June 4 (Fri) through June 19 (Sat) Cost: $1450

Lama is a spiritual center with established gardens that weave in, out, and beyond the community, outside the dome, along the kitchen, adrift the prayer room, and aside natural building projects. The gardens are the result of many hands and many years, permaculturists in title and spirit. Within the last ten years, the gardens have been maintained and partially redesigned with the tenets of permaculture as we now understand it. Water is sourced from a mountain spring located on the land and gathered from rain and snowfall upon the roofs. There are two year-round greenhouses in use, as well as one 3/4 year "hoophouse", and a converted "bucky dome" in progress.

The certification course, led by renowned Permaculturist Scott Pittman, will provide first-hand knowledge about permaculture design and practice. Participants will collaborate on a group project, and be instructed in the following course topics: principles of natural systems, sustainable design methodologies, patterns in nature and society, reading the land, large scale land restoration techniques, water harvesting, grey water recycling, natural building, cultivated and productive ecologies, food forests and plant guilds, energy conservation, appropriate technologies and renewable energies, urban permaculture, wildlife management and biological pest control, land arts and community activism, invisible structures: eco villages and credit unions, community supported agriculture, and strategies for an alternative nation. Participants will receive a Certificate of Permaculture Design, as originally envisioned by Bill Mollison and David Holmgren.

Retreatants have access to the surrounding wilderness of Lama, its facilities, and regular spiritual practices, including daily meditation, thursday evening Sufi Zikr, Friday evening Kabbala Shabbat service, and weekly Men's and Women's Lodges.

Please see the Permaculture Institute's website, www.permaculture.org, for more details.