Oakhaven 
      Permaculture Center  

Think , Grow, Eat & Buy Locally*

A 501(c)(3) Non-Profit Educational Corporation

Mission: Teach Four Corners residents how to build and maintain a strong local economy and community while living within in the means of the region. This mission will be achieved by:

  • maintaining Oakhaven as a community dedicated to systems learning,

  • offering systems-based science and technology courses to children and adults of all ages, and

  • teaching and applying Permaculture Ethics and ZERI Design Principles. 

Board of Directors:

Tom Riesing, Christie Berven, Kelly Fearney, Kris Holstrom and Raylene McCalman

 

Advisory Board:

Jim Dyer, Katherine Holt and Dick White

 

 

Permaculture Design Course
Changing Seasons of SW Colorado

Course Canceled due to Low Enrollment! 

             Dates:      April 12-November 9, 2008
2nd weekend of each month, 9am – 5:30pm. First, second and last weekends will include Saturday dinner and activities until 9pm.

Sponsored by:     

Durango Coffee Company,
FLC Environmental Center, Tomten Institute,
New Community Coalition and Sustainability Alliance of SW
    Colorado

        Location:      Durango, CO and vicinity

   Description:      This eight-weekend design certificate course will allow you to watch the seasons change in Southwest Colorado and so expand your perspective. The course will be taught at locations in Durango and at farms located in SE and NW LaPlata County, McElmo Canyon in Montezuma County and West of Telluride in San Miguel County at elevations from 5000 to 9000 feet, and climates from high desert to mountains. This course is primarily intended for residents of SW Colorado, but could accommodate a limited number of non-residents.

    Instructors:      Tom Riesing, Christie Berven, Kris Holstrom and guest instructors. All three course instructors have also completed ZERI (Zero Emissions) certification training under Gunter Pauli and Paul Stamets Fungi Perfecti mushroom cultivation course.

               Cost:      $900 if registered by 2/18, $1000 if registered by 3/17, $1100 after.
50% Work Study scholarships are available based on financial need and skills; applications are due by March 10th and winners will be announced March 24th.

            Contact:     Tom Riesing or Christie Berven 970-259-5445  triesing@gmail.com

Click here to download Registration Form (.pdf file)

Click here to download Work/Study Application

Click here to download Changing Seasons of SW Colorado Pc Design Course Flyer

Click here to download Course Outline

Click here to download the Registration Form as a MS Word document
        (This will allow you to complete it electronically and to Email it to us.)

 

From the Autumn 2006, Issue #61,
      The Permaculture Activist

"Design for the Five Kingdoms:
       ZERI Principles and Methods"

Kris Holstrom and Tom Riesing 

REMEMBER THE EXCITEMENT, the feeling of overwhelming possibilities arising from your first permaculture design course, or your first exposure to the powerful ideas of permaculture? Finding an approach that brought together disciplines and ideas that had been careening around in our brains was incredibly powerful, both frightening and empowering. Since those days the practice of permaculture ideas and ideals has been a daily part of our lives. In the spring of 2005 a similar experience unfolded with our introduction to the concepts of Zero Emissions Research and Initiatives (ZERI).

Click here to read the whole article.

 

Download Oakhaven Brochure (616 kb Adobe .pdf file)

Plant List for All Oakhaven Plantings

See Oakhaven Selected Book List

See Pictures of the Swadeshi Festival

 

4179 County Road 124, Hesperus, CO 81326 (970) 259-5445

 

________________________
* Our Motto is inspired by Gandhi's 'Swadeshi' or local self-sufficiency. He defined it as:
   "Buy Local, be proud of local, support local, uphold and live local."

-- Mahatma Gandhi