YOU CAN NOW SHOP FRESH VEGGIES, EGGS AND APOTHECARY ITEMS
AT OUR FARM STAND! We are a regenerative organic farm and permaculture learning facility outside of Lebanon Missouri. For our community, we grow nutrient dense vegetables and fruits, medicinal herbs, cut flowers, seedlings, and we raise free range organic fed chickens for market eggs. We also craft apothecary goods with wild and cultivated plants. We offer farm tours, hands-on homesteading workshops, community events and deep-dive training courses and apprenticeships on site. Visiting us, you would get to meet our goats, dogs, cats, guinea fowl and pigs also. We look forward to feed your mind, body and soul! |
with Regenerative Local Food
The Greek Farm Feast Dinner
Farm Elegant - September 28
Regenerative Local Food
Invitation:
Join us for our signature farm elegant dinner, on Saturday, September 28th, to celebrate the closing of the summer farming season and help spark a new era of ecological abundance in our region. This is a chance to come together at our community table, to share in a meal with all locally sourced ingredients, plated with the highest intentions in mind, and be part of founding a unique endeavor that will heal, preserve and where possible enhance our local ecosystems and communities.
Our annual farm dinner comes with the goal of gathering like minded folks to meet for meaningful conversation and deepen the appreciation for our local food connections. We will celebrate together this area of the ozarks and the many diverse ingredients from the forest to the farm that it provides. When we look to our local watershed for our food, we find that this area is blessed with many farmers, ranchers, foragers, and growers that are working tirelessly everyday to provide their community with stellar products - and the chefs are utilizing their platforms to highlight and feature the importance of eating seasonally, locally, thoughtful, and simple. Join us at our Greek Farm Feast Dinner to be amazed at the vibrancy, taste, and magic of local food!
Theme and Schedule:
The theme for the dinner is greek, so you will indulge in fire cooked meats and fresh veggies from our farm and other growers with our shared values. Locally sourced wild and farmed goods will also be plated, served Mediterranean and family style. Menu will be available soon!
The evening will begin around 5 pm with a welcome drink and a tour of our farming operations with Farmer Lucian. Appetizers will be served as you are visiting the gardens. Dinner will begin promptly at 6:00, at long tables. Guests are encouraged to sit next to new folks and let the conversations flow! The meal typically takes 3 hours from start to finish.
More Than A Dinner:
Your dinner ticket purchase comes with an Advocate Membership to our envisioned Ecological Education Center. We are kicking off a non-profit with a new space and program in 2025 to inspire a new generation of organic and regenerative farmers, ranchers, gardeners, farmsteaders, as well as lifestyles in our area. We will teach people how to grow and cook good food, and live a eco conscious abundant life. Our programs will include hands-on training for adults and youth, and most importantly an outdoor school for children.
We will engage you in our vision with visuals and inspirational stories and will invite you to participate in an auction and fun fundraiser.
Your Hosts:
Anna Maria Desipris
Co-Founder, Farmer, Herbalist, and Culinary Director
Anna Maria's career in farming, herbalism, and culinary pursuits has all flowed seamlessly over the last 13 years: from organic farming in the urban environment to now at Sun and Bloom, and coordinating Farm to Table experiences for upwards of 300 people at a time, and working with Southern California's best chefs and farmers. She will make your evening magical.
Lucian Toma
Co-Founder, Farmer and Educator
Lucian is our head farmer at Sun and Bloom, leading the efforts of our market garden, farmers markets, and animal programs. His expertise in permaculture, sustainability, and education has been his guide to create the backdrop for events and education on our farm.
George Desipris
The Open Fire Cooking Master
George is living his retirement engaging with his grandchildren on our farm, teaching them Greek, Greek philosophy and how to cook on open fires. Among many other earth and people centered things in life, George has been spearheading the Greek Food Festival in Reno for 30 years.
Guest Chefs
We will announce our guest chefs shortly.
Cost
$175 (includes the $50 Advocate membership - always giving you early access registration to all of our events)
$25 add on wine pairing
We cannot offer any refunds for this event, unless we cancel it. Thank you for understanding.
COME FEAST WITH US!
On Sale
On Sale
Harvest & Feast - The Lamb Experience - October 5
Intimate Elegant 10 spots only
Invitation:
Join us for a unique ancestral and ecological connection experience, the process of a lamb from the pasture to your plate. Our own Lucian will walk you through the natural life of a pastured lamb, with an old Dacian / Romanian approach to harvest and the initial process before the spit. Our own Greek papou (grandpa), will talk you through the dressing on the spit, the fire making and keeping, and the slow turn by hand process. Between the old world stories from these two, farm fresh appetizers and European libations, we will test to see when the lamb is ready and we will feast together when time comes. You will get to experience our farm in an elegant natural setting, traveling back in time and looking forward to the future.
Details:
This is a 6 to 8 hour experience, with a maximum of 10 people, starting at 6 am - we will have Greek coffee and pastries ready.
The harvest is not for everyone to see, and you are welcome to watch if you’d like.
You will get to learn anything there is to know about raising lamb regeneratively, in ways that heal the land and make it taste like it is supposed to.
While learning, Anna Maria will feed you small bits of stellar Italian appetizers, including smoke meats, veggies and cheese all from our farm!
We will invite you to be part of the processing before the spit and the carving when it is ready.
We aim for a relaxed, festive vibe with children welcome. Our apprentices will make sure you are taken care of.
If you would like to pass straight to the feast part you can, and arrive closer to the feast, yet you would be missing on a lot. (let us know in the comments section of your registration)
About your experience hosts:
Lucian - grew up in Romania in two grandparents' homestead environments. On the mother's side, they lived up in the mountain raised sheep, goats, rabbits and chickens, managed a large plum orchard and grew enough vegetables and other fruits to feed the family. They made amazing plum brandy, cheese, wool and rabbit fur clothing! On the father’s side they raised pigs, chickens and turkeys, managed a table and wine grape vineyard and grew a lot of vegetables - all males on this side were butchers. Lucian was initiated in all the traits from a very young age; raising animals, making wine and brandy, growing and preserving vegetables, and much more. He loves connecting with this background and after multiple master degrees and business, government and non-profit professional experience, he thinks those skills he learned while a kid remain the most important - so he is sharing them with the world to enjoy also.
Papou George - Anna Maria’s father, grew up on an island in Greece with his immediate and extended family. He grew up fishing, herding goats and sheep, managing Olive and Capers groves, and living a beautiful life full of ancestral connections to art, music and philosophy. He has been a powerful gatherer of the Greek community in Reno Nevada, being one of the founders of the first Greek Orthodox Church and Greek Food Festival in the area - yes you guessed it, he got the people together with magical fire cooking skills, his cooking is not something to miss.
Anna Maria - grew up between learning Italian cooking and Opera by deeply engaging with her Sicilian grandma, on her mother’s side, and Greek cooking from visiting her grandparents’ island, on her father’s side. Her talent in the culinary arts got a huge spike when she gathered the most elegant farm to table events in the world for 4 years in Southern California, working with top tier famous chefs and organic farmers, ranchers and fishermen. She wrangled together a stellar cookbook telling this story for a non-profit and is ready to put her new one together again!
Cost:
$157 - Adult
$107 - Teenager 12-18
$57 - Child 5-11
Free Children under 5 (your children only :)
20% off till July 19
10% off till August 1
5% off till August 15
If you would like a private event for your family or friends on another day, for a minimum of 8 and a maximum of 20 people - please reach out via email!
Refunds Policy:
We are aware that life circumstances can change and you may not be able to attend a course that you booked in advance. We have a clear returns policy.
- For on-farm events and trainings up to 4 days duration or online courses; as long as you notify us at least 30 days prior to the commencement of the event, we will refund the fee amount received, less an administration fee of $100. Alternatively we can credit the full amount towards a future event. If you notify us of your need to cancel within 30 days of course commencement, your payment is not refundable.
- In the unlikely event that we are forced to cancel an event you will promptly receive a full refund. Sun And Bloom Farms is not liable for travel arrangements/ expenses under any circumstance.
VIDEO, PICTURES, RELEASE OF LIABILITY AND CANCELLATION AGREEMENT:
I, in consideration of the services provided by Sun And Bloom Farms, its agents, participants, employees, and all other persons or entities acting in any capacity on its behalf (hereinafter collectively referred to as “Sun And Bloom Farms", hereby agree to release Sun And Bloom Farms, as follows:
1. I acknowledge and understand that participation in an in person or online course, training, workshop or event provided by Sun And Bloom Farms is purely voluntary, and I elect to individually participate.
2. I agree to release and hold harmless Sun And Bloom Farms from any and all claims, demands, or causes of action, which are in any way connected with my participation in in person or online courses, workshops or events activities or use of facilities for the activity.
3. I certify that I have adequate insurance to cover any injury or damages I might suffer while participating, or else I agree to bear the costs of such injury or damage myself. I further certify that I am willing to assume the risk of any medical or physical condition I may have.
