I started reading about permaculture as far back as the 1970s when I read about it in Mother Earth News.
More than a few years ago, my partner and I left the corporate training world and decided to go out on our own and create a soft skill training center, taught in English, here in Vietnam.
Our initial idea was to hold weekend, and week-long camps for children and teach them basic survival skills and respect for nature.
We were looking for suitable locations to have our campouts when we were shown some property about 5 hrs outside of Saigon. While the rest of our small group was walking through the property, I came upon a very large boulder that looked like it had been split in half by a giant ax. It was then that I started to recall all the articles I had read for the past 40 years, from Mother Earth News magazine, about building with natural materials and creating a homestead. The word "permaculture" kept popping up in my head as if telling me something.
The owner noticed I was looking at the rock and said that no one had ever stopped to look at it before. She liked how I had made the connection with it and offered to sell us the land, which we did.
We held a couple of campouts there but COVID-19 ended that venture. We then moved to an opportunity to create an organic agriculture-based educational program at Green Noen Farm and create an online Permaculture Design Certification course.
After 1 1/2 years, we had to give that up because of ...COVID-19. We sold the land we first bought for more than twice we paid for it and bought, along with some investors, a 3ha coffee and durian tree farm, in the Central Highlands of Vietnam, and will implement permaculture principles to create a permaculture, private label, branded coffee. In addition, the site will be used, post covid, for an in-person Permaculture Design Certification course.
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I learned permaculture from Matt Powers through his Advanced Permaculture Design course, the only peer-reviewed, cited advanced permaculture textbook now being used in public schools.
In addition, I also took Matt's Regenerative Entrepreneurs & Experts, Introduction to Regenerative Soil, Regenerative soil, and Soil Secrets courses.
I have spent the past 9 years teaching English and Public Speaking at companies such as Nike, Microsoft, Harvey Nash Tech, Adnovan, FTP (Vietnamese software company) and owned an English-in-Action, an English Language and soft skill training center. I was also the Past President of the Saigon Toastmaster club and served as District 97 Asst Division Director of membership, Area Director, (Vietnam), and District Pathways Trainer (new program trainer)
