Permaculture Design Course

- Designing Sustainable Settlements -

July 4th - 17th, 2010 * Ecovillage of Sieben Linden, Germany
A fully featured Permaculture Design Course
meeting international standards and with possibility of full funding!

What is a „Permaculture Design Course“?

A Permaculture Design Course offers a broad overview of topics
related to the creation of sustainable environments and lifestyles. In
addition to this general introduction to Permaculture, participants
will get acquainted with a wide range of methods and techniques to
work with.
This course focuses on the design of sustainable settlements and
includes information and practice about how to (re)model existing
and newly set up human settlements in a way that they are using
less energy and other inputs and produce less waste while offering a
greater quality of life to its inhabitants and increasing biodiversity in
its surroundings. The venue, the Ecovillage of Sieben Linden, is an
internationally recognised intentional community and centre for
adult education and will serve as a living example and field of
practice.

this course
Specific objectives:
• acquiring methods and techniques for sustainable design
• learning about best practice of
appropriate technology, e.g. green
building; water purification; solar
technology
• acquiring practical skills and knowledge
in group work on small projects
• improving and practicing group skills in
a multicultural environment
• exchanging experiences between
participants from different European
countries
• embracing European diversity
Methodology:
The course is designed so that all spheres of human beings are satisfied: the mind, the body and the soul.
Thus there will be a great diversity of methods, for theoretical inputs as well as for practical work, and forming
of a group.
Methods and techniques of the theoretical part includes: power point presentations, movies, lectures, small
group discussions, action learning processes, self-exploration, scripts, guided tours, and more.
The practical consists of both individual and group
work on one or several design tasks, where
participants practice the various methods that are
taught in the theory-sessions. Practical work is also
offered as hands-on-experience, where participants
implement little projects (like building a composting
toilet or setting up a sheet-mulch-bed).
The formation of a group is supported by a number
of methods that have been tried in social settings, for
example dialogues and forum.
Methods of participatory processes (e.g. Open
Space) are part of this training as well. Participation
helps projects to be successful and sustainable due to
the recognition and possible inclusion of as many needs of people as possible.
The course also includes gaining insights into the overall design and appropriate technologies as well as the
organisational structure and educational activities of the hosting Ecovillage of Sieben Linden.

Course content:
• Introduction to permaculture: Ethics and philosophy, permaculture principles; Patterns, energies,
systems in permaculture
• Introduction to planning concepts; Methods for observation and analysis: Basemap, Sectoring, Input-
Output-analysis
• Planning methods: Data Overlay,
Zoning,...
• Ecosystem criteria and basic terms of
ecology; Trees and other plants; Soil
and climate; Water
• Permaculture aspects in the Ecovillage
of Sieben Linden
• Architecture; Ecological infrastructure;
Planning an ecological settlement
• Social permaculture
• Economy and organisational design
• Designwork in groups
• Presentation of designs
• Next steps

The training will enable participants to work with permaculture and to integrate it into their projects.
The international standards of 72-hour-courses and of the European Permaculture WorkNet are met.
 background information
Permaculture:
The founders of Permaculture were searching for answers to the pressing issues of our time. They looked at
natural ecosystems to find out how self-sustaining systems work and how the underlying principles could be
used in agricultural systems and in various other areas of life. A clear ethics, “Earth care, People care, Fair
shares”, is the basis of this sustainable concept which empowers people to take responsibility for their lives
and their environment and to take care of both in a life-sustaining way.

The German Permaculture Academy:

This course is offered by the German Permaculture Academy,
which is the German platform for permaculture issues, networking
and training. It offers a professional vocational training to become
a Permaculture Designer, for which this course is the foundation.
More than 15 teachers are working in different places all over
Germany to provide education and information about permaculture.
www.permakultur-akademie.net

The Ecovillage of Sieben Linden:

The Ecovillage of Sieben Linden aims to
provide a model for a future way of life, where
work and leisure, individuality and community
come together. Small closed cycles make it
possible to live a holistic and ecological life in
balance with economic needs. As a seminar
centre we welcome people from all over the
world, hoping that they become inspired by the
ecovillage lifestyle. The village with 120
inhabitants (including 35 children) lies in
Saxony-Anhalt (50km north-east of Wolfsburg),
Germany. www.siebenlinden.de

The teachers:
Diversity is important to us – applying this permaculture principle in the composition of our team. We decided
on several teachers and facilitators to take over different parts of the course content. Here is a little
introduction to some of us:

Sandra Campe
Sandra Campe has been living in the Ecovillage of Sieben Linden for more than six
years. Before this, she studied organic agriculture at the oldest faculty for organic
farming in Germany. During her studies, she worked for an agriculture without
genetic engineering as well as towards a nuclear free future. Permaculture has
accompanied her throughout these years as a focus and an aim.
In Sieben Linden her focus shifted over the years - from practical gardening to
settlement design and participatory processes, for the development of the settlement
as well as with young volunteers. With a friend, she started a social structure for
young adults in the Ecovillage and to this day coordinates the volunteer service and helps launch young
people's projects, which also feeds her knowledge in social permaculture.
In 2008, she graduated as a Permaculture Designer and has been teaching permaculture for several years -
and is very enthusiastic about it! Sandra is the main organiser of this course.