4. I agree that any photos or videos taken of me during any in person or online courses, training, workshops or events become property of Sun And Bloom Farms and may be used in marketing materials used online or in print worldwide. I agree there will be no compensation for the use of said photos or videos. I hereby irrevocably consent to and authorize the use by Sun And Bloom Farms, of any and all photographs, video, voice recordings, or other media taken of me including derivative works thereof (collectively, the “Images”), and any reproduction of them in any form in any media whatsoever, whether now known or hereafter created, throughout the world in perpetuity. I understand and agree that Images and Videos using my likeness will become property of Sun And Bloom Farms and will not be returned. I also consent to and authorize the use by Sun And Bloom Farms of the Images and Videos for commercial gain.
5. I agree that I will not get any refunds any time after 30 days before the course/training I registered for. I also agree that if I cancel my registration more than 30 days prior to the course a $100 admin fee will be deducted.
By accepting the terms of this agreement on this form, I acknowledge that I have had sufficient opportunity to read this entire document. I have read and understood it, agree to be bound by its terms, and if applicable, consent to my participation in the Sun And Bloom Farms in person or online courses, workshops or events.
On Sale
On Sale
Harvest & Feast - The Pig Experience, October 12
Intimate Elegant 10 spots only
Invitation:
Join us for a unique ancestral and ecological connection experience, the process of a pig from the pasture to your plate. Our own Lucian will walk you through the natural life of a pastured pig, with an old Dacian / Romanian approach to harvest and the initial process before the spit. Our own Greek papou (grandpa), will talk you through the dressing on the spit, the fire making and keeping, and the slow turn by hand process. Between the old world stories from these two, farm fresh appetizers and European libations, we will test to see when the pig is ready and we will feast together when time comes. You will get to experience our farm in an elegant natural setting, traveling back in time and looking forward to the future.
Details:
This is a 6 to 8 hour experience, with a maximum of 10 people, starting at 6 am - we will have Greek coffee and pastries ready.
The harvest is not for everyone to see, and you are welcome to watch if you’d like.
You will get to learn anything there is to know about raising pig regeneratively, in ways that heal the land and make it taste like it is supposed to.
While learning, Anna Maria will feed you small bits of stellar Italian appetizers, including smoke meats, veggies and cheese all from our farm!
We will invite you to be part of the processing before the spit and the carving when it is ready.
We aim for a relaxed, festive vibe with children welcome. Our apprentices will make sure you are taken care of.
If you would like to pass straight to the feast part you can, and arrive closer to the feast, yet you would be missing on a lot. (let us know in the comments section of your registration)
About your experience hosts:
Lucian - grew up in Romania in two grandparents' homestead environments. On the mother's side, they lived up in the mountain raised sheep, goats, rabbits and chickens, managed a large plum orchard and grew enough vegetables and other fruits to feed the family. They made amazing plum brandy, cheese, wool and rabbit fur clothing! On the father’s side they raised pigs, chickens and turkeys, managed a table and wine grape vineyard and grew a lot of vegetables - all males on this side were butchers. Lucian was initiated in all the traits from a very young age; raising animals, making wine and brandy, growing and preserving vegetables, and much more. He loves connecting with this background and after multiple master degrees and business, government and non-profit professional experience, he thinks those skills he learned while a kid remain the most important - so he is sharing them with the world to enjoy also.
Papou George - Anna Maria’s father, grew up on an island in Greece with his immediate and extended family. He grew up fishing, herding goats and sheep, managing Olive and Capers groves, and living a beautiful life full of ancestral connections to art, music and philosophy. He has been a powerful gatherer of the Greek community in Reno Nevada, being one of the founders of the first Greek Orthodox Church and Greek Food Festival in the area - yes you guessed it, he got the people together with magical fire cooking skills, his cooking is not something to miss.
Anna Maria - grew up between learning Italian cooking and Opera by deeply engaging with her Sicilian grandma, on her mother’s side, and Greek cooking from visiting her grandparents’ island, on her father’s side. Her talent in the culinary arts got a huge spike when she gathered the most elegant farm to table events in the world for 4 years in Southern California, working with top tier famous chefs and organic farmers, ranchers and fishermen. She wrangled together a stellar cookbook telling this story for a non-profit and is ready to put her new one together again!
Cost:
$157 - Adult
$107 - Teenager 12-18
$57 - Child 5-11
Free Children under 5 (your children only :)
20% off till July 19
10% off till August 1
5% off till August 15
If you would like a private event for your family or friends on another day, for a minimum of 8 and a maximum of 20 people - please reach out via email!
Refunds Policy:
We are aware that life circumstances can change and you may not be able to attend a course that you booked in advance. We have a clear returns policy.
- For on-farm events and trainings up to 4 days duration or online courses; as long as you notify us at least 30 days prior to the commencement of the event, we will refund the fee amount received, less an administration fee of $100. Alternatively we can credit the full amount towards a future event. If you notify us of your need to cancel within 30 days of course commencement, your payment is not refundable.
- In the unlikely event that we are forced to cancel an event you will promptly receive a full refund. Sun And Bloom Farms is not liable for travel arrangements/ expenses under any circumstance.
VIDEO, PICTURES, RELEASE OF LIABILITY AND CANCELLATION AGREEMENT:
I, in consideration of the services provided by Sun And Bloom Farms, its agents, participants, employees, and all other persons or entities acting in any capacity on its behalf (hereinafter collectively referred to as “Sun And Bloom Farms", hereby agree to release Sun And Bloom Farms, as follows:
1. I acknowledge and understand that participation in an in person or online course, training, workshop or event provided by Sun And Bloom Farms is purely voluntary, and I elect to individually participate.
2. I agree to release and hold harmless Sun And Bloom Farms from any and all claims, demands, or causes of action, which are in any way connected with my participation in in person or online courses, workshops or events activities or use of facilities for the activity.
3. I certify that I have adequate insurance to cover any injury or damages I might suffer while participating, or else I agree to bear the costs of such injury or damage myself. I further certify that I am willing to assume the risk of any medical or physical condition I may have.
4. I agree that any photos or videos taken of me during any in person or online courses, training, workshops or events become property of Sun And Bloom Farms and may be used in marketing materials used online or in print worldwide. I agree there will be no compensation for the use of said photos or videos. I hereby irrevocably consent to and authorize the use by Sun And Bloom Farms, of any and all photographs, video, voice recordings, or other media taken of me including derivative works thereof (collectively, the “Images”), and any reproduction of them in any form in any media whatsoever, whether now known or hereafter created, throughout the world in perpetuity. I understand and agree that Images and Videos using my likeness will become property of Sun And Bloom Farms and will not be returned. I also consent to and authorize the use by Sun And Bloom Farms of the Images and Videos for commercial gain.
5. I agree that I will not get any refunds any time after 30 days before the course/training I registered for. I also agree that if I cancel my registration more than 30 days prior to the course a $100 admin fee will be deducted.
By accepting the terms of this agreement on this form, I acknowledge that I have had sufficient opportunity to read this entire document. I have read and understood it, agree to be bound by its terms, and if applicable, consent to my participation in the Sun And Bloom Farms in person or online courses, workshops or events.
On Sale
On Sale
Permaculture Homestead 3 Day Training - In Person
September 13-15 - Hands-on, In The Field Learning!
Invitation:
Join us for this unique 3 day in-person course that will help you start designing, planning and managing your resilient homestead. We define a farmstead as a a living space that includes a healthy and usually off-grid beautiful home, surrounded by productive and resilient ecological systems, such as vegetables and fruit gardens, orchards, domesticated animals, and abundant access to water, energy, and materials needed for living. In this 3 day intensive course we will explore a basic, yet holistic, blueprint and guide, with practical and experience based processes to help you build or develop further your dream homestead. You will be on our working farmstead, able to learn from our self-sufficiency resilient systems. And we will feed you fantastic food - September is our most abundant veggies season and animal harvest time. We will cover all the permaculture farmstead design systems but will focus on our plant/food production systems (our vegetables and fruit gardens, nursery, medicinal herbs, flowers, fruit and nut trees) and micro-stock animal systems (honey bees, egg and meat chickens, turkeys, goats, pigs and sheep) - showing what processes we used to design, plan, scale up and continuously manage these systems. The course is participant driven, the content applies to different contexts, and it can lead to creating a workable 1st draft farmstead plan - this includes a combination of life planning and farmstead development design and management plan.
As your guides, we, Lucian and Anna Maria, have over a decade of experience each as instructors in the realm of sustainability, permaculture and regenerative agriculture in academic, government, non-profit and business environments with 5 years of experience making our living from farmsteading together. At this point, we run a six figure generating farmstead that combines vegetables, herbs, flowers, eggs, milk, meat, apothecary, hands-on education and agritourism production. We started with $0, 6 years ago.
We created this course for people who truly want to live an earth and people conscious life, in harmony with nature, being able to experience self sufficiency and connection with a trustworthy community - a life worth living, and a course worth taking. This course focuses on building homestead resilient systems and dives deeper into self-sufficiency production; it does not discuss income production approaches as our Permaculture Farmstead 3 day Training course does.
Further Definitions:
Homesteaders - multi-skilled, always learning, self-sufficient, community, and usually family oriented individuals that are able to design, manage and troubleshoot their life sustaining homestead systems, living a good, great, healthy and fulfilling life.
Homesteading - a lifestyle in tune and in harmony with nature, land based, using appropriate technology, including advanced technology, focused on self-sufficiency and resilience to systemic uncertainty.
