2009 Permaculture Activities and Courses at the Sivananda Ashram Yoga Ranch
With Dave Jacke, Michael Judd, and Julia & Charles Yelton
Sivananda Ashram Yoga Ranch • Woodbourne, New York in the Catskills
Yoga recognizes sustainability on three levels: our relationship with our selves (body, mind and spirit health), our relationship with the world, (including both human relationships and nature), and our relationship with God or the universal consciousness which animates all life. Permaculture is committed to caring for people and the planet. Twenty-first century civilization is pushing the planet beyond the limits of sustainability. Unless we can bring life back into balance and reestablish sustainable healthy living there, we will turn the world into a wasteland.
Yoga and Permaculture are both paths to healthy, sustainable living. The Yoga concept of sustainability is dharma, thinking and action that supports life, first in taking responsibility for one's personal physical, mental and spiritual health, and then in caring for one's neighbor as oneself. The law of karma forces us to take responsibility for the world that we create through our actions and attitudes.
"Permaculture is a design system for creating sustainable human environments," Bill Mollison, an Australian ecologist and father of Permaculture. It is a living system that creates a richer harmony between human dwellings, food production, animals, plants, water consumption and waste. In the 1970's and 80's Swami Vishnudevananda set the Sivananda Ashrams on the path of sustainability. He saw the dangers of a civilization with energy, agriculture, transportation, waste disposal and economy not only unsustainable but cut off from local control. He used to joke about what would happen to New York City, if the electricity, the water, or the sewage system stopped working for a week. He experimented with ecological living in many ways such as by fitting his house in Canada with solar panels and passive solar heating; he installed green houses and found ways to use the water power of the local stream. He built a log house and a pyramid from the logs from trees on the ashram land. In 1979 he was inspired by reading Permaculture I and sent Srinivasan, (now the Ashram director), for a weekend intensive with Bill Mollison at the University of New Hampshire to learn Permaculture techniques to apply at the Ashram.
The Sivananda Ashram headquarters in the Laurentian mountains north of Montreal has over 200 acres of forest which provided the trees for the experimental buildings. Swami Vishnudevananda was a visionary who predicted the demise of fossil fuel driven economy and technology. He warned that a culture based on wasteful consumption of natural resources was not only unsustainable but depleting the very karmic energy of the civilization. He saw Bill Mollison's Permaculture I as offering an alternative. He wanted the ashram to be sustainable and to be capable of receiving people who would be forced to leave the cities when their infrastructure breaks down.
In 2009 Sivananda Yoga Ranch, is pleased to present a variety of permaculture events that support the ashram's continued commitment to cultivating a harmonious relationship with the earth as a vital part of yoga practice. Join us as we deepen our connection to the land and begin developing a long-term permaculture design for the ashram.
YOGA & PERMACULTURE 2009
Reconnection and Revival! Hands-on Permaculture Weekend Workshops:
with Michael Judd and Green Phoenix Permaculture
Come dig in with us! While taking time to observe the land through the seasons is a priority for long-term design, beneficial short-term projects creating regenerative systems can immediately move the ashram closer to greater food abundance and self-reliance. Ongoing themes for this year's activities include: annual organic garden expansion and diversification; soil care and water conservation with sheet mulching, composting/vermicomposting, and aerobic compost teas; orchard and berry patch revival; food forest preparation; silvopastoral plantings; harvest, preservation and seed saving; low-tech surface swale design, earthbag construction and mushroom inoculations.
Hands-on workshops for this year include:
- annual organic garden expansion and diversification
- orchard and berry patch revival
- food forest preparation and plantings
- composting/vermiculture/aerobic teas/sheetmulching
- soil care and water conservation
- low tech surface swale design
- natural building
- mushroom inoculation
- harvest and preservation
Each full weekend will feature a site tour and an introduction to yoga practice for newcomers. Instruction is primarily experiential. We will learn by doing! Specific activities each weekend will vary depending on the evolving needs of the site. All levels of experience welcome! Workshop fees: $40 per day or $70-100 per weekend sliding scale or $300-$450 for 5 full weekends, plus accommodations*.
*Additional accommodation fees include: brunch, dinner, asana classes, and sauna begin at $55/night. For full ashram details www.sivananda.org/ranch
Yoga & Permaculture Workshop Dates with Michael Judd:
March 27-29; April 3-5, 17-19; May 1-3; 15-17; 29-31; June 12-14; 26-28; September 4-6; 25-27; October 2-4
Design Courses with: Dave Jacke and Michael Judd
Gardening like the Forest: Fundamentals of Ecological Gardening • May 9-10 th, 2009
This workshop explores the vision, theory, design, and practice of ecosystems agriculture, using the temperate deciduous forest ecosystem as a model. Lectures, field observation, and experiential classes will reveal the nature of ecosystems architecture, social structures, underground economics, & succession. Participants will develop practical design principles, practices, patterns, and processes for garden design management. This is an introductory workshop for gardeners, designers, and students of gardening, ecology, & design. $150 + Accommodations.
