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2008, Living Mandala
creative services by: 360 Degrees

In Association With

Nor Cal Aquaponics

Mendocino Ecological Learning Center


Facilitators & Instructors

Max Meyers

David William House

Chris Byrne

Guests Instructors TBA


Course Inspiration

What if there was way to produce an abundance of organic food using 98% less water, while producing up to ten times more food in the same amount of area and time? What if you could achieve this using 1/4 the amount of energy, in a system that does not require fertile soil, saves you labor, makes you a good living and is incredibly sustainable?  Well the exciting news is that such a system of farming exists! It’s called Aquaponics and is a combination of Aquaculture and Hydroponics. It is one of the most sustainable and productive farming system in the world! Sound too good to be true? At a time of global climate change, depletion of resources, pollution of water and huge losses of top soil worldwide, there has never been a more important time to learn about Aquaponics!




Course Description

Aquaponics is one of the most sustainable and productive farming systems in the world. It combines Aquaculture and Hydroponics to create a truly self-sufficient closed loop system that uses only a fraction of the water, labor, energy, etc. that other methods use. Combining Permaculture Design with Aquaponics creates an even more sustainable, dynamic, productive & regenerative system. In this intensive training you will learn some of the most cutting edge pioneering aquaponics systems and gain a solid foundation from which to create your own Aquaponics System, Farm & thriving Green Business.


Permaculture & Aquaponics

By fusing Permaculture and Aquaponics truly sustainable closed loop systems are created that provide all the needs for the system with in the system itself. A Permaculture focus on aquapionics systems can produce virtually all of the system’s needs (water, energy, fish, feed, heat, gas, etc.) onsite. Products of the systems include: solar electricity, solar heated air, solar heated water, fish, prawns, vegetables, fruit, aquatic plants, algae, minnows, snails, worms, dry and liquid fertilizers, even methane gas!




Why Aquaponics?

Growing our food in closed systems that require no soil allows us to farm soil and water outside the system! We plant soil and water in our damaged and depleted landscapes which not only aids in the restoration of the soil, groundwater and native forests, but has the added benefit of offsetting greenhouse gases by removing carbon Dioxide from the atmosphere. This is one of the practices used in what we call “Carbon Farming”. Soils contain approximately 75% of the carbon pool on land — three times more than the amount stored in living plants and animals. Did you know that 1” of healthy top soil spread over 1 acre of land sequesters the same amount of carbon a healthy forest of the same size does annually? It is estimated that our crop and range lands lose 4 tons of topsoil every year for every person alive! That’s 21 gigatons of soil washed or blown out to the sea and lost for productive use on land, releasing vast amounts of carbon in the process (New Scientist, December 2006). Being able to use land considered “Undesirable” by conventional farming, Aquaponic farmers have the added benefit of access to cheap lands and lease agreements. Often using otherwise unused space such as fill, gravel, concrete, abandoned commercial sites, even roof tops. “The only limit to our designs is in the mind of the designer”!


Watch a Brief Video of Max Meyers on Aquaponics Featured by Time Magazine


 




Tuition & Registration

Standard Tuition: $1250

Early Bird Special: $995 (ends April 1, 2011)

Aquaponics or PDC Graduates: $800

Complete Commercial Aquaponics Training Plus Biogas Workshop Extension: $1500  ($1250 Early Bird - before April 1)


Course Includes

This 5 day intensive includes: A detailed, nearly 100 page, course manual covering all aspects of Aquaponics including: design checklists, field formulas & calculations, estimates and guidelines, detailed construction plans, piping schematics, and a step-by-step construction manual with variations and site specific applications intended to make it easy for anyone to build an Aquaponics system. Register Here.


Biogas Extension Workshop

This course will be followed by a two day biogas intensive workshop, offered at a discount to participants in this Commercial Aquaponics Training. Learn everything you need to know a out biogas, how to make and properly use biogas and how to make simple, effective, low–cost digesters. Participants will receive . a copy of The Complete Biogas Handbook (the bible of biogas and biogas digesters), an informational CD, build have the opportunity to build and take home their own biogas bigester. For more detailed information on the Biogas Digester Workshop Click Here.