BONUS: Participants in this course also get the recorded version and all the resources and perks of the online Permaculture Homestead Design Primer course (please note that this will not be available till end of November 2024)
Schedule and Topics:
Day 1
Homestead Tour + Vision, Holistic Context and Actionable Plans - Fri, Sep 13, 2024
- We will start with a farm tour and brief encounters and explanations of all of our homestead systems (Soil, Water, Food, Medicine, Shelter, Waste, Energy) and focus on some of the most important systems (The Composting Systems, The Vegetables and Medicinal Herb Gardens, Plant Nurseries, Eggs and Meat Birds, Goat Milk & Meat, Pigs, Water Harvesting, and Community Engagement spaces)
- Once acquainted with what is possible, we will explore how we got here and help you learn how to create and write down your grand homestead vision, and how to analyze your present context, looking at your different forms of capital, in order to create an actionable course of action, with creative solutions and task prioritization, to reach your envisioned homestead goals. We’ll get into some details on how to create flexibility and resilience into the plan via holistic decision making and plan management feedback loops. We will also explore how to keep track of progress and decide on changes.
Day 2
Plant Food and Medicine Production and Preservation - Sat, Sep 14, 2024
- We will start by looking at the vegetables and fruit production and preservation operational planning approaches for the year and then get hands on to see and experience compost making and management, row building and management in the vegetables and medicinal herb gardens, planting and caring for seedlings, compost tea making and fertilizing, irrigation types, trellising and more. We will also look at the infrastructure and processes involved in harvesting, prepping and storing veggies, fruits and medicine.
Day 3
Animal Micro-Stock Management, Processing, Curing and Storing - Sun, Sep 15, 2024
- We will first work with the bees (you will suit up if you want!) and explore the basic notions of fair exchange for the medicine these beings allow us to harvest from their hives. We will dive into beyond basic approaches for meat and eggs production and will have a lot of tips and tricks to share on raising the best meat. We will touch on hybrid versus heritage breeds. You will learn about our failed and successful infrastructures for animals. We will talk briefly about our goats, sheep and pigs enterprises and will engage in harvesting and processing chickens for the market. We will briefly cover meat curing and smoking.
More About Your Instructors:
Lucian Toma
Lucian is an ecological farmer, designer, educator and consultant with a decade of professional experience in the design, development and implementation of regenerative programs in academic, government, business and nonprofit environments. He has led over 350 workshops, lectures and courses on topics from the realm of permaculture farmsteading, touching the lives of over 7500 individuals. Lucian taught college for a while and currently serves underserved farmers with the Lincoln University of Missouri Horticulture Program. He holds a BA in International Relations, a MA in Global Leadership and Sustainable Development from Hawaii Pacific University and multiple Permaculture Design certifications. His favorite work on his farmstead is in the market garden, the plant nursery and the growing food forests.
Anna Maria Desipris
Anna Maria is a regenerative beekeeper, herbalist, farmer, consultant and educator with over a decade of professional experience in the realm of beekeeping, urban farming and community building around the farm to table movement. As an educator she has led over 100 workshops, lectures and courses on topics from the realms of beekeeping, urban farming and regenerative food systems. As a farmer she has been a key designer, planner and manager of multiple neighborhood farms and farming based educational spaces in Reno, Nevada and Orange County, California. Anna Maria has proudly taught college also. She holds a BA in Political Science from the University of Reno and an array of certifications in Permaculture, Master Beekeeping and Herbalism. Her favorite work on her farmstead is in the medicinal herb gardens, caring for the goats, the dogs and pollinator babies, and cooking magical meals with the food we grow.
Arrival, Timing and Departure:
- All course days run 9 am to 6 pm.
- Breakfast is at 8 am, Lunch at 1 pm, Dinner at 6 pm.
- Optional reflection and community connection time after dinner from 7:30 pm to 9 pm on Friday and Saturday.
- Optional animal chores from 7 am to 8 am.
We invite participants to arrive as early as 5 pm on Thursday September 5th. The training ends with dinner at 6 pm on Sunday, September 8th. Plan to leave after 7pm if you would like dinner or stay the night and leave by 9am on Monday, September 9th. Please note, we cannot accommodate you outside these times.
Our address is 18125 Jaybird Ln, Lebanon MO 65536. The closest major airport for domestic and some international flights is 1 hour away in Springfield, Missouri. At this point we cannot help anyone with car rides.
Please take note:
We cannot accommodate children or spouses on our intensive training and no dogs are allowed.
The Food we feed you:
The course is fully catered, with dinner the evening of arrival and breakfast before you leave. We eat and provide a balanced diet of meat, dairy, eggs, vegetables and whole foods. Everything is either from our farm or we buy local and is 100% organic. We operate a one meal policy at the farm. Bear in mind we are a meat producing farm that also slaughters animals here on the farm. We regularly use stock, dairy, eggs and meat in meals as well as eating sourdough breads we bake and other ingredients with gluten. Unfortunately we cannot cater for alternative diets. If you are not comfortable eating or being around the rounded diet described above, it is best not to attend our training.
Sleeping and Amenities:
This course is camping only. Plan on bringing a good tent and sleeping bag and plenty of layers to ensure your comfort. We have a few spots for camping vehicles. Please bring all your toiletries and biodegradable soaps only. Bug spray is a must. We have a few simple compost toilets and outdoor showers, as well as a full house with 2 bathrooms and showers that can be used. You are 100% responsible for your own health and hygiene! High Speed Internet connections will be available also.
Price stays the same for those that drive in and out daily and are not camping with us.
How to register:
- Make your payment and then complete the registration at https://bit.ly/permaeducation2024
- Last day to register is September 2nd!
Cost:
- Full Cost $977
- 20% off till July 19th - $781.60
- 10% off July 19th to August 1st - $879.30
- 5% off August 1st to August 15th - $928.15
Refunds Policy:
We are aware that life circumstances can change and you may not be able to attend a course that you booked in advance. We have a clear returns policy.
- For on-farm trainings up to 4 days duration or online courses; as long as you notify us at least 30 days prior to the commencement of the course, we will refund the fee amount received, less an administration fee of $100. Alternatively we can credit the full amount towards a future course. If you notify us of your need to cancel within 30 days of course commencement, your payment is not refundable. However, you can transfer your ticket to another name for that same course or join a later course.
- In the unlikely event that we are forced to cancel a course you will promptly receive a full refund. Sun And Bloom Farms is not liable for travel arrangements/ expenses under any circumstance.
JOIN THE LEARNING!
On Sale
On Sale
Permaculture Farmstead 3 Day Training - In Person
September 6-8 - Experience A Regenerative Living
Invitation:
Join us for this unique 3 day in-person course that will help you start designing, planning and managing your resilient farmstead. We define a farmstead as a homestead with income generating farm micro enterprises that make their operators a good living, and are usually earth and people conscious and regenerative in nature. In this 3 day intensive course we will explore a basic, yet holistic, blueprint and guide, with practical and experience based processes to help you build or develop further your dream farmstead. You will be on our working farmstead, able to learn from our resilient and income producing systems. We will cover all the permaculture farmstead design systems but will focus on our plant/food production systems (our market gardens, nursery, medicinal herbs, flowers, fruit and nut trees) and micro-stock animal systems(honey bees, egg and meat chickens, turkeys, goats, pigs and sheep) - showing what processes we used to design, plan, scale up and continuously manage these systems. And we will feed you really well! The course is participant driven, the content applies to different contexts, and it can lead to creating a workable 1st draft farmstead plan - this includes a combination of life planning and farmstead development design and management plan.
As your guides, we, Lucian and Anna Maria, have over a decade of experience each as instructors in the realm of sustainability, permaculture and regenerative agriculture in academic, government, non-profit and business environments with 5 years of experience making our living from farmsteading together. At this point, we run a six figure generating farmstead that combines vegetables, herbs, flowers, eggs, milk, meat, apothecary, hands-on education and agritourism production. We started with $0, 6 years ago.
We created this course for people who truly want to make a good living out of living the earth and people conscious life - a life worth living, and a course worth taking. This course focuses on building income production systems on the homestead and dives deeper into business aspects: it does not discuss homestead systems for self-sufficiency production in detail as our Permaculture Homestead 3 Day course does.
Further Definitions:
Homestead - a living space that includes a healthy and usually off-grid beautiful home, surrounded by productive and resilient ecological systems, such as vegetables and fruit gardens, orchards, domesticated animals, and abundant access to water, energy, and materials needed for living.
Homesteaders - multi-skilled, always learning, self-sufficient, community, and usually family oriented individuals that are able to design, manage and troubleshoot their life sustaining homestead systems, living a good, great, healthy and fulfilling life.
Homesteading - a lifestyle in tune and in harmony with nature, land based, using appropriate technology, including advanced technology, focused on self-sufficiency and resilience to systemic uncertainty.
Farmsteading - producing farm related income while homesteading.
