We were finally able to wrap up, certify, and celebrate the 2020-2021 #SABER CDP at Mas Les Vinyes!
A basic training course to earn the Certificate in Permaculture Design (CDP) is at least 72 hours long.
There are many formats for taking this course, and we’ve tried several over the past 15 years—Aline with
So, at the end of the summer of 2020—that very unusual summer that put our schedules for courses, gatherings, and volunteer work on hold—we were eager to launch this new format as a teaching team, as a couple, in the Maresme region.
Taking into account both the physical and social landscape, we wanted to collaborate with another
We’ve come out of this enriched, yes! However, we’re very sorry that not everyone who signed up initially was able to receive certification, nor at the scheduled time, since after the first module in October, health restrictions were tightened again and we were unable to continue with the training as planned.
So we were able to put our design skills to work and apply the principle“ ”—“Use and Respond Creatively to Change”—and we tried to adapt to the new situation as best we could.
It was hard to make plans, living two weeks at a time. We recorded audiovisual materials for our projects so we could share them with the group; we connected virtually every two weeks; we chatted in a Telegram group; and we’ve already submitted the final group assignments so the participants could move forward with the designs needed to earn their certification.
After having to cancel yet another get-together planned for Easter, we were finally able to get together just recently, in early July, and we were able to complete the training—with all the practical exercises, the human connections, the real energy fields, and the demonstrations of designs implemented on-site—elements we had been looking forward to and missing for nine months.
We spent time observing the gardens and the soil, which is so rich in organic matter after seven years of work on the farm (up to 4% in some areas of the garden and an increase from 1.25% to 2.6% in the edible forest area), we learned firsthand how an aquaponics system works, engaged in eco-construction, maintained the filtration ponds, and worked together to serve the farm during the early morning tasks (egg-mobile, chicken tractors, moving the sheep and pigs, tending the garden, and harvesting), we learned to live together, observe one another, care for one another, communicate better, organize ourselves, and connect—and above all, we learned to CELEBRATE ONE ANOTHER!
We know that we may not have been able to meet all the expectations of the people who signed up for this #SABER CDP, but we hope that everyone also feels enriched and equipped with new tools to better face the future that awaits us, to cultivate resilience in their local communities, and to relate more respectfully to themselves, to their neighbors, and to the ecosystem of which we are a part, because Permaculture is about designing relationships.
Now that we have successfully completed and celebrated this course—which required a great deal of effort from both us as the coordinating team and the participants—we are deeply grateful to everyone who made this course an experience we will remember for a long time to come, and we especially want to thank the team at Mas Les Vinyes, whose example gives us hope for the future! THANK YOU!