I am so pleased to have been invited back to this incredible country. Not only is the land beautiful and diverse, the people are beautiful, diverse, hospitable and incredibly intelligent. This year I have been invited back to repeat last years course and expand it further into field exploration and monitoring. Come one come all and enjoy the celebration of expanding the brain and friend circles. It’s time to build some soil!
As “Anadolu Meraları”, the Savory Hub in Turkey, we are happy to organize this training in our 2017 regenerative agriculture education program.
The registration for this training is open to both Turkish and international students.
Upon completion of this course you will be able to:
- Understand soil food web roles and functions
- Understand foundational principles for the creation of high quality Compost, Compost extract and Compost tea
- Apply soil enhancing products at key times for greater success
- Identify the key active soil food web members in soil and soil products through the use of a microscope
A properly balanced and diverse soil food web will supply your growing system with:
- Plant Productivity
- Disease Resistance
- Nutrient Retention and Nutrient Cycling
- Water Retention
- Soil Stabilization
- Reduction of Weed
- Carbon Sequestration
- Toxin Breakdown
This year’s training will be held in 2 sessions. The first session will last 5 days, and the second session, right after will focus on practice of microscopy and living soil product applications.
Location of the training: Köyceğiz, Turkey
Köyceğiz is a nice, small town next to Köyceğiz Lake and near the Mediterranean Sea. Transportation is very easy with international Dalaman Airport (to which there are a number of flights everyday from Istanbul and foreign cities) that is 20 minutes by car. The region offers very strong and diverse natural and cultural wonders.
Dates of the training:
First session: June 24 – 28 (5 days)
Second session: June 30 – July 2 (3 days)
Training Programme
Foundations of Implementing the Soil Food Web in Growing Systems
Session 1
Day 1: Decomposition and Cultivating the Soil Food Web (5 hours)
We will introduce you to the cast of characters that make up the Soil Food Web (SFW). By the end of this lecture you will understand the symbiotic relationship between plants and soil microorganisms. You will understand which microorganisms you’re growing system needs to thrive. You will understand how to establish a growing environment that increases and maintains SFW population for plant productivity and disease resistance.
Day 2: Composting Methods and Applications (6 hours)
This day’s lecture will cover aerobic thermal Compost, static Compost, and Vermicompost. We will discuss the basic rules of these methods and how to ensure that a beneficial SFW is being cultivated. As a group, we will creat an aerobic thermal compost that will be monitored each day for the duration of Session 1 and Session 2. We will also create an aerobic thermal static compost to be used in one years time. Each morning for the rest of the course will be spent monitoring and turning the compost we build.
Day 3: Compost Methods Continued & Identifying the Soil Food Web (5 hours)
A continuation of the discussion of compost methods will be combined with ways to monitor the compost processes to assure a finished high quality product. We will discuss how to make and use compost amendments such as humic acid, Compost extract, and aerobic Compost tea.
The second portion of today’s course will delve deeper into knowledge of the soil food web by learning how to identify them using the microscope. This day will include lessons on how to responsibly use a microscope in addition to viewing of photos and videos of soil food web organisms to understand their morphology and habits.
Day 4: Identifying the Soil Food Web Continued (5 hours)
This days course will be a continuation of identifying soil food web organisms combined with time spent on the microscope for learning integration. We will look at various composts and soils student have brought with them. (Bring your Compost and soils – international students – take a trip to the woods or take a walk and gather samples to bring to the class, find a gardener at the market and ask for some of their compost or soil).
Day 5: Identifying and Documenting the Soil Food Web Continued (4 hours)
We will revisit sampling and identifying organisms. This is a skill that takes time, practice, and patience. The spreadsheet for a qualitative soil analysis will be introduced. The duration of the day will be spent doing soil and compost analysis using the microscope and spreadsheet. A discussion on the data gathered will allow for determining action plans to create a better compost or soil system.
*Students should bring a laptop on this day for successful learning integration.
End of Course Summary and Closing
Foundations of Implementing the Soil Food Web in Growing Systems
Session 2
Day 1: Field Monitoring (6 hours)
It is important to do field monitoring to know if the inputs for a growing system are getting desired results. Monitoring to take place in the fields will be (but not limited to): Water infiltration, root depth, compaction, brix readings, soil biology, plant species diversity, soil armor, and fixed point photography. Students will receive data sheets for the monitoring practices. We will establish control and test sites for biological applications in the following days.
Day 2: Compost and Compost Amendment Creations & Applications (6 hours)
In this course, we will be assessing Composts made from the week prior as well as Composts that are available onsite or that students have brought with them. We will make a Compost extract and apply it to the land. Spray equipment will be tested to assure that biology is getting out of the equipment successfully. We will also assess and apply the Compost tea made from the prior days course. A new compost tea brew will be made for the following days course work.
Day 3: Applied Microscopy for Regenerative Agriculture Success (4 hours)
This course day will be a summary of the last week and a half. We will assess the Compost brew from the day before and apply it to seeds and to land. We will brainstorm additional product creation and applications methods. We will celebrate our time together and our future of regenerative agriculture.
