|
New Year with Honey Bees and Natural Beekeeping Anna Maria is back I (Lucian) am infinitely enthusiastic that Anna Maria is stepping back in the world of teaching. She is one of my best teachers, and I have been under the tutelage of some of the top world class teachers in my academic and professional trainings throughout the years. Her approach to teaching about honey bees and natural beekeeping synthesized with herbalism for pollinators and ecological design, peppered with the history and mysticism of our interdependence with these life giving creatures, uplifts one's intellect, spirit, practical wisdom and overall wellbeing. I personally wish all beekeepers and all life loving people out there put on the worldview lenses of the skills, values and ways of being she so effectively instills inside the mind and the heart through her teachings. I am thrilled for the people that will take her courses and I am taking all of them again! Can you read the extreme joy on the faces of the graduates of her Bee Guardian Apprenticeship from 2018 in the picture below? These people have been doing amazing things with that wisdom.  She is offering 3 online courses via our permaculture farmstead entity, Sun And Bloom Farms, all starting this winter. There is an Intro to Honey Bees, 2 session mini-course in January, exploring who the honey bee is for us humans in depths that should be part of every single human's education for living on planet Earth. There is also an Intro to Natural Beekeeping, also a 2 sessions mini-course in February, that provides the background of what natural beekeeping is, the methods it promotes, how to find bees and set up your first hive, what kind of materials and equipment you will need and some notes on what maintenance looks like in your first year - the value is way beyond the $100 it costs. And then there is her signature deep dive 9 months course, that transforms one into a holistic regenerative natural beekeeper and life sustaining guardian, the Bee Guardian Apprenticeship - this wisdom just does not exist out there in this format, it is powerful and transformative and it starts in February 2023! I hope you or someone you know and will tell about this course will join - I know I will! Here is a picture of Anna Maria in her zone with the bees to get an idea of the magic!
2022 FAMILY HOLIDAY PHOTO & 2023 SUSTAINABILITY TRENDS Dear Friend, First thing is first: we, the family behind About And For Sustainability, wish you good health, joy and wisdom during the 2022 holiday season and beyond in 2023! May you be happy, healthy and wise in the upcoming year. Secondly, we’d love to share with you about 3 major things we will be engaging with in 2023 in hopes that you may be getting some insights into the sustainability trends we have been observing to date and anticipate to unveil next year and beyond. See below the holiday picture :)  COLLABORATIVE ACTION IS EFFORTLESS ACTION SEEKING TEACHERS, FACILITATORS, STUDENTS AND SPONSORS If you have experienced the profound joy, hope and power of collaborative action and shared impact, you know that it is addictive! It is addictive because that is what we are wired for, especially for creating positive and long lasting healing transformations in our life-sustaining ecosystems and communities. Once you experience it, you get to yearn for it as an ultimate and continuous life purpose and drive. The beauty of collaborative action for the benefit of all life is that it is effortless action. Taoist philosophy calls that Wu Wei, a creative participation in the cosmos in a manner that coheres with the flow of nature. My students and I have explored this concept deeply in the Sustainability Literacy for a Regenerative World course - you can take a peak at one of the slides that helped us focus that conversation below. Collaborative action for the benefit of all life is effortless action and it is conducive to joy, hope and power.  A LOOK INSIDE THE SUSTAINABILITY LITERACY COURSE + ANNOUNCING OUR 4 PERMACULTURE LEARNING OFFERINGS 1ST PART OF THIS BLOG The first session of my SUSTAINABILITY LITERACY FOR A REGENERATIVE WORLD course happened Live Monday, October 3rd. 17 people committed to engage with all the parts of the course, dive into the content, participate in the live sessions (some missed the 1st session), perform the tasks (homework :) and interact with the course community to learn together. A few more registered in the course to have access to the content only, and they were inspired to do so since the course registration had a sliding scale donation based price starting at $20. This might have been the last time I did it this way, and that is what my partners and advisors are persuading me towards - we shall see! This course is too powerful not to make it accessible to as many people as possible. I am writing this first part of the blog for you to share some highlights from this 1st session of course, share about what you may be seeing coming out from it further and invite you to help me decide when to launch its second edition next. Here it Goes: We started with gratitude and all were invited to consider starting anything and everything with gratitude all the time! See below why.  ANNOUNCING THE PERMACULTURE FARM SCHOOL VILLAGE PROJECT Dear Friend, First of all, I pray for your wellbeing and our common future in this world! I am writing here to share with you about a project I am launching that I believe will change the world for the better! You are seeing this because I know you are interested in these kinds of things, and I invite you to see what is in it for you! This project is a reframing of my life’s work, happening already, and it springs from my strong commitment to contribute to the creation of a healthy, abundant, peaceful and thriving future for all to enjoy. You will soon see all of my channels of communication filled with presentations and shares about this multifaceted project: The Permaculture Farm School Village Framework, Network and Academy. The basic invitations will be to learn about and join the possibilities of transforming the world via a network of permaculture farm school villages created everywhere around the world. (we have a few going already!!!) I will invite as many people as I can reach to imagine and help make happen: a network of permaculture farm school villages that meet human material and non-material needs, while being in service to all life, sustainably, regeneratively and indefinitely, everywhere around the world - villages that will enhance the well being of their local communities while also regenerating the health of the local ecosystems and ecology in which they exist! You will be able to see and participate in shaping The Permaculture Farm School Village Framework (see picture of the 1st iteration below), and learn how to apply it all, or parts of it, to your own projects, via The Permaculture Farm School Village Academy. 
