Join us for a beautiful, powerful, nature-connected full Permaculture Design Course in the Fyksesund sea fjord, Norway this September, at Hardanger Wilderness School.
We are excited to host Peter Cow from Cornwall, England alongside assistant teacher Eirik from Hardanger. Peter and Eirik will combine their skills and experience from both Northern, Temperate and Mediterranean ecosystems and climatic conditions and will put emphasis on social permaculture as well as food forests and homestead growing, with lots of hands on and practicals during the course, including making living compost fences!
If you are seeking inspiration and a new, more holistic way of managing your land, your life, your work, your family… this course will skill you up to better navigate the uncertain times we live in, helping you make choices and designs for more resilience, community and abundance in your life.
Permaculture is a rich powerhouse of ideas, techniques and ways of thinking, based on the wisdom of natural systems.. Whilst learning from the fjord landscape and its wild nature, we will immerse in the wisdom of Permaculture, exploring its library of innovative design ideas, its core principles derived from natural systems, and tricks and tips to help us design and make more grounded choices. Permaculture is a great toolkit for helping people step into new fields like horticulture, building renovation, education, homesteading, food processing and storing, giving us shortcuts to greater yields, and both new and time tested design approaches that work.
The Permaculture Design Certificate
This PDC is fully certified by the Permaculture Association (Britain). The course will be taught in English.
The Permaculture Design Certificate is an 80 hour theoretical course based on Bill Mollison’s Designers Manual, and the 35 years of creativity, research and development in the worldwide Permaculture movement since. It explores how we can use today’s tools and technology to create a more sustainable world.
Permaculture is not only about growing vegetables and animals, it is a whole sustainable lifestyle such as creating community, developing efficient and beautiful homes and growing healthy, happy people. Permaculture ethics are Earth Care, People Care and Return of Surplus and this is taught by showing students to focus on local resources and their local community, and to have well thought out design practices to create abundance sustainably
The Course
Peter and Eirik will share their wide knowledge and experience as well as their creative teaching techniques to guide us through the principles of permaculture, gaining a thorough understanding of how we can use our natural resources for our own sustenance while restoring and taking care of the earth. Theory, group exercises and hands on projects are well combined through this 14 day course. In the end personal projects of the participants or of the site are put into the final designs and are worked out thoroughly by participants working in small groups..
Eirik will share his hands-on experience of transforming the farm and its buildings into a family permaculture farm, and designing the landscape and the social systems. We will have the rare opportunity to discuss and elaborate on Eirik’s choices on different aspects of the project, and reflect on the challenges, opportunities and limitations.
A well run PDC can be a life changing experience. For many people it can be the most intense learning experience of their lives, and great fun to boot. Surrounded by like-minded people, you will learn the framework to thrive in a rapidly changing world. You will also develop the skills to heal damaged landscapes while providing for your own needs. There is no need for previous knowledge of the subject, and all are welcome to join.
Be prepared to have a full day course, starting at 9am and finishing at 7pm with lunch breaks and tea breaks and with some presentations and films in the evenings as well.
The Course Team
Peter Cow Dip. Perm. Des.
Peter lives in Cornwall, UK, where he is currently setting up a new permaculture neighbourhood near Liskeard. An experienced Certified Educator with the Permaculture Association Britain, he has led around 30 PDCs since 2012, and is delighted to be returning to the jaw dropping beauty of Fyksesund.
He has experience of designing and teaching all across the European climate zones, from Northern Temperate to Mediterranean, and the course will share techniques for all European zones, with a focus on Norway’s Northern Temperate context.
Eirik Lillebøe Wiken
Gardener, arborist, permaculture consultant, educator and facilitator.
Eirik has been a permaculture activist since 2002. He took his PDC (Permaculture Design Course) in 2007 and his permaculture diploma at Bøenseter in 2023. In 2010, he seriously began with the dissemination and facilitation of permaculture after a sustainable land use course with Patrick Whitefield at Ragman’s Lane Farm.”
Now working with nature connection, Eirik will be leading the practical teachings on the course.
The Venue
Hardanger Wilderness School focuses on teaching really sustainable development, exploring environmental challenges and deep ecology, held by the presence of nature, and a desire to meet it with the curiosity of a child.
Permaculture has transformed Alvastien from a traditional small farm to a permaculture farm that functions as a living laboratory for sustainable lifestyle and close-to-nature experiences.
Recently Alvastien permaculture farm ia also moving into a new concept – from sustainable family life and forest garden, to wilderness life: how to live with the forest garden and how to contribute to the land, working with volunteers and organizations.
It all begins down by the fjord and the deep waters, then up through layers upon layers of deciduous forest and succession through the zones, until we get up into the mountains, where the full wilderness prevails.
The house and farm are a development center for alternative lifestyles – a workshop where you can do natural crafts, classrooms with libraries, and spaces to study and sleep. Otherwise, the classroom is outside in the garden, and in nature in its northern maritime magic.
Welcome!
