Farm Scale & Professional Permaculture 10 Week Internship Handbook

May 6th - Jul 16th 2016

Copyright ridgedale PERMACULTURE 2015/6

...farming, innovating and educating for the benefit of all...

Åsen 20Västra ÄmtervikSunneSweden686 95www.ridgedalepermaculture.com

The result of 6 months work implementing our design in our first season in 2014

“Permaculture consciously and intelligently integrates regenerative agricultural ecosystems with so-cially just environments to produce fulfilling, stable and ethically sound livelihoods through whole sys-tems management. Reflecting natural patterns, flows and relationships, permaculture design func-tionally interconnects diverse elements in highly cooperative and mutually beneficial arrangements that display robust energy efficiency and abundance of yield. The ethic of reinvesting surplus into natu-ral and social forms of capital promotes care of all beings and the planetary systems.” Richard Perkins

farming, innovating and educating for the benefit of all The kitchen gardens after 9 months action on the ground

ridgedale PERMACULTURE is a family owned pasture and perennial crop based beyond organic local food producer and educational hub in Värmland, Swe-den. A flagship multi- income diverse small farm, ridgedale is Scandinavia’s first Keyline designed farm and a leading Euro-pean education provider in the field of Per-maculture and Regenerative Agriculture.

ridgedale PERMACULTURE’S primary responsibility is regenerating landscapes, ecosys-tem processes and soils through replicable, scal-able and profitable symbiotic farm enterprises. Our secondary responsibility is to educate, fa-cilitate, inform and empower people into action through regenerative design, enterprise and ho-listic decision-making that fosters and stimu-lates local community, economy and resilience.

At ridgedale we believe that financially sustainable and socially beneficial livelihoods are founded on regenerat-ing the world’s biospheres. We believe these three aspects that make up our triple bottom line are totally insepara-ble and so our decision-making consistently reflects this.

To ensure our success we use testing questions to ensure our decision making at the farm is consistently aligned with our Holistic Goal. Below are 12 of the key outcomes we are managing towards related to our triple bottom line;

1. Build topsoil via intelligently integrated planting/Keyline layout & animal disturbances2. Maximize photosynthetic energy captured on site3. Restore water, carbon and nutrient cycling on site by mimicking natures processes4. Create habitats that fully support organisms physiologi-cal needs5. Increase diversity of wildlife species and natural “feed-back” loops6. Demonstrate socially just and sustainable profit with an open farm gate policy7. Support world-class education in all aspects of regenera-tive systems design and holistic decision making8. Develop local food resilience & facilitate access to be-yond organic food by connecting people to local farmers9. Prevent wasting of fiscal, human and ecosystem capital10. Utilize regenerative technologies to minimize oil de-pendence11. Create & demonstrate robust decentralized energy pro-duction12. Continually reassess our holistic objectives and man-agement process with decision makers

Context...Managing our farm holistically

Birds eye view of ridgedale PERMACULTURERead more about the design here http://www.ridgedalepermaculture.com/design-at-ridgedale.html

10 Week Internship: Farm Scale & Professional PermacultureThe full Internship begins with a PDC arriving afternoon of Friday 6th May and people leave Saturday July 16th 2016

The following is an extensive amount of information about participating in the Ridgedale Internship program. We are proud to offer the most ad-vanced, thorough & comprehensive trainign of it’s nature in Europe and have taken the time to put this docu-ment together in order to answer the typical questions that come up for folks and clarify what you can ex-pect from our program. Please read all the information presented care-fully & thoroughly; it will help frame and orientate you for the experience.

Are you looking to develop a career in professional Permaculture de-sign? Wanting to establish your own project or farm? Looking for longer- term immersion into regenerative design? ridgedale Permaculture specializes in Action Learning In-ternship programs immersing you in daily farm life to give you experience in what it takes to design, implement, maintain and monitor Regenerative Systems. We’re here to help fast track your professional development.

We are offering unique experiential learning internships to support the establishment of more professional designers, farmers and land manag-ers. The flavors of this Internship are;Whole System Planning, Keyline Design, Holistic Management, Fencing, Access, Water, Tree plant-ing ground preparation, Peren-nial Planting, Kitchen Garden Establishment and Integrated Ani-mal Systems, Regenerative Enter-prise & Holistic Decision Making.

Working alongside a P.R.I (Aus) & PC Assoc (UK) certified field- trained professional designer, farm managers and guest trainers the focus of this training is to engage highly motivated people look-ing to develop and hone the de-sign, planning and decision mak-ing skills to implement successful projects/ enterprises elsewhere.

This is an ideal way to fast-track your ability to establish and maintain your own permaculture project and/or get started on a career as a perma-culture consultant and/or educator. In 10 weeks you will participate in 5 courses whilst immersed in daily life at the farm. All in all the pro-

There are very few learning oppor-tunities to fast- track experience with Farm Scale Permaculture de-sign, Holistic decision-making, bud-geting, planning and implement-ing Permaculture projects working alongside professional designers in Europe. With a strong objective to support others to develop careers in this field, from professional design to planning farming enterprises, we operate an open farm gate policy so you can really understand the priori-tization and budget planning behind decisions being made on the farm.

Based on a solid and thorough Mas-ter Plan, the implementation of major systems and patterning of the farm will be achieved in the first 3 years so this unique opportunity allows acceler-ated learning opportunities for those committing their lives to this field.