BONUS (and additional $577 value): Participants in this course also get the recorded version and all the resources and perks of the online Permaculture Farmstead Design Primer course (please note that this will not be available till end of November)
Schedule and Topics:
Day 1 - Friday, September 6, 2024
Farmstead Vision, Holistic Context and Actionable Plans
- We will start with a farm tour and brief encounters and explanations of all of our homestead systems (Soil, Water, Food, Medicine, Shelter, Waste, Energy) and farmstead main micro-enterprises (Market Garden Vegetables, Medicinal Herbs and Flowers Production, Plant Nurseries, Eggs and Meat Birds, Goat Milk & Meat, Pigs, Community Education and Farm To Table Dinners)
- Once acquainted with what is possible, we will explore how we got here and help you learn how to create and write down your grand farmstead vision and how to analyze your present context, looking at your different forms of capital, in order to create an actionable course of action, with creative solutions and task prioritization, to reach your envisioned farmstead goals. We’ll get into some details on how to create flexibility and resilience into the plan via holistic decision making and plan management feedback loops. We will also explore how to keep track of progress and decide on changes.
Day 2 - Saturday, September 7, 2024
Plant and Food Enterprises
- We will start by looking at some plant enterprise business and operational planning approaches for the year and then get hands on to see and experience compost making and management, row building and management in the market garden, planting and caring for seedlings, compost tea making and fertilizing, irrigation types, trellising and more. We will also look at the infrastructure and processes involved in harvesting, prepping, storing and selling produce via farm pick-ups, at the farmers’ markets and via a CSA. We will share about our successful herbal CSA programs with the infrastructure and processes used.
Day 3 - Sunday, September 8, 2024
Animal Micro-Stock Enterprises
- We will first work with the bees (you will suit up if you want!) and explore the basic notions of fair exchange for the medicine these beings allow us to share at the market. We will dive into beyond basic approaches for meat and eggs production and will have a lot of tips and tricks to share on raising the best product and getting the highest price for it. We’ll also make sure to explain the legal requirements for raising, butchering and selling that meat off the farm. You will learn about our failed and successful infrastructures. We will talk briefly about our goats and dairy sales, sheep and pigs enterprises and will engage in harvesting and processing chickens for the market. We will briefly cover meat curing and smoking for the market.
More About Your Instructors:
Lucian Toma
Lucian is an ecological farmer, designer, educator and consultant with a decade of professional experience in the design, development and implementation of regenerative programs in academic, government, business and nonprofit environments. He has led over 350 workshops, lectures and courses on topics from the realm of permaculture farmsteading, touching the lives of over 7500 individuals. Lucian taught college for a while and currently serves underserved farmers with the Lincoln University of Missouri Horticulture Program. He holds a BA in International Relations, a MA in Global Leadership and Sustainable Development from Hawaii Pacific University and multiple Permaculture Design certifications. His favorite work on his farmstead is in the market garden, the plant nursery and the growing food forests.
Anna Maria Desipris
Anna Maria is a regenerative beekeeper, herbalist, farmer, consultant and educator with over a decade of professional experience in the realm of beekeeping, urban farming and community building around the farm to table movement. As an educator she has led over 100 workshops, lectures and courses on topics from the realms of beekeeping, urban farming and regenerative food systems. As a farmer she has been a key designer, planner and manager of multiple neighborhood farms and farming based educational spaces in Reno, Nevada and Orange County, California. Anna Maria has proudly taught college also. She holds a BA in Political Science from the University of Reno and an array of certifications in Permaculture, Master Beekeeping and Herbalism. Her favorite work on her farmstead is in the medicinal herb gardens, caring for the goats, the dogs and pollinator babies, and cooking magical meals with the food we grow.
Arrival, Timing and Departure:
- All course days run 9 am to 6 pm.
- Breakfast is at 8 am, Lunch at 1 pm, Dinner at 6 pm.
- Optional reflection and community connection time after dinner from 7:30 pm to 9 pm on Friday and Saturday.
- Optional animal chores from 7 am to 8 am.
We invite participants to arrive as early as 5 pm on Thursday September 5th. The training ends with dinner at 6 pm on Sunday, September 8th. Plan to leave after 7pm if you would like dinner or stay the night and leave by 9am on Monday, September 9th. Please note, we cannot accommodate you outside these times.
Our address is 18125 Jaybird Ln, Lebanon MO 65536. The closest major airport for domestic and some international flights is 1 hour away in Springfield, Missouri. At this point we cannot help anyone with car rides.
Please take note:
We cannot accommodate children or spouses on our intensive training and no dogs are allowed.
The Food we feed you:
The course is fully catered, with dinner the evening of arrival and breakfast before you leave. We eat and provide a balanced diet of meat, dairy, eggs, vegetables and whole foods. Everything is either from our farm or we buy local and is 100% organic. We operate a one meal policy at the farm. Bear in mind we are a meat producing farm that also slaughters animals here on the farm. We regularly use stock, dairy, eggs and meat in meals as well as eating sourdough breads we bake and other ingredients with gluten. Unfortunately we cannot cater for alternative diets. If you are not comfortable eating or being around the rounded diet described above, it is best not to attend our training.
Sleeping and Amenities:
This course is camping only. Plan on bringing a good tent and sleeping bag and plenty of layers to ensure your comfort. We have a few spots for camping vehicles. Please bring all your toiletries and biodegradable soaps only. Bug spray is a must. We have a few simple compost toilets and outdoor showers, as well as a full house with 2 bathrooms and showers that can be used. You are 100% responsible for your own health and hygiene! High Speed Internet connections will be available also.
Price stays the same for those that drive in and out daily and are not camping with us.
How to register:
- Make your payment and then complete the registration at: https://bit.ly/permaeducation2024
- Last day to register is September 2nd!
Cost:
- Full Cost $977
- 20% off till July 19th - $781.60
- 10% off July 19th to August 1st - $879.30
- 5% off August 1st to August 15th - $928.15
Refunds Policy:
We are aware that life circumstances can change and you may not be able to attend a course that you booked in advance. We have a clear returns policy.
- For on-farm trainings up to 4 days duration or online courses; as long as you notify us at least 30 days prior to the commencement of the course, we will refund the fee amount received, less an administration fee of $100. Alternatively we can credit the full amount towards a future course. If you notify us of your need to cancel within 30 days of course commencement, your payment is not refundable. However, you can transfer your ticket to another name for that same course or join a later course.
- In the unlikely event that we are forced to cancel a course you will promptly receive a full refund. Sun And Bloom Farms is not liable for travel arrangements/ expenses under any circumstance.
JOIN THE LEARNING!
On Sale
On Sale
Permaculture Homestead Design Primer - Online Course
Starts in September - Build a Regenerative Lifestyle
Invitation:
Join us for this unique online course that will help you design, plan and manage your resilient homestead. We define a homestead as a living space that includes a healthy and usually off-grid beautiful home, surrounded by productive and resilient ecological systems, such as vegetables and fruit gardens, orchards, domesticated animals, and abundant access to water, energy, and materials needed for living. In this 6 session course we invite you to explore a basic, yet holistic, blueprint and guide, with practical and experience based processes to help you build or develop further your dream homestead. The course is participant driven, the content applies to different contexts, and it can lead to creating a workable 1st draft homestead plan - this includes a combination of life planning and landscape development design and management plan.
As your guides, we, Lucian and Anna Maria, have over a decade of experience each as instructors in the realm of sustainability, permaculture and regenerative agriculture in academic, government, non-profit and business environments with 5 years of experience producing most of our basic needs from our homestead. At this point, our homestead systems combine the production of vegetables, herbs, flowers, eggs, milk, meat, medicine, clean water and community building. We also created a school system on the homestead that engages other children with ours. We produce most of our income from the homestead also. We started with $0, 6 years ago.
We created this course for people who truly want to live an earth and people conscious life, in harmony with nature, being able to experience self sufficiency and connection with a trustworthy community - a life worth living, and a course worth taking. This course focuses on building homestead resilient systems and dives deeper into self-sufficiency production; it does not discuss income production approaches as our Permaculture Farmstead course does.
Further Definitions:
- Homesteaders - multi-skilled, always learning, self-sufficient, community, and usually family oriented individuals that are able to design, manage and troubleshoot their life sustaining homestead systems, living a good, great, healthy and fulfilling life.
- Homesteading - a lifestyle in tune and in harmony with nature, land based, using appropriate technology, including advanced technology, focused on self-sufficiency and resilience to systemic uncertainty.
For each of the 6 sessions you will get:
- 3 hours of a high level live interactive presentation with practical, ready to use homestead planning, building and managing processes
- The presentation in PDF format
- Guide sheets to develop your own blueprint on the topic
- A written or video recorded feedback on your completed guide sheet (if you complete within a week)
- 1 hour of responses to post presentation questions (live and/or recorded)
- A list of links and/or folder with further resources to study on the topic (full free books, from fruit tree orchard management to strawbale homes building, included)
Additional Perks with this Course:
- Free access to our growing list of video, audio or written interviews with homesteaders and farmsteaders
- Free 1 year access to our monthly farmsteading community newsletter
- Free 1 year access to our monthly farmsteading community webinars (will include an expansion of topics from the course and other new topics)
- Free lifetime access to our private farmsteading and homesteading community social media group
Schedule and Topics:
Session 1
Homestead Vision, Holistic Context Analysis, and Actionable Plans
Tue, Sep 3, 2024 6 PM - 9 PM
- We will explore how to create and write down your grand homestead vision and how to analyze your present context, looking at your different forms of capital, in order to create an actionable course of action, with creative solutions and task prioritization, to reach your envisioned homestead goals. We’ll get into some details on how to create flexibility and resilience into the plan via holistic decision making and plan management feedback loops. We will also explore how to keep track of progress and decide on changes.
