Kindling's Chris spent a fortnight this summer on a Permaculture Design Course run by the German Permaculture Academy at the award winning Ecovillage of Sieben Linden. Permaculture is an approach to designing human settlements and agricultural systems that mimic the relationships found in natural ecologies.
The course focused on the design of sustainable settlements and included information and practice about how to (re)model existing and newly set up human settlements to use less energy and other inputs and produce less waste while offering a greater quality of life to its inhabitants and increasing biodiversity in its surroundings.
The venue, the Ecovillage of Sieben Linden , is: an internationally recognised intentional community and centre for adult education, which serves as a living example and field of practice.
The Ecovillage aims to: provide a model for a future way of life, where work and leisure, individuality and community come together. Small closed cycles make it possible to live a holistic and ecological life in balance with economic needs. As a seminar centre they welcome people from all over the world, hoping that they become inspired by the ecovillage lifestyle. The village with 120 inhabitants (including 35 children) lies in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany.
Travel by train, food, accommodation and the course fee were provided by a Grundtvig grant which funds training opportunities for UK adult education organisations, staff & learners. The Funding is for any UK organisation involved in non-vocational adult education on courses across Europe.