Remaking Eden: Ecological Design as Spiritual Practice • October 16-24 th, 2009
An Advanced Permaculture Design Course
Most humans alive now, have grown up in cultures divorced from nature. This fundamental separation prevents conventional agricultural design from incorporating whole, self-regenerating ecosystems that also meet human needs. During this course we will explore how we can create food-producing ecosystems that work like healthy natural systems, with minimal maintenance, and diverse yields . and, how the practice of ecological design reveals a healthy relationship to nature and to spirit, teaching us how to see and act, with respect and humility. Using Sivananda Ashram as our design client, participant teams will undertake various design projects leading toward a master plan for the ashram property. We will also participate in the ashram schedule, and relate our experiences with meditation and Yoga to our work as designers. Join us as we explore and weave together questions and answers from the inner and outer landscapes through intense, hands-on practice of ecological design. Open to graduates of certified permaculture design courses, and others by special request. $600 + accommodations.
About the Teachers: Dave Jacke, primary author of the award winning two-volume book Edible Forest Gardens, has studied ecology and design since the 1970s, and has run his own ecological design firm.Dynamics Ecological Design.since 1984. Dave is an engaging and passionate teacher of ecological design and permaculture. He has designed, built, and planted landscapes, homes, farms, and communities in the many parts of the United States, as well as overseas, but mainly in the Northeast. A co-founder of Land Trust at Gap Mountain in Jaffrey, NH, he homesteaded there for a number of years. He holds a B.A. in Environmental Studies from Simon's Rock College (1980) and a M.A. in Landscape Design from the Conway School of Landscape Design (1984). Michael Judd is the Founder and Co-Director of Project Bona Fide, a non-profit organization working toward sustaining culture through organic agriculture, community correlated outreach, and re-forestation projects in Nicaragua. He is a dedicated activist in supporting farmers and landholders around the globe to work with nature, culture and locality, and is the resident Permaculture Designer at the Sivananda Ashram Yoga Ranch, Catskills New York.
YOGA & PERMACULTURE DESIGN COURSE • August 9-30th, 2009
with Julia and Charles Yelton, Eric Tonesmeier, Michael Judd, and guests
This program is an introduction to the Yogic lifestyle and Permaculture experience, of a living system of integrated choices that creates a richer harmony between human dwellings, food production, animals, plants, water consumption and waste.
About Julia and Charles Yelton; formerly of Crystal Waters Permaculture Village in Queensland, Australia, have been traveling, teaching and living Permaculture for the last 15 years. Julia.s background in architectural ceramics and landscape design when combined with Charles' teaching, design engineering and management skills allows them to bring a wealth of knowledge and understanding of sustainable living to their workshops, courses and design practice. Together they have built a sustainable, energy efficient demonstration home and gardens in Whitefield, ME and continue to travel, teach and design properties wherever there is a need.
Topics will include:
- Permaculture vs. Organic and biodynamic Farming
- Ethics and Principles of Permaculture
- Soils and Composting
- Backdoor Environment and Four Season Gardening
- Introduction to Animal Integration into the Homestead
- Wildfire Prevention, Cover Cropping and Fertilizers
- Water Storage, Conservation and Grey Water Systems
- Map and Topography, Design Layout
- Property Design, Zones and Sectors
- Creating a forest garden
- Alternative Energies for a home, community and village
- Alternative Building Techniques
- Village Design and Intentional Communities
- Where does your food come from?
- Permaculture Project Design Definition
- Team Building, Group Dynamics and Project Management
The Daily Schedule will include Permaculture classes and hands on sessions, silent meditation, mantra chanting, Yoga philosophy lectures, Yoga postures, relaxation, brunch and dinner.
The Sivananda Ashram Yoga Ranch is a working Yoga Community established in 1964 by Swami Vishnudevananda, who had a vision for the Sivananda Ashrams to take a leading role in sustainability. This course is a one of a kind opportunity to live actively in harmony with your environment and yourself. Also taking part in the course will be, Srinivasan, director of the Eastern USA Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centers; Paul Magennis, the Ashram gardener; Michael Judd, the Ashram Permaculture Designer; and the Green Phoenix Permaculture team.
Cost: $900 (plus Ashram accommodations)
Minimum students: 10 Maximum Students: 20
Contact:
Sivananda Ashram Yoga Ranch P.O. Box 195, Budd Road Woodbourne, NY 12788 website: www.sivananda.org/ranch e-mail: yogaranch [at] sivananda.org tel: (845) 436 - 6492
Directions
Where: Sivananda Ashram Yoga Ranch • Woodbourne, N.Y. Woodbourne is located in the Catskills near Monticello, about 100 miles north of NYC.
By Car Take 87N (the NY Thruway) to exit 16 (Hwy 17 West, the first Catskills exit), to Monticello exit 105B (Hwy 42N), and go 12 miles north to Woodbourne. At Woodbourne continue straight 3/4 miles on 52 to Budd Road (behind the Woodbourne Fire Station), on the left. The Yoga Ranch is 2.5 miles up Budd Road, on the right.
Shortline Bus From NY Port Authority to Woodbourne (change buses in Monticello). Call the ashram before your departure and from Woodbourne to be picked up.
Scholarship Fund
Though this course has been purposely made affordable, it is still not affordable to everyone. We will gladly accept tax deductable donations to assist others atteding this certification course.