Why Become a LAND Centre?
- Has permaculture transformed your life and now you want to share your knowledge and experience with others?
- Have you designed features at your site that you think might inspire visitors or volunteers to create a more regenerative life for themselves?
- Do you have access to land or resources that you would like to benefit a greater number of people?
- Are you keen to deepen your own permaculture learning and to have your site recognised as a great example of practical permaculture?
- Do you want to be part of a vibrant, supportive community of permaculture practitioners and changemakers?
- Are you currently doing your permaculture diploma and want to have a clear focus for your design work?
- Do you want to host open days, workshops or courses or work with permaculture educators in our network?
- Do you enjoy meeting new people and enjoy showing them what you have achieved on your site?
If the answer is YES, then becoming a LAND Centre might be the next step for you!
Watch this short video where permaculture educators Looby Macnamara and Chris Evans talk about their reasons for becoming a LAND Centre at Applewood Permaculture Centre in Herefordshire.
What does LAND Stand for?
Learning
LAND Centres are places to come and learn, whether this is through a site tour, interactive activities, workshops, educational signage or formal courses. Each LAND centre will design their own learning programme based on their audience, scale, capacity and unique features.
Action
LAND centres are places of practical permaculture doing, where people can learn skills and techniques so that they can take action in their own lives. They can also be catalyst centres of transformation, activism and change both within their communities and in the wider world.
Network
LAND Centre hosts are also committed to being part of a wider network of permaculture learning and activism. In order to become a LAND Centre, you must be willing to participate within our wider projects and LAND network, sharing your knowledge, feedback and resources with others.
Demonstration
Each LAND centre will demonstrate how permaculture has been used on site. This might be done by showing visitors around and explaining what you have done and why, through clear signage on aspects of your site, through self guided activities or workshops.
What do we expect from you as a LAND Centre?
It is up to you to design your offering as a LAND Centre, so that it is approriate for the scale of your project and your personal capacity. However there are some basic things we require from every centre in our LAND network:
- To be a member of the Permaculture Association and signed up to our Projects and LAND network
- To have earth care, people care and fair shares clearly embedded in your centre design
- To meet the LAND criteria in your site design as is appropriate to the size and scale of your centre
- To commit to running at least two open days a year
- To have a full risk assessment and public liability insurance in place
- To have your LAND Centre profile on our Projects and LAND Map
- To have a full site design on display
- To have a programe of educational activities on site (whether formal or informal)
- To display our Permaculture Association and LAND logos on your website
- To participate in the Permaculture Association Projects and LAND network
- To be a welcoming and inclusive space for visitors, volunteers and students
How do I Become a LAND Centre?
There are two pathways to becoming a LAND Centre. The first is an independent pathway, where you have an initial assessment with a LAND tutor, work through the criteria, create your site design and have a final assessment when you feel that you are ready to become a LAND Centre. If you are already an experienced permaculture practitioner, with a well established site and are confident that you are pretty much there already, this may be the best pathway for you.
The second pathway is our new LAND Learner programme which is currently under development. This twelve month programme will include a monthly, LAND tutor led online session, where we will work through each of the LAND criteria. There will also be supporting resources, a handbook, designs and activities to do between sessions and you will be allocated a peer learning guild to keep you on track. This pathway is particularly suitable for people who want additional support to develop their demonstration site, or who wish to do a deep dive into creating a resilient, comprehensively designed permaculture project. We will let you know once the programme is ready to start.
Step 1- Is to get really clear on your intentions for wanting to become a LAND Centre. Download and complete the expression of interest form at the bottom of this page and send it to the projects network development officer so we can advise you on how to begin your LAND learner journey.
Step 2- Become familiar with the LAND Centre criteria, as these show you what you are aiming for in order to achieve LAND Centre status. Use the LAND Criteria self assessment document at the bottom of this page to map out what you have already achieved at your project and the areas where you feel like you may need more support. It is important to note that as all LAND Centres are different in their size and scope, the criteria are to be seen as learning goals to support you in the development of your centre and are not rigid. Your LAND tutor will work with you to design your LAND learner pathway as is relevant to your project.
Step 3- Arrange an initial assessment with a LAND Tutor. This will take place ideally on your site, though some tutors may be willing to do initial assessments online. Initial assessments take approximately three hours and will involve you and your tutor looking at what stage your site is currently at and what areas need to be developed in order for you to become a LAND Centre. We will support you to find a LAND tutor who either lives near you or has a specialism in your area of development when you apply.
Step 4- Work through all of the suggestions that you have agreed with your LAND Tutor. You may choose to do this independently, with a peer group or with further support from your LAND or diploma tutor. It is good to consider at this stage how you can evidence that you have met the criteria.
We really welcome a creative approach to this process. Do you have a site map? Do you have designs for elements of your site, courses or open days you are planning to run or a succession plan? Can you make some short videos demonstrating how you apply permaculture principles and techniques on site? Have you mapped other projects or organisations that do complimentary work in your area? What resources have you developed for people visiting your site to help them understand what permaculture is?
Step 5- Arrange a final assessment with your LAND tutor, once you are confident that you have met all of the criteria. This will take two to three hours. Some tutors advise having an informal online check in before the final assessment to make sure that everything is in place.
Step 6- It's Celebration time! We recommend hosting an open day to celebrate your new LAND Centre status. Your profile listing on our website will be updated to state that you are a LAND Centre, your achiement will be celebrated in our newsletter and you will receive a certificate to display at your centre. There will be lots of opportunities for you to participate in the projects and LAND network, support other emerging land centres and to continue to develop your site.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long will it take?
This depends entirely on what stage of development your site is currently at and the amount of time and energy you have to spend on the process. Some projects may already meet all of the criteria and can move very quickly through both assessments. Other projects may have several areas that they wish to develop before feeling ready to be an official demonstration site. We aim to support you through the whole process in two years, however some of you may wish to take longer, especially if you are developing your LAND Centre as a part of your diploma. Your LAND tutor will be able to give you an idea as to how much you need to do in order to complete the process.
What will it cost?
We currently don't have funding for the development of new LAND Centres, so there will be some associated costs. This is why we want you to be clear at the initial expression of interest stage that becoming a LAND Centre is going to be of benefit to you. Initial assessment will cost you approximately £150 for three hours of LAND tutor time plus travel expenses and a small fee for administration (tbc). Your final assessment will cost approximately £150 plus travel expenses. You may also wish to arrange some extra LAND tutor support along the way. LAND tutors currently charge £30-35 per hour.