Exploring the ecological view | Feb 15th-22nd, 2018 | Himachal Pradesh

[Ashish Arora]

​Dear Friends,

Kindly find below the details of an amazing course 'Ecological Futures' designed by our dear friends in Bir, Himachal Pradesh. Do get in touch with them directly (in cc) for more information.

Love,

Ashish

Sahaj Foundation

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Dear Ashish,

Hope you have been doing well. 

sharing with you the details for our next course. Please feel free to share with anyone who could benefit from this.

Thank you :)

Look forward to meeting you and Divya soon.

Regards

Anshul

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Hello,

Happy to share with you that we will be hosting an 8-day course titled Ecological Futures.

The course will be hosted on a one-acre organic farm in a village called Bir, in Himachal Pradesh, where the participants will also learn how to start growing food and save seeds.

By using the principles of ecology design, the course aims to bring together the scientific and the spiritual worldview and offer tools for a conscious transition from anthropocentric to eco-centric paradigms.

By understanding the deep interconnectedness and interdependence that we share with the members of this ecological system- life, we can appreciate the relationships between the ongoing deterioration of health in human and natural communities.
To begin healing these natural and man-made habitats would require not a change in infrastructure but a radical change in our mindset.

This course is for people to get familiar with natural patterns and develop a new language required to articulate the follies of our current worldview and system. Overall, the objective of the course is to send back the participants with a lot to think about and the confidence and skills to start their own gardens or farms.

 

ecology

(ih-kol-uh-jee)

noun

The study of the relationships between plants, animals, people, and their environment, and of the balances between these relationships.

The term ecology was coined by Ernst Haeckel, a visionary scientist from Germany in the 1800s. 

The root word for ecology is Greek ‘oikos’- which means household or more specifically, in this case, the earth household.

Thus ecology is a science of the study of relationships between the members of this earth household. Haeckel called it the economy of nature.

Course outline:

Sense of Place

Planting a seed

Pattern Language

Soil food web

A systems view of life

Food and culture

Reading and mapping landscapes

Introduction to Permaculture design

Natural way of farming

Propagating plants

Harvesting

Mushroom cultivation

Seed saving

Circular economics

Course Dates

February 15 to February 22, 2018

New moon to half moon

Thursday to Thursday

 

Farm work

All participants will spend about four hours every day working at the farm.

During this time the participants will learn some basic skills on using tools, making knots, starting a fire, plant identification and, of course, the natural way of working in a garden or a small-scale farm.

All work on the farm is done with hands and no heavy machinery is involved.

We understand that different participants will have different physical capacities and are flexible to work out a program that will not interfere with the participants’ learning process.

Participation

This course is the first in the year to be followed by three similar courses in summer, autumn and winter periods.

Participation is by registration and involves a fee.

People interested in participating can write to

​​

shuny...@gmail.com.

Interested participants can also fill an online registeration form here:

https://goo.gl/forms/zhJqCgMFQ0WShmFF3

 About Shunya Farm

Shunya farm exists on a rented plot of 1-acre area in a small village called Bir in Himachal Pradesh, India.

The farm produces food for about 10-12 people and a local organic restaurant throughout the year.  This farm is as much a source of food as it is a home to innumerable soil microbes, insects, birds, mongoose and more beings we cannot see or identify.

The practices on the farm are influenced by Fukuoka’s natural way of farming and Permaculture design to create a sustainable organic food farm and a regenerative landscape by focusing on soil health, diversity of life forms and the various human-nature relationships.

You can read more about our work and life here:

https://pocketsfullofstories.wordpress.com/

Look forward to connecting with you!