We are super happy to anounce a certified Permaculture Design Course and Food Forest Course with Helder Valente, one of the original students of permaculture co-creator, Bill Mollison, in Kerala, one of most beautiful regions in India.
10 days in November 2024 – Permaculture Design Course (PDC)
5 days in November 2024 – Permaculture Food Forest Course (PFC)
Register here:
https://forms.gle/4JFc6RkfMASDM3iG8
For questions, reach out to Naveen via the website contact form.
About the Teachers
Helder Valente
Helder Valente was born in the rural countryside of Portugal and raised in a family of sustainably living farmers, times wen oil was not a part of the current culture, neither was television. Helder is the founder of New School Permaculture, and has been learning and designing with Bill Mollison, and other pioneers of the movement, including Geoff Lawton, Doug Bollock, Rosemary Marrow, Darren Doherty, and Sepp Holzer in the major world climatic regions. In this process, Helder has been researching and implementing sustainable & regenerative practices, in a variety of environments, both rural and urban, in the north and south of Europe, to the arid landscapes of Turkey and Egypt, and lately on a larger scale in the tropical jungles of Peru and Brazil. He has more than a decade of experience teaching Permaculture Design Courses around the world. For more info check out his website.
Naveen Shamsudhin
Naveen is an artist, embodiment facilitator, community builder, educator, technologist, and systems thinker. He is passionate about catalysing regenerative change in individuals, communities and systems at large. He is the co-initiator of several permaculture projects in Switzerland, such as Edible Zurich which is active in urban permaculture education and developing food forests in the city, and PatchMatch which connects people interested in growing their food with urban landowners. He completed his PDC in 2017 with Rod Everett and Mill Milichap, and his Permaculture Teacher Training with Graham Bell and Rakesh Rootsman Rak in 2020. Naveen holds a doctorate in science from ETH Zurich Switzerland for his work in developing micro- and nanorobotic probes for unravelling the growth mechanics of single plant cells. He has 10+ years experience in creating spaces for university-level learning and alternate education. He co-founded the diaspora socio-environmental engagement platform Humane Warriors and curates the well-known transdisciplinary retreat for creativity, Kaleido Retreat. He has lived a third of his life in India, the Middle East and Europe.
Khalid Rifaie
Khalid is an international citizen, having spent his childhood in the Mediterranean habitat, and following his studies in Europe, he lived half of his life in the GCC. He is presently residing in India, where he adopts a sustainable lifestyle and incorporates permaculture philosophies. He is a certified Permaculture designer (PDC) at ARANYA AGRICULTURE ALTERNATIVES (ARANYA) in Telugana, where he studied with Narsanna Koppula, a permaculture pioneer in India and a direct student of the father of Permaculture Bill Mollison. In 2018, he completed the Permaculture Teachers Training under the renowned permaculture teacher and author Rosemary Morrow. Khalid is the co-founder of AYA sustainable farm in the foot hills of Western Ghats and lives a lifestyle he believes in and is convinced upon. A robotic and automation engineer by education, and an IT expert by profession, his main focus is to adopt technologies aligned with permaculture principles to be integrated to harness available energy resources.
Details of Curriculum
Permaculture Design Course (PDC) (10 days)
Day 1 what is permaculture
Day 2 how nature works
Day 3 soil
Day 4 water
Day 5 gardens and forests
Day 6 energy systems
Day 7 social permaculture
Day 8 social permaculture
Day 9 design in group teams
Day 10 presentation of design
Food Forest Course (PFC) (5 days)
On the PFC you will learn about forest gardening and how to create a stable diverse abundant forest that produces food. On this course we will talk about the main forestry skills that are needed to design, develop and manage a food forest.
Did you ever asked yourself these questions?
- I love trees but how do i plant them and take care of them?
- What is the best way to prepare the soil to make trees grow well?
- Wen planting trees what is the best distance between them?
- What are the best plants to plant together with trees ?
- How can i create maximum diversity and stability with my trees.
- How can i get maximum production from all the forest elements?
- There must be a way to do natural pest control, how can i do that?
- I live in the city, how can i create a urban food forest?
The PFC is the course for people that are passionate about forests. We look at all stages of preparation of a forest, from seed to harvest. The focus on the most diverse forest topics, tree planting, tree pruning, companion planting, world climates, plants families, permaculture cultivation, natural pest control, using the stars as planting calendar. Mushrooms dynamics, how to find them and reproduce and its importance on stable forests. We look at many different systems, fukuoka forests, alley cropping, wood forests, agro forestry and atlantis food forests.
Course Fees, Registration and Accomodation
Fee (includes course fees, accomodation and food) :
Indians:
PDC – INR 34,000.00
PDC + PFC – INR 42,500.00
Foreigners
PDC – € 500.00 (INR 42,500.00)
PDC + PFC € 600.00 ( INR 51,000.00)
Accommodation:
Twin sharing 3 rooms, 4 people dorm, 6 people Log house, and Tents
First come first served basis
Single / Couple room shall be arranged on request in nearby properties with additional cost
Food:
Freshly prepared Farm food (Veg & Non Veg) will be served.
Special dietary requirement shall be considered if informed at the time of registration
Travel:
Nearest Airport : Cochin International Airport – 105Kms 3 hours
Railway station : Aluva – 105Kms 3 hours
City: Munnar : 50 minutes
For registration, fill out this registration form.
We look forward to seeing you at Aya Farms in November!
Helder, Naveen, Khalid, Neena and the whole Aya Farms team.