6 Weekends: Permaculture Design Certification Course Practical solutions for creating a sustainable world!   Early bird and group discounts available. Dates: 3rd weekend of every month; June thru November, 2009;  June 19, 20, 21; July 17, 18, 19; August 15, 16; September 19, 20; October 17, 18; November 21, 22 Location: Ashevillage Institute (AVI), Asheville, NC Instructors: Patricia Allison, Shawn Jadrnicek, Chuck Marsh, Rudy Ballentine & other guests Fee: $100 per day (14 days total = $1,400) includes tuition & materials Contact & Registration: info@ashevillage.org, 828.225.8820   In this time of Peak Oil, climate crisis, and the need for individual and community empowerment, Permaculture offers real solutions we can put into practice NOW. This course is for community leaders, teachers, builders, architects, developers, city planners, activists, students, and anyone looking to live more sustainably... In this course you will learn the principles and practices of Permaculture, an ecological design system for creating abundant regenerative human habitats. Permaculture combines ancient wisdoms with scientific knowledge to help you disengage from consumer culture and begin creating a sustainable future for yourself and the planet. This Permaculture Certification Course is an extensive learning experience presented by a team of instructors, using lecture, discussion, hands-on projects, demonstrations, videos, site visits and student presentations. Students receive a Permaculture Design certificate upon completion. Click here for more information about the course.

