Salamander Springs Farm/Permaculture Organics

Learnto rely on local resources & energy, to create fertile, living soil with permanent beds, hugelcultur, contour swales, ponds, rainwater catchment, greywater & spring water systems, perennial food polycultures, 3 Sisters cornfields, no-till staple crops (patterned on Masanobu Fukuoka’s work), poultry forage, cover crops… 

Experience a passive solar shower, humanure toilet, solar food dehydrator, earthen floors, building with clay, straw, salvage & local lumber, passive solar tiny house.  

Enjoy wild forage, forest medicinals, veggies, fruits, nuts, grains, dry beans & herbs grown, processed, preserved & fermented on the farm.  

July 7-9: The solar food dehydrator at Salamander Springs Farm has been popular in farm tours and workshops.  After 13 years of use and exposure to the elements, it’s time to rebuild it!  While participants will experience & learn about many elements of a working permaculture farm, the hands-on practicum for the July workshop is your chance to learn how to build and use a dependable solar dehydrator for year-round eating of fruits, roots, veggies, herbs and more!  You will also learn to grow, harvest, dry and process various herbs & foods.  Limited to 10 participants for hands-on learning.

September 15-17: This workshop focuses on cycling local resources to build living soils with sustained fertility.  It will include contour farming with swales, permanent no-till beds (including hugelcultur), the 3-Sisters cornfields, no-till grain & bean fields (patterned on Masanobu Fukuoka’s work), including integration of poultry forages & cover crops.  As rice paddies are under construction, you’ll learn about those, too.  The September workshop also includes small group practicums (4-6 people/group) based on participant interests.  Past examples have included seed saving, humanure, polyculture food forest, orchard & nut trees, spring water, greywater and pond catchment systems, wild forage, locally-sourced natural building with clay, wood & natural fibers, passive solar building, renewable energy & off-grid living.  Limited to 12 participants for hands-on learning.

Registration: Each workshop includes locally-grown, nutrient dense meals, tent camping, evening yoga for those interested, solar shower, compost toilet, spring water, cold tub & waterfall.  Workshops run from 8:30 a.m. Saturday to 4 p.m. Sunday, including some evening activities.  For those coming from a distance, Friday night camping is also available.  

Salamander Springs offers Permaculture in Practice workshops at an affordable price with a sliding scale of $175-250/workshop to accommodate folks of lower income.  If you’re able to pay the full fee, we are grateful for your support of our mission to make skills available to folks with less financial resources.  Thank you!  Register for both workshops for a $50 discount.  Two work trades are available (email early to apply with a short paragraph about your financial need and goals). 

Salamander Springs Farm is entirely off-grid without internet or social media, so registration is the “old-fashioned” way! Send your name, telephone, email and snail-mail addresses with payment by check via US mail to:  SALAMANDER SPRINGS FARM WORKSHOPS, P.O. Box 354, Berea, KY 40403.  Workshops fill quickly so register early.   To check that openings are available, email first at www.LocalHarvest.org/farms/M5606 (click “EMAIL US” button on the right), call or text at 859-893-3360.  Registration is first come-first serve with receipt of registration, even if you inquire early.

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Salamander Springs Farm grows for local markets, stores, CSA shares & Local Harvest's online store. Learn about Salamander Springs & founder Susana Lein in the 2015 permaculture documentary film, INHABIT (translated into 6 languages), thepermaculturepodcast.com, articles in Mother Earth News, Orion and Permaculture Activist magazines, and in online features by organizations for which Lein has taught, including the Stone Barns Center (NY), Cornell Univ. Reduced Tillage Panel, Southern Sustainable Agriculture and North American Biodynamic Association conferences. Lein received her PDC at Crystal Waters Permaculture Village in Australia, worked 8 years with small farmers in Latin America and has practiced permaculture for 26 years. She has taught more than 75 permaculture & natural building workshops, on-farm and for organizations in 9 states and 4 countries.

See educational powerpoint slides of Salamander Springs Farm on Flickr (first album) and other photo sets of permaculture and natural building practices on the farm.