Alana Bliss

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since Jan 18, 2013
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Biography
Alana accomplished her month long Permaculture Design Certification at ECOSA Institute in 2006, then did another month studying natural building at the Ecovillage Training Center, at The Farm in Tennessee. After she and her family drove down to Costa Rica in their self-converted, veggie-oil school bus RV, she returned to the US and took a Permaculture Teacher Training course at Cascadia Permaculture Institute, in Oregon. Over the next several years she and Jason have managed a volunteer program at their farm as well as a staff of farm employees. They have spent the last 3 years implementing infrastructure, having a beautiful homebirth with their 3rd son, hosting events, and forming an intentional community.
For More
Finca Fruición, Costa Rica
http://www.fincafruicion.com
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Recent posts by Alana Bliss

Peace Permies.

I am in the process of designing a road for our community in Costa Rica. We re-did it with rocks, but within a few years it was degraded and so I am designing a road that is more solid. I am looking at using Mechanical Concrete style road system, where tires are used without their walls and then fastened together. Does anyone here have any experience with that? Especially on a slope?

Thanks,
Alana

9 years ago
Peace and blessings Midwesterners.

I have to release a dream to the mystery and sell a house that I have in Crystal, MN. Its about 15 minutes from downtown Minneapolis on the freeway and there are bike trails that connect the suburbs to the city. My family and I moved to Costa Rica to start an education center and Permaculture land cooperative.

It is a mystical, transformational house. I remember vividly that when I walked in, I knew that people had been born and died in this warm home. Since living there it is true, my partner passed on and his son was born in this magical house. I was reborn there.

I have also held a dream in my heart for that space, I have envisioned it as an organic oasis in the suburbs in which it dwells. With some loving hearts, we planted a medicine wheel garden, many fruit trees, and a compost system. I see greenhouse potential, a rocket stove possibly connected to the radiant heat, a 3rd story, and with the right design and will to implement it, it could be a 100+ year old seed of change.

Reiki infused Dragon mural included.

You can check it out here:

http://www.edinarealty.com/homes-for-sale/MN/Crystal/55422/3443-Adair-Avenue-N-123509916

I trust that the right people are called to take this baton and that if not I either find the right renters or surrender into truly letting go to grow.

Love,
Alana

P.S. I'll have garden fruit tree pictures soon.
10 years ago
Hi friends,

I am launching a podcast series for families called Thrivability. The first half can be listened to by families and the second half is mostly focused on adults. This week is all about how we can honor the animals we eat featuring a story from the Haida people of the Pacific Northwest and Shad Qudsi of Atilan Organics in Guatamala. **there is a live chicken slaughter in the 2nd half, so be forewarned, it is not too bad** Chicken from Crate to Plate, how to kill, clean and prepare the whole chicken. Enjoy.

Its full on, eco-education.
http://thrivability.podomatic.com/entry/2014-03-17T07_15_31-07_00

Alana Bliss
Permaculture teacher and co-founder of
Finca Fruición: Permaculture Land Cooperative in Costa Rica
www.fincafruicion.com

The Fruition Center
www.fruitioncenter.com
10 years ago
This course focuses on building with Cob, Wattle and Daub, constructing Rocket Stoves and finishing with Earthen Plasters. Participants will experience a mixture of theoretical and hands-on learning from experienced facilitators.

Apply soon, positions are limited!!!

Our CREATIVE KID’S CAMP extension offers the opportunity for families to come and learn Natural Building, while vacationing in Costa Rica. The Creative Kid’s Camp is a guided interactive program that focuses on creative expression, nourishing foods, activities and games that support a connection with self, nature, and natural building.

Optional: We are offering an additional 2-week SUSTAINABLE BUILDING INTERNSHIP for students that may want to go deeper into their learning experience, continue to refine their techniques learned in the course and ground the lessons into an embodied understanding.

DATES

NATURAL BUILDING COURSE & CREATIVE KID’S CAMP

Jan. 9th-19th, 2014



NATURAL BUILDING INTERNSHIP

Jan 20th – Feb 2nd
(sundays off)

LOCATION
The Fruition Center for Holistic Ecology

Finca fruicion
600m north of the school in San Agustin, Peréz Zeledón, San José, Costa Rica


EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

We believe that the most efficient way to learn is to “do”, especially when it comes to sculpting with earth. By offering hands-on learning opportunities, students are able to fully and comprehensively understand how to design and build using renewable and biodegradable local resources. Natural Building uses a blend of ancient wisdom and modern thought, to create beautiful, low impact, and strong structures. Students will experience working with different phases of construction, as well as, build a rocket stove. Through this, students gain an understanding of how to design and build a whole structure.



