Si and I came to Koanga because I wanted to learn how to grow food and to get some practical skills and experience around permaculture, and Si was following an interest in natural building.  We both liked the idea that the institute was part of a fledgling community, and were interested to see and experience life at Kotare Village.  

1. We take a maximum of 22 students

2. You will have an outstanding team of experienced international teachers and designers
from all the major disciplines to learn from including; Dan Palmer, Tim Barker, Bob Corker,
Kay Baxter, and more. Read more about our tutors here

3. Our main focus and intention is to do the best we can of not only covering the international
syllabus (accredited by the PRI which has a worldwide network of associates and is
supported by Bill Mollison) but to show you how to become ‘real world’ designers and
teachers. With only 22 students you get loads of support with your design exercises on a
daily basis.

4. You will be eating organic, locally produced top class food based on the principles of the
Weston A Price Foundation, and will be taught about the connections between soil health, plant
and animal health and human health. This is a specialty of our programme.

5. We cover a wide range of teaching styles

6. Our PDC’s are held within the Kotare Village, a fledgling intentional rural community based
on the Community Land Trust model, and you will get to see how Permaculture Design is
being implemented all around you. Read more about Kotare Village.

Click here for more information on our Permaculture Design Courses.

Amazing Opportunity!!!

The Koanga Institute, which resides within Kotare Village, is actively seeking a MARKETING, PUBLICATIONS, AND WEBSITE INTERN. We are looking for a bright indivual who is passionate about sharing what is happening here at the Koanga Institute with the world. Someone with a keen eye for a good story and a knack for taking awesome photos to place on our homepage and facebook page is a must. Are you keen to learn more about permaculutre? Urban Garden Design? Seed Saving? Soil health? Would you like the opportunity to develop skills in internet marketing? Here's your chance to live within a fledgling intentional community being designed around the principles of permaculture. Here's your chance to take a hiatus from mainstream culture and nourish your soul & body with nutrient-dense food grown locally and organically. The successful candidate will possess a positive attitude and prove to be an excellent communicator, listener, and creative, forward-thinker. For a detailed job description, please email valery@koanga.org.nz. Please send CV and cover letter to Valery Soltis, Managing Director; valery@koanga.org.nz. Applications close May 1, 2013. Start date is negotiable.

We've already had a few ambitious people register for the spring internship and I've had a lot of inquiries lately to know more. The internship commences on the 16 of September and goes until the 22nd of November. For those of you interested in joining, or knowing more about Koanga Institute's spring internship, I'll be placing up intermittent posts from past students. Below is a reflection of the internship from Raleigh Latham, who came from California to join us.

"How can you describe an experience in so many words that changed your life completely?  It’s hard to find the right words to express the depth of transformation that occurred during my internship at the Koanga Institute this spring.  Before signing up, I never would have known to what a degree I would have learned.  Along with the other interns, we jumped into double digging, biointensive farming, food forest planning, caring for small animals, cooking like our ancestors, and living in a way which we were in tune with the land we lived on. 

Only in the last weeks do you really look back and realize...”Wow, we learned...ALOT”.  It speaks to the depth of experience of everyone at Kotare Village, that they are able to pass on so much experience to interns like us, who came in green, and somewhat unexperienced getting our hands dirty.  But luckily, the skills we learned from amazing teachers like Kay, Bob, Tim, Yotam, Taiamai, and Byron helped us move forward to a state of confidence, and awareness.  Now we can look in our garden, and our community, and understand the nutrition we need for ourselves, our family, and how to grow it in a way which nurtures our body and the soil.  I feel like I’ve been given a gift of years of experience, condensed into 10 weeks of immersion at Kotare Village."