What people say when they leave.

Rachael Maysels

Environmental Science PhD student, Universidad del Cauca, Colombia, co-founder of Tierras del Sham Educational Research Center

As a graduate from the 2 week permaculture design course at Daruma Eco Farm, I could not recommend this experience enough. Set in a beautiful and convenient location, this dynamic and abundant farm is an excellent classroom for budding and developing permaculturists. With amazing teachers, fascinating ecology, and innovative systems, this is the ideal location to study permaculture.

Daruma Eco Farm is a wonderful education center and a successful example of caring for the earth, caring for the people, and sharing abundance. I was a student in the 2 week permaculture design course which incorporated hands-on farming and building, design practice, and classroom work. Earth building, seed starting, land assessment, all of the practical aspects were incredibly empowering and built a foundation of land practices I still use today. The academic aspects of the course were fascinating, from calculating terrace sizes, to studying ecological interactions, to presenting an integrated landscape design. This course exceeded my expectations and the literature I had found on permaculture. I am forever grateful to my breakthrough experience working and learning with Daruma Eco Farm.

From the natural swimming pool, to bamboo hammocks, to terraced vegetables, and straw bale buildings, Daruma Eco Farm is a paradise of permaculture. An easy day trip to Bangkok, this educational center is conveniently located to incorporate a permaculture design course during travels or study. The 2 week course I participated in was extremely well planned, interactive, and academic. I was able to learn leaps and bounds about biology, land design, ecology, engineering, and building, and the integration of locals in the farm staff allowed me to expand my Thai language and cultural knowledge as well. I came to the farm a complete permie novice and left with my world turned upside down, with healthy soil now being my heaven. The practical work we did daily, such as transplanting, propagating, land assessment, earth building, and water capturing, were processes that one cannot learn in a classroom. The hands-on experience we had during this PDC was what separated this course from countless others I had researched. We were able to complete full projects such as building a rammed earth structure, a straw bale library, and terraces, while still learning the science behind it all. It was a great balance of real life practice and classroom and group work. Accommodations were cozy, and I made wonderful lifelong friends with the fellow students. I am still practicing a life of permaculture, now on my own farm in Colombia, using everything we learned in my initial PDC. I will be forever grateful to Daruma Eco Farm for launching me on this amazing path to earth regeneration.

Sue Rae

Graduate, Daruma’s first Agile PDC, New York

I graduated from Daruma’s first Agile PDC. My background is in the corporate world but on the creative side, having worked for PolyGram and Universal Music, and I moved to New York and spent the last 5 years of my career working for Google’s Creative Lab in New York.

I took a sabbatical from Google and went to Thailand to study with Neil to learn about permaculture in a concentrated and concise way. In the 2 weeks I spent with Neil we were encouraged to think deeply about global crises: economic, social, ecological and climate change, including energy supply and use.

I was fascinated by Neil’s in-depth knowledge of the Permaculture Design process and ethics, and the incredible working, hands-on set up he has at Daruma Eco Farm, which shows permaculture principles in action. As well as this incredible knowledge, we also learned about thought tools including SWOT analysis, MOPP, SMART criteria and LogFrame techniques, as well as survey analysis.

Little did I know that this design thinking would help me pivot to a new career in just under a year after returning to New York. It helped me crystalize my passion for helping people and take a considered leap of faith to launch my own business.

My time at Daruma was educational and hugely transformative in a life changing way. I cannot recommend Neil and the Agile PDC more highly. Go study with Neil and see for yourself.

Darren Roberts

InterConnected, later Course Coordinator and apprentice co-teacher at Daruma

I learned an enormous amount during my relatively brief time studying my PDC at Daruma. Having discovered permaculture and its principles whilst working with others on the 4 Person Eco Home in Taiwan, I was fairly new to permaculture, but had read one or 2 books, and watched a fair amount of video content.

My personal interests before doing my PDC were mainly earthen homes, rammed earth, natural building techniques and so on. But the scope of subjects within permaculture that could be explored, studied, and importantly for me, actually worked on with my own hands, this had captured my attention.

It seemed that whatever I had an interest in, whether it was the practical aspects of improving the soil microbiome, composting, effective microorganisms and indigenous microorganisms, or how to design and implement a permaculture project from start to finish, specific design methodologies, natural building techniques, or the myriad other branches of scientific enquiry that can be pursued, I certainly left Daruma feeling as though I had learned as much as I could absorb, and more, during the course.

The depth and breadth of Neil’s permaculture knowledge, along with his obvious talent at teaching and mentoring, was something I very much appreciated. Any topic I asked further questions about, Neil had volumes of pertinent information on tap to either help me understand the basics, or broaden and deepen my understanding. One of the best teachers I have studied with.

My class notes alone are filled with enough information and references to stimulate years of research and application, if I decided to.

The PDC at Daruma was as thorough academically as I had hoped for and more, with plenty of opportunities to explore the practical application of much of what I was learning. There are many natural building techniques employed on site, from straw bale to rammed earth (my pet favourite interest), poured earth, and compressed earth brick walls running hundreds of metres around the farm. It is a fascinating place to come and learn, both from a hands-on practical, and academic or theoretical point of view.

My experiences during the PDC, and the time spent there with Neil acting as both a teacher and mentor, led to me taking the opportunity as a Course Coordinator and apprentice co-teacher at Daruma. This in itself has been invaluable in further expanding my knowledge and experience, not just of permaculture and natural building techniques, but also seeing first-hand what it takes to establish and maintain an ecovillage and intentional community such as Daruma and Mosaic School.

interconnected.me (site now offline)