Permaculture Design Course in the Darjeeling Hills
Mineral Springs,
Darjeeling
27th March to 12th April 2015
and
21st November
to 6th December 2015
The course fees,
inclusive of training material, food and lodge:
International
Candidates Rs. 33,000
Indian Nationals
residing outside Darjeeling but working in India Rs. 27,000
Discounts available for
Darjeeling hills’ residents. Please contact for details
Training venue “Mineral Springs, Dabaipani, Darjeeling”
Mineral
Springs Dabaipani is an internationally certified organic area and fair-trade
labeled collective of 456 small farmers since 2002. The farmers have come under
the Mineral Spring Sanjukta Vikas Sanstha since 1996. The collective has been
marketing small farmers organic tea in the international market, which is grown
as a polyculture crop.
The
participants will have home stay accommodations facilities with the members of
Mineral Spring Sanjukta Vikas Sanstha.
For further details
Darjeeling
Ladenla Road Prerna
c/o Hayden
Hall Complex,
42 Ladenla
Road,
Darjeeling
734 101,
West
Bengal, India.
Phone Number 91 354 2255894
email: dlrprerna@yahoo.com,
darjeelingprerna@gmail.com
A working knowledge of English is required
by the participant. We do not look for academic qualifications for the course,
except an interest to be part of a sustainable lifestyle and be the change you
want to see in the world.
NB:
**** DLR Prerna and Rico reserves the right to admit candidates to the course.
Candidates will be notified of their participation on receipt of the completely
filled application form.
**
IMPORTANT NOTE **
Full
Fee deposit is required to secure your spot in this course. Registration
without deposit will only hold a spot in the course until we are filled. If you
have not deposited the fee by this time your spot will be given to someone who
does make the deposit.
Foreigners
please contact Prerna for details.
CANCELLATION
POLICY
This
course is offered at the lowest possible pricing to make it accessible to as
many people as possible. As such a late cancellation can have a significant
impact on our budget. For this reason we have the following cancellation
policy.
6 weeks or more notice:
full refund minus 5% processing fee
4 to 6
weeks notice:
refund minus 25%
2 to 4
weeks notice:
refund minus 50%
2 weeks or less notice:
refund minus 75%
Permaculture Design Course Description
Permaculture is a design system to create
regenerative, sustainable systems. Envisioned over 25 years ago by Bill
Mollison and Dan Holmgren, from Australia, it has now spread to over 120 countries.
Though its conception was as a land based system, its effectiveness has moved
it into urban settings and to being applied in various social, political, and
economic environments.
Permaculture was created through the synthesis of many
design systems, with the emphasis on nature as the penultimate one. Similarly,
the insights and value of traditional and indigenous practices and knowledge
are acknowledged along with the necessity of molding these with our current
understandings and the appropriate technologies of today's world. What
Permaculture seeks to do is to create three-dimensional designs that are site
specific and sustainable. By bringing together elements (orchard, water system,
farmer, cow, etc.), techniques (organic framing, natural building, etc.) and
strategies (microclimate, relative placement, etc.) a system is designed or
altered based on regenerative relationships. It is these regenerative,
beneficial relationships that give a system complexity, three dimensionality,
and thus, resiliency.
The world can be looked at as the convergence of many
different flows. From ‘natural’ (wind, water, soil, etc.) to human (social,
resources, transportation, etc.) to invisible (economic, information, etc.)
which interact and create patterns. These flows form our world. Recognizing
this, Permaculture teaches Pattern Literacy and Pattern Application. This,
along with Sector Analysis (site specific flow mapping), Zonation (a tool for
structuring time) and other techniques and tools, Permaculture focuses on
creating regenerative relationships that are the key to resilient, sustainable
systems.
From its inception Permaculture has quickly spread to
over One hundred and twenty countries where farms and other sites are
successfully applying its' ideas, techniques and strategies. As further
testament to its applicability, Permaculture is now being applied in many urban
and suburban areas. In many developed countries these applications hold much
promise for dealing with the many issues associated with mass populations.
Permaculture in the last few years has been moving
into the invisible structures. In the United States a Permaculture credit union
has been formed and 'green' investment firms are using Permaculture principles
and ideas to create resilient, sustainable investment systems.
Environmentalists and social activists are using Permaculture to give depth and
complexity to their approaches to many issues we are dealing with today. These
applications are possible because Permaculture is a design system that focuses
on relationship and not so much on object.
Permaculture is a multi-faceted, in depth design
system that will help us create appropriate, site-specific designs that are
both sustainable and regenerative.