Please note: This learning opportunity suits people who are solution orien-tated, self- motivated and committed to hard work in teams! This opportu-nity does not suit armchair theorists. As an intern you will be exposed to a great many opportunities to learn. Making the most of these opportuni-ties is critical to your learning process. You will be immersed in a supportive community of learners during your stay and are expected to get up early each day and get involved in farm life.This will help ensure you come away with the confidence to subsequently design and implement your own Per-maculture and Regenerative Agricul-ture solutions. We aim to offer the highest caliber of practical & theoreti-cal integrative trainings in Europe, and this program is designed as a won-derful opportunity for students who are prepared to accept the challenge.

Farming, innovating and educating for the benefit of all...

Our primary educational objective is to specifically empower more people into farming & land based regenerative enterprises as well as supporting more designers to step up professionally tooled up with the right skills and attitude. This Internship is most suited for;

• Smallholders&Farmersorfuturefarmers• ProjectInitiators• Designprofessionals&pre-professionals• Peoplewantingtoexperiencewhatittakestorunafarmorproject• Peoplewho’vetakenshortcoursesandwanttoknowhowtoactuallyDOIT!

Program OverviewFast track your Permaculture pathway

•WholeSystemPlanning•DetailedDesign•ApproachingConsultancy•SurveyingSkills•MapsandDigitalDesign•KeylineDesign•ScaleofPermanence•FarmForestry•MobileSawmilling•Tools&tech.•WaterSystems•TeachingPermaculture

Please also note that whilst we are commit-ted to your learning experience we also run a working farm and therefore scheduling must be flexible to the weather as well as the emerging priorities that we manage holisti-cally to ensure consistent development of our Holistic Context. Therefore please be aware that weekly scheduling may shift around ac-cording to what we feel is of most benefit.

Flavours for the Internship Topics we can explore together

A stay at ridgedale Permaculture gives a deep and rounded practical experience which also builds on your initial Permaculture De-sign Certificate (PDC) course through ad-ditional trainings. All students are fully in-cluded in everything that takes place using a rotating roster system to allocate the sharing of daily jobs, giving participants both mixed learning experiences and real responsibilities.

•NurserySystems•HolisticManagement•AnimalGrazing•MobileFencing•KitchenGardens•MainCrops•FoodForests•Perennialcropping•TeachingCreatively•ColdClimateTechniques•FutureTechSystems•Localfoodsystems

•ArchitecturalDesign•NaturalBuilding•Renovatingnaturally•EnergySystems•AppropriateTech•WasteSystems•CommunityBuilding•Compostingsystems•CompostTeas•SoilBuilding•BioFertilisers•SoilMicroscopy

10 Week Internship Fees

• 10WeekInternship(EarlybirdbeforeNov22nd2015) 37,500SEKFullpaymentrequired• (Full price 39,500 SEK) Deposit secures space 5,000 SEK• Balance (Due in full 40 days before training start) 34,500 SEK• Price retaking PDC (Pre Approval necessary) 33,500 SEK

The income generated by the Internship program covers the associated costs of you being here, supports the projects we undertake that give you tangible hands on experience, maintains & re-pairs damaged items from the Internship and covers expert tuition from one of Europe’s leading Permaculture designer- educators & Keyline practioners. Sweden is among the most expensive countries in the world and rates of taxation are incredible, so we see this program as extremely good value when compared with programs of a similar nature around the world. This has also been the consistant feedback from our students. We aim to keep our pricing as low as possible.

Internship Prerequisite

Our Internship begins with one of our internationally acclaimed PDC courses. We require all Internship participants to join, although if you are retaking a PDC (you qualify for a reduced rate). Having run intensive education for many years we see the standard & content of PDC trainings varies greatly and we see it is of most benefit for people to join our course, meet the crew & orientate themselves here as well as benefit from additional time on the ground at this lighthouse project. People who made this choice in 2014/5 said is was very worthwhile and so we have made this a condition.

Program overview & Introduction

Our primary objective for this Internship is to empower individuals who are genuinely interested in starting their own regenerative enterprises, projects & farms or wanting to design professionally. The Internship program is focused on immersion into daily life setting up and running regenerative agricultural enterprises. Our farm is designed around modular, replicable and scalable enterprises & systems that have the power to regenerate ecologies, local economies whilst benefiting everyone involved. “Future- proof ” we like to say. By immersing yourself into what it takes to set up, maintain and manage diverse farm enterprises you will learn a great deal through tangible experience.

Your time with us also includes specific trainings that we have de-signed to give people the skills & knowledge we see are necessary to suc-ceed. We operate an “Open Farm Gate” policy and share our inner work-ings, decision-making, approach and perspectives, fast tracking your learning.

As an Intern at Ridgedale Permaculture you are presented both with tremendous opportunity and a degree of responsibility during your time with us. What is this word “responsibility”? To us it is simply the ability to respond. When you commit to participating in the Internship with us you are really committing to your own learning adventure. We offer the most comprehensive professional design orientat-ed trainings of their nature available in Europe, unique trainings in fact, at Scandi-navia’s leading Permaculture & Regenerative Agriculture demonstration farm. We will lead you through the required duties and responsibilities we expect from you from day one, where you will take on and manage aspects of the farm. We see that hands on experience are what is needed to create a new generation of intelligent and sensitive farmers & designers. Theoretical learning just won’t do it, so we have opened up our farm and lives to offer this unique experiential learning opportunity.