Beate Walsdorff
Beate Walsdorff has been practicing permaculture for the last eight years in as
different places as New Zealand, Brazil and Germany. Formally trained in social work,
she combined this background with her permaculture activities while working and
living in different permaculture and ecovillage projects in South America, e.g. the
nomadic ecovillage “La Caravana Arcoìris por la Paz”. With La Caravana she focussed
on spreading tools as useful and important as group communication, consens decision
making, community gardening, earth building and permaculture design within a
variety of brazilian communities and regions. Now, back in Germany, she is especially
dedicated to seed saving and regional networking in the Lassaner Winkel, in the very
north east of Germany, while working on the creation of a permaculture-wilderniss- learning school.

Rike Oemisch
Ulrike Anna Oemisch has been involved in the international Permaculture movement
since 1997. Her professional focus is the combination of Permaculture design
in urban settings and has seen her working as a landscaper for 12 years. Living in
the community Prinzhoefte, Center for Wholistic Learning and Ecological Solutions,
for 4 years has been of great influence and helped her develop her skills in systems
thinking and social permaculture design. Her passion for travels and international
exchange has taken her to different countries and Permaculture contexts - eg. Israel/
Palestine, South England and Nepal. She is currently living in Kathmandu where the
development of an organic marketing system based on the fair trade principles and
the development of a Gaia University Regional Center has been her main focus for 2 years.
Ulrike graduated in Permaculture in 2004 and has been working internationally as a teacher and tutor for
Permaculture since. She is also a member of the Advisory Board of Gaia University since 2006 and wishes to
further pursue this committment in the future.

Martin Stengel
Martin Stengel is a graduated engineer for energy technologies with emphasis on
alternative energies and sustainable housing. He has been living in community for 17
years.
As one of the founders of the Ecovillage of Sieben Linden his main fields of activity
were: defining the requirements for the settlement; designing the settlement and its
surroundings following permaculture principles and participatory planning methods;
designing the infrastructure including local water supply and natural wastewater
treatment; designing and building houses using natural and sustainable resources,
with a special emphasis on straw bale building. He has been member of the directory
board of Sieben Linden for 12 years. He is an experienced "Forum" facilitator, group facilitator and event
moderator. He also leads singing in choirs with an emphasis on building community awareness. He is editor
and writer for the "eurotopia-directory: Intentional communities and ecovillages in Europe" and speaks
English, French and Italian. He has been co-teaching and facilitating the Ecovillage Design Education Courses
in Sieben Linden in 2007 and 2009.
 general course information
Date:
July 4th till 17th, 2010
Venue:
Ecovillage of Sieben Linden, Saxony-Anhalt,
North-east Germany
Total course costs:
1.155,- Euro, including all costs
Course fee:
700,- Euro (Please note „funding“ below)
Accommodation and food:
455,- Euro (accommodation in multiple bedroom;
accomodation in tent: 390,- Euro; food is 100%
organic and vegetarian / vegan)
Contact person:
Sandra Campe, s.campe@siebenlinden.de, +49-(0)39000-905923

Registration and Funding:

How to sign up:
Go to www.permakultur-akademie.net, open the page „Aktuelles / Kalender“ and search for the „Permaculture
Design Course“ (it will be the only course in english language on that page). Open the course page and click
onto the button „anmelden“ / „registration“.
This course has been submitted to the conference in the Grundtvig-Comenius course database. Applying for a
grant through this, you can receive full funding for the course fee, a lump sum for food and lodging (which
should cover the costs) plus your travel expenses. To be eligible for funding, you need to be from an EU
member state (other than Germany), Norway, Liechtenstein, Iceland or Turkey. The only other condition is
that you are at least 18 years old. 2 people from each organization and a maximum of 5 people of each
country can receive a grant. PLEASE NOTE: THE DEADLINE FOR GRUNDTVIG FUNDING
APPLICATIONS IS JANUARY 15th, 2010!!!
If you are eligible for this funding and want to apply for it, please use the registration form on the website of
the Permaculture Academy (see above) and tick "applying for grundtvig-funding". Please also look up:
http://ec.europa.eu/education/trainingdatabase/instructions%20for%20applying-EN.doc
You will find this course with the course number: DE-2010-1008-001 in the Grundtvig-Comenius-Database
at: https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/llp/istcoursedatabase/index.cfm?fuseaction=DisplayCourse&cid=22728

If you are from Germany or other non-eligible countries

and still want to participate, do not hesitate to contact me
about course costs and possibilities of participation!

Please spread this information in your networks and decide as soon as possible
whether you want to participate.
We hope you will apply for the grant and come to the course!