2 Days: Wild Food & Fermentation Workshop Dates: August 5 & 6, 2009 Instructors: Sandor Katz (author of 'Wild Fermentation' & 'The Revolution Will Not be Microwaved') & Frank Cook Location: Ashevillage Institute (AVI), Asheville, NC Fee: $200 includes tuition, materials & lunch Contact & Registration: info@ashevillage.org, 828.225.8820 Come participate in a cultural revolution! Wild fermentation is a way of incorporating the wild into your body, becoming one with the natural world. Wild foods possess a great, unmediated life force which can help us adapt to shifting conditions and lower our susceptibility to disease. Microorganisms are everywhere, and the techniques for fermenting with them are simple and flexible. In this workshop, we will spend time walking outdoors, getting to know local plants, harvesting edibles and medicinals, and together we will make sauerkraut, kimchi, kefir, kombucha, herbal elixir meads, miso and much more. You will leave with your own bubbling ferments. Come and join us! Click here for complete registration information and workshop specifics. 3 Days: Timber Framing Workshop Dates: August 21-23, 2009 Instructors: Steveo Brodmerkel & Ira Friedrichs Location: Ashevillage Institute (AVI), Asheville, NC Fee: $300 includes tuition & materials Contact & Registration: info@ashevillage.org, 828.225.8820  In this introductory workshop, you will gain practical timber framing skills.  Learn  theory, technique, construction, timber selection & conversion, design, lay-out, cutting, joinery, assembly, frame erection, tool use and safe work practices.  Your learning experience will include hands-on, demonstration, slideshow & lecture. Click here for complete registration information and workshop specifics.   2 Days: Bee-Keeping Workshop Dates: August 29 & 30, 2009 Instructors: Shawn Jadrnicek & Cailen Campbell Location: Ashevillage Institute (AVI), Asheville, NC Fee: $200 includes tuition & materials Contact & Registration: info@ashevillage.org, 828.225.8820  Look inside the hive and learn the magic and mystery of the honey-bee, with whom our lives are so intertwined. Gain the confidence to start your own bee colony.  Learn: what's needed to start and maintain a hive; honey, pollen & propolis harvesting; basic honey bee biology; over-wintering hives; hive health; diseases & enemies...PLUS --> Making meads, cordials & other honey elixirs. Click here for complete registration information and workshop specifics. 5 Days: Natural Building Workshop Dates: September 9-13, 2009 Instructors: Steveo Brodmerkel & Janell Kapoor (of Kleiwerks), Mollie Curry & Steve Kemble (of MudStrawLove) Location: Ashevillage Institute (AVI), Asheville, NC Fee: $500 includes tuition & materials Contact & Registration: info@ashevillage.org, 828.225.8820 In this workshop you will gain practical natural building skills in adobe, cob, wattle & daub, slipstraw, earthen wall finishes, arch building, wood interface, passive solar design and more.  You will be guided by some of the country's leading instructors, who together have an accumulation of over 45 years experience.  Demonstrations, lectures, slideshows, a field trip and plenty of hands-on building will be part of your learning experience.  Click here for complete registration information and workshop specifics.   3 Days: Natural Building Workshop Dates: September 24-26, 2009 Instructors: Steveo Brodmerkel & Janell Kapoor  Location: Ashevillage Institute (AVI), Asheville, NC Fee: $300 includes tuition & materials Contact & Registration: info@ashevillage.org, 828.225.8820 Gain practical natural building skills in adobe, cob, wattle & daub, earthen wall finishes, passive solar design and more.  You will be guided by some of the country's leading instructors through demonstrations, lectures, slideshows and plenty of hands-on experience while working on real projects.  Click here for complete registration information and workshop specifics.   2 Days: Backyard Sustainability Workshop Dates: October 3 & 4, 2009 Instructors: Shawn Jadrnicek & guests Location: Ashevillage Institute (AVI), Asheville, NC Fee: $200 includes tuition & materials Contact & Registration: info@ashevillage.org, 828.225.8820 This is an intro workshop to the tricks of the trade of urban homesteading. Learn what it takes to get yourself set up with: chickens, shitake mushroom production, honey bees, growing red worms, bats and bat poop, fish ponds, greywater, rain catchment and more.  Our instructor, Shawn Jadrnicek, is a genius when it comes to integrated home and yard design.  He'll guide you, step-by-step, on how he set up the new systems at AVI over the past several months so that you can see it all in action.  This workshop will empower you to do it in your own backyard!  Click here for complete registration information and workshop specifics. 2 Days: Urban Aquaculture Workshop Dates: October 12 & 13, 2009 Instructors: Shawn Jadrnicek Location: Ashevillage Institute (AVI), Asheville, NC Fee: $200 includes tuition & materials Contact & Registration: info@ashevillage.org, 828.225.8820 Aquaculture is an incredible way to cultivate local, high protein foods, such as talapia, bass, red clawfish and aquatic plants, while recycling and purifying rain water.  In this workshop, we will focus on maximizing urban food production using water-based systems.  You will learn the basics of water catchment & quality, life cycles, integration of animals and fungi into systems, aquaponics, biofiltration, stocking, pond construction, harvesting, aquatic plants, pumps and more.  Small pond, canal, tub and hydroponic design, construction and management will be highlighted so you can replicate these practices into your own landscape.  A small hands-on project will help you work out the kinks in the company of an expert.  Click here for complete registration information and workshop specifics.   2 Days: Natural Building Workshop Dates: October 14 & 15, 2009 Instructors: Steveo Brodmerkel & Janell Kapoor (Kleiwerks) Location: Ashevillage Institute (AVI), Asheville, NC Fee: $200 includes tuition & materials Contact & Registration: info@ashevillage.org, 828.225.8820 Gain practical natural building skills in adobe, cob, wattle & daub, earthen wall finishes, passive solar design and more.  You will be guided by some of the country's leading instructors through demonstrations, lectures, slideshows and plenty of hands-on experience while working on real projects.  Click here for complete registration information and workshop specifics. 2 Days: Rainwater & Greywater Catchment Workshop Dates: November 6 & 7, 2009 Instructors: Shawn Jadrnicek & Steveo Brodmerkel Location: Ashevillage Institute (AVI), Asheville, NC Fee: $200 includes tuition & materials Contact & Registration: info@ashevillage.org, 828.225.8820 Learn the art of catching, storing and using rainwater, greywater and stormwater resources.  From passive rain gardens to tanks, ponds, canals and tubs, this workshop will teach you how to maximize rainwater use in your landscape, food production and household systems.  Greywater will also be explored with a look at the current legal status and branched drain systems used in other states.  We will explore AVI's newly set-up systems, do a hands-on project and learn from lectures and slidshows.  You will leave the workshop with enough knowledge to be able to set up your own system.  Click here for complete registration information and workshop specifics.