This 10 Week Certificate training includes;

• 90hr+PRI(Aus)&PCAssoc(UK)certifiedPDC• IntroductiontoHolisticManagement(SavoryInstituteCertified)&inte grated Animal Systems• KeylineDesign&WaterSystemTraining• Agroforestry&PerennialCropping• Annualvegetableproduction&RegeneratingSoils

In learning about Farm Scale Permaculture you will also spend time with our awesome Core Team working & learning about all areas of the farm. You also have the opportunity to work on your own design projects and devel-op teaching materials you can put to the test with the group and receive feed-back from on of Europe’s most experienced Designers & Educators. Our dai-ly schedule is very full; you will need to manage your free time to make the most of the opportunity presented. Self-organizing and motivated folks can leave with a very beneficial documented experience if they put the time in.

The PDC is intensive full time training. All other trainings in the In-ternship (other than the 3 Day HM Introduction) will run for half days in the classroom Mon- Fri allowing us time to work on projects around the farm putting knowledge into practice. Please be aware the sched-ule is flexible according to priorities on the farm, weather, group needs, etc.

Whilst everything we do on site is focused around our farm activities here in a cold temperate climate, our experience working in every major climate zone around the world means we can support learners from other zones. We had people from over 30 countries come to learn in 2014 & 5, and as we always say, studying these sys-tems in various climates can only increase your understanding of your own climate.

(90 hr +) Permaculture Design Course: Every Internship includes a 90 hr+ inter-nationally certified PDC course (P.R.I Aus & PC Assoc UK) to orientate participants. The entire Internship program builds upon various elements of the course content and gives participants incredible practical learning opportunities through out their stay. Our PDCs have an agricultural fo-cus, but also include the full syllabus you should expect from such a training. We teach from our field & design experience.

Holistic Management : Holistic Manage-ment revolves around Holistic Decision Making. As farmers we are automatically engaged in Complex systems, Ecology, Economy & Society. This 3 Introduction frames our Internship program. We make decisions Holistically using testing ques-tions and our Holistic Context, graze our animals using Holistic Planned Grazing and plan our finances. We feel HM is essential for Farm Scale Permaculture and Holistic Decision Making is relevent and potent for everyone.

Keyline Design : gain an broad over-view of the theory and practice of P.A Yeoman’s incredible Keyline design system, including site design skills, mapping & surveying, laying out Key-line patterning on varying terrains and the importance of the Scale of Perma-nence in Farm Scale Design from of Europes leading practioners. You will gain a clear insight into how to use various technologies to assist in rapid & effective design for broadacre work.

Holistic Management gives us clear holistic decision making and grazing planning both of which are instrumen-tal to managing and steering our farm consistently towards our Holistic Goal. Keyline and HM have been instrumen-tal complimentary integrations into our Permaculture Design work for years.

Immerse yourself into life at a pioneering farm and study cutting edge regenerative design with Professionals

Agroforestry & Perennial Cropping :this training will give you deep theory and practical experience in establishing perennial crops (forest gardens, alley cropping, Orchards, Silvopasture, Silvo-arable Riparian plantings, Windbreaks & Coppice, etc), including design, qual-ity ground preparation, planting and nursery considerations. Perennial plants, including pasture, are our focus here at the farm and play a huge part in a resilient climate adaptive future.

Annual Vegetable Production & Regen-erating Soils: we unravel the complex sciences of soil microbiology and plant nutrition and look at the cutting edge sys-tems of regenerative soil management. You will gain hands on experience with composts, compost teas, Biochar & Bio-Fertiliser preparations as well as use and understanding soil analysis Microscopy.You will also work with members of the Core Team producing & harvest-ing vegetables in our No Dig con-tour beds, field beds and Polytunnel.

Looking back & looking forward2015 in brief & looking forward to the year ahead...

2015 has been EPIC! We’ve done a LOT on the farm. We plant-ed thousands more trees; Savannah nut plantings, windbreaks and riparian plantings. We built a tree nursery for 20,000 trees that will support various functions including growing out a hedgerow that we’ve planned to replace the metal elk/deer/wolf fence in 15- 20 years time. We made a cold climate vineyard.

We’ve also built the cheapest approved slaughtery of it’s kind and run a lot of premium pastured broilers and Egg Mobile eggs that have had an awesome impact on our pastures already in one season. We’ve de-veloped our own currency to pre sell birds and scaled up production to support a family just from the land. We’ve sold everything we’ve produced and built up markets, buying clubs and local connections.

At the same time we’ve run 3 PDC’s at home, one in Poland and a farmer/rancher training in Mexico and run 2 x 8 week Internship programs as well as host many groups and open farm tours. Life is rich and full here. We’ve also improved a lot of infrastructure, built up new and improved facilities and a whole bunch of other things.

We just love how this place is geared both to serious land-scape regeneration and profitable farming as well as the high-est quality of education available in this part of the world.

2016 sees our last Internship, for as much as we love to run epic education we also want to focus on scaling up production and build local commu-nity.Nextyearwillseethedoublingofcurrentproductions,aswellasinitial experiments that expand our range with pastured possibilities; ducks and turkeys, possibly pigs and pigeons as we hear back from local restuarants that want top notch local ecosystem benefitting products.

We’ll be planting out more perennials, constructing ponds and building soil whatever we do. Rest assured you’ll receive a very in depth experience of what it takes to design/ install/ manage & monitor awesome regenerative systems at Europe’s only dedicat-ed Farm Scale Permaculture & Regenerative Ag farm & Edu hub...

