.
Shiitake Mushroom Growing Basics
At Nashville Fairgrounds March 5-8, 2009
At The Farm March 13, 2009
Learn mycoforestry with the mycorrhizal masters. How to grow gourmet mushrooms, reverse climate change, save the forests, and make money doing it. There will be a free demonstration at the Tennessee Lawn and Garden Show at the State Fairgrounds the first weekend in March, 2009 which will then be enlarged upon with a half-day intensive for commerical growers at The Farm the following Saturday ($50 includes lunch and workbook).
Peak Oil, Climate Change and the Permaculture Design Course
March 20 - April 1, 2009 Maya Mountain Research Farm
with Albert Bates, Andrew Goodheart Brown, Maria Martinez Ros, Hector Reyes, Andrew Leslie Phillips, Christopher Nesbitt, and friends.
Global production of petroleum per capita peaked in the 1970s. From here on, we need to how to live with less, and yet our profligate lifestyles are still expanding, still straining the web of nature. At the same time, climate change is in a curve of acceleration that will pose unprecedented problems. Get off of your fossil fuel dependence now! This workshop in the Permaculture Design Course teaches ecology, energy and resource conservation, "permafuel" conversion, social and community skills, and the economics of environmental sustainability. Travel far south; to the back of beyond; to a remote valley accessible only by dugout canoe. Study permaculture surrounded by a lush, productive forest of edibles, medicinals and tropical hardwoods. Eat organic food, sleep in dorms powered by renewable energy, bathe in a sparkling pure river.... Field trips will include visits to a Mayan cacao farm, an underground river cavern and local permaculture projects. $1250 with meals & lodging. Contact www.mmrfbz.org info@mmrfbz.org for information or to register.
"We should be the heart and mind of the Earth, not its malady. So let us be brave and cease thinking of human needs and rights alone, and see that we have harmed the living Earth and need to make our peace with Gaia. We must do it while we are still strong enough to negotiate, and not a broken rabble led by brutal war lords. Most of all, we should remember that we are a part of it, and it is indeed our home."
James Lovelock, The Revenge of Gaia
June 24-28, 2009, t.b.a.Upon completion of this course the students should understand the detailed functionality of PV system components, and all common PV systems from straight water pumping to stand alone battery based systems, and grid tie PV with and without batteries. Students will be able to design and size these systems. They will see what is involved with interconnection to the utility. This course prepares students to enter work as a competent installer. However, there are a great many National Electric Code issues that cannot be adequately addressed in one week and further training and experience is recommended.
September 18th-20th, 2009
Complimentary Currency
Taught by a leading expert in the field, this course will cover the hot topic of creating local currency that can help with sustainable local development and empower local communities with currency that is in alignment with right livelihood. $350 includes food and lodging.
September 22nd-26th, 2009
Financial Permaculture Course.
Hohenwald, Tennessee: The 2nd annual Financial Permaculture course will pick up where the last, extremely successful course, left off. We will be designing businesses for Lewis country that give back to people, the planet and make a profit. We also look at the over all business ecology, using systems thinking and permaculture design to fit groups of businesses together and mimic natural systems to create a healthy local economy. We will be weaving the ideas generated during the carbon farming workshop and the complimentary currency workshop into the curriculum and designs. $650 tuition, discounts for local residents and early registration.
Do you know where your prescriptions are coming from when petrocollapse strikes?
Medicinal Plant Workshop with Wendel Combest, Ph.D.
May 28-30, 2009
Del Combest has been doing a 3-day Herb workshop through The Ecovillage Training Center and The Farm Midwifery Workshop program for the past 5 years, including herbology, gathering, growing, preparation and applications, chemistry and pharmacology. This year's Farm Midwifery Center Medicinal Plant workshop explains the science behind the folklore. Del teaches pharmacology at Shenandoah University in Virginia. $500 suggested, includes meals and lodging. Sliding scale for students and low income participants. Practical preparations -- extracts and compounds -- daily on the weekend.
August 25th- September 16th, 2009
Carbon Farming with Darren Doherty
Taught by the leading experts in sustainable agriculture and carbon sequestration, this course will put all the pieces together to form a mosaic of ecological design that can allow farmers to produce organic, healthy produce, and put carbon into the soil. This is a strong step towards allowing farmers to trade on the international carbon market and will help incentivize permaculture design as a healthy and profitable land management system.This program is open to all interested applicants, however candidates with prior instructor experience and/or a permaculture design certificate are preferred.
Module 1: Holistic Management with Kirk Gadzia (5 day)
August 25-30, 2009
Operated by Holistic Management International & their Certified Educators (www.holisticmanagement.org)
Module 2: Keyline Design Course with Darren Doherty
September 1-6, 2009
Module 3: Earthworks and Food Forestry with Darren Doherty, Brad Lancaster & Eric Toensmeier
September 8-12, 2009
Module 4: Soil Food Web with Dr. Elaine Ingham
September 13-15, 2009
Module 5: Pathways to Relocalization with Joel Salatin
September 16, 2009
"Relocalization is a strategy to build societies based on the local production of food, energy and goods, and the local development of currency, governance and culture. The main goals of Relocalization are to increase community energy security, to strengthen local economies, and to dramatically improve environmental conditions and social equity.
