permaculture design course
CREATE A BETTER TODAY
LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS COURSE
Learn about permaculture and how to design a sustainable life!
May 25th till June 8th 2025.
Kausay is the host of this course.
SHORT INFO
Why?
More and more people are starting to realize that living in a more sustainable way is the best next move they can make going forward. Permaculture is a way to obtain practical skills to achieve this aim, as well as teaching us how to communicate in a non-violent way to nurture a healthy relationship both with ourselves and everything and everyone that surrounds us.
Where?
Kausay, Valencia – a small eco-based community with room for several generations and their needs.
When?
May 25th till June 8th 2025.
Who?
12 participants, with interest in permaculture.
Language
English (some sessions will be in Spanish with direct translation to English).
DESCRIPTION
The aim of permaculture is to create systems that create harmonious connections between humans and with the planet. The Australians Bill Mollison and David Holmgren coined the term in the 70’s, a combination of the words “permanent” and “agriculture. Permaculture ethics, principles and design techniques were first used to develop sustainable agricultural systems as an alternative to the growth of agro-industry and the consumer economy. From these beginnings, the concept of Permaculture has expanded and diversified to cover nearly all types of human-based systems.
Permaculture design courses (PDCs) have been developed as an introduction to this way of thinking and also to teach the tools and techniques needed for participants to design their own sustainable systems. These courses are taught through both theory and practice, and weave in both ancestral knowledge and recent discoveries. At Kausay we showcase several examples of Permaculture in practice.
In this two week PDC we use the basic curriculum as set out by the UK Permaculture association, and supported by the Southeastern Spanish Permaculture Network (REPESEI).
The course will take place in a real context, in which the participants have the opportunity to gain first-hand knowledge of how, at Project Kausay, vegetables and fruit trees are cultivated both for own-consumption and as cash crops, based on different agricultural models following Permaculture principles. We will also address aspects of social Permaculture, in which the design process focuses on self-care and the care of others.
CONTENT OF THE COURSE
We will follow the course curriculum as set out by the UK Permaculture Association, and supported by the Southeastern Spanish Permaculture Network (REPESEI).
In addition to the theory, we will do many practicals in order to learn by doing, as well as a group final design. This will be done by participants using a Permaculture design framework, as well as all the theoretical knowledge gained during the course, and the knowledge and experience each person brings.
Main subjects covered:
- A short history of Permaculture, ethics and principles (Mollison y Holmgren)
- The design process itself, survey and analysis tools)
- Soil structure and the soil ecosystem: fertility, sampling and analysis, management, regeneration, indicator species etc.
- Water: the water cycle, water availability, capture and storage, retention in the landscape.
- Plants / trees: basic botany, the ecology of a forest, forest functions, energy flows, types of forests, agroforestry systems, food forests, guilds
- Food production and supply
- Bio-construction and bioclimatic buildings
- Finance and economy
- Social Permaculture: care of individuals and groups
Practicals
- Non-violent communication
- Observation skills and reading the landscape
- Basic mapping: aspect, scale, how to mark out contour lines, trilateralization
- Analysis tools
- Kitchen gardening
- Soil remediation
- Water retention
- Wild plant identification (as food or medicine)
- Fermentation
- Natural building
- Sociocracy
PRICE
€ 980
(€ 900 early bird discount, book before 30 April 2025)
This prices includes:
- Shared rooms (a spacious Mongolian yurt (8 beds), or spacious tents (2 beds each tent) and full board (there is also space for you to bring your own tent if you like)
- Teaching (theory and practice) by four passionate permaculturists that share their years of experience in different fields and different parts of the world with you to give a broad view on how to design for sustainability
- An officially recognised certificate at the end of the course to take home.
- We provide warm and cold showers and there is room to do collective laundry.
- At Kausay there is lots of space to be on your own or to walk through the beautiful valley and ravine. Telephone coverage within a 3 minute walk from Kausay.
If you are interested in this course but can not afford the full price please get in touch directly with Jeroen to discuss options.
Food and Beverages
All food and (non alcoholic) drinks will be provided during the whole course. We serve vegetarian food at Kausay, but please talk to us about special wishes for food or allergies.
Coffee, herbal tea, and drinking water will be available throughout the course, as well as extra treats from the kitchen. You can also bring private snacks and treats for your well being with you.
MEET OUR FACILITATORS!
Curious who will work with you? Check out our facilitators!
Jeroen Verkaik | host
Jeroen (Jerónimo) grew up in the Netherlands walking the same path as his father and older brother - very close to nature. Jeroen has been involved in many social projects, and has worked for various institutes, local government, and neighbourhood associations.
Bringing people together and sharing the passion of co-creating and using possibilities and resources that can be found in our environment is something he really enjoys. In 2018 he co-founded Kausay, and since then has shared the space with over 120 volunteers who have each brought their own energy, colours and ideas, and a willingness to contribute to the Kausay vision and therefore to create a better today. In January 2025,
Jeroen obtained a ‘green light’ for the further development of Kausay. His ideas are based on the huge inspiration and experience gained from traveling around Latin America, his work in commercial and social environment and the seven years at Kausay. Making people feel at home and connecting with. them is something that is deeply rooted in the way he welcomes people into his life.