HANDS-ON-PROJECTS:

Rocket Stove: Sculpting a wood-burning stove for the community kitchen. This is a high-efficiency stove design that creates a secondary burn of the gases released by the wood, and releases little to no emissions.
Wattle and Daub Wall: Using sticks to form a lattice (grid), which is then filled using an earthen mix.
Cob Wall: Working with a mixture of sand, clay, and fiber to mold a wall with artistic accents of recycled glass bottles and other items.
Earthen Plasters: Interior & exterior earth and lime plasters.
Artistic Touches: Sculpting with cob, bottles, and textures to form graceful & functional works of art.



THEORY AND PRESENTATION:

Rocket Stove thermal dynamics
Making the appropriate earthen mixes for different uses and techniques
Natural Building as a tool for cultivating community


COURSE FACILITATORS

Eva Wimmer

Eva is originally from Austria, where she finished her Studies of International Development with focus on Latin America. Her student time took her to rural Oaxaca, Mexico, where she studied indigenous organization, learned about organic coffee and corn production. Then she found out about traditional adobe construction, dry toilets, and greywater systems in a region where water is a scarce resource. Eva sees Natural Building as a way of building community, working in a team, and creating something functional and beautiful out of simple materials. She has cultivated a lot of experience with Natural Building and Permaculture as a way of life.
http://buildconnections.org/author/evakefa/

Josh Roxendal

Josh started his permaculture journey by building a demonstration site, where he hosted volunteers, ​​grew veggies, farmed bees, designed and built infrastructure. Now he travels around the world building efficient stoves, consulting and teaching Permaculture and Natural Building. After having been an apprentice in Eco – Construction, Joshua has dedicated a lot of time to Rocket Stoves (efficient wood stoves) and Natural Building. He believes that Permaculture and the search for a healthy lifestyle in harmony with nature is the foundation for his work.

http://permakultur.ihop.nu & (youtube): http://www.youtube.com/user/joxrosh/videos


CREATIVE KID´S CAMP


This camp focuses on inspiring children to explore themselves and local ecosystems through observation, creative expression and cooperation. They too will be co-creators of their very own natural building project, in which they will design and build a fort, gaining playful hands-on experience in natural building. Fun activities such as Capoeira, Super Hero Yoga, planting, harvesting, and more will all be integrated in their overall experience.

We will begin the mornings with story walks that explore reading nature, exercise, and imagination. We will then focus on engaging educational activities, that builds through the 9 days, to cultivate a holistic perspective of interacting with each other and the environment.

After lunch, quiet time will calm the children and nourish self-awareness, which then leads into wisdom stories from around the world, arts & crafts, and follows into natural building activities.

TUITION INVESTMENT



Course: $750 (Local Price: 200.000 colones)
Course + Internship: $975 (Local Price: 300.000 colones)
Creative Kid´s Camp: $300/student

*** SPECIAL EARLY BIRD OFFER – for registrations before Dec 8th ***

Natural Building Course: $650

Course + Internship: $ 875



INCLUDED:
- A valuable and entertaining educational experience!
- Covered Camping (bring your own camping gear/ hammock)

* Some dormitory beds may be available on a first reservation basis.
- Nourishing meals
- Pick-up/drop-off at San Isidro del General on January 9th & 19th
Cancellation

The course requires a minimum of 8 students, so if this number is not met, and a student has put down a deposit, then they have the option of having their money returned or putting the deposit towards a Natural Building Internship during the same time.

