Practical Food Forests and Permaculture

Live and learn a week on a permaculture farm in France

Go home fully inspired with a design for your own garden or land

10-17 May 2019 Simply Permaculture in France

Theory Practical Permaculture Cooking with Nature Applying your Knowledge

 Practical Food Forests and Permaculture
Live and learn a week on a permaculture farm in France
Go home fully inspired with a design for your own garden or land

You discovered permaculture and dream of implementing it on your own land. But where to
start?
Come and live a week at the Farm of Simply Canvas & Permaculture in France. During the
workshop you can enjoy an extensive menu of experience and education in the field of food
forests and permaculture.
Experience and Knowledge
Together with Martijn Aalbrecht, Sandra and Santi have bundled their knowledge and experience
in the area of food forests and permaculture. Martijn owns one of the oldest food forests in The
Netherlands on 1 acre of ladn. He build his own house including a mass rocket heater and is
currently building a climate battery greenhouse. Sandra and Santi have been living for 10 years
on their farm in France where they design their 12.5 acres of land according to the permaculture
principles. In 2015 they mounted their non profit organisation Simply Permaculture. The land is
a demonstration site for permaculture projects and open to the public. You can observe many
different subjects in practice like swales, an aquaponicssystem, the trio’s of Sobkowiak (a system
for a commercial permaculture orchard), water management systems, flower spirals and a good
selection of edible flowers, herbs and trees.
Martijn, Sandra and Santi followed a long list of workshops during the last 10 years in the field
of permaculture, plant knowledge, food forests and more. However more important than
that is that they tested the theory and put it into experience by implementing many different
projects on their own land. So no matter if you want to start a small garden, a food forest or a
commercial permaculture orchard for income, this week Martijn, Sandra and Santi are there for
you to share their expercience in a.o. the following fields:
• Food Forests
• Commercial permaculture orchard
• Vegetable garden in permaculture
• Aquaponics system
• Water management systems (both in case of drought or too much water
• Swales
• Edible herbs and flowers
• Cooking with nature
• Farm animals in permaculture for a small holding
• Different soil in permaculture
• Flower spirals
• Reed filter systems
• Rocket mass heater
• Biodynamic beekeeping
• Climate battery greenhouse
• Living in a community
• Using less energy
Practical permaculture
Permaculture can be seen as a way of living because of the many subjects belonging to
permaculture. Within gardening you can explore many directions already, but also energy use
and mindful living have their place at the permaculture table. It is so vast that it is sometimes
difficult to know where to start. We aspire to send you home with a design for your own
garden or land and that you can make an inspired start. Therefore the program is not yet fully
known. Of course we will discuss several basic subjects, but the rest of the program will be
dedicated to fit your needs and experience. Before you come we will send you an extensive
questionnaire to understand what your wishes and needs are. The program will be made to
fit these needs.
Knowledge level
You don’t need extensive knowledge in the area of permaculture, but of course it is ok if
you have some. The program is accessible for both beginners and the more knowledgable
people who look for applying their knowledge on the land. If you don’t have land yet you can
practice your design on a piece of our land or on a fictive piece of land.
The farm
The roots of the farm where you will be staying date back to 1780 when it was a mixed farm
of cows, vineyards and grains. In 2009 Sandra and Santi came to live here (by then the land
had not been cultivated for over 10 years). They made it into a small scaled ecological holiday
destination with 6 safari tents and 3 cottages. The land is a work in progress and gets new
plantations and permaculture projects every year.
The program
We start the mornings with 1.5 hours of basic theoretics. After this we will go more in depth
into a specific subject. Because of the many demonstration projects present already on teh
land, much of the teaching will happen outside. After lunch the afternoons will aternate with
different choises like working on the land, go more in depth on a specific subject that you
