We had such a good time at the NBCTx with over 300 participants! It was like having an advanced, hands-on Permaculture course times ten. Over 30 heavy hitters (authors, movers and shakers in the sustainability movement) gave presentations and demonstrations. It’s a great time of year in Texas and a great place to gather and renew our collective soul and let’s not forget the food, both organic and opportune.

Currently, we are planning to have an intensive, 13 day Permaculture Design Certification course October 17 - 30, 2008. Our roster of past teachers and projects is remarkable and combined with the ability to spread the word thru the Kerrville Folk Festival provides central Texas with a unique venue for demonstrating sustainability. At this point, we have 5 major natural building projects and several greenbuilding projects demonstrating many techniques and materials from cob ovens to timberframe, straw bale to living roofs, adobe to earthen plaster. If you combine this with all the other Pc projects completed and underway in the past 5 years, we have a rather impressive facility including a hillside organic garden and rainwater catchment. Cost is still under $100/day with early registration, work/trade and scholarships available.

Curriculum and teacher(s) TBA. Mark your calendar and let us know you’re interested. Spread the word.

Quiet Valley Ranch will host the Natural Building Colloquium from October 19 - 28, 2007.

Austin’s Sustainable Building Coalition and other Texas natural building leaders will work with colloquium participants to improve facilities used by Kerrville Folk Festival artists, staff and visitors. “We’re looking forward to offering hands-on natural building seminars in this wide open setting, and hosting talks from leading natural building architects, builders, experts and teachers,” says Kindra Welch, co-organizer of this event. “Right now, we’re asking everyone to save the date.”

Check links for more information and the website.

Friends, Permies, Kerrverts and Greenbuilders,

We are offering the fourth intensive Permaculture Design Certification Course at Quiet Valley Ranch, home of the Kerrville Folk Festival. We have developed our own brand of Permaculture in the Texas Hill Country and call it Kerrmaculture.

We will review and expand the Master Site Plan for the Ranch with design emphasis on surveying and drafting, erosion control and soil building, rainwater catchment, shade and edible landscaping, waste management, green building, and creating a non-profit. We will visit several mature Permaculture sites in the hill country and study the efforts already made on the ranch by the Kerrmaculture Krew of the Festival. By the conclusion of the course, you will be able to take any piece of property, rural or urban, and apply a system approach to designing and building a sustainable and green future. With our hands-on advance you will be able to integrate Pc into your life, wherever you are.

If you are available at this most beautiful time of the year and committed to the concepts of sustainable living, please call or e-mail now. We have a flexible payment structure to accommodate many situations. Please call if you have any questions, interest or intentions.

Visit our EVENTS/CLASSES page for more information.

Quet Valley Rach, home of the Kerrville Folk Festival in the heart of the Texas Hill Country, will once again be hosting a 72-hour intensive Permaculture Design Certification Course from October 22nd to November 4th 2005.

The organizers of the course have again asked Scott Pittman, the premier expert on drylands Permaculture on the planet, to be the primary teacher in the next course of the Kerrmaculture Series. He will be joined by several well-known local Permaculture designers, instructors and consultants. This course is the most affordable certification course available and the only intensive Permaculture training available in Texas for the past three years.

For more information download the full course details and registration form:

2004 Permaculture Design Course Details

2004 Permaculture Design Course Registration Form

Or visit our EVENTS/CLASSES page.

The Millenium Ecosystem Assessment was just released, so check it out.

What is the Millenium Ecosystem Assesment?

The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) is designed to meet the needs of decision-makers and the public for scientific information concerning the consequences of ecosystem change for human well-being, and options for responding to those changes. The MA focuses on ecosystem services (the benefits people obtain from ecosystems, like food, water, and climate regulation), how changes in these services have affected human well-being and how such changes may affect people in the future. It also focuses on the responses that might be adopted at local, national, or global scales to improve ecosystem management and contribute to human well-being and alleviate poverty.

Thats all. See what scientists think about your future on the planet.