Optional Session 1 Questions Answered
Tue, Sep 10, 2024 6 PM - 7 PM
Session 2
Homestead Land Analysis and Development Plan
Tue, Sep 17, 2024 6 PM - 9 PM
- We will explore the holistic permaculture landscape and regenerative systems development analysis process. We’ll take a good look at the scale of permanence, and sector and zone analysis for an existing property and/or to help make property purchasing decisions. This process takes in consideration how natural and man made factors influence a landscape and what is possible to do on it. For example, we’ll take a look at how wind, water, wildlife and soil type will dictate where and how to build a garden, orchard, or greenhouse, or how all those environmental factors plus the local demographics and economics can dictate your approach to community engagement and homestead safety. This approach will be specific to developing a self-sufficient homestead.
Optional Session 2 Questions Answered
Tue, Sep 24, 2024 6 PM - 7 PM
Session 3
Homestead Resilience Systems: Soil, Water, Food, Medicine, Shelter, Waste, Energy
Tue, Oct 1, 2024 6 PM - 9 PM
- We will explore the most effective strategies and techniques to create resilience around the most important elements of a homestead. We’ll discuss different ecological, financial and other capital context scenarios to help decide on what system to invest in first and how. We’ll look at a few context-appropriate approaches for each resilience system - for example will explore where to start to build and manage soil with no till techniques, domesticated animals help, vermicompost, bacteria or fungal dominated compost, mulch, and cover crop, to ensure adequate production of food for the year.
Optional Session 3 Questions Answered
Tue, Oct 8, 2024 6 PM - 7 PM
Session 4
Food and Medicine: Gardens, Orchards, Nurseries, Micro-Stock Animals, Preservation
Tue, Oct 15, 2024 6 PM - 9 PM
- We will explore a few basic set-ups and most important things to know about setting up and managing the evolution of food and medicine production and preservation systems. We will provide lenses through which to be able to make decisions on what systems to put in place first and when to expand, diversify and transition to low management or self-sustained systems. We will discuss food forests and animal management for eggs and meat chickens and turkeys, goats, sheep, pigs and bees, with on homestead production of animal feed. We will share information on medicine production for people and animals. We will also touch on the best ways to preserve the homestead food production, from canning vegetables to making cheese and curing meats.
Optional Session 4 Questions Answered
Tue, Oct 22, 2024 6 PM - 7 PM
Session 5
Community Building, Local Economics and Safety
Tue, Oct 29, 2024 6 PM - 9 PM
- We will explore a few context-appropriate basic community and homesteaders relationship building approaches to ensure access to a healthy array of human connections, trust and exchange of goods, services and talents. We will share about a few of our tried “village” models, including experiences with apprentices, woofers and other work trade arrangements. We will share skills to develop and approaches to engaging in community resilience building leadership in different ways. We will also discuss context-specific ways to build safety and security on your homestead.
Optional Session 5 Questions Answered
Tue, Nov 5, 2024 6 PM - 7 PM
Session 6
Self Care, Raising Children, Holistic Homeschooling and Estate Planning
Tue, Nov 12, 2024 6 PM - 9 PM
- We will explore context-appropriate ways to build and live a life that is full of health, joy and resilient development at all levels, that includes a community of friends, family and people you can count on. We will explore a few major approaches inspired by different homesteaders. We will share different physical, mental and community engagement practices to keep you and your family of homestead health resilient. We will also touch base on homeschooling ways to engage, educate and empower your children within your homestead. Last and not least, we’ll share about “estate planning”, trusts, and ways you can make sure you can “retire” with grace” and your children have a healthy stake in the homestead they helped build.
Optional Session 6 Questions Answered
Tue, Nov 19, 2024 6 PM - 7 PM
More About Your Instructors:
Lucian Toma
Lucian is an ecological farmer, designer, educator and consultant with a decade of professional experience in the design, development and implementation of regenerative programs in academic, government, business and nonprofit environments. He has led over 350 workshops, lectures and courses on topics from the realm of permaculture farmsteading, touching the lives of over 7500 individuals. Lucian taught college for a while and currently serves underserved farmers with the Lincoln University of Missouri Horticulture Program. He holds a BA in International Relations, a MA in Global Leadership and Sustainable Development from Hawaii Pacific University and multiple Permaculture Design certifications. His favorite work on his farmstead is in the market garden, the plant nursery and the growing food forests.
Anna Maria Desipris
Anna Maria is a regenerative beekeeper, herbalist, farmer, consultant and educator with over a decade of professional experience in the realm of beekeeping, urban farming and community building around the farm to table movement. As an educator she has led over 100 workshops, lectures and courses on topics from the realms of beekeeping, urban farming and regenerative food systems. As a farmer she has been a key designer, planner and manager of multiple neighborhood farms and farming based educational spaces in Reno, Nevada and Orange County, California. Anna Maria has proudly taught college also. She holds a BA in Political Science from the University of Reno and an array of certifications in Permaculture, Master Beekeeping and Herbalism. Her favorite work on her farmstead is in the medicinal herb gardens, caring for the goats, the dogs and pollinator babies, and cooking magical meals with the food we grow.
How to register:
- Make your payment and then complete the registration at: https://bit.ly/permaeducation2024
- Last day to pay and register is September 2nd!
Cost:
- Full Cost $577
- 20% off till July 15th - $461.60
- 10% off july 15th to August 1st - $519.30
- 5% off August 1st to August 15th - $548.15
Refunds Policy:
We are aware that life circumstances can change and you may not be able to attend a course that you booked in advance. We have a clear returns policy.
- For on-farm trainings up to 4 days duration or online courses; as long as you notify us at least 30 days prior to the commencement of the course, we will refund the fee amount received, less an administration fee of $100. Alternatively we can credit the full amount towards a future course. If you notify us of your need to cancel within 30 days of course commencement, your payment is not refundable. However, you can transfer your ticket to another name for that same course or join a later course.
- In the unlikely event that we are forced to cancel a course you will promptly receive a full refund. Sun And Bloom Farms is not liable for travel arrangements/ expenses under any circumstance.
JOIN THE LEARNING!
On Sale
On Sale
Permaculture Farmstead Design Primer - Online Course
Starts in September - Make a Regenerative Living
Invitation:
Join us for this unique online course that will help you design, plan and manage your resilient farmstead. We define a farmstead as a homestead with income generating farm micro enterprises that make their operators a good living, and are usually earth and people conscious and regenerative in nature. In this 6 session course we invite you to explore a basic, yet holistic, blueprint and guide, with practical and experience based processes to help you build or develop further your dream farmstead. The course is participant driven, the content applies to different contexts, and it can lead to creating a workable 1st draft farmstead plan - this includes a combination of life/business planning and landscape development design and management plan.
As your guides, we, Lucian and Anna Maria, have over a decade of experience each as instructors in the realm of sustainability, permaculture and regenerative agriculture in academic, government, non-profit and business environments with 5 years of experience making our living from farmsteading together. At this point, we run a six figure generating farmstead that combines vegetables, herbs, flowers, eggs, milk, meat, apothecary, hands-on education and agritourism production. We started with $0, 6 years ago.
We created this course for people who truly want to make a good living out of living the earth and people conscious life - a life worth living, and a course worth taking. This course focuses on building income production systems on the homestead and dives deeper into business aspects: it does not discuss homestead systems for self-sufficiency production in detail as our Permaculture Homestead course.
Further Definitions:
- Homestead - a living space that includes a healthy and usually off-grid beautiful home, surrounded by productive and resilient ecological systems, such as vegetables and fruit gardens, orchards, domesticated animals, and abundant access to water, energy, and materials needed for living.
- Homesteaders - multi-skilled, always learning, self-sufficient, community, and usually family oriented individuals that are able to design, manage and troubleshoot their life sustaining homestead systems, living a good, great, healthy and fulfilling life.
- Homesteading - a lifestyle in tune and in harmony with nature, land based, using appropriate technology, including advanced technology, focused on self-sufficiency and resilience to systemic uncertainty.
- Farmsteading - producing farm related income while homesteading.
For each of the 6 sessions you will get:
- 3 hours of a high level live interactive presentation with practical, ready to use homestead planning, building and managing processes
- The presentation in PDF format
- Guide sheets to develop your own blueprint on the topic
- A written or video recorded feedback on your completed guide sheet (if you complete within a week)
- 1 hour of responses to post presentation questions (live and/or recorded)
- A list of links and/or folder with further resources to study on the topic (full free books, from fruit tree orchard management to strawbale homes building, included)
Additional Perks with this Course:
- Free access to our growing list of video, audio or written interviews with homesteaders and farmsteaders
- Free 1 year access to our monthly farmsteading community newsletter
- Free 1 year access to our monthly farmsteading community webinars (will include an expansion of topics from the course and other new topics)
- Free lifetime access to our private farmsteading and homesteading community social media group
Schedule and Topics:
Session 1
Farmstead Vision, Holistic Context Analysis, and Actionable Plans
Monday, September 2, 2024 6 PM - 9 PM
- We will explore how to create and write down your grand farmstead vision and how to analyze your present context, looking at your different forms of capital, in order to create an actionable course of action, with creative solutions and task prioritization, to reach your envisioned farmstead goals. We’ll get into some details on how to create flexibility and resilience into the plan via holistic decision making and plan management feedback loops. We will also explore how to keep track of progress and decide on changes.