Our objectives are that participants leave confident in diverse aspects of Farm Scale Permaculture and the necessary skills to develop regarding profession-al design in the field. Asides from learning a lot about yourself and working and liv-ing in groups, diligent and committed Interns should leave the farm clear and confident in;

• ApplyingKeylinepatterningtovariedterrains• Deepunderstandingofmapsandhowtousethemindesign• Howtointegratefunctionalsystemsinafarm/projectsetting• Basicdigitallydrafteddesign• ProducingaBillofQuantities• HowtodraftaDesignReport• ThevitalelementsandprioritizationinFarmScaledesign• YourHolisticContextandknowhowtotestdecisionsinyourlifeHolistically• SettingupaHolisticPlannedGrazingGrazingChart• Knowinghowtoconductbasicfieldsurveystocreatetangibledataforplanning&monitor ing pasture• ConfidentindailyfarmtasksatRidgedaleandhowtomanagethemeffectively• UnderstandingbasicelementsofAnimalHusbandry• ClearaboutRegenerativeEnterprisesandhowtoplanafarmenterprise• Abletoidentifybiomecharacteristicsandassembleappropriatespecies• Knowingvariousapproaches&strategiesforimplementingPerennialcroppingsystems• UnderstandinghowtoestablishPasturedEggandPasturedBroilerenterprises,including processing & packing• Moving&workingwithdairycows,goats,chickens,pigs,sheepaswellasinteractedwith 100 or more plant species• Producingabundantannualcropswithminimaleffort• Howtobuildsoilinavarietyofwayssuitablefordifferentscalesandclimates,including various preparations• UsingSoilMicroscopytomonitoryourcomposts&soils• Howtoshareyourknowledge&experience(youneedtotakeinitiativeifyouwanttoprac tice teaching to the group)• Withasoliddesignbaseforyourownproperty(ifyoucamewithrelevantdataandput spare time into creating this plan and asking for reflection & feedback)• Withsomedesignworkdocumentedforyourportfolio(ifyouputtheextrahoursinaround our busy daily schedule)• Witha500gb(pleasebringanexternalHDwithyou!)Harddrivepackedwithalifetimeof resources for all aspects of regenerative design through all climate zones• Withincrediblememoriesandnewlifelongfriendsaswellasadevelopingprofessionalnet work• Inspired,engaged&empoweredtotakeyourplanstothenextlevel

Who thrives in our programs?

After running intensive & diverse education around the world we see that people who get the most from our action learning intensive immersions are;• Takingnotes,rewritingthem,synthesizinginformation• Practicingdesignworkandaskingforfeedback• Ontime,punctualandselfstarting• Inquisitiveandkeentogetinvolved• Askinghowtheycanhelpandlearningbydoing• Usingsparetimetoconductresearch,read,etc

This Internship is less suited to people that wish to simply study theory and not get involved with hard or dirty work on a farm. The trainings we offer are specifically designed to bring you the cutting edge of Regen-erative Design, but this is secondary to providing you hands on tangible experience in implementing, maintaining and monitoring systems. This is what we see is needed more in the world. Our professional design work and lifestyle is focused around agriculture, whilst we can and have designed for Urban and Small Scale projects this is not our focus and we will not be addressing this at any length in the Internship program. We study intensively and work hard and full days. If this does not suit you then this is probably not the best learning environment for you.Please note we are a meat-producing farm. As an Intern you will be working with our animals regularly, including daily animal move-ments, egg collection & sorting and weekly processing of meat chick-ens which we sell locally. If you are not comfortable with this then this is probably not the right Internship program for you to follow.

Learning Outcomes

Participants are required to complete diary entries as part of the overall learn-ing experience and portfolio building at ridgedale Permaculture. You will also be spending some time each week working on a private design project and can get regular feedback from a professional designer as well as supportive peer reviews within our learning community. Our extensive teaching experience has shown us that it is protracted observation and design thinking that allow you to synthesize and utilize the broad information we will cover in our time together.

You are encouraged to make time every week to work on one or more person-al extended design assignments. During a PDC most participants find there is not enough time to get into the finer details of design planning, for exam-ple generating aBill ofQuantities, budget planning andother research. Theaim of this extended design work is to allow for regular feedback with a pro-fessional designer as well as supportive peer meetings over many weeks to ex-tend the design work from your PDC, or begin a new design. If you have a site you want to work on then begin taking photographs and looking for top-ographic maps and aerial photographs. Search Google, Bing or local service for these if you do not have a detailed survey of your property. Public online topographic maps vary greatly from country to country so hunt online and see what you can find. You should also be able to find wind data, rainfall and temperature data easily enough. Take some soil tests, perhaps dig a soil pro-file pit and take some jar tests to find the composition of the soil. Take pho-tos. If you can you might take some basic chemical analysis. Record species of plants exisiting on your site- can you find out what they might indicate?

Basically, you are starting to gather data. Good design responds to both your ob-jectives and the potential of the landscape. If you do not have a place to work on then you are welcome to work on designing systems or portions of the farm here. Have a look at the recommended reading at the end of this booklet and delve deeper into design beforehand if you can. We will have a weekly meeting and brief and you will be guided carefully through this process with the added support from your peers

We will be presenting this design work as well as a report and analysis of our learning experience at the end of the internship. This is important as part of our intention is to help you build a portfolio of the work and design you have engaged in. Successful participants will leave with a PDC and Internship cer-tificates and a learning portfolio with design and practical works recorded.

Preparing for your design assignmentHone your design skills...

Instruction

During Course periods you will receive classroom & field based tuition. We aim to leave you with the design tools, skills & strategies we have found necessary in our profes-sional work. You will also be given resources and design tasks that you can manage in your free time. Making the most of these opportunities is your responsibility. We greatly value experiential learning. Reading or learn-ing about how to do something is a useful tool, but un-less you practice what you have learned, it remains a tool unused. What we need globally is more experienced folks sharing their experience and we have designed this pro-gram to fill a gap in opportunities available in Europe.