CONTACT

Cristina Moreira

education@TheFruitionCenter.com
My favorite line in this song: "there are people so dan poor all they have is their money."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mE1VgH_gD5Q&feature=share&list=PLJe77wGRWnY-pXMTpX69_Fz8OjMZH3TfD&index=7
11 years ago
Right on Paul,

I am so thankful about your point about making $ with Permaculture. I am so tired of the righteous poverty mentality that I have been bumping into in the permaculture world. We can use intelligent design to make money with out shame! Also, I found it awesome that you were talking about the organic questions when that was our breakfast conversation for our PDC this morning. Nice. Aho and good words. Keep rocking the empire. lol.
Much respect,
Alana
Hi Fellow Perimes and Dave Jacke,

Thank you for pioneering this movement of remembering. I live in Costa Rica and have been working with creating food forest guilds. I have both your books and love them. We have found great species that work well here both for food and for coffee and cacao guilds. I would love to connect with your wisdom, specifically in that regard. Also, I heard that there is mounting evidence that the Amazon Rainforest is an ancient food forest. I have a few questions for you if you have time to answer them.

* In the tropics, something like 80% of the nutrients reside in the biomass of the forest, in designing a tropical food forest, are there any changes you would make to account for this?

* In Costa Rica, there are many over story nitrogen fixing trees, if we don't cut them, but let them be a dappled shade over-story, will they release enough nitrogen to feed the trees and plants below?

I appreciate that you are reviving an ancient practice and adding ever more information to the study. May we regenerate our garden planet until there is abundance for all life.
With much respect,
Alana Bliss
11 years ago
Hi ya'all,

I wanted to share a little trick I use for videos. I live in Costa Rica and our internet is, well, slow. So, watching videos online isn't easy, but now I have a free way to download any video that is playing and I can watch it when it is done. I use a firefox plug in called Ant. If you google Ant firefox plug in, you will find it, then you just install it and play the videos using VLC, which you can also download for free. It works great for me, and then I don't have to worry about jumpy video.

Hope this helps in watching the wonderful videos featured on this site and online in general.

Peace.
Alana
11 years ago
I have been having issues with fermentation here in Costa Rica. What happens is that it molds on he top before it ferments, or else it get little tiny worms. Do you have any suggestions for tropical ferments?
11 years ago
Greetings Permies
Have you ever wanted to travel to Costa Rica, but didn't have a good reason to go?
Are you interested in getting certified in Permaculture at a farm with stunning views, amazing biodiversity, and lots of working Permaculture systems?
Have you wanted to take a Permaculture Design course, but didn't know how to manage it with your kids?


Check this out!



Finca Fruición is a Permaculture Land Cooperative that has been steadily building infrastructure, planting food, and preparing to be a model for sustainable solutions to global issues. We have hosted 2 PDCs, 2 festivals, and lots of volunteers over the past 4 years. This July, Itai Hauben and Alana Bliss will be facilitating the second annual PDC at Finca Fruición. All food is included!!

Finca Fruición
Itai's Symbiosis Eco Designs

2 week Permaculture Design Certification course
This course features a balance of classroom and hands on learning from the Permaculture Certification curriculum. Permaculture focuses on learning to recognize patterns in nature so that we may design our lifestyles to be in harmony with our environments. Merging global traditional and indigenous practices with scientific and technological discoveries, Permaculture offers solutions to modern problems we face today. Participants gain skills in:

observation
ecological design,
practical application,
appropriate technology design,
soil building,
water management, and more.

In a world where we are often confronted with daunting environmental, social, and agricultural problems, Permaculture can empower people toward designing a future that supports the web of life that we are all a part of. We are the ones who shape our world and with the right tools we can become agents of change that support the regeneration of our garden planet.

3 organic, locally grown meals per day and camping included.
Cost: $1300*
*10% discount if you sign up and pay deposit before May 15th



Permie Kid's Camp
This camp focuses on the Ethics and Principals of Permaculture designed in a fun and hands on way for children. Children are the future, in working with them, we are cultivating the foundation for tomorrow. Bring your children to explore Permaculture for kids, as we encourage a connection with nature, an understanding of ecology, a confidence to make artistic designs, and have a whole lot of fun.
Ages: 3 - 16 years old

3 locally grown, organic meals included, plus snacks. Children stay with their parents, camping included.
Cost: $650 for the first child and $400 for each additional child.*
*10% discount is signed up and deposit paid before May 15th.



Permaculture in Action Eco-tour and Hands on Practicum
Join us for a two week adventure travel practicum, in our veggie oil bus. It'll be it's inaugural tour, and an initiation of a new way to visit Costa Rica!



If you have any questions, ask away or email us at fincafruicion(at)gmail.com
We look forward to connecting.
Alana Bliss