Optional Session 1 Questions Answered
Monday, September 9, 2024 6 PM - 7 PM
Session 2
Farmstead Land Analysis and Development Plan
Monday, September 16, 2024 6 PM - 9 PM
- We will explore the holistic permaculture landscape and regenerative systems development analysis process. We’ll take a good look at the scale of permanence, and sector and zone analysis for an existing property and/or to help make property purchasing decisions. This process takes in consideration how natural and man made factors influence a landscape and what is possible to do on it. For example, we’ll take a look at how wind, water, wildlife and soil type will dictate where and how to build a garden, orchard, or greenhouse, or how all those environmental factors plus the local demographics and economics can dictate what and how to grow for the market. This approach will be specific to developing a farmstead, an income generating farm and resilient homestead.
Optional Session 2 Questions Answered
Monday, September 23, 2024 6 PM - 7 PM
Session 3
Farmstead Resilience Systems: Soil, Water, Food, Medicine, Shelter, Waste, Energy
Monday, September 30, 2024 6 PM - 9 PM
- We will explore the most effective strategies and techniques to create resilience around the most important elements of a homestead. We’ll connect how to develop systems that both offer resilience to the homestead and are able to be scaled up for farm production. We’ll discuss different ecological, financial and other capital context scenarios to help decide on what system to invest in first and how. We’ll look at a few context-appropriate approaches for each resilience system - for example will explore where to start to build and manage soil with no till techniques, domesticated animals help, vermicompost, bacteria or fungal dominated compost, mulch, and cover crop, to boost production for the market.
Optional Session 3 Questions Answered
Monday, October 7, 2024 6 PM - 7 PM
Session 4
Scalable Farmstead Micro-Enterprises
Monday, October 14, 2024 6 PM - 9 PM
- We will explore a few farmstead micro-enterprises, focusing on transition to resilience and low initial investment ones, such as microgreens, heirloom seeds, wildcrafting, annuals plant nursery, annual veggies, herbs and cut flowers market garden, and eggs; we will talk about basic set-ups, basic management, choosing and/or creating markets, basic marketing and sales, and ways to analyze transition-away or scaling-up. We will briefly explore a few truly resilient enterprises, such as heritage breed regenerative animal production, perennial fruits, vegetables, flowers and medicinal herbs production, consulting capacity, community education and agro-tourism. We will also touch on legal matters, such as licenses and insurances to consider for different types of farmstead micro-enterprises, and engaging with apprentices, woofers and temporary or long term workers.
Optional Session 4 Questions Answered
Monday, October 21, 2024 6 PM - 7 PM
Session 5
Building your Brand and Selling your Products
Monday, October 28, 2024 6 PM - 9 PM
- We will explore a few basic context-appropriate farmstead business brand building approaches, including where and how to build your brand and a supportive community and customer base. We will also explore how to choose your markets and selling approaches, and how to analyze if scaling up is right for your context. We will discuss farmers’ markets, online sales, social media sales, farm stands, wholesale, consignment, CSA, u-pick, buying clubs and more. We will provide processes to see if selling product experiences are appropriate for you.
Optional Session 5 Questions Answered
Monday, November 4, 2024 6 PM - 7 PM
Session 6
Managing your Well-Being, your Family and the Estate
Monday, November 12, 2024 6 PM - 9 PM
- We will explore context-appropriate ways to build and live a life that is full of health, joy and resilient development at all levels, beyond work, and including a community of friends, family and people you can count on. We will explore a few major approaches inspired by different farmsteaders. We will share different physical, mental and community engagement practices to keep you and your family of farmsteaders health resilient. We will also touch base on homeschooling ways to engage, educate and empower your children within your farmsteading operations. Last and not least, we’ll share about “estate planning”, trusts, and ways you can make sure you can “retire” with grace” and your children have a healthy stake in the farmstead they helped build.
Optional Session 6 Questions Answered
Monday, November 18, 2024 6 PM - 7 PM
More About Your Instructors:
Lucian Toma
Lucian is an ecological farmer, designer, educator and consultant with a decade of professional experience in the design, development and implementation of regenerative programs in academic, government, business and nonprofit environments. He has led over 350 workshops, lectures and courses on topics from the realm of permaculture farmsteading, touching the lives of over 7500 individuals. Lucian taught college for a while and currently serves underserved farmers with the Lincoln University of Missouri Horticulture Program. He holds a BA in International Relations, a MA in Global Leadership and Sustainable Development from Hawaii Pacific University and multiple Permaculture Design certifications. His favorite work on his farmstead is in the market garden, the plant nursery and the growing food forests.
Anna Maria Desipris
Anna Maria is a regenerative beekeeper, herbalist, farmer, consultant and educator with over a decade of professional experience in the realm of beekeeping, urban farming and community building around the farm to table movement. As an educator she has led over 100 workshops, lectures and courses on topics from the realms of beekeeping, urban farming and regenerative food systems. As a farmer she has been a key designer, planner and manager of multiple neighborhood farms and farming based educational spaces in Reno, Nevada and Orange County, California. Anna Maria has proudly taught college also. She holds a BA in Political Science from the University of Reno and an array of certifications in Permaculture, Master Beekeeping and Herbalism. Her favorite work on her farmstead is in the medicinal herb gardens, caring for the goats, the dogs and pollinator babies, and cooking magical meals with the food we grow.
How to get the most out of the course:
- Complete the guide sheet(s) provided at the end of each session to start your farmstead plan, and send it to your instructors within 7 days - the sooner you send it the faster you’ll get feedback
- Ask questions in the form provided at the end of each session, within 2 days, to get answer during the “Questions Answered” sessions
- Explore, peruse or read the additional linked resources provided at the end of each session - make sure to bookmark, download and save those resources for future reference
How to register:
- Make your payment and then complete the registration at: https://bit.ly/permaeducation2024
- Last day to pay and register is September 2nd!
Cost:
- Full Cost $577
- 20% off till July 15th - $461.60
- 10% off july 15th to August 1st - $519.30
- 5% off August 1st to August 15th - $548.15
Refunds Policy:
We are aware that life circumstances can change and you may not be able to attend a course that you booked in advance. We have a clear returns policy.
- For on-farm trainings up to 4 days duration or online courses; as long as you notify us at least 30 days prior to the commencement of the course, we will refund the fee amount received, less an administration fee of $100. Alternatively we can credit the full amount towards a future course. If you notify us of your need to cancel within 30 days of course commencement, your payment is not refundable. However, you can transfer your ticket to another name for that same course or join a later course.
- In the unlikely event that we are forced to cancel a course you will promptly receive a full refund. Sun And Bloom Farms is not liable for travel arrangements/ expenses under any circumstance.
JOIN THE LEARNING!
Regenerative Market Gardening - 1 Day Workshop - Oct 3, 2024
In partnership with MU Extension Office!
Part of the Laclede County Commission Agriconomy Week 2024
On Thursday October 3rd, 2024
Invitation:
Join us for a day of hands-on, in the field learning, about growing veggies, herbs, flowers and fruits for the market with regenerative practices. Sun And Bloom Farms started growing for the market in 2021, and is selling their produce, herbs, flowers, some fruit and animal products via a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program, at farmers’ markets, from their farm stand and buyers clubs. They also partner with other farmers that grow organically or beyond. They use regenerative soil practices and produce much of their natural fertilizers and pesticides on the farm. Regenerative practices go beyond organic and mean that no chemicals are used, soil and local healthy biodiversity are enhanced, and the focus is on building the resilience of the local ecosystems and food system, for generations to come.
Schedule & Topics:
This workshop will include a lunch with farm fresh goodies and the following schedule and topics:
8:30 am - welcome, check in, introductions and refreshments
9:00 am - a tour of the market gardens with briefs on the infrastructure, tools and materials used
10:00 am - the no till soil management system - with a row making demonstration
11:00 am - the compost and vermicompost systems - with a soil life observations on our microscope
12:00 pm - Lunch & Networking
1:00 pm - irrigation, high tunnels, pests and weeds
2:00 pm - how to plan and advertise the market garden for CSA, farmers’ markets and other sales
3:00 pm - q & a, feedback and adjournment
3:30 pm - workshop is over
We will be outdoors most of the day with brief breaks and will sit down and cool off for lunch at 12 and again for the 2:00 pm session.
All participants will receive a packet with practical informational fact sheets that cover each topic discussed, other educational resources for further learning and guide sheets to help plan their market garden. Some materials will be printed, others will be sent in digital format via email.