The Relocalization strategy developed in response to the environmental, social, political and economic impacts of global over-reliance on cheap energy. Our dependence on cheap non-renewable fossil fuel energy has produced climate change, the erosion of community, agricultural lands, wars for oil-rich land and the instability of the global economic system."
This module is to be presented by one of the world's leading exponents and advocates of agrarian relocalisation in Mr. Joel Salatin. In this module Joel will challenge participants to design the pathways to relocalisation based on his own very successful model at Polyface Farm in Swoope, Virginia, and will also include techniques and directions from the emerging 'Transition Towns' movement.
Joel is a realist and a master speaker and practitioner who truly walks his talk and so is beyond theory which really sums up the bottom line of our Carbon Farming Course: we are working with solutions we already know and practiced to work that we all need in the energy descent future.
PRICE SCENARIOS
OPTION 1 - with Food & Lodging
Holistic Management Training $1150
Keyline Design Course $1150
Earthworks, Food Forestry $800
Soil Food Web & Relocalization $1400
COMBO PACKAGES - with Food & Lodging
"Holistic Soil" = HM + SFI $2000
"Broadacre Permaculture" = KDC + EW + FF $1700
"Regenerative Local Agriculture" = EW + FF + SFW + Reloc $2000
"Holistic Carbon Farming for Soil Health and Increase Profits" (Everything) $3500
Pricing: $3500 max
Coordinator: Ethan Roland
Email: ethan at appleseedpermaculture dot com
September 28th- October 2nd, 2009
Gaia University Orientation
Gaia University will hold its end of year and beginning of year orientation. Young motivated world changers will come from around the world to participate in the various courses and then have this time to focus on distilling their learnings from their last year and make plans for the coming year.
October 3rd-10th, 2009
Tenth Continental Bioregional Congress
The tribe reassembles from the four directions to create a temporary sacred community and discuss progress since the Ninth Congress at Earthaven and next steps to create local sustainable communities across our hemisphere and beyond.
Ecovillage ApprenticeshipsApprenticeship program in either Community Foodshed, Natural Building, Community Organizing or Bioregional Networking. The Community Foodshed program includes production from seed through harvest, biodynamic and permaculture methodologies, soil building and market gardening. Construction program includes hands-on experience with natural buildings of all types as well as the fundamentals of permaculture and ecovillage master planning. This year we will be continuing work on our gardens, 11,000 sq.ft. constructed wetlands, our cob visitors center, our cob,strawbale and earthbag "hipitats" and compost toilets, and many other interesting projects within the Farm community. Possible field trips to nearby Amish community, canoeing on the Buffalo River, a local bamboo nursery, and more. Apprentices can audit workshops offered at the ETC free of charge during their stay (see our 2009 schedule http://www.thefarm.org/etc/etccourses.html ). They are first required to fulfill their apprenticeship responsibilities before attending a class or workshop. Participants in all apprenticeships will learn ecology, energy and resource conservation, social and community skills, and the economics of sustainability. A small weekly fee is charged to offset food and lodging costs. To apply, contact us at ecovillage at thefarm dot org.
About Our Courses
To make the transition toward a sustainable society it is imperative that we take responsibility for our own lives and meet our basic needs for food, shelter, energy, gainful employment, and supportive community. The purpose of our courses is to offer you practical training in ecological design principles so that you can begin the application of these skills within your own home grounds, workplace, and local community. 
We also focus on building the support systems, networks, and alliances we all need in our work of remaking our culture. We strive to create a balance between classroom time, hands-on experiential learning, and personal empowerment work. Our courses will be useful for people with varying levels of experience, from backyard gardeners to design and educational professionals.
At the ETC we are creating a holistic, comprehensivist, "total immersion school," co-evolving creative designs that move us toward sustainability. All projects and buildings on site provides a walk-thru visit to the future. You can walk through our strawbale cabin, dome, organic gardens, and soon-to-be-completed cob Visitors Center (the largest cob structure in North America, the first east of the Mississippi) and wetlands filtration system. We have a large creek flowing through the Center and the headwaters of the Swan watershed are located on the property as well. Over 1000 acres of The Farm are designated as wilderness preserve.
The Eco-hostel is an old Farm house that has been renovated and expanded. The house was originally constructed by members of the Farm in the late 70's out of completely recycled materials. Our renovations have included three dormitories, four solar showers, rainwater collection, solar electricity, wastewater recycling, 2-story greenhouse and a third story observation deck.
For our policies on discounts and cancellations, please visit our Discounts page.
Accommodations:
Bunk houses and tent sites are available for the entire course. There are showers and bathrooms nearby. Bedding is provided. A limited number of private rooms are available at typically $30 per night. Wheelchair access provided. Language translation services can be arranged. Bring rain gear, swim gear, comfortable walking shoes, flashlight and towels.
It was a safe place to take risks. Whole living can't be taught, as it has to be experienced and absorbed, so this week at The Farm was an experience of osmosis for most.
We accu
mulated knowledge and direction for our lives while absorbing some of the wisdom and spirit represented around us. I saw a catharsis in many of these individuals. An immediate sense of community and purpose. It was a seminal experience in my life and a reawakening to a journey ...