STRAWBALE BUILDING WORKSHOP

I'm also planning a STRAWBALE BUILDING WORKSHOP from the 27th of MAY till the 3rd of JUNE
The teacher will be again Lesley Martin who has been teaching the Permaculture courses... Besides the fact that she is an excellent teacher and experienced gardener, she has also a degree in architecture which she approaches with all the permaculture principals of self-sustainable building, low impact in nature, with the best use of the natural forces/resources around us...

I'm really excited about this cuz I really want to learn more about different ways of building our structures with the natural materials we have around.
This is also considered one of the cheapest and easiest techniques among many other ways of natural building... so that it´s very handy for our reality at the moment as well :-)

ALL OF YOU WHO MIGHT BE INTERESTED, LET ME KNOW...

THE PRICE IS GONNA BE , 200E, unless we don´t have enough people to cover the cost for food and teacher. But we´ll see how people respond to the suggestion.

PEACE

Barbara

PERMACULTURE COURSE IS FULL

We reached more than enough participants for this next Permaculture Course next March, from the 20th till the 28th... I´m still waiting for some confirmations, but I think we have reached the limit...
So, I´m thinking about the possibility to make A SECOND ONE THIS YEAR, either FROM THE 17th till the 25th OF APRIL, or else from the 21st to the 29th OF AUGUST.

IF ANYONE IS INTERESTED LET ME KNOW AS SOON AS POSSIBLE SO I CAN DECIDE IF WE GO FOR IT OR NOT... WE NEED AT LEAST 8 PARTICIPANTS IN ONE OF THIS 2 OPTIONS OF DATES (end of APRIL, or end of AUGUST)...THE SAME PRICE AS THIS ONE, 180E...

PEACE

I´m really glad with this, first of all cuz most of the participants this time will be portuguese :-)

Weather conditions at the moment...

we had snow here... :-) ... check out for the pictures here ... and here if you wanna see the flood that came after the snow melted and the rain poured :-) ...
Oh my... what a wheather !!! Beautiful though...

NEW PERMACULTURE COURSE COMING SOON...

Next SPRING we'll be running another PERMACULTURE COURSE here at the MOUNT OF OAKS... As last year, it will be taught by Lesley Martin who is a fantastic person and teacher in my opinion, and I’m sure all the ones who did the last year course can say the same...
It ‘s gonna take place from the 20th to the 28th of MARCH 2010, and it’s gonna cost 180E

(if by any chance you’d like to offer more, know that all the money will revert to pay the teacher, the food expenses of the course and all the extras will be for our future building projects...this land is still in a pioneering stage and we buy all things we need mainly with charitable donations)...
this course will be given in english, unless we have a volunteer to do a simultaneous translation into portuguese or other language...

Now, WHAT SHOULD YOU EXPECT OF THE COURSE :

It includes lectures, field trips, hands-on projects, camping and meals. The course will be conducted in the internationally accepted manner, so all graduates earn a Permaculture Design Certificate for completing the 72-hour course which includes : Intro, Fundamentals, Field Trips, Design Workshop (the attendants will be put into groups and each presents their own design project in the final day)... All students are required to be present for the full 9 days if they wish to receive the certificate.

The course will consist of a broad range of topics applicable to life anywhere on this planet, yet will be tailored to the needs of the students present as well as the location at hand. Participants will help to co-create the design of food forests, permaculture-style gardens, natural buildings, water catchment and irrigation systems, work with swales and dams, etc...

Permaculture courses are fairly standardized as far as content. We will cover every major topic . So quickly what that includes is the following:

1. Philosophies and Ethics underlying permaculture.

2. Basic permaculture principals and help shape things in general

3. Patterns in Nature, and how to use that in design

4. Methods of design. How to go from a damaged piece of land to having and idea for how to move forward with it.

5. Climactic factors. We will cover all the major climates and how to work with them.

6. Trees, forests, and why we want to mimic their systems.

7. Water: catchment, usage, importance, and conservation

8. Soil, minerals, microorganisms, building new soil, and preventing erosion

9. Earthworks: How to shape the land to help it acheive the goals we are aiming for.

10. Aquaculture

11. Natural Building

12. Alternative systems: community living, and other ways of choosing to live differently that works well for people and the planet.

Each of these categories has subcategories and the teacher also has their own additions and certain topics that are stressed over others.

You can also check here for the last year’s report...


WHAT ARE YOU EXPECTED TO BRING ?