About Your Teachers:
Lucian Toma
Lucian is an ecological farmer, designer, educator and consultant with a decade of professional experience in the design, development and implementation of regenerative programs in academic, government, business and nonprofit environments. He has led over 350 workshops, lectures and courses on topics from the realm of permaculture farmsteading, touching the lives of over 7500 individuals. Lucian taught college for a while and currently serves underserved farmers with the Lincoln University of Missouri Horticulture Program. He holds a BA in International Relations, a MA in Global Leadership and Sustainable Development from Hawaii Pacific University and multiple Permaculture Design certifications. His favorite work on his farmstead is in the market garden, the plant nursery and the growing food forests.
Anna Maria Desipris
Anna Maria is a regenerative beekeeper, herbalist, farmer, consultant and educator with over a decade of professional experience in the realm of beekeeping, urban farming and community building around the farm to table movement. As an educator she has led over 100 workshops, lectures and courses on topics from the realms of beekeeping, urban farming and regenerative food systems. As a farmer she has been a key designer, planner and manager of multiple neighborhood farms and farming based educational spaces in Reno, Nevada and Orange County, California. Anna Maria has proudly taught college also. She holds a BA in Political Science from the University of Reno and an array of certifications in Permaculture, Master Beekeeping and Herbalism. Her favorite work on her farmstead is in the medicinal herb gardens, caring for the goats, the dogs and pollinator babies, and cooking magical meals with the food we grow.
Cost:
$127 (includes morning refreshments, lunch and educational packet)
Refunds Policy:
We are aware that life circumstances can change and you may not be able to attend a course that you booked in advance. We have a clear returns policy.
- For on-farm trainings up to 4 days duration or online courses; as long as you notify us at least 30 days prior to the commencement of the course, we will refund the fee amount received, less an administration fee of $50. Alternatively we can credit the full amount towards a future course. If you notify us of your need to cancel within 30 days of course commencement, your payment is not refundable. However, you can transfer your ticket to another name for that same course or join a later course.
- In the unlikely event that we are forced to cancel a course you will promptly receive a full refund. Sun And Bloom Farms is not liable for travel arrangements/ expenses under any circumstance.
LEVEL UP PERMACULTURE™ COURSE
PERMACULTURE EDUCATION REIMAGINED
LEVEL UP PERMACULTURE™ IS OUR TRADE MARKED APPROACH TO BRING PERMACULTURE EDUCATION TO AS MANY PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE!
FIRST THING IS FIRST: WHAT IS PERMACULTURE?
Permaculture is a holistic-system design approach for creating and managing regenerative and sustainable human living and social spaces, as well as institutions, to have the diversity, stability and resilience of natural ecosystems. Permaculture design creates spaces and socio-economic interactions that meet evolving human needs, while also maintaining the continuous health of our life sustaining ecosystems. With permaculture we can design small gardens, 1 or more acres homesteads, large scale farms, school gardens, community centers, entire neighborhoods, and even more complex agro ecological productive systems - any of these spaces would contribute to a better and more resilient life for all involved and touched by its effects. The design approach is scalable and it can be applied to business, community, and other human arrangements. In fact a complete permaculture design of a space, usually includes a business, community or even personal or family life plan. Permaculture was first presented together by an Australian scientist and systems' thinker, Bill Mollison, who combined earth and agricultural sciences with indigenous wisdoms he gathered from around the world, and patterns observed in nature. Permaculture Design courses have been taught around the world since the 1980's and have evolved to become a blueprint for resiliently thriving on planet earth. We, the team from Sun And Bloom, have been teaching, consulting and living permaculture for over a decade and believe that it should be an education all citizens of the world have. We are here to make it happen.
LEVEL UP PERMACULTURE™
OUR NEW 2024 ONLINE PERMACULTURE DESIGN COURSE THAT IS UNIQUE IN THE REGENERATIVE EDUCATION AND TRAINING REALM. HERE IS HOW:
- You can choose your level of participation and upgrade anytime from Free to Donation Based, Full Content or Design Certification. All 20 main course presentations are 2 hours long and broadcasted Live.
- You can choose to design and launch your permaculture business, design your land, join another participant's project, just grow your wisdom, or expand your network and community, or all of the above.
- You can choose to get broad exposure in the community as a regenerative systems thinker and designer via our reach.
- You can choose to be paid for your creativity and hard work - best project designs will be voted by the course community for cash prizes!
LEVEL UP PERMACULTURE™ SCHEDULE
The Live Webinar Presentation Sessions start on Wednesday, September 3rd, 2024, and happen every Wednesday from 7pm to 9 pm Central Standard time till December 18th, 2024, with a short break before starting again on Wednesday, January 8th, 2025, till Wednesday, January 29th, 2025. Final Project Presentations will take place during the week of February 17th, 2025, every day, and the Certifications and Grand Prize Award will complete the course on Saturday, February 22nd, 2025. See the Detailed schedule with the course themes and topics in the 2nd picture of this product page.
LEVELS OF ENGAGEMENT
LEVEL UP PERMACULTURE™ COURSE LEVEL:
FREE
Goals:
- To give you an awareness and better understanding of Permaculture and Permaculture Design.
What you Get at the FREE LEVEL:
- 72 hours access to the 20, 2 hour, Live Webinar Sessions and public final presentations.
- Weekly reminders with links to the Live Webinar Sessions viewing locations on multiple platforms.
- Optional access to other free resources, live courses, webinars and related community communications.
- Opportunity to upgrade to a higher course level anytime before January 1st, 2025.
LEVEL UP PERMACULTURE™ COURSE LEVEL:
DONATION BASED (starts at $17)
Goals:
- All from the Free Course Level + opportunities to reflect on and study further the topics presented in each Live Session.
What you get at the DONATION BASED LEVEL:
- Everything from the Free Course Level.
- Unlimited LifeTime Access to the Private Facebook Group for this Course (includes higher levels participants).
- Unlimited LifeTime Access to the Recordings of the 20 Live Webinar Sessions and public final presentations.
- Unlimited LifeTime Access to the PDF presentations of the 20 Live Webinar Sessions (20 PDFs).
- Unlimited LifeTime Access to 1 additional educational resource for each Live Webinar Session (20 resources).
- Opportunity to see all the presentations of the Certification Course Level participants and vote for the best.
- Access to resources that teach you how to raise funds to engage in the higher course levels.
LEVEL UP PERMACULTURE™ COURSE LEVEL:
FULL CONTENT ($197)
Goals:
- All from the Donation Based Course Level + the resources for a deep dive study of Permaculture and Permaculture Design.
What you get at the FULL CONTENT LEVEL:
- Everything from the Donation Based Course Level.
- Unlimited LifeTime Access to one additional 1 hour Recorded Live Q&A for each Live Sessions (20 additional hours)
- Unlimited LifeTime Access to one additional 1 hour Recorded Design Group Mentorship every 2 weeks (10 additional hours)
- Unlimited LifeTime Access to a full course worth of resources for each topic covered, including multiple from each of the following categories: list of links, videos, audios, articles, free courses, research based guide and fact sheets, book chapters and full books - you will receive access to a new folder with these resources after each session!
LEVEL UP PERMACULTURE™ COURSE LEVEL:
DESIGN CERTIFICATION ($497) (SPOTS ARE LIMITED)
Goals:
- All from the Full Content Course Level + our professional and community support for you to complete a certification + the opportunity to win a cash prize for your project presentation!
What you get at the DESIGN CERTIFICATION LEVEL:
- Everything from the Full Content Course Level
- Chat Access to the 20 Live Webinar Sessions with 1 additional hour for Live Q&A after each session (20 additional hours) (recordings will also be made available to you)
- Chat Access to 10 additional 1 hour Live Design Group Mentorship every 2 weeks (10 additional hours) (recordings will also be made available for you)
- Access to a separate private Course Platform to pose questions at anytime during the course and get answers from the course instructors via an additional weekly 1 hour Live Q&A and anytime on the Course Platform by the Certification Course Level Community (20 additional hours + unlimited Design Certification Course Level Community support during the course)
- 30 minutes per month of additional 1-on-1 mentorship and consulting from the course instructors and other permaculture professionals from our network between September 2024 and February 2025 period to help you complete your project design and presentation (3 additional hours) (they do not compound, you must use the 30 minutes each month)
- Opportunity to present your project design publicly to our entire network or just the paying course participants community, and get it voted by the paying course participant community to win a cash prize. The cash prize is 10% of the total revenue gathered from the Design Certification Course Level participants' registration fee of $497. You can also opt out of participating in winning the cash prize. To get certified you will have to present your project to the paying Course Level community, including the Donation Based, Full Content and Design Certification levels, but can choose to also share it publicly - in case you are not able to do it during the week of presentations in February 2025, you will have to do it during one of the next round of Certification Presentations in 2026 or beyond. See other details below in the logistics, disclaimers and rules section.
LEVEL UP PERMACULTURE™ COURSE LOGISTICS, DISCLAIMERS, RULES:
- WHEN YOU REGISTER FOR THE COURSE, YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT YOU HAVE READ, UNDERSTAND AND AGREE TO ALL OF ITS LOGISTICS, DISCLAIMERS AND RULES!
- We invite you to make this course an opportunity to improve your life and the life of those you cared about, while also making the world a better world. We invite you to bring your best attitude, intentions and positive communication to this course - in fact we will share a lot of resources on what that can look like and its benefits. There are infinite possibilities for growth with the wisdom shared in the course content and with the course community.