Pictures are worth infinite words and for this blog entry we will let them speak about the intensive learning and growth we facilitated for 15 brave, kind and "willing to show up for our common future" souls! The core team consisted of Lucian and Anna Maria +, Russell, Christine, Nick, Whitney & Chef Aleana on site + various other guest speakers in-person & online.
Here is a written synopsis of this 1st podcast (I DO HIGHLY RECOMMEND YOU LISTEN):
PART 1 (the first 4 ideas) - "SIMPLE STEPS & IDEAS TO GET GOING & GAIN MOMENTUM IN PERMACULTURE, SUSTAINABILITY & REGENERATIVE WORK & BUSINESSES"
a limited series by Lucian Toma also in podcast and youtube audio format
Give courageously! ~ Author Unknown
CHAPTER / EPISODE 1 RECAP
On August 20th, after many requests and messages from my permaculture students and the instagram and facebook community, I decided to create a limited series on “Simple Steps and Ideas to Get Going and Gain Momentum in Permaculture, Sustainability and Regenerative Work and Businesses”. Most of the communication from these people was in the form of questions on how they can take their passion and career in these multifaceted fields to the next level. I seemed like someone that knows what he's doing and moving “seemingly” fast in these fields. The overall perception came from my social media feed that has been telling the story of my progress.
My mission in life, under the umbrella of my organization “About And For Sustainability”, is to inspire, empower and support people and their work in this field, therefore creating this series was a no brainer. It brings value to those that have asked these questions and others that have not asked anything else directly, individuals that want to learn and grow in this life giving work. The truth is, I have worked on a plan and curriculum for a series on these subjects for close to a decade; yet, because I was using most of my time to apply the concepts in my career and personal life, I never got around to sharing the lessons in a more structured way. I now do it because I discovered there is a need for this type of practical information for those that want to step into or take this type of work to the next level. The first chapter/episode was streamed live on instagram on the day of my decision, on August 20th. What follows is a transcript with extra information and details (the video got lost). I am sharing this short series freely online for a limited time only. Its contents will be incorporated in a 1 year long course to train and help people step into leadership and get their regenerative and sustainability based projects, businesses and careers going and to the next level. The course is entitled “Regenerative Leadership - knowledge, skills, values and attitudes conducive to thriving careers that better the world”. In the meantime, here is the recap of the first chapter/episode of this FREE SERIES: ENLIGHTENED SELF-INTEREST by Lucian Toma Would you rather forecast or create the future? ~ Author Unknown THE AWAKENING 10 years ago, while I was studying Sustainable Development in a masters Program in Hawaii, I woke up to a persistent and deepening pain for our world. A lot of things that I was studying and most of the news I was turning to were pointing out to a continuously growing ecological and social degradation around the world. I was living a very comfortable and abundant lifestyle at that point, it seemed like these things I was learning about were not effecting me. Yet as I started to pay more attention, I realized that the effects of that ecological and social degradation were around me too. It became clear that the beautiful island of Hawaii was experiencing this also. It occurred to me that poverty, hunger, despair, pollution, deforestation and the likes were not facts just for places like my own ex communist home country or somewhere in the third world. It was happening everywhere around the world. Yes good things were happening too, however at a very close look, the main story of our world was one of continuous degradation, some part of it very obvious to most, but the biggest part of it unseen in the main stream cultural conversations (especially in the developed world).
In my studies I learned that there were people and organizations out there that were talking about and taking action to regenerate what was degraded and through education and training helping people put systems in place conducive to a regenerative and sustainability based future. Education, training and community learning that provided knowledge, skills, values, attitudes, courage, confidence and hope to create health, abundance, peace, to meet human needs while also healing, enhancing and sustaining ecosystems health. I knew immediately that through this type of approach, engaging in conscious, intentional and continuous learning and doing in community, a more beautiful world was possible.
PERMACULTURE GRADUATE SPOTLIGHT: MACKENZIE by Lucian Toma "Opportunities matter, commitment is key." ~ Author Unknown
THE NEW FARM, A FEW PERMACULTURE PRINCIPLES AND A SCHOLARSHIP AWARDED by Lucian Toma "All for one and one for all." ~ Alexandre Dumas A NEW SPACE TO EXPERIENCE REGENERATION OF NATURE AND PEOPLE IN ACTION At the beginning of 2019, after a good while of searching, we found a new and bigger space to expand and improve our work with permaculture, regenerative farming and sustainability education and practice. Together, Anna Maria and I, have been envisioning this space as a “Permaculture and Regenerative Research and Education Farm” since the beginning of 2018. We actually discovered, since being together, that individually we have been dreaming and calling this space and situation into existence for a decade, possibly even more. Once we visited the new space, a 40 acres old ranch in Anza California, we loved it.
What Permaculture is, Who is it for, and What one learns in a design certification course.1/28/2019 WHAT PERMACULTURE IS, WHO IS IT FOR, AND WHAT ONE LEARNS IN A DESIGN CERTIFICATION COURSE.An Intro by Lucian Toma - founder of About And For Sustainability & Main Permaculture Course Instructor In our work, with About And For Sustainability, reEarth Consulting, The Honey Bee Hub, Terra Livre, Cultivate Together, Sustridge Sustainability Consulting, at The Ecology Center, and with many other businesses and organizations we are involved with, we design, develop and implement regenerative solutions for complex problems in our shared environments and communities.
OUR 2018 IMPACT REPORT WITH A VISION TO REGENERATE AND BUILD SUSTAINABILITY IN OUR SHARED ENVIRONMENT AND COMMUNITY ALL COMMUNITY INVITED PERMACULTURE DESIGN CERTIFICATION COURSE GRADUATES PRESENTATIONS
|
AuthorWe inspire, empower and support sustainability together! Archives
December 2022
Categories |
RSS Feed