Natural Building and Permaculture Internship

in Central Europe

Internship I: “Solutions to Climate Change” May 1 – July 11, 2010 10 weeks – 980 Euro

Internship II: International Relief work July 5 – August 28, 2010 8 weeks – 790 Euro

Fees include facilitation, tools/materials Permaculture Design certificate, formal verification of Natural Building techniques taught and a SPHERE certificate for 2nd internship. …along with three healthy vegetarian meals a day and basic accommodation within scenic rural surroundings in the heart of Central Europe

Join us for one -or both- of our summer internships.

We are establishing a holistic model for solutions to peak oil, climate change, financial crises, and food/water scarcity. Become part of a new trade of builders ready to meet the challenges and the opportunity of the 21st century, with training and skill development in:

• Permaculture Principles and Methods

• Hands-on low tech and mechanized building methods

• Conscientious design applications that relate to the planet, place, and project.

• Healthy building materials such as straw bale, cob, earthen building, living roof systems, and alternative energy.

• You’ll learn -and live- community design & building with weekly sessions on conflict prevention and Non-Violent communication

Hands on projects will include building a rocket mass oven, finalizing a Finnish mass oven, rainwater catchment systems, greywater filter systems, rough and fine earthen plastering, timber frame joinery, heated wall systems, straw bale, earthen floors, round pole construction, and living roofs.

PermaLot Centre of Natural Building

…is a permaculture homestead located at the edge of a quiet Moravian village of about 150 people, adjoining 5 of our total of 17 hectares of organic agriculture; mainly young orchards and pastures for sheep and ponies. The centre consists of a 120-year-old farm which stood empty for 30 years. We have now been renovating it with natural building techniques during the past 5 years, completely altering the appearance and functions. Significantly we’re rebuilding the old barn into a demonstration straw bale family house including permaculture gardens, reed bed filter and ponds. In addition we have built an oval load bearing straw-bale house for a forest kindergarten that we run; majority of the practical work is centered on finalizing these projects. Our workshop feature a wide collection of antique carpentry tools, alongside a good selection of modern hand and power tools for woodworking and plaster mixing. In addition we have a potter’s wheel, kiln, weaving loom, bikes etc. We recently finalized a commercial kitchen in what used to be a cow barn, as well as a small shop for organic products. We're currently only able to offer basic accommodation , which means in a waggon (wohn wagen) with wood stove, a room in the hay loft or within the house we're building, all with access to our luxury outdoor compost toilets.

Educational Approach

“The first rule of teaching is that nothing can be taught”

Our internships are based on learning by doing, supported by theory, and a certain amount as self study. Significantly we believe that everyone can actively contribute to the learning processes, rather than viewing it as a one-way approach from educator to pupil. We have a well-assorted library and many films to support the learning process, along with several educational approaches. Part of the program will include gaining quite a proficiency in earthen plastering; potentially to the level of EU accreditation. Naturally, being on a farm with around 15 hectares, a part of the internship will include gaining some organic farming skills; from tractor driving to picking berries and making final products. Please study the detailed program here Apart from the practical and theoretical skills we’ll learn throughout the days, we also need to function well as a small community. To help this process we have scheduled a weekly team building session, and we encourage you to participate in a weekly readers group focused on learning ‘Non-Violent Communication.’

We kindly ask that you respect our drug free policy, as well as abstain from alcohol during the week.

Facilitators:

Carrie Campbell

Carrie Campbell is the co-founder and Director of Operations of the Natural Building Network. She is a consultant in sustainable community development, passionate about creating a world in which people feel a sacred connection to place as well as to each other. Carrie has a B.A. with a focus in Ecological Design and is currently pursuing a Master's degree in Community Development. She spent the last 2 building seasons co-facilitating the natural building and sustainable food production intern programs at O.U.R. Ecovillage on Vancouver Island, Canada.

Martina Petru. Dr. rer. nat.

Czech-born, rurally raised and rooted in organic passion for nature and ecology, recently co-founder of ‘ho avy’ o.s. and coordinator of the project ho avy in Madagascar, which focuses on sustainable long-term grassroots activities promoting permaculture, environmental stewardship and empowering local Malagasy families to sustain their livelihoods while protecting and restoring their natural environment for the future. Martina’s enthusiasm and life energy source is endless inspiration, creating and pursuing meaningful project with all their challenges, effective teamwork, positive human relationships and living by learning through extensive traveling to satisfy the top interests in world floras and wildlife, nature and wildlife photography, outdoor time, native plant and organic gardening, sustainable lifestyles, and such.

Max Vittrup Jensen

...another member of the board of Natural Building Network, as well as the founder of PermaLot. Max studied Human Ecology, gained his Masters in Environmental Management, and has been involved in natural building and permaculture in several countries during the past 15 years. He taught N.B. to 100’s of youth through EU’s Youth programs. As an active international networker and event organizer, he is involved in making an international Natural Building Curriculum.

Detailed Program/More information

-Click here to download the detailed program for the internships-

- Click here to download this information as .pdf brochure -

Should all of this describe your dream for an internship, then please contact Max-at-permalot-dot-org with a mail describing yourself, your experience and why you would like to join the internship;

We can maximal accept 5 interns for each program, and somehow we need to ensure it's the most suited candidates who get the opportunity.