Apprentices will receive a good amount of instruction and assistance, especially in the beginning of the program, re-garding daily work and responsibilities on the farm. You will quickly move into taking responsibilities working super-vised by our Core Team that you are expected to master. For example, after we have demonstrated & explained Holistic Planned Grazing and how we work with that at the farm, you, as a group, will be expected to take over that task for the remainder of the Internship. Running a farm is about responsiveness, responding to whatever needs addressing whenever it needs addressing. If a job needs doing that can-not wait then we must respond. If an animal escapes, some-thing needs cleaning so the next person will find it ready or you left something out in the field then you may be late for dinner. If a meeting is needed to clarify the next days activi-ties or address any of the situations that can come up unex-pectedly in this environment then you may miss the sauna that night. This is the way it is sometimes, we work hard and try to plan well ahead, but bottom line is things must get done when necessary. Working well in a team of people is a lot about giving up part of the self for the greater good of the whole. We work with the underlying question, “how can I be of benefit here?” It is these experiences that we see cali-brate and orientate people with the capacity to go off and de-sign, plan and implement their own regenerative enterprises.

Nature of Work

The nature of project work on the farm varies greatly. This year we plan on scaling up our pastured egg and broiler production, with more tree planting very early in the sea-son, possibly earth working and continuing our experi-ments with Jean Pain composting. We also grow a lot of our own vegetables, forage wild foods and maintain ex-isting farm systems. We often spend long hours work-ing in the summer; farming in this climate is very sea-sonal with an intense spring, intensive harvesting & food preservation in Autumn and quiet winters to recuperate.

Work will include picking & packing eggs, planting kitchen gardens & perennial systems, mulching and maintaining existing systems, weekly chicken slaugh-ter & processing, harvesting, establishing new systems, monitoring, surveying and anything else that comes up.

We work physically hard, often long hours in summer, out-side in all weathers and do what is needed to get tasks done in a timely & optimal manner. Be prepared to get wet, some-times cold, wear holes in your work gloves and learn & laugh a lot. It is important you bring appropriate gear to be comfort-able during your stay. We are not close to shops and Sweden is incredibly expensive so best to come with what you need.

Commitment

You will likely find our days are full. Including training times we work full time, about 40 hours of work per week plus ba-sic farm chores at the weekends, which is otherwise down time. You are expected to be present for all tasks to receive the cer-tificate of successful completion from Ridgedale Permaculture.

Daily Schedule

In order to help you picture what a typical day looks like at the farm;

6:30-8 Morning chores: Moving animals & daily routines8-8:30 Breakfast8:30-9 Morning Meeting: Organize the day9:00-10:30 Session 1 Tea Break 11- 12:30 Session 2 Lunch2- 3:30 Session 3 Tea Break4- 5:30 Session 4 Dinner

On Saturdays we have Community Check-In after Breakfast. This is an opportunity to share how you are feeling, how your week went, express frustrations, needs, get stuff off your chest, etc.

Our Objectives, Expectations & Context for a beneficial experience

We primarily exist to create a functional and successful local food-producing farm. We are most excited to support more people into land based re-generative enterprises as well as support more professionals getting out there designing with confidence & competence. We are deeply engaged with high quality education, and have been for many years, however at our home site this goes hand in hand with the running of the farm. We are of-fering an immersion into what it takes to design, establish, monitor & maintain awesome systems. The deeper you immerse yourself the more insight you will gain.

Success of our educational trainings requires clarity around people’s expectations and a pro- active solution based approach from all working here together. After many intensive years of leading all manner of trainings around the world we know what to expect from groups coming to the farm. We know what subject matters and activities you will find challenging, the group processes that come up and have developed a good sense of when to act and when to step back and let things play out by themselves.

We wish for everyone coming to the farm to have a fantastic and empowering learning experience, and this begins by clarifying boundaries and expectations. It is vital to us that you spend time reflecting what it is you wish to gain from your time with us, what is expected from you and how you can benefit the whole. If you prefer observing oth-ers work, drinking tea and discussing what could be done rather than getting out in the rain and getting the trees planted then this experience probably won’t suit you. We work hard and learn a lot by doing.

People arrive with very different expectations for our trainings. Please spend some good time carefully considering the available information and reflect-ing on what you are coming for. Whilst we are committed to the best level of regenerative education available in this part of the world we are also very busy people. Aside from family life we design a dozen or so other properties each year as well as run our business outside of the farm gates. We are more in-clined to give our time to folks who are engaged, timely & responsive. It’s about reciprocating. If you’re late up or not paying attention in classes then you may be disappointed when we don’t have time to respond to questions regarding things we have already covered, or that you missed something. We’d obviously rath-er give our limited time to those we can see are pro- active and engaged, for they are the folks we know will go on to do great things with what they learn with us.

We’re running a farm and most of our consultancy work is focused on small- holdings, farms and larger scale projects around the world. Whilst we can and have de-signed for Urban & small-scale projects this is not the primary focus in our work or trainings. If you have a property to develop be sure to bring good topographic maps, photos and contact us for a questionnaire to fill out before you arrive. The more preparation you come with the more you can get out of the resources on tap here.

The “how can I be of benefit?” approach is the motivation this place runs on, and an attitude we ask everyone to uphold. When people are con-nected through the motivation to benefit all through their actions then everything works smoothly and easefully, even in the most challeng-ing circumstances. Our project is living testimony to this. There’s nothing we cannot achieve together when working effectively together.

