We have great news from Sadhana Forest! An intensive permaculture design course (PDC) for our long term volunteers started two weeks ago. The course participants are learning the principles of permaculture to help design new developments in the Sadhana community.

John Button, a native of Australia, who has been teaching Permaculture since 1985 has joined the Sadhana Forest family for the month of November. John is very familiar with Tamil Nadu, spending over 5 years reforesting and implementing a garden in Arunachala, Thiruvannamalai. At Arunachala, John took on the tremendous work of reforesting a barren hillside and helped in its transformation into a living, breathing forest and garden.

Photo by Myrtille

Photo by Myrtille

Yesterday, four groups presented their designs for future developments. Aviram and Yorit led a tour through the new piece of land that will be designed. Groups used maps, diagrams, clay models, topography and graphs to represent new housing structures, a new learning center, meditation parks, and a larger garden for growing organic fruits, vegetables and grains. A group of friends, architects, and volunteers listened to the presentations and added valued feedback regarding the designs.

The PDC group continues to work hard on the design. Stay tuned for more information!!!

Follow the links below to learn more about  John’s life and work.

http://nuke.johnbutton-permaculture.net/

http://arunachalagrace.blogspot.com/2009/05/give-yourself-up-to-mountain.html

Photo by Myrtille

Photo by Myrtille