BuildingGeneralWater

Building a Permaculture Homestead

Take the Abundance of Water and Bio Dome Home Masterclass.

Are you thinking about building a permaculture homestead?

Just imagine the possibilities that living on the land in harmony with the surrounding environment can provide. I was truly inspired by my permaculture teacher, Geoff Lawton, his landmark Zaytuna Farm and his Greening the Desert project, where he has taken on the challenge of growing a food forest garden in the middle of the desert, to pursue such a lifestyle.

As a permaculture student of life you see how mimicking nature’s genius and partnering with its eco systems can birth a flourishing abundance of living soil, crops and all kinds of resources around you. A good example of biomimicry in action is an Earthship home, which I’ve learned to build with Mike Reynolds in Taos and on one of his adventures in Africa. It grows food from waste water by up-cycling it multiple times. This piece of eco tech also heats itself passively from the sun and cools itself using convection engine techniques. How is that for encountering natural phenomena.

I am sure you are excited to start your own permaculture farm with all kinds of cooperative networks and micro businesses by stacking the functions and looping waste to food synergies. It’s so inspiring knowing all of it can be done by putting people and planet before profit.

It is now more important than ever to heed Geoff’s call for a billion people to co-create a new human reality through committed Permaculture Activism!

Yes the possibilities are truly limitless. However, it all starts with basics such as food, water and shelter and, most importantly, finances to start up your permaculture homestead paradise on the land.

Together with my friend and bio-architect Paul Richardson, I have designed a 250-acre permaculture farm for 70 families. As a starting point of any form of successful community we have identified a multi-functioning, multi- purpose radial off grid building which will act as a seed to sprout an entire eco system on any land.
Throughout its life it will transition through a variety of stages. In the beginning it would be a great place for the initiating team to live in and a workspace, a tool shed and storage of building materials, a dry space to dehydrate and process produce as well as a nursery.

Then, once other buildings have been erected on the land, this centre will transform into a seminar venue which will host a myriad of eco workshops, yoga healing retreats or a school to train our future generations.

Any permaculturist or nature lover will know that this seed centre is a must-have on any farm that wants to positively impact other people whilst bringing in income to finance its operations.

But where do we start?

There are many ways to create a profitable permaculture homestead. Some of my friends planned an entire operation whilst living in the city. They created networks for the sale of organic herbal tea with local health shops and other co-ops so when they got to the farm they already had orders.

With my love of bio-architecture I have set myself on a journey to develop a few student and rental accommodations. Living out in the sticks they need to be fully self sufficient with their own grey-water recycling wetlands which provide treated waste water to the surrounding landscape. These homes, due to their beauty and uniqueness, will act as magnets for city folk to come and enjoy a tranquil time in nature, boosting eco-tourism whilst investing funds and sweat equity into your land.

What if these dome homes can be built with other awesome students who pay for all the building materials whilst you teach them the know how? And the know how is no rocket science.

Once you have accommodation on your land you can invite folk all year around for healing retreats, guided meditations, permaculture classes and ultimately the building of your own Radial SEED – a multi purpose centre.

You can choose whatever strategy is close to your heart but let’s start with the basics. Any project on the land starts with a roof over your head and potable water.

Bio Veda Home and Water Systems

My permaculture homestead journey

My eco journey began in 2007 with a ferro cement workshop in Mexico. When I came back to Johannesburg, South Africa, I Immediately tried out the new skill and built an 11x 6 metre sea shell ferro cement roof.

Back in 2009, I moved from Johannesburg to a seven- hectare farm in South Africa to live a sustainable life and to build our eco school. Being completely unprepared I made a lot of very expensive mistakes. One of them was a mandala sacred geometrical garden on a slope. Thankfully, in 2011, I decided to take a two week Permaculture Design Course with Geoff Lawton and learned how to work with the land, slopes, terraces, dams and much more.

I played around with eco machines, natural building and ponds. I’ve submerged a three-metre geodesic sphere with a netted dream catcher floor, creating an underground capsule. I’ve prototyped a six metre living eco machine , one hectare vegetable garden, a dam, a donkey boiler, (which was plumbed to a shower which can wash five people at a time) a water tower, solar hot water geyser as well as two super adobe homes.

My farm journey ended when two robbers came and attacked my son and ex wife just 100 metres away from where I was constructing one of these super adobe homes…. and then all of my natural plaster fell off. Living on the farm I completely ignored the financial side and my business in the city collapsed. All my grand plans came to a standstill when I maxed my overdraft. I then had no other choice but to run back to the city with a tail between my legs.

I do not regret living on the land as the entire practical experience gave me the confidence to recreate a self sustaining life anywhere on earth.

Being back in the city I was hammered by a few massive disasters which forced me to get off the municipal sewerage grid.

One fine day back in 2013 I heard a blurb blurb sound. Running downstairs I saw neighbourhood sewerage rising from my downstairs bathroom. You see, due to our home being on the river front below the level of sewerage pipe, whenever the river flooded this pipe bent and broke with the force of floating logs. This resulted in a back flow of black water through my downstairs toilet and bath.

I knew that it would happen again and one by one I disconnected all of my kitchen, bath, shower and toilet outlets from the main sewer. Thankfully, with my training from some of the top ecological masters on our planet I knew what I had to do. I constructed wetlands for grey-water, a grease trap for kitchen water and a biogas digester with another wetland for sewerage water.