2 Days: Natural Finishes, Earthen Plasters & Clay Paints Dates: November 13 & 14, 2009 Instructors: Mollie Curry & Steve Kemble of MudStrawLove Location: Ashevillage Institute (AVI), Asheville, NC Fee: $200 includes tuition & materials Contact & Registration: info@ashevillage.org, 828.225.8820 Greener than green...Learn how to make and apply your own beautiful, customized, totally eco-friendly plasters and paints with clay, sand and other organic materials. Create textured finishes; trouble shoot for various surfaces; play with color options -- while actually practicing on real walls. By the end of the workshop, you will have enough information and techniques to make your own clay-based plasters and paints and you will leave with your own sample board. Click here for complete registration information and workshop specifics. 2 Days: Transition Town Training Dates: December, TBA Instructors: Transition Town Trainers, TBA Location: Ashevillage Institute (AVI), Asheville, NC Fee: $250  Contact & Registration: info@ashevillage.org or 828.225.8820 Click here for complete registration information and workshop specifics.

Friends of Kleiwerks The following events are run by colleagues with whom we've had a close working relationship.  These are not Kleiwerks programs.

2nd Level Natural Building Courses at Valle Pintado A four part series to deepen your experience with natural living crafts Naturally Building for Fire March 3 – 6, 2010 Come see how little wood it takes to warm your home while creating a lovely hearth. Natural Finishes: Plasters, Paints, Frescoes,Etc. March 10 – 13, 2010 Come join us as we make and apply a plaster coat on our new community kitchen. Sharpening and Maintenance of Hand Tools March 9, 2010 Learn how to keep a sharp edge on all kinds of tools so they can do the work for you. Bread Making: From Seed to Oven to Table March 2, 2010 Love the taste of warm, fresh bread?  Ever wanted to make your own? More information for this course…

Thailand: Pun Pun Internship An in-depth experience in hands-on earthen building, organic gardening, seed saving, and community living. Dates: January 11 - March 1, 2010 Location: Pun Pun Organic Farm, Seed Center, and Sustainable Living Learning Center Chiang Mai, Northern Thailand This year Pun Pun will be offering a 7-week internship program to individuals interested in getting a hands-on experience in organic gardening including seed saving, earthen building, and community living. It is an opportunity to learn through doing where interns will learn the techniques we use while actively applying them to projects at the farm. It is also a chance to live with other like-minded Thai and international folks as well as meet various interesting visitors to the farm. Click here for more information on the internship and how to register or look on our website at www.punpunthailand.org

Thailand: Sustainability Study Trip A personal study trip exchanging and staying with leaders in the sustainability movement in Thailand including a grassroots look at organic farming, earthen building, fair trade, traditional medicine, community empowerment, and self-reliance. This year we will host another 10-day study trip starting in the Northeast in Yasothorn and traveling to the North, ending in Chiang Mai. Dates: March 8-17, 2010 Location: Northeastern to Northern Thailand Through our work in earthen building, organic farming, and community living we have established strong relationships with various groups at the forefront of this movement in Thailand. Each group is diverse in its target and implementation, yet all hold a common vision of empowering people to become self-reliant and sustainable. We invite you to come to learn from each of them by joining us on this study tour. In this unique event you will get a chance to exchange personally with leaders in the sustainability movement at a grassroots level that would be otherwise hard to access. Peggy Reents and Jo Jandai have both worked with these groups in supporting their development and can open access to interested folks by providing relationships and full translation. Come and learn together with us from their wisdom, experience and help support their work while also just having a really great time and experiencing Thailand! Click here for more information on the trip and how to register or visit our website for more information at www.punpunthailand.org

Explore the Natural Building Movement
For more information about other events in the Natural Building Movement visit www.naturalbuildingnetwork.org.

Projects
Project archives
Ashevillage Institute
Living Learning Center
Participants say

Back to Main Page | Back to Top

Stay tuned for updates and new workshop information.