In This Issue... Circle of Support Quail Springs 2014 Calendar Wilderness Skills & Permaculture Weekend Spring Farm Benefit & Tour Intro to Natural Building PDC for International Development Summer Farm Benefit & Tour Permaculture Design Course Co-Sponsored Events Calendar Intro to Permaculture with Warren Brush Backyard Chickens Workshop Cob Oven Building Workshop Sustainably Raised Pig Meat

"What spoke to you in a language older than words? What connected you with a knowing that defies logic? What gave you the experience of being in the presence of the real? What motivated the best in you, and what confirmed beyond a doubt, at least for a moment, "It is all worth it."...?   The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know is Possible, Charles Eisenstein

Greetings friends, I hope that this New Year has been one of health and happiness for you and your families and communities. If it has been difficult, I hope that you are finding connection to what is sustaining and nurturing in the process.  Wishing us all a deepening sense of relationship with the essence of what we love. We're looking forward to a year of sharing our learning and growing edges with many of you through some great courses and events. Our calendar of events thus far is shared below, with updates to come.   Peace and blessings, Kolmi Majumdar Programs Director

Quail Springs Permaculture Calendar 2014

We're excited to share some great workshops and events with you this spring and summer in the Quail Springs Calendar!  Our fall calendar is still coming together, yet we've a few "Save the Dates" to mention here and will update you as details come in. Please also check out our Co-Sponsored Events Calendar to learn about workshops convened by organizations we work closely with.  

Read on to see "What's On the Menu" for 2014!

Wilderness Survival Skills & Permaculture Weekend

with Charlie Coupal, Wilderness Skills Instructor
April 4-6, 20 14

Hosted by Quail Springs.  Registration through UCSB Leisure Review - Adventure Trips.  Open to the community, you don't have to be a student with UCSB to participate.

Deep in the high mountain desert of Cuyama, spend a fun-filled weekend giving and receiving on the edge where the Wilderness meets the Farm.  Dive into wilderness survival skills like shelter making, primitive fire techniques, water and wild food harvesting. Prepare to get your hands dirty with a permaculture and sustainable living project on the farm. Round out the day eating great food, sitting by a fire, storytelling, music making and star gazing. Wilderness Skills & Permaculture event info online. 

Visit Quail Springs Permaculture Farm, have a delicious lunch prepared in our earthen ovens, and learn about growing food in the high desert, tending a variety of wonderful food-giving animals, creating shelter, and stewarding agricultural lands and wilderness.

families and all ages welcome!

Come out for the farm tour and stay on for dinner, and overnight campout. There will be fireside stories in the evening, camping under the high desert stars that night, a yummy breakfast Sunday morning, and optional early morning hands-on sessions in butchering, or milking goats before an 11am departure. For more info, please visit Quail Springs Farm Benefit and Tour info online, or email lindsay@quailsprings.org or call 805-886-7239.

In this six day cob workshop, we focus on the characteristics of the natural materials most commonly used in construction:  clay soil, sand, and fibers.  Our main focus will be cob, though we will touch on various other building techniques that utilize the same materials, including adobe block, light straw-clay, wattle and daub, and plasters.

For more info and to register, please visit Intro to Natural Building event online, or email sasha@quailsprings.org or call 805-886-7239.

with Warren Brush, Co-founder Quail Springs and Casitas Valley Farm, and Joseph Lentunyoi of the Maasai people and Permaculture Research Institute of Kenya

early bird registration date, April 15 

Permaculture is an integrated design system that provides a framework for consciously designed landscapes that provide diversity, stability, and resilience for individuals and communities.  Permaculture is in 160 countries with thousands of grassroots projects on-the-ground. This 14-day course includes the 72-hr Permaculture Certification through Permaculture Research Institute... and much more. 

This course will assist you and your organization with integrating into your projects: Increased Food Security  Community-Based Development Waste Cycling Sustainability Education Clean Water and Drought Proofing Health and Nutrition Sustainable Vocations & Enterprise.

For more info and to register, please visit PDC for International Development and Social Entrepreneurship info online or email Kolmi Majumdar at info@quailsprings.org.

Please see Spring event above for types of activities to expect. 

With Craig Sponholtz, Watershed Artisans (formerly Dryland Solutions)

early bird registration August 20 

Immerse yourself in permaculture in action with this 14-day learning journey! Share in the joy of community learning together and changing the world. Take home the ability to design and apply natural principles to create stable and resilient systems that provide food, water, shelter and energy needs while regenerating ecology, community and economy. This 14-day course includes the 72-hr Permaculture Certification through Permaculture Research Institute... and much more. 

For more info and to register, please visit Quail Springs Permaculture Design Course info online or email Kolmi Majumdar at info@quailsprings.org.

Co-sponsored Events Calendar

Sunday, May 18, 2014, 9am-1pm 
Hosted by Fairview Gardens, Sub-Urban Homesteading Series, Goleta, CA
Backyard Chickens workshop info online

With Paul Swenson
May 24-25, 2014.  Saturday & Sunday, 9am - 5pm
Hosted by Fairview Gardens, Sub-Urban Homesteading Series, Goleta, CA

Sharing VISION

A huge and heartfelt gratitude to the beautiful group of students that ventured out to Quail Springs from St. Thomas University's VISION program last month for service-learning. We appreciate your open hearts and dedication to service, justice, peace building, community and spirituality. Thank you for sharing yourselves, growing and learning together with us.

ANAKE Outdoor School

We're loving our annual visit from ANAKE Outdoor School!  Each Winter for the last seven years, Quail Springs has delighted in the cultural exchange & leading-edge learning experiences shared with ANAKE.  Looking forward to sharing a photo or two soon :) 

Testimony

"Here's to one of the most memorable experiences of my life! Everyone at Quail Springs were some of the kindest, hard working and down to earth people I've ever had the chance to get to know!"

- Kirsten, Student, VISION 2014