About Trainer: Molly Haviland
Molly C. Haviland is the founder of Haviland Earth Regeneration, L.L.C., a soil building company. The goals of HER are to build soil as quickly as possible, grow food that is medicine, and train others to do this for themselves. By the end of this decade, soil food web knowledge and soil building practices should be common knowledge. HER is the catalyst for making this happen.
HER trains, consults and lectures across the USA and usually goes where invited. Invitations have come from across the globe in Hungary, South Africa, New Zealand and Turkey. Most of the trainings are for large-scale annual agriculture in the Midwest USA and to compost operations. The strength of HER is in teaching the basics of soil food web knowledge and practical applications of making the composts, assessing and applying them.
In 2010 Molly attended a month-long course from Dr. Elaine Ingham while attending the Maharishi University of Management, where she earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Sustainable Living. Molly continued to work with Dr. Ingham at the university for two years as a teaching assistant, three years as co-teacher, and one year as a full-time teacher for the month-long Living Soil Course in 2016.
During her course work, Molly created a work-study position in the campus greenhouses as a Soil Builder and maintained that position for one and a half years. Her work was focused on making hand turned quality Composts. After completing her work in the greenhouse, Molly took ownership over The Living Soil Compost Lab. The lab made Composts, extracts and teas as well as ran qualitative analysis on soils, Composts and soil products. The lab held training courses for students and farmers. This work eventually merged into consulting with farmers in the Midwest America and branched out into the globe.
“The beauty of this work is that it is regenerative and can be sustainable. Plant nutrition and fertility can come from materials that surround farms, cities, villages…it’s a matter of putting the mix together properly and understanding the nuances of incorporating that living soil product into the growing system. Looking seven generations into the future, could this practice be viable? Absolutely! Now, let’s build some soil!” -Molly C. Haviland
Training Language:
Training will be held in clear, simple english. There will be no consecutive or simultaneous translation into Turkish. Intermediate level of english will be good enough to enjoy the programme.
Soil And Compost Samples
You can bring soil and/or Compost samples from your land. We will have the opportunity to examine these samples under microscope and investigate the Soil Food Web within.
Instructions on how to take the samples and safeguard them will be shared within the “Participant’s guide” that will be emailed to the participants a priori the trainings.
Acquiring a Microscope
A set of criteria for the microscope suitable for this training and followup work will be shared with the participants in the “Participants’ guide”. Anadolu Meraları also will do its best to facilitate/organize bulk-buying of microscopes. If you’re interested in that, please state so in the registration form.
What is a Compost (and why it’s with a capital C?)
Molly Haviland defines Compost as a material that it living and therefore has the ability to create fast and effective regenerative impacts on all practices of agriculture. The “compost” with a lower case c is defined as the relatively low-quality product that we prepare mostly for recycling our organic waste.
Our 2016 training’s evaluation by the students
These are average of the points given by 14 students anonymously online, following the training.
(Score given on 10)
“I’m happy with the training in general”
9.07
“The training have met my expectations”
9
“I’ve understand the foundations, principles and methodology of Microbiology Herding”
9.21
“After this training, I now feel more ready/prepared/equipped on my work/life/dreams”
8.64
“The trainer was satisfying, experienced and well-equipped in terms of knowledge”
8.85
“The trainer was satisfying, experienced and well-equipped in terms of teaching methodology and capacity”
9.07
Training Fees and Registration
There is limited number of seats available for the training.
The training fee includes the tea/coffee breaks and lunch. In case the training venue is suitable, there will be also camping possibility.
Early Registration
1st Session (5 days) – 600 $
2nd Session (3 days) – 360 $
(Available only for half & non-refundable payments until March 3rd)
Normal Registration
1st Session (5 days) – 675 $
2nd Session (3 days) – 400 $
(Available only for half & non-refundable payments until April 7th)
Late Registration
1st Session (5 days) – 750 $
2nd Session (3 days) – 550 $
(Available only for full non-refundable payments until June 16th)
Contact Information
Durukan Dudu
Email: durukand@gmail.com
Website: http://anadolumera.com/yeni-egitimler/
You can choose to pay half of the training until the dates mentioned above, to finalize and secure your registration. In that case, you need to pay the rest of the fee until April 14th.
About refunding
For this training, the refunding is possible only in case of cancellation of the training by Anadolu Meraları due to not-enough number of registration until April. In such case, the whole amount of paid fee will be paid back to the participant.
accommodation and Travelling
detailed information and guidelines will be provided in early Spring through the “Participant’s Guide” that will be emailed to the participants. We are working hard to suggest and organize a full array of accommodation for different budgets.
Transportation is quite easy to the town where the training is happening, with the international Dalaman Airport.
Note for potential participants who have doubts on security aspect:
We’re aware that today’s Turkey provides a number of reason to have doubts and fears on safety angle, yet the training will be held on rural/semi-rural setting, which is very safe in all aspects.
Application and Registration
Go to this link: http://anadolumera.com/yeni-egitimler/ the form to apply for the training. We will send you an email within a day or two and will provide all the information for you to finalize your registration.
