In 2012, my partner April and I are actually building a new straw bale & timber frame home, and we’re hosting two natural building workshops to get people involved with the construction and to educate folks about alternative means of building. (No reciprocal roof this time, unfortunately!) In June of 2012, we are hosting a two week Timber Framing workshop with a pro timber framer, and will build and raise the entire timber frame of our home using hand tools during that course. Shortly afterwards, we’re putting on a 10 day Straw Bale Building workshop, which will hopefully result in a fully baled building with a rough coat of lovely earthen plaster.

The Year of Mud is hosting two natural building workshops in 2012 at Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage — check out their Timber Framing Workshop and Straw Bale Workshops!

The first day will include charcoal making (a potential business opportunity), biochar (which improves soil while also combating climate change), rocket stoves, DIY stoves, site surveying & observation techniques, basic triangulation, measurement and levels.

One of the main practicals for the day will be charcoal & biochar making.

The second day will focus on forest gardening, which is an approach that works with nature as much as possible, to generate a high food yield with minimum effort.

Topics for the day include natural succession, deciduous forest layers, canopy distances, wild plants and canopy design. The main practical exercise for the day will focus around design & work in the new forest garden at Carraig Dúlra organic farm.

Both days are open to beginners, however those with some Permaculture experience will also benefit from the practical exercises and demonstrations. You can attend one or both days.

This event takes place at Carraig Dúlra organic farm in Glenealy, Co Wicklow. Participants are welcome to camp at the farm during the course. The cost for the event is €60 each day (coffee/tea/camping included), and pre-booking is required.

More information and booking: Carraig Dúlra · Glenealy, Co Wicklow info@dulra.org · www.dulra.org/practical-permaculture · 0404 69570

August 20th – 29th 2010 | The Village, Cloughjordan, Tipperary | For bookings and further information contact Davie Philip davie@cultivate.ie

Enjoy a full ‘PDC’ immersed in the thriving and innovative environment of Cloughjordan’s ecovillage. Tutors include: Graham Strouts, Albert Bates of the Farm, Tennessee, and Klaudia Van Gool. Also teaching will be other leading thinkers on various sustainability issues covered on the course.

Thia was the first visit of an ambassador to the village, and came about through a Cuban connection between a family member of one of the founders of the Cloughjordan Eco-village. The Ambassador had been intrigued by the eco-village and paid a visit there to see if links could be made with similar projects in Cuba.

The Ambassador gives an address after planting a pear tree

The visit was especially appropriate as it took place at the end of our Permaculture Design Course. A short reception on the village green with the Mayor and other local dignitaries was followed by a tour of the new eco-village development and a tree planting ceremony; later the film The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak oil was shown and a panel discussion followed with Albert Bates- one of the tutors on the permaculture course; Michelline Sheehy Skeffington, a botanist from NUI Galway; and professor Peadar Kirby of the University of Limerick, hosted by Iva Peacock of Coughjordan Eco-village.

Left to Right: Professor Peadar Kirby; Ambassador Noel Carillo; Iva Pocock; Michelline Sheehy; Albert Bates

In the panel discussion, a common theme was that Cuba was no garden of Eden.

Michelline, who has been in Cuba for several visits and worked on a voluntary basis in the National Botanic Gardens in Havana on the fruit tree project in 2001, pointed out that most Cuban will drop the bicycle as soon as they have a little money to use a car, and also told us how, despite the extensive market gardens that are shown so well in the film, she actually found that they were given very little vegetables at meals- the Cubans prefer meat! She also asked the question, could the Cubans have managed so well as they did during the Special Period were it not for the socialist system, particularly with its emphasis on education?

Albert Bates has not actually visited Cuba but has worked with many Cuban Eco-villagers in the United States.

He began his talk by saying that there are parallels between the island nations of Cuba and Ireland- an island nation will have in innate awareness of natural limits. He also called for a campaign in the US and internationally to end the US trade embargo and sanctions against Cuba.

