We’re offering two Permaculture Design Courses (PDC) and a NEW Food Forests Course at OAEC in 2025! Permaculture Design Certifications include 4 weeks online self-paced learning + 8 days residential … Read more
Join us Saturday, November 2nd from 10AM-1PM for a Residential Rainwater and Fire Resilience Workshop co-hosted by the Occidental Arts and Ecology Center, Gold Ridge RCD and Sonoma County Ag + … Read more
Exciting news! For the first time in years, we actually have a few spots open in our upcoming Permaculture Design Certification this fall!Our popular hybrid Permaculture Design Course offers a … Read more
WATER Institute Co-Director and OAEC Co-Founder Brock Dolman has been busy! He recently participated in two podcasts which we recommend listening to! In the first, Permaculture Perspectives, Brock speaks with … Read more
Like Carlo Petrini’s Slow Food movement, we have our own “slow water movement” at OAEC. You might know it as the permaculture mantra, or perhaps you’ve seen it as part … Read more
As the number of guests in our retreat program has increased in recent years, so has the volume of food scraps that our kitchen produces. For decades, our chickens, goats, … Read more
After a year and a half of pandemic closure, we are happy to announce that the OAEC site will be reopening to welcome Permaculture Design students again this fall! Last … Read more
After a long Covid hiatus, on-site tours of the gardens led by real live humans will resume this April! Join us 1st and 3rd Sundays of the month at 1pm, starting at the … Read more
January 14, 2020 This week we celebrated a huge milestone in the progression of OAEC’s Compost Toilet Research Project. It has been three and a half years since we … Read more
The Cultural Conservancy’s Vision for a Biocultural Renewal Project in Graton There is a one-of-a-kind indigenous land project happening right here in Southern Pomo Coast Miwok territory and it happens … Read more
For over 2 decades, OAEC has had a deep collaboration with Food For Thought (FFT), a food bank in Forestville that serves over 700 clients living with HIV/AIDS and other … Read more
Join OAEC, Community Seed Exchange, Daily Acts and the California Rare Fruit Growers at the Mother Garden Biodiversity Program’s FAVORITE event of the year! We love sharing seeds, scions and … Read more
Compost Toilet Research Project Update: Pleasing Government & Grandma! Since we embarked on this journey to introduce Ecological Sanitation principals into the mainstream, our mantra has been to “satisfy both … Read more
Our composting toilet project is up and running! Two of our three new systems are fully installed and operational in the guest housing accommodations – the third will come on … Read more
The OAEC non-profit nursery is the outward face of our 45-year-old esteemed Mother Garden and represents an outreach into the community from the experience, work and wisdom we’ve gained by … Read more
Localizing California Waters Conference November 1 – 3, 2017 Yosemite CA For the 3rd year, OAEC will help to convene onsite water advocates, practitioners and regulators under one roof for … Read more
What will the climate be like 20 years from now? How can we breed food crops that will thrive and adapt to change? With an increasingly unstable climate … Read more
In early October 2016, the Category 4 Hurricane Matthew devastated Haiti. With maximum sustained winds of up to 150mph, Matthew was the strongest storm to hit Haiti since Hurricane Cleo … Read more
On April 15, 2017, Keep Hayward Clean and Green Task Force (KHCG TF), Earth Team, City of Hayward’s Landscape Department, Occidental Arts & Ecology Center and the local and surrounding … Read more
Compost Toilet Research Project installation has officially begun! Pictured here: Glen from Phoenix Composting Toilets, and OAEC facilities intern, Amelia, in the basement of our guest housing building installing the … Read more
Click HERE to watch the video! Introducing the new Resilient Community Design video! This video is a brief conceptual overview of the steps that we use here at OAEC to … Read more
Click here to watch the video We are thrilled to report the resounding success of OAEC’s first ever crowdfunding campaign! Thanks to 371 generous donors, we raised almost $70K! In addition … Read more
Legitimizing Ecological Sanitation via Scientific Research After 2 years of negotiations, OAEC is excited to partner with county and regional agencies with the acquisition of an “Alternate Methods and Materials” research … Read more
by Janel Healy. Photos by Brock Dolman. 35% of the palm oil produced in the world comes from Malaysia, and 12% of that comes from the Malaysian state of Sabah … Read more
What if a food bank distributed not just canned and donated goods, but fresh, organic produce grown right onsite? The Food For Thought (FFT) Food Bank in Forestville, one of … Read more
Last week’s 35th annual EcoFarm Conference gathered nearly 2000 sustainable agriculture experts and allies for education, rejuvenation and celebration with a new twist: the Permaculture Track! Thanks to EFA’s Executive … Read more
Create a whole systems design for your current or future farm, facilitated by Brock Dolman, Kendall Dunnigan and Vanessa Carter, on Wednesday, January 21 at Asilomar. Design your permaculture dream farm! … Read more
At the 2014 Bioneers Conference, OAEC’s Brock Dolman joined forces with renowned author and V-Day founder Eve Ensler to present about the City of Joy, a recovery center and permaculture farm … Read more
Through Resilient Community Design, the Occidental Arts & Ecology Center‘s permaculture-based collaboration with Sustainable Organic Integrated Livelihoods (SOIL) is supporting Haiti to transform human waste into resources. SOIL’s project of … Read more
The SOIL Permaculture Design Process After touring the SOIL collection and processing sites around Cap-Haitien, we arrived at the SOIL office, farm, and associated KOMOP farm properties. (KOMOP is a … Read more
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Site photography by Jim Coleman, Tali Aiona, Doug Gosling, Brock Dolman and Sashwa Burrous.
