Learn everything you need to know about starting your very own food forest and off grid farm while experiencing community living on a new permaculture project. Enjoy daily yoga and meditation practice amongst the beautiful Portuguese countryside!

Course Outline

All these topics will be included in all the courses however, the longer the course the more hands on you will get.

- Enjoy a tour of our three new food forests and the farm
- Design and plant a new food forest
- Learn how to draw to scale drawings for design and planning
- Learn about the food soil web, how to make organic fertilisers and cultivate microbiology for the soil
- Discover how to properly research trees and their companions
- Learn how to design guilds and a food forest
- Plant trees and guilds in the food forest
- Propagate perennials to plant into next year’s food forests
- Create beds for annuals in between the trees for planting to maximise the space in the food forests
- Learn how to design, select and buy irrigation systems
- Plan and perform earthworks for water catchment, swales and ponds
- Learn how to graft trees
- Learn how to make compost piles, organic fertilisers and how to breed fungi and bacteria for the soil (teas)
- Opportunity to learn some natural building techniques (only on the one month course)
- Attend evening workshops on fermentation and how to make natural soaps
- Plant trees as part of our reforestation program outside of the new food forest (only on the one month course)
- Join the one day course about foraging for wild greens and weeds for edibles and medicinal plants with Raquel from the awakened life project (only on the one month course)
- Opportunity to learn carpentry skills for making items for the food forest such as cold frames, raised bed boxes or trellises (only on the one month course)

A day course at Holt Wood in North Devon where you can learn about harvesting and making products from medicinal trees and shrubs. During this day we will consider medicinal harvesting in our Holt Wood medicinal forest garden based on bark, flowers, fruits, leaves and roots of trees and shrubs. You will see a variety of native and introduced medicinal trees and shrubs in a woodland context. There will be sessions on good harvesting practice, drying and preservation techniques. You will also see how to make a variety of preparations suitable for health and skin care, such as capsules and ointments. The cost of this course is inclusive of learning materials and refreshments.

A day course at Holt Wood in Devon where you can learn about medicinal trees, shrubs and other plants which can be cultivated in a forest garden. This day will be of interest to designers, gardeners, growers and land managers. You will find out how to design or extend a forest garden with medicinal plants including trees and shrubs. During this day we will cover key native and introduced medicinal trees and shrubs and their identification features and uses. A practical walkabout will provide opportunities to see and identify medicinal plants growing in a woodland setting. There will be sessions on permaculture design suggestions, sourcing and propagation of plants, planting and maintaining a medicinal forest garden. The cost of this course is inclusive of learning materials and refreshments.

Forest gardening is an increasingly popular approach to growing food sustainably and efficiently through making use of the beneficial relationships abounding in a healthy ecosystem, maximising the use of the garden’s vertical dimension, and increasing the range of perennial food plants to fill all available ecological niches.

This two-day course will introduce you to the forest gardening approach and its benefits, teaching you the basics of designing a forest garden, and the methods of establishing and maintaining it, whether you are converting an existing garden or allotment, want to grow more edible species in a forest, or are starting with a blank canvas. You will also get an overview of the wide variety of trees, shrubs and perennial vegetables that can be grown for food, fibre, dyes, medicines, fuel, and pure beauty, and learn more about their needs and requirements.

The course will include a practical design element to train you in observation, mapping, and designing a forest garden, and will look at example designs. If you have an ongoing or planned project which involves creating a forest garden, the course will offer some opportunity for discussion, so do bring along your maps and plans.

Your teacher will be Nenya Milne, an Edinburgh-based Permaculture designer, teacher and gardener with a special interest in Forest Gardening and unusual edible plants. Nenya has been practising Permaculture and Forest Gardening since 2010, and teaching since 2015. You can see her work on her website perennis.weebly.com.

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.

The subjects covered during the PFC include:

Agro ecology
Food Forest creation and management
How to combine fruits and veggies
Plants and tres species
How, when and where to plant
Climate zones
Social forests

CONTENT:
Imagine your garden looking as lovely as a woodland edge, which produces an abundance of nutrient dense food and will ultimately need very little digging, weeding, manual watering or pest control - ‘an edible forest garden’.

Forest gardening is a way of growing food where nature does most of the work for you. Modelled on natural woodland, crops are grown in different layers from high and medium sized canopy to roots, ground cover and climbers.

Through careful planning plants are chosen which have beneficial effects on each other, attract beneficial insects and create a healthy biodiverse rich system that maintains its own fertility. Once established, your main task will be harvesting!

This workshop will give you the tools you need to design your own forest garden. You will learn about its history, its benefits, and soil fertility, nutrients, valuing diversity, surveying and map making, observing and learning from nature, how to place the right plant in the right place.

We will apply the theory as we go to the land around us, co-creating a forest garden onsite.