We have a clear Farm Policy that you commit to by participating in our trainings. Please make sure you have viewed this on the website and reflect upon it. Peo-ple violating our basic conduct expectations will be asked to leave and forfeit any payments. We present ourselves professionally at all times here. We show up on time, consistently and are attentive to what is going on around us. We are engaged, responsive and supportive to each other at all times. You are part of our world whilst you live here. You represent us to the local community, the stories you share, the products you buy at the store. You represent us in what you share with visitors as well as online. Together we need to be aligned in the message we put out to the world. Your impact can live on well past your time here.

You are entrusted with responsibilities during your time with us. From managing livestock, to maintaining hygiene and spaces, processing chickens, pack-ing eggs and communicating with others at the farm. It is your duty to make sure every tool goes back clean to its correct place. It is your responsibil-ity to fix things that you damage, note them on the control sheets, inform us when anything happens with animals that we may need to know. If you aren’t able to carry out a duty and need to pass on the responsibility you need to know the other is fully informed how to perform that task proper-ly. If someone else is neglecting their responsibilities then you are next in line, how did you support them to correct anything out of place? How did you respond?

When we give instructions and delegate responsibilities we are putting trust in you to fully manage whatever you are doing at the farm, treating it like it were your own. We are working with complex systems; people, finances & ecology. You will make mistakes from time to time, you will learn a lot. We are here to support you to fully step into your learning. When you immerse yourself in the farm, it’s intricacy and processes, you will learn a lot. How deeply you immerse yourself is directly proportionate to how much you gain from your experience. Sometimes it will not always be the learning you want that day. Sometimes you’ll be tired or disinterested, and we’ll still need to be out working in the rain. How do you motivate yourself to be up first to begin the morning chores, to clean the tools someone else forgot, brush the floor of the workshop that someone left in a mess? We work with the underlying question “how can I be of benefit here?” Which means if you see something you can do something about then do it. We run around doing a lot of jobs to help serve the whole that nobody notices, nobody thanks us for. We hope you see the value in adopting the same approach.

We have designed and planned what we are doing very well, a big part of the reason we can roll so effectively. This is not an open experiment in “having a go”. We aim to demonstrate economic viability and we are investing our lives and a huge amount of financial capital into this. When we instruct you in a task or management procedure we expect you to follow these instructions meticulously and perfect the systems as we working with. We want you to learn the op-timal way to carry out the tasks we demonstrate to you. If you don’t fully understand why you are asked to do something then ask for clarification. We have thought about what and how we are doing things a lot and you can assume it is based on our experience. When our routine procedures are not followed closely things get broken, worn, damaged and lost. It is expensive to have so many people coming to the farm and we have worked out clear systems that work well for us.

There are many things we will do in the future here, and many things we wish to improve. Before opening too many doors it is vital that jobs are completed, systems maintained and documented well. A big part of your learning is to perfect these opera-tions to gain an experiential understanding of how to go off and adopt, adapt and replicate the aspects of the enterprises you feel are relevant. Communication with us is vital and timely communication keeps the wheels oiled nicely. Pro- active people.

Whilst we prefer to follow proposed schedules in a timely & coordinated manner we don’t watch clocks here; we do whatever is needed to get the job done well and leave everything ready for the next people. We aim to make you experience as rich as possible and em-power every single person passing through here with the design approach to do whatever fits your hearts desire. At the same time we must make decisions that fit our Holistic Context and as such our schedule is extremely flexible to whatever feels of most benefit.

Centraltotheeffectiverunningofthefarmisthattools,spacesandbelongingsarekeptinperfectorder.Notonlymustyoutakegoodcare of your own stuff, you’ll find you have to follow up others who always forget to put things away where they belong. The Workshop is labeled and signed, everything has a place and everything should be in it’s place unless being used at that moment. Anything dirty must be cleaned for the next person. Anything damaged needs fixing immediately or noting on control sheets if broken and Richard or Yohanna informed. It always works best in a place like this to do things you see need doing, and do it when you spot it. Don’t expect recognition, thanks or praise for it. If folks can’t look after their own responsibilities they likely won’t notice when you step out beyond your own. It’s what makes it all work though, it’s how we can all benefit the whole, it’s what we spend a lot of our time having to do.

Whilst we work together on various projects and daily tasks we naturally always try to identify people’s unique gifts, strengths and talents. We give more trust & opportunity where we see its appropriate. We do not always have much time to check in with everyone day to day, so a proactive solutions focus is essential. Its much more useful to have folks here who comes to let us know how they fixed a problem rather than coming to tell us there’s a problem. “If not you, then who?” we like to say. Give up the right to be a victim. It’s not interesting who left the mess, who broke the tool; it’s interesting how we keep responding.

It is our overall responsibility to make sure everything rolls smoothly, and we are doing quite well with that. Ulti-mately the buck stops with us. It’s us that have to pay for new power tools because someone forgot them out in the rain. It’s us that have to stay up till 10 pm fixing fencing connections that got damaged by improper use. It’s us that miss meals when supplies are needed from town, and it’s us that have to clean up and pack down all the things others forgot. It costs a lot to put on the epic educational programs we manage to run, but ultimately we see our future relies on each one of us getting powered up to use our unique strength, gifts and talents for the benefit of all. So let’s do it together….

We’re running the only dedicated Farm Scale Permaculture & Regenerative Ag farm/ Edu Hub in Europe where you can learn Keyline Design, Holistic Man-agement,AgroforestryandalltheotheraspectsofregenerativedesignweteachaboutINTHEFIELD.Learnwheretheactionis!

