Forest_Garden_April

Courses, Workshops & Events

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2008, Living Mandala
creative services by: 360 Degrees

Including

FOREST GARDENING

FOREST ECOLOGY

PERMACULTURE

PLANT PROPAGATION

PLANTING & MULCHING

GRAFTING

SOIL ECOLOGY

BASIC BOTANY

MUSHROOM INOCULATION

FORAGING & WILD EDIBLES

DESIGN TOOLS

FRESH FOREST GARDEN COOKING

AND MORE

In Association With

Appleseed Permaculture

Davenports Farms

Alchemical Nursery Project

Inn at Stone Ridge

Mohonk Mountain House

Facilitators & Instructors

Course Inspiration

Imagine a forest where every single tree is dripping with fresh fruits and ripening nuts. Every shrub is packed with delicious berries, and every other plant is a medicinal herb, culinary spice, or beautiful edible flower. Tubers and root crops are abundant underfoot, gourmet mushroom logs sprout in the shade, and hardy kiwi vines climb back up through the layers of this multi-functional forest of food. During the 4-day (Thu-Fri-Sat-Sun) course, participants learn how to design, establish, and maintain such Edible Forest Gardens of Eden.

Local food security is essential for resilient local transition. This

course immerses participants in the hands-on reality of designing and co-creating edible forest gardens.

Course Description

This course immerses participants in the thriving local forest gardening culture of the Hudson Valley. Together we will engage in the practical skills of forest gardening: propagation, grafting, planting & mulching, soil ecology, basic botany & horticulture, management & maintenance, plant identification, mushroom inoculation, foraging & wild edibles, community preparation of local medicines, and fresh forest garden cooking.

Daily plant walks connect participants on a deeper level with a diversity of multifunctional herbs, trees, and vines. Participants share stories of their own forest gardening explorations, and a visit to an 11-year old local forest garden shows the evolution of these systems. We learn to weave forest gardening into our communities as well as into the soil.

This course functionally interconnects with other Forest Garden courses taught in the Northeast this season by providing cultural mentoring in the hands-on joys and challenges of starting and

maintaining forest gardens. Our connection to the local community will culminate in adding another quarter-acre of forest garden to last year's acre-planting, and a celebration with the local permaculture community before returning home.

Site Details

Camp Epworth is 160 acres of natural beauty located only 90 miles from New York City and only 10 miles from the New York State Thruway, yet situated in an oxbow of the Rondout Creek such that from most places on the camp, no sign of any neighbor is visible. The Dining Hall has a spectacular view of the river valley with the Mohonk Preserve in the Shawangunk Mountains as a backdrop. Approximately 60 acres are forested. There are river, pond, grassland, deciduous and hemlock forest ecosystems.

Forest Garden Immersion Blog & Group

Tune into to updates on the Forest Garden Immersion Blog.

As well as on the Forest Garden Immersion Course Social Network Group.

Forest Garden Immersion Course

Camp Epworth Permaculture Demonstration & Education Center

April 23-26, 2009

High Falls, New York

Tuition & Registration

Tuition includes instruction, lodging, and 3 delicious meals per day prepared from local organic food and fresh forest garden cooking.

Course Tuition is sliding scale:

* $500 - $900 US - 1st time participants, on-site stay

*$400 - $800 US - 2nd time participants & commuters.

An additional 2.9% processing fee is required for payments made on-line via credit card.

To register complete the registration form on the link above, and click one the links below to secure your deposit or pay in full.

Cant Pay in Full right now? Secure your place in the course with a $150 deposit. The remaining balance is due no later than two weeks prior to the course on April 10.

Snail Mail

To complete your registration with a check or money order by mail, make checks out to "Living Mandala" and mail to:

Living Mandala

Attn: Forest Garden

P.O. Box 704

Sebastopol, CA 95473

Confirmation

Once we receive your registration information and payment you will receive a confirmation e-mail confirming your registration into the course. We will then send you additional information regarding course details.

Refund Policy

Cancellations up to 2 weeks before the course begins (April 10) will be refunded, excluding a $50 processing fee. No refunds are given after April 16th.