** 2 day Introduction Sat and Sunday
- History of forest gardening
- Why make a food forest
- Layout of a forest garden
- How to ensure your food forest has enough nutrients
- Multifunctional pathways
- Creating abundance and resilience
- Low maintenance food growing
- Patterns in nature for forest gardens
- Understanding and maximising edge
- Site tour

** 3 day Intensive Design and Practical Monday to Wednesday
- Creating your personal detailed designs or creating and implementing a design for the host site
- Water management
- Succession planning
- Implementation plans
- Tree and plant guilds
- Practical work (depending on the design we can make Earth-works, Water management, Pathways;, Sheet-mulching beds, etc)

REGISTRATION
https://goo.gl/qys7Nt

Edible forest gardening is the art and science of putting plants together in woodland-like patterns that forge mutually beneficial relationships, creating a garden ecosystem that is more than the sum of its parts. You can grow fruits, nuts, vegetables, herbs, mushrooms, other useful plants, and animals in a way that mimics natural ecosystems. The aim is to create a low input, high output system that benefits people and the environment, providing a great range of products. A forest garden is designed and established according to site and the needs of the client.

Full rate, includes all meals - £160 to £200 (Sliding scale - pay what you can afford according to your income).
Concessions: £140 (limited to 3 places)

Camping fee £6 per person per night

Food: 3 fab meals a day will be provided as well as hot/cold drinks, food is always nutritious & delicious, vegetarian and fresh – using organic produce grown at karuna whenever possible.

At karuna you will be able to see & learn from examples of forest gardens that have been establishing over some years and see Permaculture in action all around you.

The course will assist participants to visualize, plan establish and continue to maintain, harvest and learn from a forest garden, be it at home or on someone else's land such as a community garden, school garden, etc.

Course outline The basic 2-day course will cover:
· Benefits of forest gardening
· Site selection and design
· Integration of Permaculture principles and design process
· Species selection
· Plant propagation
· Site preparation, establishment and maintenance; harvesting
· Processing of produce
· Integration with other farm and garden systems

The concept of Syntropic Agriculture was devised by the Swiss/Brazilian researcher and botanist Ernst Gotsch from what is broadly known in Brazil as successional agroforestry. Syntropic Agriculture aims to produce food, timber and fibre through a process based agriculture with minimal external inputs and without chemical fertilisers and pesticides. The aim is to build resources such as water, topsoil and biodiversity as we produce our food. Syntropic Agriculture has been proving to be financially viable and effective in many climates and biomes.
Participants will learn:
The history and principles of successional/syntropic agroforestry,
How to implement and manage those systems,
How to choose where to implement these systems in their properties,
How to harmonise these systems with nature's patterns (sun, winds, topography, local flora, etc.),
How to choose appropriate plant consortiums to each stage and soil condition of the system,
How to choose and plan the production of value adding produce.
Introduction of the Agroforestry Principles:
Theoretical lecture of the essential concepts of implementation and management of an Syntropic Agroforestry production system.
https://www.soilsunsoul.net/intro-to-syntropic-agroforestry-march-2019.h...

Discuss and learn all about the how’s and why’s of grafting fruit trees
• Learn and try tongue and whip grafting
• Learn safe use of tools
• Take your tree home with you

By the end of this course you will be able to select rootstock, graft and care for trees.

Time:
10.00am - 1.00pm

Cost:
£35pp which includes taking home your grafted fruit tree (one)

Additional fruit trees can be grafted and taken home with you, suggested donation £5 per tree to cover costs of rootstock, pots, compost

BOOK HERE
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSert_ifZg8oGcyZiVMYpVZ4XgQCoFwG...

Join us at Keela Yoga Farm in October 2018 for our month long Food forest course in Portugal.

Course Outline
- Enjoy a tour of our new food forest and the farm
- Design and help to expand a new food forest
- Learn how to draw to scale drawings for design and planning
- Learn about the food soil web, how to make organic fertilizers and cultivate microbiology for the soil
- Discover how to properly research trees and their companions
- Learn how to design guilds and a food forest
- Plant trees and guilds in the food forest
- Propagate perennials to plant into next year’s food forests
- Create beds for annuals in between the trees for planting to maximise the space in the food forests
- Learn how to design, select and buy irrigation systems
- Plan and perform earthworks for water catchment by selecting locations for swales
- Learn how to graft trees
- Learn how to make compost piles, organic fertilizers and how to breed fungi and bacteria for the soil (teas)
- Opportunity to learn some natural building techniques
- Attend weekly workshops on fermentations, permaculture principles and other farming related topics
- Plant trees as part of our reforestation program outside of the new food forest
- Learn about foraging for wild greens and weeds for edibles and medicinal plants
- Opportunity to learn carpentry skills for making items for the food forest such as cold frames and trellises
- 1 weekly trip to either the local market, local community events, community help or local sites
- 1.5 days of to relax and study
- daily yoga classes
- Healthy organic food