Snail Mail

To complete your registration via mail, send the full name of the course registrant(s) with a check or money order out to "Living Mandala" and mail to:


Living Mandala

Attn: Commercial Aquaponics Ukiah

P.O. Box 704

Sebastopol, CA 95473


Refund Policy

Cancellations up to 2 weeks before the course before April 22 will be refunded, excluding a $75 processing fee. No refunds are given after April 22.




Aquaponics Facts

  1. •AQUAPONICS USES 98% LESS WATER THAN CONVENTIONAL FARMING DOES!

  2. •AQUAPONICS IS ENERGY-EFFICIENT: IT REQUIRES ONE-THIRD OF THE ENERGY OTHER FARMING SYSTEMS USE!

  3. •AQUAPONICS HAS EIGHT TO TEN TIMES MORE VEGETABLE PRODUCTION IN THE SAME AREA AND TIME!

  4. •LABOR IS REDUCED AS MUCH AS 40% AND MANY USEFUL BYPRODUCTS ARE CREATED THAT CAN BE USED TO FARM OTHER CROPS, TREES, SOIL, WATER AND ENERGY!

  5. •A PERMACULTURE INSPIRED SYSTEM PRODUCES ALL OF THE SYSTEM’S NEEDS (WATER, ENERGY, FISH FEED, HEAT, ETC.) ON SITE!

  6. •PRODUCTS OF THE SYSTEM INCLUDE; SOLAR ELECTRICITY, HEAT, FISH, PRAWNS, VEGETABLES, AQUATIC PLANTS, ALGAE, SNAILS, WORMS, FERTILIZER, EVEN METHANE GAS!


Affiliate Program

Earn up to $150 or 10% Commission by becoming an affiliate and helping to spread the word about this significant course. Upon joining, you will receive your own customized information & registration link with course information which you can post as a link on your organizations website, on Facebook, in emails etc. Discounts on tuition are available for sponsors and organizational organizational affiliates. For more information email: affiliates@livingmandala.com


To Join the Affiliate Program Click Here.


Contact

For questions and more information regarding the course

e-mail: aquaponics@livingmandala.com or

call: 707-634-1461


To Register the the Course Click Here.



 
REGISTER HEREhttp://commercialaquaponicstrainingpermaculturemay2011.eventbrite.com

Instructors


Max Meyers

Maximillian Meyers is an Ecological Designer, Permaculture Teacher, Commercial Aquaponic System Designer/Installer, Rainwater and Greywater System specialist, Farmer and the Executive Director of the Mendocino Ecological Learning Center - a nonprofit educational organization and ecological reserve offering green job training and sustainable living skills to the public free of charge. In addition to the work at MELC, Mr. Meyers provides Ecological design services to the public, organizations and schools through his businesses Osiris Designs and NorCal Aquaponics. He is passionate about all things related to a more just and sustainable world. He has been studying, practicing and teaching Permaculture and Ecological Design for 12 years. Since graduating from College with a B.A. degree in Culture, Ecology and Sustainable Communities, Max has become a certified Permaculture designer/teacher, water systems specialist and working professional. He has been fortunate enough to study with people like Bill Mollison, Geoff Lawton, Sepp Holzer, Tom Ward, Jude Hobbs, John Valenzuela, Penny Livingston, Tim Mann and many others in places like the United States, New Zealand, Australia, Thailand, Mexico, Colombia, Brazil and Hawaii. Some of his fields of study and practice include: Natural Building, Organic Farming, Integrated Rainwater Harvesting, Alternative Transportation, Mushroom Cultivation, Sustainable Forestry, Beekeeping, Animal Husbandry, Renewable Energy, Biogas Production and use, Greywater Systems design and installation, Vermiculture, seed saving and many other sustainable technologies, methods and skills. He has experience teaching Permaculture, Natural Building, Cob Construction, Renewable Energy, Organic Farming, Beekeeping and others. His work has been featured in the best selling book Gaia’s Garden, radio and television programs.