- The Course will have a designated public Facebook Page open to all, where all the Live Webinar Sessions, other announcements and resources, as well as the final public project presentations will be shared - this is a space solely used for this purpose and no other - comments will be open and monitored for course related communication that is humane, courteous, respectful and positive (unfortunately, users with any other communication will be blocked from commenting) (additional details will be posted on the page)
- The Course paying participants will have access to a designated private Facebook Group, where all the recordings of the Live Webinar Sessions and PDF presentations will live as well as other course announcements, resources and conversations - this is a space solely used for this purpose and no other - comments will be open and monitored for course related communication that is humane, courteous, respectful and positive (unfortunately, users with any other communication will be blocked from commenting) (additional details will be posted on the group)
- Anyone can upgrade to the next level up anytime. All the past promised recordings and resources will be available to them after upgrading. However, if you upgrade to the Design Certificate any time after any of the Live Webinar Sessions, you will loose access to getting Live or priority Written answers to questions related to Live Webinar Sessions topics you missed, as well as the 1-on-1 mentorship.
- For Certification: you must complete a master conceptual design, accompanied by a rationale and details report, and perform a presentation in front of your peers or the public (you can choose to present only to your peers and not opt in for the voting). You will also have to provide feedback to at least one other project proposals or final project presentations. Please note that we are not looking for perfection, we do have a certification 100 points standard on what the design, report and presentation must contain, and that information will be available as early as October 1st 2024. You must achieve a minimum of 80 out of 100 points for the certification. Teams can also form and produce one project design, report and presentation and all can get certified - they all need to be registered to the Design Certificate Course Level.
- For the cash prize: you must do everything for the certification. You must announce your intention to go for the cash price as early as October 1st 2024 and as late as December 31st 2024. You also must use a specific free app for the design and one specific free app for the presentation, and you will need a google account to use them. If you already have a Permaculture Design Certification, you will have to share that with the paying course community when you announce your intention to run for the cash prize. Teams can also form from the Design Certification Course Level to enter to be voted for the cash prize, the cash prize will remain the same, 10% off the revenue gathered from the registration fee of the Design Certification Level Participants of $497 each, and team members will have to decide which individual will receive the prize to split it how the team sees fit. All Design Certification Course Level participants will know what the revenue gathered is by the number of participants in the private Course Platform. The voting community will be comprised of the Donation Based, Full Content and Design Certificate course community, will have 1 vote per participant and will vote for one project only on February 22nd, 2025 between 7 am and 2 pm CST. All votes will be live on the Facebook Group.
- Due to the course format, we do not offer refunds at any time, unless the unlikely event that course is cancelled.
JOIN THE LEARNING CONDUCIVE TO A RESILIENTLY THRIVING ON PLANET EARTH!
Cut Flowers CSA
Healing Colors & Scents
Invitation:
Did you know that having fresh flowers in your house can improve your mood and productivity, it can reduce your stress, help you relax, increase your happiness and overall health. It is both the colors and the smells that do it. Yet, if they are grown with chemical fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides and fungicides, like most flowers on the market are, especially the ones imported from far away, they will not provide you with all those benefits.
Description:
We have partnered with another organic farmer to bring you the most beautiful and healthy glimpses into the colors and scents of the seasons and our bountiful ecosystems in the form of a Cut Flowers CSA. The flower CSA will include a bountiful bouquet for you every week for 5 or 9 weeks starting on the first Saturday of August 2024, varying from week to week, to include zinnias, statice, sunflowers, celosia and other cultivated and wild flowers. You will be able to pick up your bountiful bouquet at our farm or at the Camdenton Farmers’ market. Cut Flower CSA supports farmers with investments, and provides a model in which farmers can be more successful given that the customer is already invested in the product.
Flowers will be sourced from Sun And Bloom Farms and Wielding Wellness Farm.
Your Flower Ladies:
Anna Maria Desipris is the co-owner, herbalist and culinary programs mastermind of Sun And Bloom Farms. Beyond other amazing ideas, she convinced Lucian to grow cut flowers organically, both for the pollinator benefits and human healing through color and scents. They, as well as their beehives and all native pollinators are happy she did.
Danielle Chorbak is Co-Owner of Wielding Wellness Farm Danielle, a seasoned organic gardener with nearly two decades of experience, has embarked on a new chapter in Missouri after relocating from New Jersey to establish the family farm her and her family have always envisioned. With a passion for natural wellness, Danielle has long been dedicated to assisting individuals in embracing a lifestyle more attuned to nature. As their farm expands, the Chorbak family is excited to offer beautiful cut flowers, produce and pastured pork to their community in the coming years ahead.
Costs:
5 Saturday Bouquets in August - $100
9 Saturday Bouquets in August and September - $180
Please indicate at check out where you will want to pick up your flowers - our farm stand at our farm from 9am to 4 pm or at the Camdenton Farmers' Market from 8am to 12pm.
Saturdays you will be picking up your bouquets:
- August 3rd, 10th, 17th, 24th, 31st
- September 7th, 14th, 21st, 28th
Thank you for supporting your local organic cut flower farmers.
Herbal Apothecary CSA
Monthly, August through December
Invitation:
Our Seasonal Herbal Apothecary CSA is back, packed with organically grown and wild picked plants from our farm and land, with a few additional ingredients curated with care to meet our earth and people centered standards. We are offering an Herbal CSA box for August, September, October, November and December. The box is shipped, or can be picked up on our farm, at the end of each month. You can order one box or all 5. You can also choose to send any of them as a gift - just let us know! For December, we will make sure to have them to you or your loved ones before Christmas!
Benefits of our Herbal Creations CSA:
- all herbal apothecary items come from an established and experienced herbalist, farmer and forager - mainly Anna Maria
- for some foraged goods, we partner with local experienced ecological foragers - we are all about supporting the local economy and ecology
- learn about new plants and their uses, as well as new and unique herbal preparations
- all ingredients are beyond organic - no pesticides, herbicides or chemical fertilizers - maximizing the potential of each plant.
What each month will include:
- 3 to 4 featured plants
- 2 preparations to be taken orally, like tinctures or syrups, or both
- 1 topical preparation like a salve or oil
- 1 ounce of dried herbs - leaf, stem and/or flowers
- 1 monograph and recipes for the herbs included
Cost:
$50 per month + $10 shipping
$200 for all 5 months + $50 shipping (5 months x $10)
August Box:
- Radiant Summer - our classic 2 oz Facial Oil
- Chill Summer Tincture - our 2 oz magic with tulsi, ashwagandha, lemon balm, lions mane
- Soothing Salve - our ½ oz calendula and yarrow stick
- Dried Calendula Flowers - 1 oz portion
The items of the September, October, November boxes will be announced soon!
Your Herbalist:
Anna Maria has been studying, practicing, teaching and mentoring herbalism for close to 15 years. She created the first Herbalism CSA in 2019 and has helped thousands of women engage with the natural healing that comes from learning, using and working with herbal creations. Anna Maria has medical school experience and is a graduate of multiple herbalism trainings, including from the powerful Gaia School of Healing and Chestnut School of Herbalism. She is currently growing an array of 12 different medicinal herbs and has identified another 8 growing wild that can be harvested on our farm.
We thank you for supporting independent herbalists.
Disclaimer:
None of the labels of each herbal creation are medical advices. Products are not FDA approved. Use best judgement and if you see necessary consult with your health care provider before using any of these products.
Healing Salve - Cooling
Our Brand New Salve
A handcrafted salve to help alleviate hot and burning skin conditions like hives, rashes, eczema and burns. Ideal also for lymphatic massage and fluid movement within the body. This cool salve contains olive oil, beeswax, wild harvested Violet leaf and Plantain.
Price: $15 + shipping (can be picked up on our farm also)
Size: 2 oz
Sourcing:
Herbs/plants: Sun And Bloom Farms - Missouri
Beeswax: Sun And Bloom Farms - Missouri (cared for naturally with treatment free methods)
Olive oil: Temecula Olive Oil Company - our Southern California friends
Healing Salve - Blessed Bee
Our Original Salve
A luscious combination of olive oil, beeswax, Plantain, Comfrey, Calendula, Yarrow and St. John’s Wort. This is our favorite tool for daily face and body skin care. Olive oil hydrates skin while beeswax gives a protective barrier to moisture loss and prevents dryness. The blend of herbs rebuilds skin cells, disinfects, and heals scars, abrasions, and scabs. Also effective on eczema, calluses, extreme dryness/peeling, sunburns and acne. It’s a beautiful powerhouse!
Price: $15 + shipping (can be picked up on our farm also)
Size: 2 oz
Sourcing:
Herbs/plants: Sun And Bloom Farms - Missouri
Beeswax: Sun And Bloom Farms - Missouri (cared for naturally with treatment free methods)
Olive oil: Temecula Olive Oil Company - our Southern California friends
WE ARE GOING NON-PROFIT IN 2025 AS THE ONLY ECOLOGICAL EDUCATION & TRAINING CENTER IN THE REGION! More info coming soon! Reach out if you'd like to be involved! |