Ermitaj responded to the call of GEN – Global Ecovillage Network – to help people fleeing the war in Ukraine.

Cantemir, current resident at Ermitaj, is the main contact in Romania for refugees from Ukraine that are also members of GEN

Given the alarming situation and the constant influx of refugees in Romania, we have decided to open our doors at Ermitaj in order to accommodate refugees in transit.

At the moment, we are housing three mothers and seven children coming from Harkov, and more are on their way. We expect to have a constant flux of refugees in the coming weeks, maybe months since we are close to the border. We ask for your help, financially or in any other way. Our needs are mainly for food, but also with medicine and clothes.

In the present moment, every category of Ukrainian refugees is vulnerable, since their national currency has greatly depreciated, and those who do not have foreign currency are left with almost nothing.

How to help us?

• From Belgium: make a donation on the account of our association

Ermitaj Pe Vale ASBL – IBAN: BE 34 5230 8094 8090 (Triodos bank)
Communication: “help Ukraine” if you want your donations to be used only for the reception and assistance of Ukrainian refugees, or “donation for Ermitaj” if you want the money to be used to develop our projects and infrastructures abroad. ‘Hermitaj more generally.

The money will be used as a priority for the purchase of basic necessities: food, medicines, personal hygiene equipment, second-hand clothes,…

If the amount collected allows us, we will install a small wood stove in a room of the big house, allowing us to increase our housing capacity.

If the money raised exceeds our needs, the rest will be used for solidarity projects, at Ermitaj or elsewhere, depending on the evolution of the situation. In any case, we guarantee full transparency regarding the use of these funds.

• From Romania: any material help is welcome!

Food, medicine, toilet or hygiene equipment, clothing, children’s games, sawdust for the dry toilets… If you have a wood stove to give away or resell at a low price, or to know the needs of the moment, do not hesitate to contact us! A financial donation is of course also possible.

Thank you for sharing this call around you.

We will keep you informed of the evolution of the situation.

In advance, a huge THANK YOU for your trust and support!

Ermitaj’s team

Our course program for 2022 is here!

(All 2022 courses and events will be in Romanian)

From August 26 to 29, a course will be held on the creation of a food forest, in Romanian, with Radu Craciun and Cristina Colis from the Romanian permaculture association.

For more information, see the article in Romanian!

Nine years after the first Permaculture Design Course in Romania, followed by two other courses in the years 2011-2012, at Ermitaj Malin we had once again the honor to have as a teacher Pascal Depienne from Terre Paille et Compagnie , for a PDC organized between May 25th and June 5th in the same location. As we have been accustomed to in previous years, Pascal supported two weeks of intensive teaching in permaculture, during which he covered a wide range of this concept.

The rich amount of knowledge gained in Pascal’s 14 years of Permaculture practice and the  assistants-teachers (Mark Shipperlee, an expert in forest management in England, Tudor Petruţiu, president of the Romanian Permaculture Association and Remy and Coline from Ermitaj) brought a complete and diverse package to the PDC curriculum.

In Pascal’s approach, there were theoretical aspects that covered areas such as:

– Principles and ethics of permaculture
– Patterns and templates in nature – their application in the permaculture design
– Design tools – zoning, sectors, permanence scale, etc.
– Design Methodologies
– Social permaculture – tools for communication and organization
– Soil – problems and solutions, regeneration, fertility, and so on.
– Regenerative agriculture – large-scale permaculture
– Synergetic Gardening Techniques
– Water – Techniques and strategies for water capture and storage, passive irrigation, etc.
– Trees and forests – their ecological management, vegetative propagation and so on.
– Cultivated ecosystems – forest gardens, agroforestry systems and others
– Animals – their integration into households, efficient growth systems, and so on.
– Natural constructions – design, strategies, materials and techniques, etc.
– Invisible structures – strategies for the development of ecological societies

In addition to the theoretical sides, practical workshops were also introduced:

Stacking functions: double use of the composting process – fertilizer and thermal energy (domestic water heating)
Natural constructions: building a protective wall using the straw-clay technique 
Control structures: Permeable check dams for prolonged water retention and prevention of downstream destructive flooding
Infrastructure: Design of access routes on / around the farm territory and their implementation
Biodiversity: Bats house inspired by the work of the Bats Research and Conservation Center
Vegetative propagation: grafting, cuttings and marcotting workshop
Multi-functionality: redefining existing spaces
Communication: Non-violent communication workshop, talking stick and decision-making by consensus
Gardening

All of this, alongside the fire-evenings, the pizza-party at the oven and the closing evening with its talent/no-talent show, were the ingredients of a succesful PDC.

Throughout the course the participants used the knowledge they gained in order to develop a permaculture design of the farm, at the end of which they presented the developed plan. We had 5 projects structured in a balanced way, including well-integrated elements designed to inspire and broaden the horizon of the permaculture ideas used in the development of Ermitaj Malin.

We are grateful that we have had a nice team of volunteers who cooked for us every day and helped us organize the event. Thanks Yann, Salome, Amael and Dorian! We also want to thank the teachers, the whole team involved in the organization, and especially the participants!

Translated from Romanian. Original article from permacultura.ro