Permaculture principles are a list of attitudes,
approaches, and actions that are practical and not system specific. These along
with certain tools and techniques allow for a holistic approach and interaction
with any type of system. As a tool of analysis it is an excellent way to look
at existing programs, strategies, and interventions to assess their
interactions, linkages, and success'. It is a way to reach an understanding of
the various influences and flows involved in a system, be it self help groups,
village, or organization. Second, it provides insights and principles by which
to intervene or interact with a system. As there is neither a truly independent
system, nor sterile 'environment' this aspect is of significant importance.
Thirdly, as we have already stated, Permaculture is an excellent approach for
designing resilient, site-specific systems, be it disaster preparedness,
HIV/AIDS, or women's empowerment.
It is important to understand that Permaculture is not
so much about giving you new and improved ideas, techniques, and strategies,
though there is some of that. What Permaculture does is allow for a deeper
understanding of the situation at hand and, with its principles and strategies,
a more holistic, effective way to interact with or design a system. What
Permaculture offers are skills and principles by which we build our awareness
of why or why not something was successful. Through this insight we can build
on what is successful and modify others to become more successful.
Stepping up another level, Permaculture is an
excellent way to weave together the different parts of an organization so that
a unity and synergy can be created. In this way unforeseen benefits and ease
will raise within the system.
This workshop will present Permaculture with all of
these applications in mind. We will focus on land systems with as much hands on
work and examples as possible. In addition, many discussions and examples will
be explored of possible applications in what are called the 'Invisible
Structures', the social, cultural, political, and economic structures that
shape much of our world today.
Subjects will include:
Permaculture Ethics and Principles
Pattern
Literacy and Application (physical and invisible)
Energy and
Flows
Sector
Analysis and Zonation
Water;
Harvesting, Holding, and Recycling
Soil,
Plants, and Environments
Agriculture; From Your Doorstep to the World
Buildings
The Design
Process
Urban
Permaculture
Permaculture in the Developing Countries
Permaculture and Organizations
This workshop will culminate with several groups doing
a real life design projects that will be relevant to the site of the workshop.
Not only will the teaching be about Permaculture, but it will also model it by
its structure and the environment we create together in the course.
This workshop will contribute to the enrichment of its
site and each of its participants. With the goal of having half international
students and half local students this workshop will not only be an opportunity
to learn about Permaculture, it will also offer an opportunity to understand we
can create a regenerative, sustainable world together.
The person attending the Permaculture Design Course
will not only gain theoretical and practical knowledge on Permaculture at the
end of the workshop but will be handed a Permaculture Design Course
Certificate. This certificate will enable the participant to be a certified
Permaculture Practitioner. This course has been specially designed for the many
enthusiasts who are unable to invest two weeks at one go in the East Nepal and
Darjeeling and Sikkim Himalayas to get certified.
Richard Rico Zook
Permaculture Designer,
Consultant and Educator
Richard Rico Zook is a Permaculture designer, consultant and instructor.
He works with private individuals, farmers, villagers and local organizations
to create cultural and environmentally appropriate life systems in northern New
Mexico, India, Cambodia, and places in between. Mr. Zook's work focuses
on assisting local and indigenous cultures to preserve traditional knowledge
and technologies while adapting to and becoming active members of our rapidly
globalizing world. Currently (2011) his year is divided into 6 months in
India, 2 months in Cambodia, 3 months in the states, and 1 month in a different
place each year.
In India, many of the projects he is involved in are based out of Darjeeling,
West Bengal, which is his home for part of the year. These include a
bio-conservation project funded by the Critical Ecosystem Protection Fund
(CEPF). Utilizing a participatory model, DLR Prerna (a local NGO) and Mr.
Zook are training five forest villages in permaculture and working with them to
internalize and cycle their resource needs, thus minimizing their impacts on
the critical bio-corridor in which the villages are located. A team headed by
Anugyalaya (another local NGO), and including Prerna, the Catholic Diocese and
Mr. Zook, have initiated the design process on a 16 acre Permaculture
demonstration and education site. This process and the design
implementation will be a hands-on experience for several local, long-term
students of Mr. Zook. Other projects in the planning stages include: tea
worker trainings in Permaculture for improved quality of life (e.g. water
processing and cycling for health, home gardens, humanure, etc.); and
conversion of a working tea estate to a socially just and environmentally appropriate
model.
In south India Mr. Zook works with several private clients whose projects
include a university, a healing centre, a children's camp, and assisting local
farmers and tribals convert to organic agriculture. Past projects have
included wetlands construction for wildlife, a children's school, and many
private consultations on farms and homesteads. An ongoing focus is the
conversion of a traditional family farm into a model of sustainability and
Permaculture. Located 15km south of Udipi in the state of Karnataka
Punarvasu Farm annually hosts several work weeks for foreigners and Indians
with hands-on learning and cultural immersion.