have asked for in the questionnaire, work on your design or we will go on a outing. The week
has a nice balance between practical knowledge, relaxation and theoretics.
Language
The workshop is in English and Dutch (translation to either language where needed)
Price
The week is €795 euros per person including all meals, the activities and a shared
2-person accommodation (per persoon inclusief volpension, een gedeelde tweepersoons
accommodatie €150 extra for a 1-person accommodation). Excluding your trip to Simply
Permaculture (you can come by train or plane to Bergerac where we come and pick you up).
Your stay, food and surroundings
You stay in a cottage or safari tent surrounded by the rolling hills of Southwest France close to
Bergerac (Dordogne). This is a small corner in France where life is still at a slower pace. The
daily farmer’s markets are filled with local and organic produce. Local and organic meat is
easy to come by and people shake each other’s hands when they meet.
Sandra and Santi cook with local/organic produce, where possible from their own land. Of
course we will also visit one of the farmer’s markets, you cannot miss out on coffee and
croissants.
Your teachers
Martijn, Sandra and Santi have integrated permaculture and food forests for many years into
their lives. For several years they teach workshops and show people around their land in The
Netherlands and France. Most important is that they apply their knowledge directly on their
own land.
Background Martijn
Starting over 10 years ago with a permaculture vegetable garden he bought an acre of land
in 2012 where he started his food forest. His food forest is now one of the oldest and most
complete food forests in The Netherlands. Besides thousands of trees, bushes and groundcovers
he also has bees which he keeps in a biodynamic way.
Last year he build his own house with rocket mass heater. His latest project is a climate battery
greenhouse. This greenhouse is 30 x 20 feet. It is very well insulated and in the ground there
are hundreds of meters of drainage pipes with ventilators. This so called climate batttery
technique regulates the temperature in the greenhouse in which he then hopes to create a
(sub) tropical climate without external heating. Martijn lives with his family in the East of The
Netherlands. Inmiddels is zijn voedselbos één van de oudste en meest complete voedselbossen
van Nederland.
Workshops and trainings
2012 forest gardening course;Martin Crawford
2013 yeartraining biodynamic beekeeping; Wim van Grasstek
2014 workshop humisme; Mark Siepman
2015 advanced forest gardening; Martin Crawford
2016 training building rocket mass heaters; Fire and Cobb
2018 forest garden greenhouse course; Martin Crawford
2018 year training causes of health; Birgit Sporenberg
2018 advanced biodynamic beekeeping; Albert Muller
Background Sandra and Santi
Santi was born in Laos and grew up in France, Sandra comes from a family of treegrowers close
to Amsterdam. Both have over 25 years of meditation experience and lived many years in a
spiritual community. Because of this experience mindfulness is integrated in their daily lives.
When arriving on their farm in France in 2009 the permaculture adventure started. 12.5 acres is
a good amount of land and Sandra and Santi love to try out different projects. Their main income
comes out of their glamping holiday destination situated on about 2.5 acres of land. The other
10 acres are dedicated to the development of permaculture projects.
Workshops and trainings
2013 permaculture design course; Stephen & Fiona Hanson
2014 workshop building rocket mass heaters
2014 workshop edible herbs
2015/2016 training organic beekeeping
2015 advanced forest gardening; Martin Crawford
2017 workshop commercial permaculture orchards: Stefan Sobkowiac
2017 workshop grafting
2018 cursus forest garden greenhouse; Martin Crawford
 2013

Practical information

Date: 10-17 May 2019

Place: Simply Permaculture, Bonac, 47120 Saint Jean de Duras (vlakbij Bergerac),
France.

Price: €795 including meals, workshop and transfers

Subscribe: Mail to
hello@simplypermaculture.com / www.simplypermaculture.com
2015
Stay: You stay in a cottage or safari lodge tent on a permaculture farm of 12.5 acres.
Surrounded by the rolling hills of SW France close to Bergerac (Dordogne).
Travel: Fly to Bergerac or take the high speed train to Bordeaux and then onwards by
train to Sainte Foy la Grande. We come to pick you up from Bergerac or Sainte Foy la
Grande.

2018
Local food Safari tents

White b&b cottage Pool

Stone cottage Safari tent