-tent or if you have, your own mobile home :-)
-your daily care personal stuff
-a flash light (the moon will be growing as it will be full on the 29th, but still, it’s always handy)
-a cup/mug (we might not have enough here for everyone)
-we do have plates, forks and knifes, but if you prefer to bring your own that’s up to you...
-sleeping bag and mat or whatever you wanna sleep with...
-some hard surface for you to write on... We don’t have a conventional class room...Fiiiiuuu!!!
-if you have your favourite kind of chair or stool, do bring it...the ones we’ve got might not be the most comfortable ones :-/
-Some warm clothes...the nights can be chilly...but the days, are usually warm and sunny (I do hope so)...
-If you play any instruments and would like to bring it for the fire circle in the evenings, do bring them along...
-Joy, Love , open heart, laughter, your own knowledge, etc...all the good in you!!! The not so good stuff comes along too, but we all have it anyway, so hopefully we’ll all be gracious :-)
-you can pay the 180E as you arrive, but if you have the chance to give it in advance one week before (all of it or a part), that would help on the shopping we need to do before everyone comes...

WHAT DOES THE LAND PROVIDE ?

-A camping area
-A shit pit and or a dry compost toilet (if we get it ready for that time) :-)... With toilet paper or water as you prefer...
-Drinking spring water and food (mainly vegetarian)...LET ME KNOW IF YOU HAVE ANY RESTRICTIONS ON YOUR DIET...
-I do hope to have a better shower system then :-)...but we do have a way to shower or bath :-)

Hmmm...I guess that’s all the information I’ve got... If you have any questions, do ask ...
O.K, DON’T FORGET TO PASS IT ON TO YOUR CONTACTS OF PEOPLE WHO MIGHT BE INTERESTED...

...a comment from one of the last year attendants :
“What an absolutely brilliant course it was.. I am still digesting everything Lesley taught us. And thank you so much for hosting us all, and for this write-up!
I look forward to seeing the fruits of her teaching in the years to come - when we are all working on established permaculture projects of our own!” Hannah xx


PEACE FOR ALL

P.S- I'm thinking of not having more then 15 attendants, so if you're interested get in touch as soon as you can...I have already 4 people interested and I only mailed the invitation a couple of days ago...

MORE VIDEOS ON THE OLIVE HARVEST...

here's a little tour to see what we've been doing...


Sieglinde cleaning the olives from the leaves...

How to know how much salt goes in the olives after they are sweeten in water...

Emma and Sieglinde packing the olives to take to the press...

at the press...

This press in Sobral do Campo is working 24 hours a day...yep, there's literally tons of olives to press at this time...

And finally...our olive oil in the land...click here to watch so I don't need to upload it again, and also find out how you can get some of this amazing 100% organic olive oil and support us at the same time...

OLIVE HARVEST FINALLY DONE...

Finally we end up picking up all the olives to take it to the press... we got 120L out of 910Kg...good deal !!!
I'll just post some pictures and videos for you to watch as there's not more to say...
...and excuse the poor quality of my wee camera :-) ...
You can also check here for more on the olive harvest...





Sieglinde defeating her fear of heights picking some olives on the ladder...even on a rainy day...

And here enjoying her stuffed bread...Hmmm, it was delicious...she has been our cook since she came, more than a month ago...this day it was rainy, so she spent the whole day making all sorts of bread... I'm gonna miss her...not only for the amazing food she makes, but because she's a wonderful person to be around...she hopes to live here one day...but she had to leave today :-(
And take a look on the amazing and beautiful work that Sieglinde and Elena did on the prayer shelter... I was simply amazed with such love...they did it on the week I was away for my birthday...what a lovely gesture from both of them...thank you "abuelitas"... :-)

Now some videos...some are a bit long, but it's cool cuz it explains all the process both for olive oil making and also what to make to actually eat the olives...
If you wanna have a detailed explanation on how the olives are pressed, you can also go here t5o this post I wrote 2 years ago on the same press in Sobral do Campo...
o.k,here we go with the videos...my last tree to harvest...


O.k, I guess this can't hold any more videos, so I might need to post them in separate posts...but not today as it's getting dark already, and I'm freezing here outside the village Hall...(the reason is that here I have a plug and wireless , eh, eh...handy!!)
I hope you enjoyed !!! I actually like this video stuff...I guess I got it from the winter ´s :-)...

well, soon more...I hope...

OLIVE HARVEST IS ON THE WAY...

the land has been blessed with lots of rain these days:-)
And the olives are getting ready...
I still don't know when the press is going to open to take the olives, but people are saying the harvest will be sooner than later this year...
So, we'll appreciate help for the harvest...MAYBE FROM THE 19TH TILL 26TH OF OCTOBER...in few weeks... but I'll confirm it as soon as I find out about the press...
I might start next week to harvest some to mature...

LET ME KNOW IF YOU'RE WILLING TO COME AND HELP...AND SHARE WITH OTHERS WHO MIGHT ENJOY IT TOO !!!

BE PEACEFUL...