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Quinta do Vale da Lama

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Commenced:	01/02/2011
Submitted:	12/04/2012
Last updated:	07/10/2015
Location:	Odiáxere, Algarve, PT
Website:	www.valedalama.net
Climate zone:	Mediterranean

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Quinta do Vale da Lama

Odiáxere, PT

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Open day with tea and teachers

Project: Quinta do Vale da Lama

Posted by Mari Korhonen over 12 years ago

Have a cup of tea with Rosemary Morrow, Lesley Martin and Helder Valente, and ask anything you've ever been wondering about permaculture!

If you could sit down with some very experienced permaculture teachers, have a cup of tea and a home made biscuit, and ask them anything you'd ever wanted to know about life, permaculture or experience of a permaculture teacher, what would that be?

Well, after finishing a busy week of training a group of new permaculture teachers, on Sunday afternoon we put on a big kettle of tea, baked some biscuits and gathered together with staff, volunteers, students and local visitors, a good 30 of us probably, to make that possible.

Rosemary Morrow who's giving two teacher training courses here this month, accompanied by our local permaculture teachers Lesley Martin and Helder Valente sat down with all of us to share and discuss the answers to many very interesting questions that came up. With people from all ages and all walks of life, ranging from volunteers from Argentina to local senior citizens of the nearby towns, we immersed into deep discussions and were collectively seeking to answer the things puzzling our minds. Some examples of the questions coming up were "Where would you teach or not teach permaculture?", "What is your overall goal as a permaculture teacher?" or simply, with some people who weren't previously familiar with the topic; "What is permaculture actually about, what are the basic principles of permaculture?"

The atmosphere of the event was very inclusive, and accommodated wonderfully the diversity of languages, ages and nationalities. We learned a lot, not just from the official teachers, but by all being teachers to each other when sharing our life experience. Doing that locally, connecting with neighbors and friends, that's the glue that puts together what we learn about permaculture and how it manifests in the resilience of our communities.

And that's where Rosemary's concluding words come to have a meaning:
"In order to do good permaculture, you need to make a local impact.
Otherwise, in crisis, your teaching will be useless."

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Marc Van Hummelen : To make an impact on the local community, that's why I've decided to start the teacher's trajectory, Mari. My aim is to translate permaculture ideas to the average citizen, our Belgian "John (or Janine) Doe", who is not deep into gardening, not particularly environmentally aware, has never heard of permaculture, but has somehow perceived a change in the air, a waft of new tidings. (S)He is someone who wants some of that change in his own life, but won't be bothered learning the nuts and bolts of permaculture - the majority in a community, I bet. The big challenge is to get this person to practice permaculture without really calling it that or making him follow a pdc-course or something. Marc

Posted over 12 years ago

Courses Taught Here!

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