Spring Renewal Weekend

Summer at Schumacher College

April 2 — 6, 2009

Martin Crawford, Satish Kumar, Wayne Schroeder, Julie Richardson, Jon Rae, Julia Ponsonby, William Thomas

Relax and unwind at Schumacher College on the beautiful and inspirational Dartington Hall Estate. The Spring Renewal Weekend offers the perfect opportunity to reconnect with nature and become grounded in the simple pleasures and satisfaction of bread baking, meditation, conversation, gardening and cooking.

Weekend Overview

This weekend offers a less structured timetable than most of our courses but will feature a variety of special sessions so you can choose to be as active as you like. Sessions will include; an introduction to Agroforestry with Forest Garden Expert Martin Crawford, bread baking with baker and College Catering Manager Wayne Schroeder, a discussion of rural sustainability in action with Landscope Director Julie Richardson and sustainability expert Jon Rae, and a fireside chat with Earth Pilgrim and Visiting Fellow, Satish Kumar.

This weekend is intended for: Anyone who wishes to take time out from their busy lives, to relax and unwind, to meet new friends or simply ‘get away from it all’.

Weekend Detail

The Spring Renewal Weekend provides an opportunity to enjoy time at Schumacher College on a less structured basis than a regular short course. Participants will be involved with the usual activities that form the basis of life at the College, such as shared work in the kitchen, house and gardens, optional morning meditation, and socialising and discussion over meals and in the snack area and bar. There will be ample time for people to:

Make use of the wonderful library, which has over 5,000 volumes on topics relating to an ecological world view, from psychology to holistic science to economics and agriculture

In addition, a range of talks will be on offer by resident staff or sustainability experts from the local area, as outlined below.

Thursday, April 2
Arrival between 5pm and 6:30 pm
Introductions to each other and the College

Friday, April 3
8:30 am Community meeting followed by work groups.
Followed by introduction to College grounds and gardens

11 am to 1 pm Forest Garden Tour led by Martin Crawford. The Agroforesty Research Trust site adjoins Schumacher College grounds and is one of the leading examples in the world of forest gardening techniques. Martin, its founder and developer, has over 20 years’ experience of organic horticulture, agriculture and agroforestry. He was featured recently on BBC2’s Natural World programme Farm for the Future.

2:15-3:15 Baking hot cross buns with Julia Ponsonby

3:30-4:30: Jon Rae, Sustainability Coordinator for Dartington will talk about the projects he is developing to improve sustainability on the Dartington Estate to make it carbon- and waste-neutral by 2015.

Saturday, April 4
8:30 am Community meeting followed by work groups.
Opportunities for gardening, private study, walks etc.
Evening: Fireside chat with Satish Kumar.

Afternoon: Field trip (to Dartmoor or the coast) with William Thomas

Sunday, April 5
Sleep in – Breakfast from 9 am
Morning: Opportunities for gardening, private study, walks etc.
Afternoon: Breadmaking with Wayne Schroeder

Monday, April 6
8:30 am Community meeting followed by work groups.
10 am to 11 am Introduction to Landscope by Julie Richardson. The Landscope Project aims to pioneer sustainable land use in and around Dartington by attracting, supporting and promoting small-scale, innovative and financially-viable ventures that put people and enterprise back on the land and build a robust and resilient local economy.

Departure after lunch.

Teachers and Session Leaders

Martin Crawford has over 20 years’ experience of organic agriculture and horticulture, and is one of UK’s leading experts on agroforestry and forest gardens.

Satish Kumar undertook an 8,000 mile peace pilgrimage, walking from India to America without any money to deliver packets of peace tea to leaders of the four nuclear powers. In 1973, he settled in England, becoming editor of Resurgence magazine – a position he has held ever since. Satish is the guiding spirit behind a number of ecological, spiritual and educational ventures in Britain and was one of the founders of Schumacher College.

Wayne Schroeder is a trained chef and cheese-maker. As Catering Manager at Schumacher College he now inspires others to consider sustainability issues through food while keeping the College at the cutting edge of food policy with regard to organic, fair-trade and local ingredients.

Julie Richardson is the Directory of Landscope, a pioneering project of the Dartington Hall Trust (of which Schumacher College is part). Landscope’s vision is to bring the countryside back to life with sustainable land use through the creation of a web of interconnected enterprises and demonstration projects. Click here to read more about Landscope.

Jon Rae is the Sustainability Officer at the Dartington Hall Trust, a 1200 acre medieval Estate (of which Schumacher College is part) and has the challenge of making the Trust’s activities carbon neutral by 2015. In the last year alone, the Trust’s campaign ‘LoveCarbon’ has made considerable progress to this aim. Click here to read more about LoveCarbon and here to read about our progress this year.

Julia Ponsonby is the Senior Caterer at Schumacher College and put together the College cookbook Gaia’s Kitchen which won the gourmand world cookbook award for best veggie cookbook in 2001. Julia has been at the college since it opened, originally visiting to deepen her knowledge of ecology. She has enjoyed a wide vareity of roles at the College including craft teacher and housekeeper before becoming involved in the catering.

William Thomas is the College’s House Manager and has been contributing to the running of the College for 16 years. Besides is responsibilities for the College’s maintenance and facilities, he regularly leads participants on walks around the local area- in particular Dartmoor.

Weekend Fees

For individuals, NGOs, Educational & Public Sector Organisations and businesses: Four day ‘weekend’ £500

All course fees include accommodation, food, field trips and teaching sessions.

Apply

Click here to book your place(s) today! Visit the on-line booking system

Click here for details of how to apply by fax or post

For further information about Schumacher College please see About the College

New feature – reserve your place now

To provisionally reserve a place for 5 days, email us your contact details and the name of the course admin@schumachercollege.org.uk

We will hold the place for five working days (for reservations made at least three weeks before the course start date). After five days we will automatically offer your place to someone else if we have not received your application.

Schumacher College is part of the Dartington Hall Trust, a company limited by guarantee, registered in England and as a charity (company no. 1485560, charity no. 279756). Registered office: The Elmhirst Centre, Dartington Hall, Totnes, Devon TQ9 6EL, UK.