In Cambodia Mr. Zook is building a network of projects and associations with
NGO’s similar to that in India. He also conducts several trainings for
Khmer farmers, as well as assisting in the development of several demonstration
sites. This past year he trained a group of teachers from the Teacher’s
College in Siem Reap, and is working with them to develop a curriculum that
will become part of the government’s Life Skills Program that is part of the
public school’s curriculum.
In Taos, New Mexico (USA) Mr. Zook is
working with the Hanuman Temple in creating a 5 acre urban Permaculture
farm. He is also working with the San Cristobal Youth Ranch in converting
to a holistic ranch model, as well as interacting with youth campers in
educating them with hands-on applied Permaculture techniques and
strategies. At times he provides consultations to private clients.
Every year Mr. Zook visits new sites, meets new NGO’s, and teaches numerous
courses, from 1 day introductions to 2 week design courses with certification,
for farmers, villagers, NGO workers, and foreigners. This year will be
the 7th annual
Permaculture Design Course in Darjeeling, the longest running course of this
type in India. He is always open to inquiries and requests. He also
accepts qualified apprentices.
In addition to academic and professional credentials, Mr.
Zook has spent more than 25 years living in nature, including long-term
residencies in California’s Yosemite National Park, the demanding Sangria de
Cristo Mountains of Northern New Mexico, and as a homesteader in Northern
California wilderness. For more than a decade as Land Manager for the Lama
Foundation, a spiritual community and retreat center North of Taos, NM, Mr.
Zook designed and transformed the rugged, semiarid high-altitude site that had
been decimated by wildfire into one of beauty and productivity. Using
permaculture practices and a lifetime of observation and interpretation of the
natural world and how to create human harmony with it, he has built a visible
and successful permaculture demonstration and teaching site. It is a model of
design integrating the needs, resources and yields of community and nature in
proactive and abundant ways with respectful and restorative impacts on the
environment.
Mr. Zook is a graduate of Sonoma State University,
from which he holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Environmental Studies focused
on land restoration, with minors in Biology and Philosophy.
Darjeeling Ladenla Road Prerna (DLR Prerna) : 2015
DLR Prerna is a Darjeeling based NGO working in the
Darjeeling Hills since 1996.
Vision Statement
Darjeeling Ladenla Road Prerna believes in a world that sees the need to live as one family where the environment is preserved and protected, where conscious efforts are made to remove unjust structures while striving to build a just and humane society.
Mission statement
Our mission is to build sustainable human communities
in the Darjeeling hills and the adjoining areas by promoting peoples participation,
gender equality and living in harmony with the environment.
DLR Prerna
has undertaken community development of Harsing Dabaipani and Yangkhoo
Busties(Villages), Darjeeling. Mineral Spring Sanjukta Vikas Sanstha (MSSVS)
has been established by the communities with 440 families as members in 1996.
It is the first certified organic small farmers in Darjeeling, undertaking
poly-culture farming and selling tea as Mineral Springs Tea in the
international fair trade market. For this experience MSSVS and DLR Prerna is
mentioned in the World Resources 2005.
A member of
DLR Prerna are accredited organic certifying inspectors with Institute of
Market Ecology India specializing on small farmers.
DLR Prerna
has conducted and been part of researches with specific references to the
issues of the Darjeeling Hills including the Area and Issue Profile of
Darjeeling and Sikkim and Village Level Planning on Developing a Transboundary
Conservation Landscape in the Kangchenjunga Complex – Senchel & Mahananda
Wildlife Sanctuaries.
DLR Prerna has also managed and implemented all the
programmes of Anugyalaya DDSSS from 2001 primarily focusing on small farmers
organics and community based disaster preparedness. In 2006 November DLR Prerna
phased over Anugyalaya DDSSS as we feel the capacity of the organization has
been enhanced to manage her own programme.
DLR Prerna has been instrumental in community and student
campaigns like:
• Clean and Green Darjeeling
• Campaign for the judicious use of plastics
• Clean Darjeeling Clean River Rungeet – focus on
Solid Waste Management with the Darjeeling Municipality
DLR Prerna has been a founder member of the Darjeeling
NGO Network, a network of 11 NGOs in the Darjeeling Hills who come together to
share expertise and resources and have in the recent times undertaken the
campaign, ‘Conserve Water Reduce Your Waste’.
Since 2008, DLR Prerna has initiated a
community-based sustainable livelihoods option conservation efforts with 5
villages in the fringes of the Singalila National Park, Darjeeling. In 2011 taking the community conservation efforts
forward, DLR Prerna is engaging with the Forest Villages, looking at
human
wildlife conflict management.
DLR Prerna
is pioneering Permaculture Design Courses in the Darjeeling Hills, offering
certified basic course with Mr. Richard Zook as the trainer since 2005. Shorter
term courses for farmers are being facilitated by Rico and the DLR Prerna team
in the local language.