Jeroen is father to a daughter (15) and a permanent resident of Kausay. He aims to live in the present moment as much as possible and transforms his ideas into the concrete realization of a more sustainable way of living together in harmony with all beings. These times ask for investigating our lives and follow our passions, for Kausay and to the world. Let's play, drink tea and celebrate, the time is now!
Frances Osborn
Frances is an ecologist with a degree in Environmental Sciences from Southampton University, UK, and a PhD in Insect Ecology from the Simón Bolívar University, Venezuela.
In 2014, after 10 years working as a research scientist at the Eastern University, Venezuela, she returned to Europe where she did her first PDC in Brighton, UK. She has been studying and practicing permaculture ever since, and graduated with a Diploma in Applied Permaculture in March 2021. She has been teaching PDCs since 2019 at different venues, including Proyecto Rúcula in Murcia, the Suryalila Yoga Retreat in Cadiz, and Quinta Kania in Portugal. Frances has extensive experience in garden and agricultural systems at different scales, gained from her many volunteering placements, including two years at the first Ecosystem Restoration Camp in the dry highlands to the northeast of the Murcia region in southern Spain.
She is particularly interested in soil ecology and restoration. Frances is currently secretary for Urban Street Forest, an association based in Holland and Spain that seeks to reforest degraded drylands, and also secretary for the Permaculture Network in south-eastern Spain (REPESEI). Frances, along with her sister and brother-in-law is currently renovating an old stone cottage in southeastern Spain using natural building techniques and appropriate technologies. Travel also plays an important role in her life and the bicycle is her preferred mode of transport, as this enables her to slow down, appreciate the scenery, and enjoy the journey.
Carles García de Valcárcel
Carles is a Technical Agricultural Engineer with professional experience in civil engineering works, gardening, landscape design, organic agriculture and permaculture.
Although he was born in an urban environment, Carles spent much of his childhood in the countryside. In 2007 started his own smallholding project, inspired by the idea of creating a woodland in a hectare of barren field. Some months later he came across the REPESEI (Southeastern Spanish Permaculture Network) that provided him with the tools he needed to learn from, experiment with, and develop the project.
In 2013 he moved permanently to the smallholding and so started a more active phase, including hands-on work, further training and teaching. During this time he was given the opportunity to share experiences with Jairo Restrepo and Nacho Simón on their way round Spain giving courses on regenerative agriculture techniques.
In 2014, Carles completed a PDC on his smallholding during which different designs were proposed, and which have served as a base from which to further develop the project.
Currently, Carles combines the management of his smallholding with workshops, courses and consultancy work for other farmers or companies. He participates actively in several associations and groups related to Permaculture, participative certification, and the local economy.
Luis Símada
Luis is a permaculture advisor, designer and teacher and also network facilitator. He is trained as a designer, group facilitator, permaculture teacher, fermenter and project coordinator.
He also participates and actively contributes in different social, activist and alternative movements like the Iberian Southeast Permaculture Network (REPESEI), La Espiral del Sureste Ibérico, the Iberia Ecovillage Network (RIE), the Cauac Editorial Nativa or the Ecosystem Restoration Department at Sunseed.
He has also been teaching different courses about Symbiotic Nutrition, Regenerative and Natural Agriculture or Appropriate Technologies. Luis really appreciates discovering new ways to create resilience and communities, that’s why he is also Simada, traveling around Iberia supporting and designing alternative projects while continue to learn from each one of them.
He loves listening, expressing his emotions, creating new ferments and healthy recipes, doing experiments, designing social solutions, playing, wild nature, ancient trees, ancestral traditions and live music.
THE ORGANISATION: REPESEI
Our certifying Association: REPESEI, the Southeastern Spanish Permaculture Network.
Towards the end of the 1980s the seeds of the REPESEI (Red de Permacultura del Sureste Ibérico) were sown by a small group of locals and travelers.
This small group organized gatherings, workshops and courses, during which ideas of alternative ways of understanding life began to germinate and grow, answering the questions and needs of the individuals and groups that attended them.
In 1996, Rosa Mejuto, along with a women’s group founded the REPESEI: the number of gatherings and Permaculture Projects increased, from which a network started to spread – and is still growing.
Since then there have been a large diversity of workshops and courses given and promoted by the Network, among which we can highlight those by Jairo Restrepo (Columbia) and Nacho Simón (Mexico), that have taught us new ways to care for life in the soil under our feet, improving its fertility, and harmonizing the relationships between it and the plants we cultivate. Many of us now make our own bio-preparations.
Furthermore, there have been many Permaculture gatherings held at many sites from Alicante to Málaga. Currently there are 4 gatherings yearly in Winter, Spring, Summer and Autumn, as well as a mutual support network (Las Ramicas or Little Branches) that support projects throughout south-eastern Spain.
