It's been a while since I last posted , but I've been quite busy in all sorts of things these last months...after the strawbale workshop I was in USA for a peace and reconciliation camp...check out for more hereAnother Permaculture course was about to come, so that was my priority...part of the grass/weed cutting was also to provide the camping place and to clear the walking paths for the 15 participants who would arrive for the course, plus Lesley of course, the teacher...
I started to build the new compost toilet that I thought it was needed for the extra number of people on site :-)...
I didn't finish it, but I made it ready to be used... anyway, I will leave the compost toilet for another post...
The course was great as usual... It's always nice, encouraging and inspiring to have like-minded people around... and in some way, reminding myself of the reason why I'm here...
It was lovely for me to host all those who came, and have the privilege to cook for all of us during the 8 days of the course... the first couple of days Lyna was still here and Marcia also came for the weekend to give a hand... but I realized it would not be a big deal (I was a bit worried that it might have been)...Despite the heat, I guess everyone was coping well with the conditions we can offer at the moment...
There was a couple from Germany, Hannes and Johanna, who came with 2 kids, around 2 and 4 years old, Lina and Finn, who also add to a good and definitely entertaining environment around us :-)
Here's Finn playing with some wood boards together with uncle Georg...
Georg, uncle Justus (both Hannes' brothers), and the parents, would take turns to skip the lectures and be with them :-) ...it worked perfectly ... they would also entertain themselves quite easily, either with the dogs or with dirt, or a simple bucket with water :-)
the classroom...
the usual "sheet mulch", practical time...
now split in groups, they started to prepare for the final presentations of their designs...some more focused...
others, rather relaxed :-)
...In the end, they all did great... I always get amazed with the results of a day work with a group of people who hardly know each other...and who don't know much about this place besides the few questions they make me before starting to work...
here's the first group: Ricardo, Jo and Filipa...
Ricardo filling in more details...
Vera, Pepa, Susanna and Francisco... The second group... very concerned with the handicapped accessibility...
As usual, everyone would hear the feed-back from the rest...nothing negative... only what we liked, and what we would do differently...
Forth presentation...Johanna, Hannes, Georg...and I guess Nelson was in this group but had to leave on saturday cuz he had a ferry to catch up to Madeira Island, where he lives with his wife Maria Jose... But Hey, there's little Lina to replace :-)...
Here's Hannes, presenting some details... very good, low cost and practical ideas... Hannes also took some part on the lectures to speak about the peak oil... I'm sorry I've missed it, but Lesley said it was really good and detailed facts ... One of this things that many people should be hearing about, or at least be conscious about...and hopefully, be acting about it :-)... here
And another presentation... Pedro, Moy (Susanna's husband), Justus...
...and Maria Jose (Nelson's wife)...
And so, they all got their certificates and most of them left that same afternoon...
The German family only left on tuesday to get their bus in Fundao, and Jo was going to stay 10 more days...
I was exhausted I have to say, specially because I got a floo in the middle of the week and took me a while to recover...actually most of us got the floo... it all started with little Lina, and then it spread... oh well... it was worst for Lesley who had to teach, but the rest of us did fine under the circumstances...
One more course, one more good experience ...
soon I'll write about the compost toilet that is about to be finished.
PEACEFUL DAYS TO ALL
