Our Ecosystem Regeneration Camps (ERCs) develop participants’ knowledge and skills in the areas of ecosystem restoration and regenerative agriculture. The program prepares them to be regeneration agents who can go out into the world and expand their impact.
The Spring 2024 edition of this popular program took place at our Quinta Vale da Lama home over 7 days in late April, drawing 22 participants from around Portugal and Europe.
Each ERC course covers a variety of areas, such as regenerative agroforestry, introduction to soil sciences, dryland regeneration, and monitoring and evaluation of ecosystem regeneration activities. Some of the topics are persistent, and some vary based on the season or desired focus area.
The course was organized and facilitated by our partners, Novas Descobertas Association and ORLA Design, and has been offered here at Quinta Vale da Lama annually since 2017. The Spring ERCs are residential, with participants camping and staying on the grounds of Novas Descobertas Association, where most of the classroom training takes place. Participants formed a tight bond with each other as they become their own integrated community over the duration of the program.
Mud Valley Institute offers financial support to each ERC program through grants which help cover some of its operating costs. This enables a donation-based operating model which lowers the cost of attendance for participants.
Ecosystem Regeneration Camp participants are active earth stewards.
Ecosystem Regeneration Camps are primarily for people with a history of committed action in advancing environmental causes, and who have the intention to use the knowledge and skills gained in the camp to increase their impact in regenerating nature and society, and act on ecosystem restoration. It’s more than just about learning. It’s also about then going out and “paying it forward” by becoming an active ecosystem restorer and agent of change in each participant’s own context.
Those who are new or relatively new to the ecosystem regeneration are also welcome, as training the next generation of earth stewards and restorers is an ongoing effort.
The days are filled with learning and doing.
Most days featured morning education sessions and afternoons spent applying the techniques learned that morning. Evenings brought the participants together for dinner, entertainment, and sessions that forged close community bonds.
Here’s what each day covered in the Spring 2024 course:
Day 1- Regenerative Agroforestry
- The basics of regenerative agroforestry
- Guided tour of regenerative agroforestry examples
Day 2 – Agroforestry in “Alley Cropping”
- Food sovereignty in productive agroforestry systems
Day 3- Syntropic Forestgarden
- Ecological succession and syntropic forestgarden design
- Increasing productivity within an existing syntropic system and creating a new system
Day 4- Wood Pastures and Fodder
- Why and how to manage a wood pasture and forage banks as a complement to holistic rotational grazing in the semi-arid region
- How to plant and manage fodder banks
Day 5- Healthy Soils and Indigenous Microorganisms
- Introduction to soil sciences and how to make and maintain healthy soils
- Making biofertilizer from indigenous microorganisms
Day 6 – Semi-arid Regeneration
- Dryland regeneration of coastal Mediterranean ecosystems
- Micro-water harvesting and reforestation techniques for regeneration in a semi-arid region
Day 7 – Closing
- How to boost up the regeneration movement
- Evaluation, next steps, and closing
Participant feedback helps improve future offerings.
Mud Valley Institute has a strong monitoring and evaluation focus, and so we make sure to conduct post-programs whenever possible, and the ERC was no different. Our participants filled out post-program surveys to let us know how we did and what could be improved.
Some of the key survey results included:
- 100% said they are likely to recommend the course to a friend
- 94% said they were very satisfied with the course as a whole
- 88% said they improved their knowledge of Ecosystem Regeneration
“The holistic approach including the community living through to the practical work set the ERC at a level above most residential courses. It was a joyful experience amongst like-minded people across a broad age spectrum.” – Richard, United Kingdom
“I left the course feeling like I learned in many aspects, extended my network and made deep meaningful connections.” -Anne, Netherlands
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