Lead Instructor


David William House


David William House has had a rich and varied career, is widely experienced in several fields in appropriate technology and business. Self-described as solving interesting and complex problems for complex and interesting people, David does international consulting work in business & appropriate technology through his consultancy firm - Vahid Biogas. David also teaches workshops and has lectured in more in more than 20 countries worldwide. He is the author of The Complete Biogas Handbook, said by some to be the bible of biogas. David will be presenting cutting edge information on biogas, bio digesters, and appropriate technology related to aquaponic systems.


David’s Professional Experience includes:

  1. •  Author of Methane Systems, The Complete Biogas Handbook, Journey (a book of poetry), and co-author of Wind & Windspinners

  2. •Established Earthmind, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization pursuing research and offering information about ecological living 

  3. •Created Computer Classroom, a computer training company

  4. •Founder of ICI, a computer hardware and software sales company

  5. •As a computer management consultant working primarily along the West coast of the US, developed internal training systems and company-wide standards for clients, programmed a custom application for the US government, and solved problems for some of the largest businesses in the Northwest

  6. •An internal audit of one company which had been a long-term client found that the company had saved several hundred thousand dollars as a result of innovations in its processes introduced through his consulting services

  7. •As CEO, ran a medical device company (successfully sold in 2007)

  8. •Re-established the company's manufacturing system, improved quality and reduced the cost of manufacture of the company’s primary device by more than 70%

  9. •Published in an international journal regarding tinnitus

  10. •Awarded a patent (USPTO 7,266,209; or see Google’s version) for a new technology (ultrasonic electrical stimulus) relating to cochlear implants

  11. •Recently featured in an article on American Public Media’s Marketplace

  12. •Featured Columnist for Renewable Energy World


Guest Instructor


Chris Byrne

Chris Byrne is a sustainability consultant bringing technologies to market and make operations more efficient and effective through the perspective of “Green Business” and Whole Systems Design. Chris received a GreenMBA in Sustainable Enterprise (“Green Business Development”) from the Institute for Ecological Entrepreneurship at New College of California in May 2005. Over the course of his studies and experience he has has become well versed in ecological technologies (including their adoption challenges) and business development strategies, including approaches to finance, marketing, and leadership for sustainability. Aware of impending resource supply challenges and their drivers, specifically in terms of energy, food and carbon, Chris uses strategic risk calculations into new whole systems and true cost business models. Chris Byrne's work has been further edified with masters coursework in Holistic studies at JFK University (prior to transfer to the GreenMBA), certification by the Cascadia Permaculture Institute as a Permaculture Design Consultant and Instructor, and self-study and participation in the 2006 Integral Sustainability Conference at Integral Institute. Chris has also completed a Small Farm course at the Oregon State University Extension Center, studied Garden Management and Micro-Farming workshops with John Jeavons, and most recently attended 2008 MacArthur Fellow Will Allen and Growing Power’s “From the Ground Up” workshop in February 2010 focusing on Compost and Vermiculture, Aquaponics, and Micro and Field Green Marketing and operations. Chris has consulted with a diverse group of clients, and has a  personal interest and focus on bio-regional food production and distribution (including alternative currency strategies and design).


Guest Instructor


Affiliate Organizations & Sponsors














Become a sponsor or affiliate of this course!

For details email: affiliates@livingmandala.com


For Upcoming Courses, Workshops, & Events in Permaculture, Ecovillage Design, Sustainable Living Skills,

Appropriate Technology & More Click Here.

 


Commercial Aquaponics Training

With Applied Permaculture Design

Launching Thriving Green Careers!

May 16-20, 2011

May 21-22 - Optional Extension for Biogas Intensive

Ukiah, California