Permaculture in Practice
2025 Workshops
SKILLS DAYS and WEEKEND INTENSIVE!
Salamander Springs Farm | Clear Creek, Berea, Kentucky
2026 Skills Days
Salamander Springs Farm is focusing on long-awaited infra-structure improvements this year! While this meanscutting back on the skills days in regenerative agriculture practices, soil health, cover crops and seed saving, watch for added natural building workshops are things move along!
APRIL 18, 2026
Off-grid Water Pumping
Access on-site water off-grid (i.e., rainwater catchment, well and spring water) without the limitations of gravity-fed water systems. Learn to install and use a small solar-powered DC pump & pressure tank to a water cistern. DETAILS BELOW
JULY - AUGUST 2026 email for details!
watch for Natural Building Workshops!
Salamander Springs Farm will be making some infrastructure upgrades in 2026! We can't predict how construction will play out, but if framing is complete and ready by mid-summer, we'll begin hosting Natural Building workshops again to provide hands-on learning in building Clay Slip Straw walls and Earthen floors! Get on email list to receive details & registration info
Off-grid Solar Pumping
Workshop Details:
-
Date: Saturday, April 18, 2026, 9 AM - 4:30 PM
-
Instructor: Josh Bills, Senior Energy Specialist at Mountain Association, with 3 decades of experience with renewable energy and appropriate technology systems, he installed 100's of systems through Kentucky and beyond.
-
Location: Salamander Springs Farm, 20 minutes from Berea, Kentucky (map)
- Cost:
With grant support, we are able to provide this workshop for a $30-50 nominal sliding fee, which will go to help support ASPI's work in filming and creating educational content for other small landowners. If you can provide more support, thank you!
-
Coming from a distance? Camping facilities are available before or after skills days with advance reservation. $20 includes tent site, cooking facilities, solar shower and compost toilet. Designate date(s) you wish to reserve at registration. Non-camping accommodations are also available nearby; inquire at registration.
-
What's included: intensive hands-on learning, delicious locally-sourced lunch, workshop materials and handouts.
ABOUT THE WORKSHOP LEADER
Susana Lein, farmer and manager of Salamander Springs Farm, is a permaculture / regenerative agriculture teacher with 30+years of experience. Over the years, Lein has taught hundreds of permaculture, regenerative agriculture, appropriate technology and natural building workshops. She will be assisted by other entrepreneurs in sustainable living practices from our region.
Lein received her PDC at Crystal Waters Permaculture Village in Australia, worked more than 8 years with small farmers in Latin America, and since 1999 has built Salamander Springs into a productive market farm feeding the community a wide variety of vegetables and fruit, staple grains and dry beans, herbs and flowers, all without tillage or fertilizers.
To learn more about Susana and Salamander Springs Farm, see the ABOUT and FARM SYSTEMS pages.
See the IN THE PRESS page for articles, podcasts and films.
Permaculture In Practice Weekend Intensive!
SEPTEMBER 11-13, 2026
Immerse yourself in regenerative practices on a 25-year-old off-grid permaculture farm! An inspirational and transformative experience of community building cherished by participants since 2007. Learn hands-on skills in no-till and staple crop production, seed saving, natural building, designing contour swales, rice paddies or ponds for water management. Understand soil microorganisms that create healthy soil in our forests, fields and gardens to produce nutrient dense food without tillage or outside inputs. See how the deep roots of cover crops feed the web of soil life that builds fertility. DETAILS BELOW
Weekend Intensive Details:
WORKSHOP DATES: September 11-13, 2026
LOCATION: Salamander Springs Farm, 20 minutes from Berea, Kentucky (map)
COST:
-
$440 Early Registration Discount (save $40 before August 15).
-
$480 Regular Registration (after August 15)
-
Work-trade & BIPOC scholarships available, see below.
-
Workshop includes camping accommodations, workshop materials and delicious gourmet meals from the farm each day.
-
Hands-on learning: off-grid farm living, no-till staple crop and vegetable production, hugulkultur, soil building, contour swales & water management, seed saving, natural building, appropriate and solar technologies, and more!
WORKSHOP INSTRUCTORS:
Learn from the Susana Lein's 30+ years experience plus an inspiring team of instructors:
-
Michael Blum, 2019 Permaculture in Practice participant and 2020 graduate of Dr. Elaine Ingham's Soil Food Web Course, will provide an microscopic understanding of this web of soil life that build fertility.
-
Regenerative farmers Jennifer & Lee Ruff will show how to make biochar, an amazing soil amendment that holds nutrients and water in the soil and provides a lasting home for soil-building microorganisms.
-
Long-time renewable energy expert Joshua Bills, will lead a session on practical installations and funding opportunities for renewable energy, including off-grid systems like Salamander Springs Farm.
-
Exceptional chef April Morales will transform Salamander Springs vegetables, fruits & staples into gourmet meals to enjoy in a beautiful outdoor setting!
-
Natural builder Ziggy Liloia will demonstrate natural building techniques with clay, straw & wood, similar to those Susana used for the earthen floor and clay slip straw walls in structures at Salamander Springs Farm.
FULL AND PARTIAL WORK-TRADE SCHOLARSHIPS AVAILABLE FOR EACH WORKSHOP
Email us information when registering. Because of a gift from colleagues John Rogers and Debbie Robinson in honor their friend, Sunshine Jim, we are able to offer BIPOC and low-income scholarships for each workshop. A resilient and life-sustaining future requires the skills and talents of a diverse land-based community.
Develop Hands-On SKILLS for Locally-Sustained LIVING
-
Create fertile, living soil, hugelkultur, no-till veggie and staple crops, contour swales & ponds.
-
Manage and cycle water, solar energy and nutrients.
-
Grow diverse food crops, staples grains, dry beans and cover crops without tillage.
-
Experience a passive solar tiny house, building with clay & straw, local lumber and salvage, earthen floor, solar shower, humanure compost toilet, solar food dehydrator...
-
Enjoy a diversity of farm-grown staple proteins, fresh produce, preserved, foraged and fermented foods.
These on-farm workshops are for anyone wanting to get firsthand experience with permaculture principles and methods on the ground, will include hands-on practicums and intensive education in principles, methods and materials, timing, hard lessons learned...not to be missed!
Food and Dining
We provide all meals during our workshop. Freshly prepared meals will consist of organic mostly vegetarian dishes featuring locally grown ingredients. We do our best to accommodate dietary restrictions and food allergies. (We’ll follow up after registration to make sure we have your dietary preferences on file.)