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Courses
For
those who want to come and learn something specific, there are a wide range
of residential courses on offer, including not just crafts but also regular
weekends about living in a sustainable community - ideal if you just want to
find out a bit more about this way of life.
If there's something not there that you really need to know about, make a suggestion.
Our list of courses
is growing all the time; green wood skills, basketry, circle dancing, seed saving,
green building.
We are looking to put on a series of events that explore skills and interests
from within the community. If there are no dates displayed for the courses you
are interested in please contact us and we may be able to run the course sooner
rather than later.
Unless
specified otherwise:
For weekend courses arrive Friday afternoon/evening, leave Sunday afternoon.
Meals included: Fri supper, Sat breakfast, lunch and supper, Sunday breakfast
and lunch, plus tea and coffee as required!
Accommodation is in a 4-bed mixed-gender dormitory .
If this causes you any difficulty, please contact us; alternatives might be
available.
FLYING POLICY
When you are here, west wales seems a long way from the rest of the world but there are many ways of getting here. So, as far as possible we encourage the use of public transport. If you are travelling from overseas, please bear in mind that we do not accept volunteers who have come on an aeroplane. The environmental cost of flying far out weighs the benefit of your stay. For alternative travel arrangements see the man in seat 61.
LIVING IN A SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITY
Friday February 1st - Sunday 3rd 2008
£85 -£65 concs.
Friday 15th - Sunday 17th August 2008
House Accommodation £90-£70 concs
Camping £80 - £60 concs
Children ( 5-15 yrs) £20
Come for a weekend's
introduction to some of the different aspects of life in a low-impact community.
Many people are interested
in the idea of community living and would like to learn more.
Over the weekend we will talk about themes including community life, energy
use, food and transport. Activities will depend on your interests, the weather,
and the season, but are likely to include a tour of the community, a look at
our wind, sun and water powered electricity system, breadmaking in a wood-fuelled
oven, cooking a communal meal, discussion of different legal and organisational
structures used by communities, time in our organic gardens, cheesemaking and
working in the woods.
There will be a maximum of four people on the weekend so you will have plenty of time and space to meet community members and get to know Brithdir Mawr. £20 of the cost will be seen as a non-refundable booking fee in case of you having to cancel. Should we have to cancel the course, a full refund will be available. There will be a £5 discount for anyone coming by public transport. Sorry, no dogs.
Permaculture design is based on the principle of working with nature, covering everything from tree crops and organic food growing to appropriate technology and developing local economies.
Examples of all of these and ample inspiration can be found here at Brithdir Mawr where you can enjoy a fun and relaxed residential course in the company of like-minded people and members of the community. The course will also include a visit to the West Wales Eco Centre. For further details of the course, contact Angie by clicking here.
Vegetable Seed-Saving For Gardeners
Not running summer 2008, sorry.
A practical, hands-on course, taught by Ben Gabel and Kate McEvoy of The Real Seed Catalogue
This is for anyone who is interested in seedsaving,
or wanting to improve their seedsaving abilities.
Learn how to save your own seed using common household equipment -
You'll get better vegetables, perfectly suited to your garden, and better seed
than you can ever buy - for free.
For more details of this course click here
Sticks>Furniture=Satisfaction:
A simple technique using hazel and willow rods, hunted and cut by the students
themselves, to construct a robust and beautiful chair.
Once learnt , the technique may be applied to many different furniture projects.
In the course of the weekend you'll make your own chair to take away with you.
Beginning Basketry Course
£100-£80 concs (includes materials)
Led by Erica French
Ever wanted to make a basket? Fed up of plastic bags? Come and learn all the basic techniques you need for making a traditional stake and wale basket. By the end of the weekend you'll be carrying home your belongings in your very own environmentally sound shopping transporter! Taught by experienced basketmaker and enthusiastic teacher you'll have a grand time finding out about the miraculous properties of willow. Bring secateurs and a penknife if you have them.
Frame Basketry 
£100-£80 concs (includes materials)
Led by Erica french
Making a frame basket uses a completely different set of techniques to stake and wale baskets (your average shopper), but requires no less skill. if you're looking for something different to take home come on this course. The frame is made from set hazel rods and the weavers can be any thing from commercially grown willow to home grown brambles: a meditation on versatility and usefulness!
Hedgerow Basketry
led by Erica French
Add colour and variety to your baskets. this course will provide an introduction and exploration of different basketry materials. We will be collecting and sampling materials from the garden, woods and hedge, making a simple basket with our finds. Bring leather working gloves (cheap builders gloves are fine) and secateurs. Dress for the weather.
Making a Wattle Hurdle
£90-£75 concs.
Led by Paul French
Please contact us
for further details
We don't like chainsaws: noisy, smelly, dangerous things. If you don't like chainsaws either and you want to learn how to be a small-time lumberjack using only hand tools, this is the course for you. You can enjoy some light forestry work while arguing semantics with the person on the other end of the saw: How come you chop a tree down, then you chop it up?
Making a Garden Gate
£90-£75 concs
Led by Paul French
please contact us
for further details
Making a mini gate hurdle is an ideal project for the novice green woodworker as it introduces the student to the basic tools and foundation skills of the various greenwood crafts. Never mind the billhooks, there's the bowsaw, the froe and the draw knife, not to mention the cleaving brake and the shaving horse. With these the student will learn to cleave, shape, mortice and tenon. Students may take home their mini gate hurdles and replicate them for garden use or build full size examples for the restraint of beasts.
As above, but a bigger project. All the learning, but none of the tiresome carrying home.
If you are considering working with horses, this weekend is a taster for potential ostlers. Assess your compatibility with our three friendly carthorses who between them have spent some ten years on the road pulling a gypsy caravan and six years working here on the farm. There will be some classroom work but the majority of the weekend will be spent hands on: horse care; harnessing ; working in chains and in shafts. After that we'll start working the horses.
You can phone to check availability, or to ask more about the course contents. If you get the answerphone (quite likely) please leave your name, number, and a message that makes it very clear which course you're interested in, and on what dates. The course tutor will call you back.
To book courses click on the link below for our booking form which you can print and send by snail mail together with your deposit.
Places can be reserved by phone/e-mail, but please confirm in writing within 5 days enclosing a cheque for the course fee/deposit made payable to 'Brithdir Mawr Community Enterprises Ltd'. Your place is not confirmed until you send in your booking form.