Cuba was the first Latin American country visited by Peadar Kirby, in 1979, and he also paid tribute to the country which had survived so well through hardship and its people who had managed to forge a future despite the US making life as hard as possible for them. He raised a huge laugh by claiming Cuba as being the only country in the world he has visited where the poeple will spontaneously come up to you and tell you how much the government means to them!

The Ambassador  made quite an impression and came over as a very personable character, and echoed the comments of the previosu speakers: Cuba is no paradise on earth. It continues to be a struggle for the Cuban people, and although he knows they have to work it out for themseleves, he also wants to make links with the eco-village in Cloughjordan.

Cuba, he told us, had made a lot of mistakes. During the Soviet era it was just too easy to take the fossil energy from their allies and trade with Eastern Europe. Twenty years ago they were importing 13million tonnes of energy every year. They had serious pollution problems because of their industrial model, and had become very lazy. At the same time, they had been just as keen as the west to develop consumer lifestyles, an ideology that had been deeply rooted in their minds after being taught for 60 years by the Americans!

Once the Soviet block collapsed, Cuba found itself with no assets, and only itself to blame for its dependency.

I found this an interesting point, the complete lack of resilience in the system up to that point.

He spoke of how hard it was still to make links internationally- for example it had been practically impossible to make links with irish companies becasue oif their US connections.

He echoed Michelline’s comments about  Cuban dietary preference, raising quite a few laughs with his frankness about the downsides of Cuban life and culture,  telling us that, like many Cubans, he doesnt like vegetables! “I know they are good for you but we Cubans want to eat beef!” He also stressed that for most ordinary Cubans, the “organoponic” farms are preferred just because they are cheaper. The more sustainable lifestyle portrayed in the film have been adopted only because of necessity.

VIVA LA REVOLUCION -Albert Bates and myself pose by the Ambassadors’ car

They are still hugely dependent on imports of a lot of their food, in particular more than 2/3 of their milk is imported despite being strictly rationed within the country. (Apparently they used to buy from Ireland but now find milk cheaper from New Zealand!)

There is still a huge amount of unused land in Cuba, but apparently land will be given freely to anyone who wants to start growing food- a scheme that caught the attention of several of the permaculture students there!

Leon also told us how they had reduced energy demand by a government scheme that simply gave everyone a free fluorescent lightbulb in exchange for an old incandescent one; and how they operate a decentralized grid with over 200 mini power stations throughout the country.

Most tellingly of all, the Ambassador told us that, although he thought he would be killed for saying this in his own country, he hoped that they never find oil in Cuba- it would always place them under US scrutiny and control if they did.

Afterwards I managed to get in a couple of questions about Cuba and the Special Period, and how he thought Ireland might cope under similar circumstances, before he was lead away to watch a display of hurling on the GAA pitch. I hope to post this interview as a podcast at a later date, once I have mastered the technology.

Davie Philip lowers the Cuban Flag at the end of the day

The course has been a great experience so far, taking place in and around the site of the new Eco-Village, which currently has several houses under construction- an exciting stage for the project after 10 years of planning and development.

Houses under construction at The Village, Cloughjordan

L-R: Albert bates, Davie Philip, Martin Giannini

Course tutors are myself, Davie Philip of The Village, Klaudia van Gool from the UK; and Albert Bates from the farm, Tennnessee.

The course has covered a range of the usual permaculture topics, with evening sessions from Davie Philip from the Powerdown Course, and special input from Albert on eco-village design, biochar and keyline design.

Tree ID exercise with Klaudia in the yurt

Planting a Forest Garden

This will hopefully be the first of many Permaculture Design courses held at The Village, which is destined to become a major learning center and focus for long and short courses on sustainable living and design, as well as being a place to come and see cutting edge examples in practice.

Mixing Cob with Saul Mossbacher

Design work begins in earnest