Permaculture adventures in Sector39

Windpower workshop, Feb 2010

The Sector39 crew are working away this year putting together what we are calling ours ‘Skills for Sustainability Programme.‘ The idea is to offer crash courses, tasters, introduction, skill-sharing and networking events  in key areas like local food, energy, bees, fruit trees etc. whatever we need to equip ourselves to relocalise at least some of our food and energy production.

We have had a lot of success with our 2 week permaculture courses and we are busy thinking how to break some of that into smaller chunks, to make it accessible to a broader range of people. Focussing on the skills, practical stuff and areas where there is the most common interest and seems to make a lot of sense as a starting place.

So organic growing – especially veg. is one starting point and we have a one day and 20 week – (Thursday afternoons) course a coming up. The 20 week one is externally funded, so don’t be shy about getting a place on it, it is potentially free.

And the other big one we are trying out for the first time is the Build your own wind turbine course, Its 3 days at the Workhouse last weekend of this month with V3power, a bunch of guys from Nottingham who run these courses all over the place.  We are really keen to get some people on this one, so please get in touch if you are interested, find out how to part pay in Dolydd’s or time dollars

These 1,2 and three days courses are lively and informative and also of course create a platform for people to share their knowledge and experience and come together to celebrate creativity and ingenuity.

Get in touch with us to find out more – but here are the details of the 3 day wind turbine course

Introduction to building a Wind Turbine

Friday 26th February to Sunday 28th February 2010

The Workhouse, Llanfyllin, Powys, SY22 5LE

This weekend course covers all the practical elements of building a wind turbine and gives an overview of all the technical aspects needed to create a wind based renewable energy system. We hope to build a working 1.2m wind turbine over course of the weekend.

Over the weekend, participants will get hands on experience in metal work including welding a turbine mounting, carving wooden blades and building the electrical generator.

We will also explore some of the theoretical aspects of building and installing a turbine, such as blade design, sighting your turbine and appropriate systems for storage and usage of the power you generate.

The course is suitable for complete beginners who haven’t used a tool since school, and for people with plenty of practical and technical knowledge looking to supplement what they already know.

We are very excited to be able to run a course in conjunction with the vibrant Workhouse project. The Workhouse is a centre for arts and environmental education set in the stunning Cain Valley mid Wales. The Workhouse is already home to the highly acclaimed Workhouse festival and is developing an exciting range of music, theatre, and arts events and a broad spectrum of educational and training courses including permaculture design, green crafts and music technology.

For more information about the venue please visit: www.llanfyllinworkhouse.org

The course costs £200 including food. Accomodation will include limited spaces inside the workhouse and camping in the grounds; there are also a number of local B&Bs for those that would prefer. It’s sure to be a lovely weekend, getting to know all the different participants at a beautiful rural location. A discount is also available for people who are unwaged. Please ask.

To book on to the course, please email info@v3power.co.uk and you can check out our website www.v3power.co.uk to see more about who we are and what we do. There is more info here at S39