Permaculture Design Course September 2024

We are excited to announce the tenth extended PERMACULTURE DESIGN COURSE (PDC) that will be hosted in Tinos Eco-lodge welcoming for the seventh time Peter Cow from England and assistant teachers  Nicolas Bedau from Greece, and Elena Symeonidou from Greece.  Peter, Elena and Nico will combine their skills from both Northern and Southern ecosystems and climatic conditions and will put emphasis on Social permaculture as well as Regenerative agriculture, with lots of hands on and practicals during the course. (read course outline here)

This PDC is fully certified by the Permaculture Association (Britain). The course will be taught in English.

The Permaculture Design Certificate

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.

In this course we added 2 extra days to have more time for practicals and hands on experience. Peter, Elena, and Nikos 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 days 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 the groups formed.

Nikos from Tinos Ecolodge will share his hands-on experience of building the ecolodge and designing the energy, water and waste treatment systems as well as market garden design. We will have the rare opportunity to discuss and elaborate on Nikos’ and Marilia’s choices on different aspects of their project, 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.

Be prepared to have a full day course, starting at 9am and finishing at 7pm with lunch break and coffee breaks and with some presentations and films in the evenings as well. Arrival day is 21 of September. Plan to arrive to the Ecolodge by 5pm on the arrival day, for the getting to know us session and dinner together, no course on that day, also last day the 5th October is departure day. There is no need of previous knowledge of the subject. For detail information about the course and what will be covered please go to the following link: Read more about the COURSE OUTLINE

PDC Teachers

Peter Cow Dip. Perm. Des.

Peter took his PDC in 1998, and gained his Permaculture Diploma in 2007, apprenticing with the wonderful Aranya Gardens and started running his own PDCs in 2012. He has led Permaculture courses in Greece, Sweden, UK, Portugal, Jamaica, Cyprus, Finland and Denmark. Alongside land based design, he has been very involved with People Permaculture: exploring ways to expand the use of Permaculture, using its principles and design to support our relationships, groups, families, organisations and personal growth. He has worked with Looby MacNamara, author of ‘People and Permaculture’ since 2013, leading Facilitator Trainings and Design courses. He co-creates immersive and empowering learning experiences that connect people more deeply to nature, themselves and their community. Peter also works with Jon Young and the ‘8 Shields’ movement internationally, running events and supporting organisations to share nature connection and cultural healing practices and principles to enrich our lives and communities.

Back in 2000, Peter co-founded Steward Community Woodland, a sustainable woodland community in Dartmoor, UK. He lived, designed, learned and played there in deep collaboration with the land and people for 7 years. Peter now lives on another farm in Dartmoor, where he enjoys wild running, working with trees and chainsaws, group singing, gardening and deepening connections. For more information visit his website livingincircles.com

Elena Symeonidou

With a background of computing engineering and cinematography, Elena got in touch with Permaculture in Bali, Indonesia, in 2008 and has not looked back since. For 15 years she has been broadening and deepening her knowledge in sustainability and regenerative agriculture both in theory and in practice in three continents. She has been certified by the Permaculture Research Institute of Australia taken PDC courses with the one and only Bill Mollison, Geoff Laughton, Rod Everett and Mill Millington, and last but not least Darren Doherty, whom she considers her mentor and whose courses in Greece she facilitated.  She had practical experience in Australia, Asia and Europe in private and community projects. She is currently running a small farm on Paros an island not far from Tinos and is the curator of an urban permaculture project in Eleusis, Cultural Capital of Europe 2021. She has been training and consulting people in regenerative practices with an emphasis in the Mediterranean climate. Check also her website http://permaculture-greece.org/

Dipl. Ing. Nicolas Bedau

Nico, half Greek half German, has combined his background on Landscape architecture with Ecology in designing and building the Ecolodge. Together with Marilia, they have applied a lot of the permaculture principles and sustainable building techniques that will be showcased during the course. He has been sharing his experience here since 2016 that we run PDCs and is also a design consultant in off grid systems for homes or small communities, as well as water management and waste water treatment systems in other projects around Greece. He has made Tinos Ecolodge part of the HORIZON 2020 project Hydrousa and is also participating in other European research projects that focus on water management and circular economy. His interest in sustainable agriculture and market gardening has led together with Marilia to organise and run a veggie box scheme for residents in Tinos that is expanding also to restaurants during the summer season. All these different aspects of sustainable living will be discussed and analysed during the PDC.

The Location

Tinos Ecolodge was designed from the beginning based on the sustainable use of resources which are permaculture principles as well. At Tinos Ecolodge you will have the opportunity to see stone built houses with local materials, an off-grid system for energy production for the whole lodge which is powered by solar panels, a collection of rain water system, a reedbed filtration sewage system, indoor compost toilets with the Aquatron separation system, outdoor compost toilets, outdoor kitchen and shower filtration systems, an organic vegetable market garden, a 60m2 Greenhouse, an extended herb plantation, a vineyard for homemade raki and wine production, hugelculture beds, compost and vermicompost production, chicken coop for egg production and compost, and a lot more to be built and learned during the seminar. Location info
 

Accommodation and food
 

Tinos Ecolodge is situated in a beautiful island setting with great sea views and sunrise from the sea, traditional terraced landscape, with a nearby fresh water stream and lots of old oak trees to camp under. There is also limited space in the 3 lodges which can host up to 12 people, sharing the houses. There are outdoor showers and compost toilets for those who camp. There will be a communal outdoor kitchen where we will eat all together 3 meals per day, prepared by our local cook an expert on delicious Greek vegetarian recipes.  Max number of participants is 20 people.

Booking info

Cost: early bird prices 770 euro/tents and 950 euro/houses if booked until the 31 of July 2024, after that 870 euro/tents and 1070 euro/houses. There are also sponsored places for people with economic difficulties (especially Greeks) at 450 euro/tent, please contact us to apply for one of these places!
These sponsored places are enabled by people on higher incomes choosing to pay 1250 euro/house – this is voluntary so please let us know if you are willing to sponsor a place and help someone on a low income attend the PDC.

The price includes

• 14 days course
• Certified Permaculture Design Certificate from the UK Association
• Accommodation
• 3 Vegetarian meals per day by our local cook from Tinos
• Herbal teas, coffee & Fruits
• A day long field trip including 3 site visits, beach and ending up to a Greek taverna (cost is extra)

Please note that the price is kept intentionally low to make it affordable for all.

For booking a place a deposit of €200 must be paid on application, full balance to be paid upon arrival. Please note that in case of cancellation the deposit is not refundable because of very low cost seminar and limited places. Please download the application form below, bank details are included and send it to Marilia or email her if you need any further information and details about the course.

Download the application-form-pdc-2024-September

Contact details Marilia Kalouli, info@tinosecolodge.gr

Tel.0030 6974467611