Nature awareness is a collection of practices that develop your naturalist and sensory awareness skills, attuning your senses to the current rhythms of the land and animals. This forms a deep and lasting connection that enhances your everyday awareness. Such a deep connection to living systems creates the framework for effective permaculture training.

The course fosters foundational habits to begin establishing strong nature connection, observation, and ecological design skills. Participants will gain an understanding of how to use the practices of Nature Awareness within Permaculture Design to develop a mutually enhancing interaction with land and community. This course will also include some sessions on low-impact woodland living, taught by community residents.

Course participants will be awarded the Permaculture Association (Britain)'s internationally recognised Certificate in Permaculture Design.

Mossy granite boulders, woodland streams, low impact dwellings, circling buzzards, winding woodland paths and views out across Dartmoor all form the rich backdrop to courses at Steward Community Woodland. This intentional eco-community has hosted various courses and events since moving here in 2000, including six very successful residential Permaculture Design Courses between 2003 and 2010. Permaculture ethics and design have been played a central role in the community's development and its evolving vision, and the project offers many examples of real life applied permaculture in its 32 acres of mixed woodland and community of 16+ people. Steward Community Woodland offers you the possibility to learn and experience in nature and in community, among the trees and wildlife, around campfires, under canvas and close to the earth. Please note that all course food will be vegan.

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Website: www.stewardwood.org  

We use group work, discussions, videos, slide shows, observation, guided walks & practical activities as learning methods. These are supportive of different learning styles & for people with learning difficulties. We will also be visiting other projects where permaculture theory is being put into action. Planned site visits include trips to Landmatters, the Agroforestry Research Trust Forest Garden & the Proper Job Recycling Project.

Design courses are not just about imparting information to the students, there is plenty of knowledge out there, the important thing is knowing how to use this & feeling confident to do so.

Empowerment is the essence of the course. We will be using practical and theoretical teaching methods to create a fun, lively & inclusive course. The course culminates in the main design activity that helps to consolidate all of the learning & empower students to take permaculture back into their own homes, lives & community. As a group we will benefit from collaborative learning & from having fun together. We don't expect any previous knowledge & recognise that everyone has their own unique skills, knowledge & areas of interest to bring to the course.