Workshops

Applied Permaculture Principles

Applied Permaculture Principles

There are a lot of misconceptions about what Permaculture is, most people think of it as an agricultural system, typically some sort of food forest and whilst maybe it does make sense for you to have a food forest, maybe it doesn’t! The specifics of applying the principles will vary based on your environment, project , goals etc… but the principles will always remain the same. In permaculture there are 12 underlying principles that help guide us through the design and thinking process. We have highlighted below how we apply each of these principles at our site to help inform you how these principles can be applied in practice.

How Can We Make a Change in the World

How Can We Make a Change in the World

Everything seems to have been created by a higher intelligence that has designed this universe in mysterious ways for us to live off. We live in a perfect symbiosis with nature. Everything seems to have a purpose which co-exists with all that is around us yet we don’t have an explanation to all this perfection.

Permaculture Due Diligence Workshop

Permaculture Due Diligence Workshop

A few months back a series of clients began asking me questions that I didn’t have the answers to. I knew just enough about the topics to know what I didn’t know. One client wanted to know about building restrictions around a small body of water, another needed information about opening up land for a road through an existing forest, and a third was seeking support to enroll in the FONAFIFO Environmental Service Payment program.

Timber Framing in the Tropics

Timber Framing in the Tropics

The rainforests of Central America might not be the first place that you think of when you hear the term “timber frame construction”, but with initiatives in Monteverde and Mastatal, Costa Rica is starting to make a name for itself in the region for this post and beam building technique. We started to build the infrastructure of Rancho Mastatal Sustainability Education Center in the small rural community of Mastatal, Costa Rica in 2001.

Getting Inspired About Natural Building

Getting Inspired About Natural Building

Over the years of natural building at Rancho Mastatal my feelings on the process have gone through many stages. From the initial excitement of- wow, how cool you can build a house from the materials on your land, and all it takes is time, practice, and anyone can do this! To over time, after building many walls, an understanding of how long it takes to build a natural home and all the work that it entails.

Help Improve Workshop Access for Central Americans

Help Improve Workshop Access for Central Americans

Workshops, one of many forms of education, are expensive to organize, risky to run, and an immense amount of work to pull off and host well. They can also be transformational and inspirational for the participants and provide them with an amazing educational experience. We have been offering life-changing courses and classes in a vast array of areas related to sustainability for over 15 years

Build Your Skills: 2017 Workshop Series

Build Your Skills: 2017 Workshop Series

Our 2017 workshops exemplify the type of world we hope to shape. They train students to look at their landscape, shelter, and food with a new perspective; one that honors ecology and craft, that promotes a sense of place in an often disconnect world. We hope you will join us for one of these powerful courses.