Our courses are accredited by the Permaculture Research Institute (PRI), Australia (PRI Registered Teacher No. 24) and the Permaculture Association UK. This ensures you are you being trained by a personally vetted field trained professional, actively engaged in design and with recognized teaching skill. We live and work in our designs and are continually deepening our knowledge and understanding to empower what we have to share. We are engaged in regenerative design daily; professionally, on the farm and at home and have been for many years. We are 100% committed to radical system redesign by managing financial, social and ecological elements holistically.

DESIGN is the foundation of all our trainings Our experience shows that students engaging in regular design exercises synthesize course content much more ef-fectively, and produce more competent and actionable designs. We teach principle-based design, so you will understand how to apply design to any site regardless of the climate or circumstance. Our no- nonsense approach to design is key to our trainings, and our practical experience in every major climate zone integrating the best of several disciplines of regenerative design means we can impart very broad and practical knowledge and experience.

We offer a clear, pragmatic and scientific approach to design. Permaculture is a design science; metaphysics is not included in our curriculums, and for good reason. Students of all backgrounds, cultures and religions are fully welcome and respected. We are integrationalists and believe in integrating anything effective and workable from any discipline to widen our scope, we have been using Keyline design and Holistic Management in our work for years. We fit in a lot more than many similar programs. See our schedule and compare programs.

We can support you after the training with both personal and professional experience in further education we can offer advice, design support and recommend further learning opportunities for those wishing to take design further. We have acted as mentors in longer term education programs, such as the 2 yr Permaculture Diploma, as well as run a wide variety of workshops and trainings to students from over 45 countries through all climate zones.

Why take a training at ridgedale PERMACULTURE?

Bringwhatyouneedtobecomfortable,theitemsbelowareESSENTIALS.Welive outdoors a lot of the time, in all kinds of weather. Autumn can see freez-ing spells and even snow. DO NOT underestimate warm layered clothing.We provide a delicious and wholesome rounded diet with farm kitchen style menu but perhaps bring any special treats that we may not be able to cater for.

•Agoodqualitytent•Warmsleepingbag•Severalpairsofworkclothes,whichyouarehappytogetgetdirty•Strongwaterproofworkboots/wellies&comfortableshoes•Non-workclothes,bepreparedforcold,multiplelayersisbest•Swimmingcostumeforsauna(wehavepeoplefrommanycultures)•Waterbottleforcomfortwhenworkinginthefield•Flashlight/Headlamp,important•TowelandECOLOGICAL toiletries•Sunscreen/hat/sunglasses/workinggloves,etcifyouneedthem•Notebookandgoodpensfortakingnotes(4colourbirosareexcellent)•Maybeyourownsupplyofcoffee,weonlyofferitatbreakfast!•Laptoportablet•500GBHardDrive(Tomakeuseofourawesomelibrary)•Amusicalinstrumentifyouliketoplayone•Anopenmindforlearningfromeveryonepresent•Highqualitychocolate(optionalbutappreciated!)

Booking onto the Internship

We have to work on a first come first serve basis. We manage our bookings on-line,itischeapestforyoutopayinfullbeforeNov22ndtoqualifyfortheEarly-bird rate. If this is a problem you can reserve a spot by paying a deposit and pay the balance within 40 days of the start of the training. You can also contact us here http://www.ridgedalepermaculture.com/contact.html

Please make sure you have read our Returns Policy

Getting to ridgedale PERMACULTURELatitude:59°50’15”N,Longitude:13°08’34”E

Driving We are located quite centrally to all the major regional transport hubs. We are 3 hrs from Oslo, 4 hrs from Stockholm & 3.5 hrs from Gothen-burg. For Google maps use this address;

ÅSEN 20, 686 95 Västra Ämtervik, Värmlands län, Sweden

Train & Bus We recommend using the website http://www.sj.se/ which gives you all the options and comparative prices when travelling in Sweden, in both Swedish and English. We can pick you up in Västra Ämtervik which is a neat 6km from the farm.

Flying Travel is simple from the three major transport hubs above. Use the train/ bus link to determine what feels best for you.

What to bring for your stay?Come sun, rain or snow...

Site Policy

ridgedale PERMACULTURE is a family home as well as a professional learning center. We cater to people from many cultures and nationalities so to help maintain a comfort-able stay for all, visitors are asked to follow our simple code of conduct during their visit.

For the benefit, comfort and wellbeing of all staying at the farm there is a strict no drugs policy. Transgression will result in you being asked to leave immediately, forfeiting your stay/ training, etc. Please don’t involve us.

Consumption of alcohol is also only permitted on Friday/ Saturday eve-nings. This is a working farm and we work hard everyday of the week.

We do not tolerate any form of anti-social behavior/conduct and our commitment to deep ethics and the benefit of all form the basis of our working and social relationships.

Other information you need to know for your stay at ridgedale PERMACULTUREDedicated to the benefit of all...

Accommodation & Facilities

Accomodation will be shared dorm, loft or camping, for which you’d need to bring a good quality tent. We can sup-ply a simple mattress & duvet, but you will need to bring a sleeping bag to ensure you are warm enough during your stay.

We have simple dry composting toilet as a means to close our nutrient cycles.

Washing facilities are a large communal sau-na/ washroom with a couple of private stalls for bucket showers. We ask people to bring purely ecological soaps as they drain into our plant systems. Please also bring a swimming costume for the sauna/ washroom. Whilst this is not exactly traditional by Swedish stan-dards we must point out that we have people from all over the world attending our train-ings from very different cultural backgrounds.

