In this 7-day workshop with permaculture and natural farming teacher Larry Korn we will explore the philosophy and practical techniques of Masanobu Fukuoka, pioneer and world leader of the natural farming movement. Larry lived at Mr. Fukuoka’s farm for two years in the 1970s and translated his best-selling book, The One-Straw Revolution. He also traveled with Mr. Fukuoka on two 6-week visits to the United States. This is a rare opportunity to get an inside look at what natural farming actually is, and who Mr. Fukuoka was as a person.

Some of the subjects that will be covered:

• The philosophy, ethics, and principles of Natural Farming
• Mr. Fukuoka’s life story and why it is instructive
• Natural farming methodology: how Mr. Fukuoka knew what to do, and what not to do
• The design and layout of Mr. Fukuoka’s farm
• Daily and seasonal chores
• Growing vegetables like wild plants
• Orchard trees, mushroom cultivation, fertilising, insect control, animals, and more
• Growing rice and barley in the same field each year without plowing or flooding the rice fields
• Making and using seed balls
• Natural diet
• Differences and similarities between natural farming and Indigenous ways, traditional Japanese agriculture, organic farming, and permaculture
• Natural farming throughout the world
• Future evolution of natural farming
• How to incorporate the spirit of natural farming into your own life

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The workshop will be filled with stories and anecdotes from Larry’s time hitch hiking in Japan from one back-to-the land commune to another, living in Mr. Fukuoka’s orchard with the other student workers, and what it was like to travel with him in the United States. He will also discuss how his own understanding of natural farming evolved over the past 35 years.


There will also be a number of hands-on projects around the farm such as making seed balls, establishing a natural garden, building a hugelkulture bed, and more.

Yoga will be offered each morning as well as a series of Nature Connection Exercises led by Kate Curtis for those who are interested in connecting with the land and themselves in this way.

Larry Korn:

Larry Korn is an American who lived and worked on the farm of Masanobu Fukuoka for more than two years in the early 1970s. He is translator and editor of the English language edition of Mr. Fukuoka’s The One-Straw Revolution (1978) and editor of his later book,Sowing Seeds in the Desert (2012). Larry accompanied Mr. Fukuoka on his visits to the United States in 1979 and 1986 acting as his guide and translator. He is author of the recently published One-Straw Revolutionary (2015), the first book to look deeply at natural farming and intimately discuss the philosophy and work of Mr. Fukuoka.

Larry studied Asian history, soil science, and plant nutrition at the University of California, Berkeley, and has worked in wholesale and retail plant nurseries, as a soil scientist for the California Department of Forestry, and as a residential landscape contractor in the San Francisco Bay Area for more than 20 years. He has taught many courses and workshops about natural farming, permaculture, and local food production throughout the United States. He currently lives in Ashland, a small town in southern Oregon.


Larry also studied permaculture, taking two Permaculture Design Courses in the 1980s from Bill Mollison, one of the founders of permaculture. He was one of three editors for the Tilth publication, The Future Is Abundant: A Guide to Sustainable Agriculture (1982). This book is a practical guide for applying permaculture and natural farming techniques to the Pacific Northwest.


For more information about Masanobu Fukuoka and Larry Korn, please visit www.onestrawrevolution.net.

 
Fukuoka-sensei believed that without natural people there can be no natural farming, so in this workshop, besides learning about Fukuoka-sensei’s philosophy and farming techniques we will also learn how to reconnect with our natural selves. Tracie Sage will help broaden our understanding of natural farming through embodiment. She’ll share her insights and experience of eating and living naturally, as well as ways of enhancing our relationship with nature and each other through a practice she refers to as ‘listening deeply’. Tracie will share the seven core elements that make the difference in how we connect, collaborate, cooperate, and thrive in all of our relationships. Then we can infuse our relationships and communities with social structures and practices that support resilient, sustainable living.

"Our human relationships are our biggest constraining factor in the work of transforming society... When we can be as skillful in our human interactions as we are in our garden designs, we’ll become an invincible force of healing for our communities and our earth." ~~Starhawk
 
Tracie Sage bio:

In addition to her work as a movement therapist, yoga teacher and relationship coach, Tracie Sage is known for her natural way of living in close connection with the earth. She enjoys growing, wildcrafting and creating delicious healthy food as well as herbal health and beauty formulas. She shares her enthusiasm for life in practical and playful ways that kindle a passionate, joyful sense of radiant well-being.

http://www.wildspirityoga.us/
http://www.wildspirityoga.us/sustainable-living-education--resources.html
http://www.traciesage.com/retreats.html


Optional NATURE CONNECTION AND YOGA is Facilitated by KATE CURTIS:
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Kate grew up in South Africa where her love for nature began, she moved to Barcelona 6 years ago, where she recently completed a yoga teacher training, and has been working with children and adults  combining art, yoga, acro-yoga, nature and storytelling as tools for workshops and language programs. She has participated in two PDCs in India as well as volunteering on various permaculture projects in Portugal, Spain and Thailand. She is also interested in using Deep Ecology practises as tools to create a deeper awareness of our role on this planet- she believes that another way is possible. 


The host site Sanilles:
Sanillés is a Health Education and Sustainable Living project in the Spanish Pyrenees.

The underlying focus of the Sanilles project is one of re-education and learning for a fuller life.
We envisage a "campus" situation where "Teaching in the Doing" goes hand in hand with conferring, researching and studying.

We see as essential the sustainable use of resources, a healthier environment and a capacity for endurance in helping to forward mankind's potential in safeguarding the future of the planet.

Sanillés has a neo-Georgian main building that was a 39 bedroomed hotel of 2500 square metres with other buildings close-by totals 750 square metres. The park extends to 35 acres of mostly wooded land with a mountain river, thermal springs and a bore-hole yielding 12,000 litres/hour of "minero-medicinal" thermal water.

Thermal water is known to have been used at Sanilles since Roman times.
Thermal waters surface at four related springs with slight variations in temperature and composition of water.

We have a organic vegetable garden and 66 solar panels with huge hot water storage tanks for underfloor heating and domestic hot water.

Address:
Sanillés, Carretera de Lles
Lles de Cerdanya
25726 LERIDA, SPAIN

Martinet de Cerdanya is closest village to Sanillés (2km). Martinet is is approximately 140 km from Barcelona, 160 km from Lérida, 30 km from the border of France and 40 km from Andorra. Martinet is on the road to Lles and Aránser. The road is well sign-posted because the winter ski runs attract many visitors.

The most direct access to Sanillés is from Barcelona by bus to Martinet. There are regular trains from Toulouse through Latour de Carol and from Barcelona to Puigcerda. Puigcerda train station is 25 km from Sanillés and buses connect to Martinet.

During the course we aim to take advantage of this beautiful and peaceful setting, spending as much time outside as possible.

ACCOMMODATION and FOOD: 

The course fee includes a bed in a dormitory room or camping. There are also double and single rooms available for an extra charge. We will serve three delicious, vegetarian meals per day, organic, grown in the veggie garden or locally sourced, and prepared by the team at Sanilles with lots of love!
And of course we shall enjoy plenty of tea breaks with fruit and light snacks.

Course Price:  early bird (until 9th of February 2017) 700 Euro
                         750 Euro shared dorm or camping
                         800 Euro double room - limited amount available
                         850 Euro single room - limited amount available
                        
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Contact information: permaculturainfo@gmail.com
www.soilsunsoul.net

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