Permaculture design course in September will feature Thailand’s traditional agricultural systems, sustainable living and edible forest gardens

A two-week permacultural design course will be held in Thailand from 23 September to 7 October at the organic farm of the award-winning eco resort Faasai Resort and Spa. It  will be a general introduction to permaculture and will focus on  farming in harmony with nature, featuring sustainable living systems, site analysis and mapping  and creating regenerative relationships between plants, animals and humans. The course instructor will be Rico Zook, a permaculture designer and instructor with many years of experience teaching permaculture, particularly in Asia. It will be based at White Water Lake, an integrated organic farm and nature sanctuary established by Faasai Resort and Spa

The course will give a general but comprehensive introduction to permaculture,” said Rico. “It will be suitable for farmers, engineers, resource managers, designers and indeed, anyone who works with our physical world.”

In addition to presenting the theory and principles of developing a sustainable home, farm, community and village, the course will provide techniques and strategies that can be immediately applied.  Practical hands-on classes will include building a solar panel, developing a grey water pit, building a spiral garden, worm box and cultivating indigenous microorganisms.

The owner-manager of Faasai Resort and Spa Bronwen, a former economics correspondent for Radio New Zealand will also give a guest lecture about alternative economics.  She will talk about the Thailand concept of the sufficiency economy and how it can help develop resiliency in an age of economic uncertainty. The staff of Faasai Resort and Spa will also give demonstrations of traditional farming techniques in Thailand, such as the integration of rice farming with edible forest gardens. They will also demonstrate the use of microorganisms for soil fertility, animal husbandry and pest control in their production.

The cost of the course is US $875, with an early bird price of $795 which will be available up until 23 June or until places run out (up to five early birds per course). The course runs from 23 September to 7 October and includes accommodation at the resort (2 persons sharing a room) plus three meals a day.

About Faasai Resort and Spa

Faasai Resort and Spa is located in the province of Chanthaburi on the Southeast Coast of Thailand and about 220 kilometres from Bangkok. It is nestled into a forest covered hill that backs onto the sea and has about four acres of gardens including tropical fruit, flowering trees, orchids, herbs and fish ponds. White Water Lake is a nature reserve near the resort covering around 15 acres. It has a lake and wetlands and organic farm as well as many rare indigenous trees. The farm grows tropical fruit such as mangosteen, rambutan, papayas, mangos, bananas and coconuts, vegetable growing is interspersed with rice paddies, bamboo, perennials and herbs provide shelter and complementary crops and there are also fish ponds and grazing cattle.

Awards won by Faasai Resort and Spa include Winner of the Best Small Hotel Thailand Green Awards 2011 and 2009, Outstanding Service to the Environment and Nature in the Eastern region in the Thailand Boutique Awards 2010, and Runner-up in the Budget Category in the Wild Asia Responsible Tourism Awards in 2008.

Contact

Tel:+6686 889 2595 (Bronwen) +66813426234 (resort) Email: [email protected], [email protected]

About Rico Zook

Rico Zook has a degree in Environmental Studies focused on land restoration. For the last eight years he has been a permaculture designer, mainly dividing his time between New Mexico, Cambodia, India as well as teaching and working on various projects around the world. His work focuses on helping indigenous cultures to preserve local knowledge technologies while also building awareness of alternative economics and effective systems in a global environment.  He spent ten years in a wilderness environment in New Mexico doing hands-on permaculture design and rebuilding a community village from the ground up.

www.i-permaculture.org