UPCOMING PERMACULTURE DESIGN PRACTICUM

September 14th-15th,2024 Sunset Food ForestFort Collins, COCost: $125 per person (includes 2 lunches)
This weekend workshop is an opportunity to learn from one of the foremost food forest and greenhouse experts, Jerome Osentowski, as well as designer and permaculture teacher, Kareen Erbe. 
Learn about permaculture design strategies, greenhouse growing, and soil-building. Participate in hands-on activities and engage in the actual design process of a site.

The practicum will take place at Sunset Food Forest, a 1-acre gem located in the northwest corner of Fort Collins. Purchased in 2021, the property is being transformed into a mostly perennial food forest. Currently, the owner is building a 32-foot grow dome to allow year-round cultivation of Mediterranean perennials and annual vegetables. The dome will feature a climate battery to efficiently manage most heating and cooling needs. 

The workshop will go from 9am-5pm on Saturday, September 14th and from 9am-4pm on Sunday, September 15th.
This practicum is being generously subsidized by the host. This is a great opportunity to learn about permaculture at an affordable rate. 

Sign up via email: jerome@crmpi.org or call for more info: 9704563480

A forager and permaculturist with roots in rural Nebraska, Jerome Osentowski lives in a passive solar home he built at 7200 feet above Colorado’s Roaring Fork Valley. Director and founder of Central Rocky Mountain Permaculture Institute and a permaculture designer for thirty years, he has built five greenhouses for himself and scores of others for private clients and public schools in the Rockies and beyond. He makes his living from an intensively cultivated one acre of indoor and outdoor forest garden and plant nursery, which he uses as a backdrop for intensive permaculture and greenhouse design courses.

Among his accomplishments is hosting the longest-running Permaculture Design Course in the world, now at twenty-nine years running. Jerome and Michael have also been instrumental in identifying, conserving, and propagating heritage fruit trees that have survived and borne crops for over a century in the harsh environment of the Roaring Fork Valley. Jerome’s explorations of sustainable systems and his travels for development projects have taken him to Baja, Nicaragua, Patagonia, Finland, Australia, and the Caribbean.

KAREEN ERBE

Kareen Erbe is a certified permaculture designer and has been teaching permaculture and gardening workshops through her business, Broken Ground, for 9 years. She and her husband live on a suburban cold climate permaculture homestead in Bozeman, Montana. She has a BSc. in Environmental Science and completed an advanced permaculture program taught by Geoff Lawton, at the Permaculture Research Institute of Australia. Kareen has also trained with Rosemary Morrow, author of the Earth User’s Guide to Permaculture. Additional studies include Master Gardener and Master Composter Certifications, training in Ecology Action’s Grow Biointensive methods, and participation in a Food Forest Design Charrette with author, teacher and designer, Dave Jacke. She has also worked as a permaculture consultant for the sustainability organization, GoodtoChina, in Shanghai, China, and is currently the permaculture advisor for Bodhi Farms in Bozeman.

Kareen is currently on the faculty of the Online Women’s Permaculture Design Course and the Green Path Herb School. She has been a regular contributor to Rocky Mountain Gardening Magazine, Permaculture Women Magazine, and was featured in The New Pioneer. Learn more about Kareen at brokengroundpermaculture.com or through her youtube channel here.