Conditions are simple but comfortable here, we are establishing a farm from scratch!

Catering

Our courses are fully catered from our practical farmhouse kitch-en with our full-time farm chef.

We provide as much basic fresh food from the farm as possible, vegetables, fruit, dairy, eggs, meat, etc. At some times of year we may also have wild meats, berries and mushrooms available too. All bulk products we buy in are organic and the meals we serve are of a wholesome farm menu type, which include preserved, fer-mented and dried surplus products from the farm. We offer an option of our meals without meat products for vegetarians, any variations to basic meat or vegetarian diet we are not able to cater for, so students with specialized diets need to supplement their meals with their own food purchases.

Please let us know if you have medical allergies well in advance of your visit.

Included in the cost

The cost of the Internship covers your stay at the farm and expert tuition in a full internationally recognized PDC course (P.R.I. Aus and P.C. Assoc. UK) and other certificate courses. It also includes organic or beyond-organic farm food caterering, access to our physical & digital libraries, learning materials and camping ac-comodation. We also offer pick up and set down at Västra Ämtervik.We are sorry but we do not offer re-ductions; our intention is to bring you the highest quality up- to- date trainings at affordable rates. We believe we are very competitively priced, particularly considering the cost of living and taxation in Sweden is amongst the highest in the world. We understand some people have difficulty raising the funds to partici-pate in trainings, so we act as a course provider for Wethetrees, a dedicated Permaculture crowd sourcing site;http://www.wethetrees.com/pages/fund-your-permaculture-design-course

We have invested into a community 1GB/Sec Fibre Optic instal so everyone can have awesome connection speed for research and staying in touch with your loved ones. You need to bring a computer or tablet to make the most of trainings & resources available.

Internet Access

Recommended ReadingPermaculture , Keyline Design, Holistic Management,Whole Systems Design and Ecological Design

This is a small selection of good books. We have an extensive library at the farm, there are plenty more good books we can recommend;The Permaculture Designer’s Manual Bill MollisonAn exhaustive text oriented to specific design techniques, landscape profiles, management systems and philosophies of regenerative design.The Introduction to Permaculture Bill MollisonThe primer on the beginnings of design science as if humans mattered.Permaculture: Pathways Beyond Sustainability David HolmgrenThe Co-founder of Permaculture, David re-defines and expands on permac-ulture principles and prognosticates about the end of the Oil Age, stimulating. A bit Aussie centric.Cradle to Cradle William McDonough and Eric BraungartAims to revolutionize how we make things and how they can be part of a closed system of biological and technical nutrients in place of our traditional throughput system.Ecological Design Sim Van Der Ryn and Stuart CowanThis work is a great treatise on ecological design and whole systems, many good examples of real world situations.From Eco-Cities to Living MachinesJohnandNancyJackToddFantastic visions, plans, and designs for a truly permanent culture. Recom-mended.Edible Forest Gardens Volume 1 Edible Forest Gardens Volume 2 David Jacke and Eric Toensmeier Two volume set of forest garden design for temper-ate climates to USDA zone 5. Impressive plant lists, good design specifications and the books are extensively researched and written.The Timeless Way of Building Christopher AlexanderA Pattern Language Christopher AlexanderPlants For a Future Ken FernAn exhaustive reference for useful temperate plants for permaculture. The da-tabase is even more impressive on the website at www.pfaf.orgThe Backyard Orchardist Stella OttoThe Backyard Berry Book Stella OttoThe Grafter’s Handbook RJ Garner The “Bible” concerning all facets of graft-ing from simple propagation techniques to cotyledon grafting and top-work-ing. Highly recommended.

The One Straw Revolution Masanobu FukuokaThe classic treatise on no till and zen agriculture/forestry/orcharding.Freshwater Aquaculture William McLarney Considered to be a “bible” for fresh-water aquaculture. Extensively researched.Nourishing Traditions Sally Fallon Keeping it real in the Kitchen. Flies in the face of food pyramids, lists, scientific data and all other nonsense.Healing with Whole Foods Paul Pitchford 5 Elements approach to human health, yin-yangandfoodcombining,cool,hot,colors,seasons,recipes.EXCELLENT.Water For Every Farm P.A. Yeoman’s Classic text for large-scale water storage in ponds, swales and catchments, features many water harvesting techniques. This book also features Yeoman’s scale of landscape permanence. This scale is essential for land planning, design, and usage.The City Forest P.A. Yeoman’sThe Challange of Landscape P.A. Yeoman’sHumanure Handbook Joseph JenkinsSmall is Beautiful E.F. Schumacher Classic treatise that outlines economics “as if people mattered” steady state economic theory and community based economics are covered.Regenerative Enterprise Ethan Roland & Gregory Landua Defining the principles of a regenerative enterpriseGrowing Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms Paul Stamets. This work includes a short chapter on Permaculture design and how to intergate fungi into one’s designs. Mycelium Running The latest and greatest work of Paul Stamett’s on using mush-rooms to clean up pollution & build soilSalad Bar Beef Joel SalatinBackyard Poultry-Naturally Alanna MooreFree-Range Poultry Katie ThearSmall Scale Poultry Keeping Ray FeltwellRaising Poultry Successfully Will GravesRabbits for Food and Profit Lee SchwanzFor the Love of Ducks NyiriMurtaghAlloftheaboveareinformativepublicationsfrom Storey publications.Holistic Resource Management Alan SavoryThe “bible” concerning ecological based land management decision making pro-cesses as well as flexible formulas for planned grazing land management.

www.ridgedalepermaculture.com ...farming, innovating and educating for the benefit of all...