I got so excited to be cooperating with nature that I eventually built a variety of water tanks, converted my chlorine pool to a natural pond and built a variety of terraces and earthworks to turn my garden into a living sponge. All of these eco technologies allowed my garden and home to absorb all the water which landed on my property and road.

Then boom, another massive flood, and this time my entire garden with all organic herbs, flowers and trees got flattened under a raging river. Being a proactive fellow with super adobe training, I built a 54 metre winding wall which can withstand any flood. For strength, I weaved in supporting pockets which I now use for compost making, garden waste, recycling and sleeping in.

Next steps to building a permaculture homestead

Teaching and inventing is my passion and I’ve recorded, edited, organised and uploaded all of the process work into our Abundance of Water and Bio Dome Home Masterclass.

In our online step-by-step video training you will learn to build two gorgeous, strong and low cost shelters: one with air crete or hemp crete bricks and another with sand bags. You will also master the art of ferro cement roof construction

You will learn from start to finish how to harvest rain from roof, pavement and road as well as infiltrating it into the ground

You will learn how to craft a variety of affordable, beautiful and robust water reservoirs

You will build your own bio char slow sand filter which will deliver 75 gallons of pure water every day and then pressurise this filtered water to all your taps.

You will master the construction of wetlands and other grey-water treatment strategies, allowing you to reuse all of your kitchen and shower waste water seven times for garden irrigation. Important to note here is that, because all waste water is hidden in your constructed wetlands, below a thin layer of sand and soil, there is no smell and mosquitoes have nowhere to breed.

You will learn how to install a bio gas digester which is a perfected septic tank which makes flammable methane gas from sewerage. Plus you will be able to build awesome terraces which turn your garden into a living sponge whilst doubling up as curvilinear and comfortable sitting spaces as well as a robust wall which will even stop a flood.

You will be fully prepared to start your new life on the land. Soon you will be ready to build your permaculture homestead, set up your new future with a other like-minded folk and develop co-operative projects which will in essence create a close knit community.

Bio Veda

About the course

My name is Alosha Lynov. I am an inventor, teacher and natural builder. For the last 12 years I’ve travelled the world, learning from some of the most advanced masters of sustainability on our planet.

With Mike Reynolds I’ve learned Earthship biotecture. With John Todd and Josh Kearns I’ve learned about water filtration and living machines. With John Jeavons I’ve learned how to grow a lot of food in tiny spaces. From Ibrahim Karim I’ve learned how the language of shapes, aka Bio Geometry, can protect us from electro- magnetic radiation

Over the years I’ve made over $US30000 worth of mistakes and spent tens of thousands of hours to develop and prototype all of the eco systems I teach in our Living Eco home masterclass.  The best part is that, after completing our training and building a few smaller projects, you will be able to teach others or construct these eco technologies for others to generate finance for your permaculture homestead.

Currently, our Bio Veda Academy has over 1000 online students. I think you will greatly benefit from our permaculture in action practical video immersion and all the jewels of wisdom which I have been putting together for the last 12 years.

With our PayPal safe payment system and our unconditional 30 day money back guarantee you are free to try out our training, download all the lessons and if you are still not satisfied with the course material, send us one email and we’ll refund your full tuition fees without any questions asked.

I look forward to be seeing you on the inside of our digital classroom where you can learn from the comfort of your home, in your own time, how to build a profitable permaculture homestead.

Join Alosha’s permaculture and community building complimentary webinar here

About the author

Alosha Lynov, founder of Bio-Veda Academy, was born in Uzbekistan, grew up in Russia and then moved to South Africa in his teenage years with his family. Alosha’s love for liquid architecture, rivers and indigenous forests set him on a journey around the world learning practical permaculture wisdom, as well as EMR & Geopathic stress protection, from international ecological masters. During his travels Alosha attended over 11 international workshops on self sustainability in the fields of ecological housing , treatment of rain and UP- cycling of waste water as well learning how to grow organic food.  Geoff Lawton, Mike Reynolds, John Todd, Josh Kearns, John Jeavons, Ibrahim Karim, Nader Khalili, Hajjar Gibran as well as many others have trained and empowered Alosha to live on various forms of self sustainable living.

Alosha has put his learnings into action for the last 12 years on his farm and urban permaculture play ground homestead in South Africa.  Making countless expensive mistakes on his personal projects assisted him to perfect the BioVeda nature inspired water ecosystems and eco homes online courses. Since 2007 Alosha has presented multiple water sustainability, dome home construction as well as eco village design all over the world. In essence, Alosha is a visionary, inventor, international edu-tainer and a master builder of bio-geometrical, awe-inspiring, functionally self-sustaining and regenerative eco- tech habitats.

Alosha’s ethos is to catch what comes from the sky , treat waste water and garbage as assets and creatively use natural resources to create self regenerative Bio-Spheres induced with beauty, life-force and spacial comfort.

Alosha’s cause is to create a fractal network of cooperative eco communities around the world and he has dedicated his life to research and co-create such grand visions. His research led him to understand what is causing our communities to fall apart and in his presentation on 9 pillars of successful community design he freely shares this research. His passion is teaching and inventing various eco-tech to be implemented in his design of most sustainable house on the planet.

3 Comments

  1. I am so excited to read all that you are doing. I spend time as often as possible in KwaMhlanga and want to come see all that you have done. Is this possible?

  2. I am impressed.
    I am a retiree , doing a course and comtemplating setting up a Permaculture Homestead.
    I feel encouraged.

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