Permaculture
La Certificación en Diseño de Permacultura realizada en Rancho Mastatal (PDC en Español) no es solo el resultado de un programa de 88 horas de clases técnico-prácticas, ¡es mucho más que eso!
After completing a Permaculture Design Course (PDC), natural building workshop, or any other educational opportunities at a place like Rancho Mastatal, many students find themselves wondering how to turn their newfound knowledge and passion into a career. This transition from student to professional is a common challenge in the permaculture world.
El suelo es una delgada capa de minerales, agua, gases, y material orgánico, la cual se encuentra activa biológicamente y debiese cubrir la mayoría de la superficie de la tierra.
Are ethics universal, or are they subjective, governed by individual attitudes and circumstances? And if that is the case, how can anyone be sure that they have “good ethics” and are always making the right decision? And by what means can we design a future in which every choice leads to the wellbeing of all humanity and to the wellbeing of the planet?
Permaculture is a macro-concept that involves many different topics, methods, systems and ideas. Ideas like moving back to the land, using nature as our guide, applying ecology in our productive systems, reconnecting with the cycles of nature, approaching life holistically, creating stable local economies, regenerating the landscape and our relationships with others, investing in resiliency and interconnectivity; are in the heart of permaculture.
Syntropy and entropy are two forces at work in this universe. Syntropic farming is tapping into this universal force and leveraging it to produce a product useful to humans, food.
Yoga. Permaculture. Two seemingly disparate systems of knowledge and practices. What does a morning vinyasa flow class have to do with a plant guild?
How often have you heard someone say “oh yeah we have a permaculture farm or garden because we have a [insert permaculture cliché element]”. They believe their project is permaculture based because it has some of the elements that are usually used as examples, such as composting or they have chickens, maybe a herb spiral or a rainwater catchment system?
Ultimately everyone has to decide for themselves how and where they want to invest their time and money, but we think the world would be a much better place if everyone took a permaculture design certification (pdc) course.
There are not many places in the world that offer such a diverse number of examples of applied permaculture principles and ethics in practice as you will find at Rancho Mastatal. Bordering one of Costa Rica’s national parks, La Cangreja, we are surrounded by nature, biodiversity and abundance, providing the perfect learning environment for permaculture.
Imagina que tienes un lienzo en blanco para trazar y te dicen que lo que dibujes se va convertir en tu vida. Quizás, no tienes las herramientas, el conocimiento necesario para poder imaginarte en ese mundo ideal y te surgen preguntas: ¿cómo podré lograrlo?, ¿qué es lo realmente indispensable y necesario?, ¿esto me entusiasma o me agobia?, ¿por dónde empiezo?
Bring to mind a world where energy is cheap, plentiful, AND environmentally friendly. What’s powering that world? Wind? Biogas? Hydroelectric? Solar?
I firmly believe that we can begin to reduce the effects of this inflammation by utilizing the mosaic of plant medicines revered by our ancestors.
Woah! That is a whole lot of water. Now, imagine a world where that thing that we currently refer to as “waste” is highly revered as a RESOURCE! A precious thing worthy of a second life where it can aid in enriching the soil and fueling our journey towards a more holistic life.
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.
What is Permaculture?
Permaculture is the design system for creating sustainable human environments. In a modern society, which is not sustainable could permaculture hold a solution?
La creciente crisis social y medioambiental nos ha obligado a buscar métodos y procesos alternativos que reduzcan el impacto humano en la naturaleza y nuestro entorno. Como una de las principales alternativas de cambio, la Permacultura constituye un sistema donde se combinan la vida de los seres humanos de una manera respetuosa y beneficiosa con los animales y plantas, y donde se logran implementar soluciones de menor impacto medioambiental para satisfacer las principales necesidades humanas
Climate change, after decades of lulling at the bottom of the news cycle, has belatedly made it into the headlines as increasing numbers of people become aware, convinced and concerned about the environmental and social impacts of the Earth’s evolving atmospheric conditions. I frequently think about disrupted weather patterns and what my role in this unfolding story should be.
Mentorship may be one of the biggest opportunities for growth in our fledgling permaculture movement. There is interest in professional careers as permaculture designers, but the field lacks quality mentoring opportunities. By these I mean mentoring in a specific field, by a professional who has years of experience, with the goal of developing a specific skill set and livelihood.
Stacking functions. What does this phrase mean to you? It could mean any number of things depending on what you apply it to. In this case I'm referring to the term as it's used in permaculture. It is one of the primary principles of permaculture design. Here at the Ranch we employ as many of these principles as we can in our work and in our daily lives.
Permaculture Design is many things to many people, but one of its pillars is a set of three ethics. These as originally laid out by Bill Mollison are
- Care of the Earth
- Care of People
- Redistribution of the Surplus
These are our primary directives for how to act to sustain the earth. Or on a simpler level these are the ways to a good life.
No one who works at the Ranch expects this to be a lucrative career--that's not why we get up in the morning. But we do recognize the need to earn a living that provides basic resources. . As a small business that routinely puts people and planet above profits, providing for all our team members financially has been a challenge. So we've looked toward permaculture design to inspire us, turn problems into opportunities, , and use nature as our model to find creative financial solutions.
Cuando me acerqué a la permacultura, mi intención inicial fue nutrir mi formación en diseño arquitectónico con algo más aterrizado, más conectado con la tierra, los cultivos, el agua, el clima. Quería comprender mejor los ritmos naturales para intervenir el territorio de una manera más coherente y responsable.