Permaculture Design Course

February 20th through  March 2nd, 2012

Place: Maya Mountain Research Farm

San Pedro Columbia, BELIZE

Instructors:

Albert Bates, Andrew Leslie Phillips, Cliff Davis, Christopher Nesbitt & local guest instructors.

Cost includes organic farm fresh meals, all course materials and expeditions, comfortable accommodation in the farm, and a Certificate of Permaculture Design upon completion of the course.

For more details please see http://www.mmrfbz.org or contact Christopher at info(a)mmrfbz.org. 

About the Course:

Through lecture, discussion, small groups, site visits and hands on experience, participants will gain the tools to create sustainable, ecologically based homes, farms, businesses and communities.

Tucked into the foothills of the Maya Mountains, two miles up river from the village of San Pedro Columbia in southern Belize, Maya Mountain Research Farm is a working demonstration farm and registered NGO that promotes sustainable agriculture, appropriate technology and food security using permaculture principles and applied biodiversity. With 20 years of organic management and conversion from an abandoned cattle and citrus farm to a polyculture, MMRF is one of Central Americas oldest permaculture farms.

A scholarship for this Permaculture Design Course is being offered by Maya Mountain Research Farm in memory of Anne Bulford. Anne Bulford graduated from Antioch College, was active in organic agriculture in Ohio, working at Ohio Ecological Food and Farming Association, and died in November, 2008 of cancer. She has two boys, Peter and Skyler, who live with Annes mother, Sally. Applicants must be Belizean or Guatemalan, working in agriculture in the communities adjacent to the Maya Mountains in Belize, or in Izabel or Peten Department of Guatemala, and a farmer or community leader. To apply, please contact Christopher Nesbitt with a description of the work you are doing, and a resume or CV and explain why you would like to participate in this course.

About Our Teachers:

Albert Bates is a former lawyer, paramedic, graphic artist and author of 13 books on energy, environment and law, and produced two films on ecovillages. He is the founder of the Ecovillage Network of the Americas and was active in the creation of the Global Ecovillage Network. He has lectured and universities and government agencies and worked on natural buildings, village infrastructure, and permaculture landscapes on 6 continents. He has been teaching permaculture design courses since 1994.

Andrew Leslie Phillips A native of Australia, Andrew studied permaculture with Bill Mollison and Geoff Lawton, He convenes and teaches permaculture in the north-eastern U.S. although he is temporarily serving as General Manager of KPFA radio in Berkeley California. He is founder of Hancock Permaculture Center and consults through Permaculture Design Solutions.

Cliff Davis is a permaculture designer based in the Cumberland region of Tennessee. He is currently co-director of Spiral Ridge Permaculture Gardens, an off grid permaculture homestead/design firm that includes extensive swale systems, terraces and ponds, edible forest gardens, year round food production, a useful plants nursery, bamboo agroforestry, diverse animal systems, aquaculture, worm compost, natural building, top bar hive beekeeping, family and fun.

Christopher Nesbitt has lived and studied agriculture in Belize since the mid 1980s. He worked for Green & Blacks, an organic chocolate company, from 1997 to 2004 on issues related to organic certification, Fairtrade certification and extension. He was a founding member of Belize Organic Producers Association, and has worked as a consultant for the Government of Belize’s Ministry of Health, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries Department. He installs photovoltaic and photovoltaic/wind hybrid systems in protected areas, photovoltaic water pumps, and teaches agroforestry.