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Soul to Soil
Permaculture Design Course

Permaculture Design Certificate Course
for Inner Ecology & Personal Development

With Sarah Wu and Eduardo Terzidis

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17th September - 8th October 2023

Quinta Alma, Aljezur, Portugal

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75+ hour Permaculture Design Course Certificate upon completion

25+ hours in Herbal Studies

25+ hours in Personal Development and Earth Spirituality

Lecture and Forum Style Classes

Hands on Projects

Yoga & Movement Practices

Plant Meditations

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Course Overview

Soul to Soil Permaculture Design Course for Social Ecology and Personal Development includes a full 72+ hour Permaculture Design Certification course and an integrated 70+ hours in Yoga, Herbal Studies, Earth Based Spirituality and Personal Development.

Learning from the land, students will be immersed in ecological living and transformative education at Quinta Alma alongside seasoned permaculture professionals and mentors Sarah Wu and Eduardo Terzidis. Each day we will move through the Permaculture Curriculum, exploring the foundations of permaculture philosophy, earth sciences, strategies for settlement design, and appropriate techniques for establishing perennial food systems in home gardens. Taking it a few steps deeper, Sarah will bring students into the magical world of herbal medicine, diving deep into the practice of preparing and working with medicinal plants on the home and family level for health, wellbeing and seasonal ritual. Guided by Eduardo, the practice of yoga, inner ecology and meditation will support by seeding a lifelong journey into holistic wellness and permaculture lifestyle.

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What is a Permaculture Design Course? â€‹

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A PDC (Permaculture Design Course) is a 72 hours certified course that covers all aspects of Permaculture as detailed by Bill Mollison (co-founder of the movement and author of "Permaculture: a designer's manual"). The course will touch all elements required to design a complete human settlement and will include topics such as food production, resource management, project management, soil, agroforestry, animal systems, appropriate technology, people systems and social Permaculture. The course will include a final design project and the handover of the PDC certificate upon completion and presentation of the final design.

During the Soul to Soil course, we will explore permaculture principles and strategies following the standard curriculum while learning how to integrate them in our personal practice to develop an eco-logical relationship to our own inner landscapes.

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The program​

 

 

Class Topics:

Adaptogenic Plants and Mushrooms for Personal Resilience
Climates and Landscapes
Design for Disaster
Design Process & Methods
Digestion and the Human Microbiome
Earthworks
Ethics & Principles of Permaculture
Gaia Theory & Eco-Psycology
Garden Design
Home and Community Herbalist
Humanure and Waste Systems
Integrated Pest Management
Intro & History of Permaculture
Intro to Herbalism
Intro to Social Permaculture
Lunar Rhythms
Non-Violent Communication with Self, Others and Nature
Observation and Map reading
Patterns in Nature
Perennial Polycultures & Regenerative Agriculture
Personal development: Finding One’s Life Mission in Service
Plant Care & Propagation Techniques
Plants and Mushrooms for Reproductive Health
Reading the Landscape & Site analysis
Resources & Scale of Permanence
Small Animal Care
Soil Science and Compost
Trees and Food Forest Ecology
Urban Permaculture
Water Systems & Hydrological Cycle
Wild Crafting Ethics
Zones & Sectors

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Hands-On Practicals:

Compost Making
Cultured Foods
Garden Project
Medicine Making
Sacred Space Making
Seed Planting

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Meditations, Movement, Rituals and Other Activities:

Rituals for Reconnection to Life and to Purpose
Deep Ecology Guided Visualisation
Embodiment Practise: Express and Embody the Interconnection of All Things
Facing Fear: Mind vs Heart in the Path of Reconnection to Your Purpose
Guided Visualisation: The Creation of the Universe from the Bigbang to Your Body
Inner Ecology: Our Body as a Reflection of the Universe
New and Full Moon Rituals
Plant Spirit Medicine Meditations
Sharing Circles
Understanding Personal and Environmental Grief: Depression as a Tool for Regeneration
Yoga

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Daily schedule

 

6.00–7.00: Occasional morning Yoga, Plant Meditation or Ritual

7.00–8.30: Breakfast
8.30-12.30: Class Time
12.30-14.30: Lunch
14.30-17.30: Class Time
18.00-19.00: Dinner
19.30–21.30: Occasional Evening Session or Activity

There are two  full days off

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We begin each morning with guided meditations, yoga or botanising. After a nutritious breakfast, we flow into the morning class session. Starting with and open forum of discussion of relevant topics, dreams, sharing and announcements. Classes are lecture and dialog format, with active white board drawing and demos, outdoor hands on activities as well as demos.

With a two hour break for lunch for siesta and integration, dinner is followed by evenings of music, fire, rest and meditation.

The Venue

Quinta Alma is a private and intimate natural ecological retreat farm. It is the result of Joana and Mario’s passion and their vision for an inspiring and relaxing experience in Nature. The farm is a magical place, totally off grid and hidden in the mountains of Monchique but right next to Aljezur, in Algarve’s worldclass Atlantic coast. It is a place for those that want to have a close but yet comfortable experience with the natural elements.

Quinta Alma is a growing organic farm with an ecological and human regenerative laboratory. Here we reeducate ourselves to live a regenerative and meaningful life, in harmony with Nature. The founders believe that the inner and outer beauty of nature inspires the human soul and tenders the human heart. That is why they called this place Quinta Alma, a home where your soul can expand and feel inspired.

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Click here to see more about Quinta Alma

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Watch our interview from last Soul to Soil PDC!

The Facilitators

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Sarah Wu is a clinical herbalist of 20 years and a practicing permaculturist for near a decade. She facilitates learning with a planetary perspective on natural medicine, integrating large scale systems such as Ayurveda and Traditional Chinese Medicine as well as diverse folk traditions and ethnobotany, with a foundation in Deep Ecology and modern Witchcraft. Sarah has participated in and taught 25+ Permaculture Design Courses, annually curates six simultaneous stages of educational and spiritual content for Envision Festival as well as the Village Witches experience, and has developed a 150- hour unique curriculum: Permaculture for the Herbalist’s Path. Founder of the Envision Festival Herbal Clinic training program and has organized and worked herbal clinic relief. Sarah is a passionate biophiliac, educator and mentor.

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Tuition

EARLY BIRD DISCOUNT! €2095 


Place a deposit by June 21 and SAVE €400 OFF YOUR TUITION

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Full price per student: €2495 

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Tuition for the 21-day Soul to Soil Permaculture Design Course Includes:

– 72+ hour Permaculture Design Certification course + certificate upon completion
– 25+ hours in Herbal Studies
– 25+ hours in Personal Development and Earth Spirituality
– Course content and materials, all lectures, forums, and activities
– Student manual
– Cacao party
– 21 days of three vegetarian meals per day plus coffee, tea and snacks.
– Includes all course content, materials, and activities
– Three vegetarian meals per day
– Lodging in Tents
– Students have the option to upgrade their housing to a room in an apartment or a built out truck.

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Available for an additional price: Arrival and departure transportation, laundry service.

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We ask for a €300 ($365) NON-REFUNDABLE and NON-TRANSFERABLE deposit to be sent to hold your space.
Final payments are made in cash upon arrival.
In the case of closure or any COVID related delays, all deposits will be held and available as a credit for one year to go toward another course with Eduardo and Sarah. In the case rescheduling is not possible, 50% of the deposit in addition to all bank and transfer fees will be retained and the balance returned.

Want to join?

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