Contact

For questions and more information regarding the course

e-mail: forestgarden@livingmandala.com or

call: 518-610-1375

Facilitators & Instructors

Ethan Roland

Founder & Director - AppleSeed Permaculture

Ethan is a permaculture designer, teacher, and researcher based in the Connecticut and Hudson river valleys. He studies and practices regenerative design in all corners of the world, from the wild apple forests of Kazakhstan to the tropical monsoon ecosystems of Thailand. Ethan builds resilience for local and global communities through the ecological design & development firm AppleSeed Permaculture, and helps to organize the Northeastern Permaculture Network. He holds an M.S. in Collaborative Eco-Social Design from Gaia University, and is currently working for the university in Organizational Development and to grow the Bachelor's program.

Ethan is a joyfully dedicated plant geek, and works closely with Dave Jacke, Eric Toensmeier, and Jonathan Bates on the Board of the Apios Institute to further the art and science of Edible Forest Gardens. He has planted forest gardens all over the northeast, and is eager to share is passion and experience with developing these incredible ecosystems of abundance.

Mai Frank

Mai lives in western MA and grew up in CT, near NYC. She attended Hampshire College where she created and completed her degree in permaculture design and community storytelling. This past summer, she interned at Woodsong Farm where she contributed to the design and implementation of CSA-infrastructure and 8 acres of forest gardens. She has also interned at Smith Botanic Gardens where she practiced foundational horticulture and botany skills. Recently, Mai began work with her mentor at Dynamic Ecological Designs, where she uses a permaculture process to design residential lots with forest gardens. She's excited to serve as a second-time co-teacher for this course, where she'll focus on empowering participants with many of the fundamental tools and skills necessary for identifying, eating and cultivating key plants for the Hudson Valley. When she's not forest-gardening, Mai mentors teens at two naturalist programs in southern VT, where she focuses on work with girls. She's passionate about partner acrobatics, dancing and singing, map-making, herbal medicine, fermentation, cooking and fiber-arts.

Dina Falconi

Dina Falconi is an herbalist with a strong focus on food activism and nutritional healing. She is the author of Earthly Bodies & Heavenly Hair, owner of Falcon Formulations, a natural body care product business, co-creator of Earthly Extracts, a line of medicinal tinctures, and a founding member of the Northeast Herbal Association. Dina is Chapter Leader for the Hudson Valley Weston A. Price Foundation and on the steering committee of Slow Food - Hudson Valley Convivium. An avid gardener and wildcrafter, Dina is passionate about permaculture and has completed the Permaculture Design Certificate Course. She offers workshops and consultations throughout the northeast.

Dyami Nason-Regan

Dyami has been passionately pursuing permaculture for the last year and a half. Born and raised in Ulster County, Dyami attended Empire State College where she designed and completed her degree in Natured-Based Mentoring. Her solid foundation in working with children in nature serves as a springboard for her growth as a permaculture designer. Following the completion of her permaculture design course she incepted and created a youth-run community garden in the village of Ellenville. She is most interested in pursuing this work because of her passion for feeding people with food grown locally and with care for local ecosystems. Wellness of the Earth and people inspire her work in the world.

Benneth Phelps

Benneth is a vegetable farmer and Permaculturalist in Massachusetts. She manages Enterprise Farm CSA, where she focuses on year-round growing and collaborations between East Coast farms to supply customers year-round with edibles from their foodshed. She is co-founder of the Western Massachusetts Permaculture Guild, and served as program coordinator for the 4th Annual North East Permaculture Convergence in 2008. She holds a Masters in Land Use and Regional Planning from the University of Massachusetts. She is excited about her role as coordinator for the outdoor learning, forest garden care and planting portion of the course!

Connor Stedman

Connor Stedman inhabits the Connecticut river valley of western Massachusetts as a wildcrafter, agroforester, nature-based educator, and regenerative community developer. He has studied, apprenticed, and taught with nature awareness organizations around North America since 2004, and has been practicing permaculture design and forest gardening since 2006. Currently Connor is in the final year of a B.Sc. in Integrative EcoSocial Design with Gaia University International. He is passionate about mentoring, knowledge of place, and growing networks of community.

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