Permaculture Stories - Art and Permaculture at The Balkans Retreat, Serbia

This autumn Spiralseed are excited to be delivering a Permaculture Design Course at The Balkan Retreat, a one-acre, permaculture home and garden in the early stages of development. The site is situated in the tiny village of Bešenovački Prnjavor on the southern slopes of the Fruška Gora National Park, a hilly, forested oasis in the middle of the flatlands of north-eastern Serbia. The project has been set up by two theatre-makers and nature lovers, Vivien von Abendorff and Kalki Aporia who also run the Balkan Producing House NGO, which produces cross-border theatre. Graham Burnett caught up with Vivien whilst she was recently visiting London to chat about the project and its challenges, as well as her vision of combining permaculture, art and theatre in this beautiful forested landscape…

“There’s creativity in the arts, and in permaculture design… For me it’s about the way you approach these things; Looking at what resources you have, and working with what you’ve got, whether thats your skills or actual materials around you, and putting it together and seeing the alchemy of what occurs” – Vivien von Abendorff, co-founder and director of The Balkans Retreat.

Our full Permaculture Design Course is running in September 2018 led by experienced teacher and author Graham Burnett. Adapted from the Permaculture Association (Britain)’s PDC core curriculum, this will be a person-centred, fun, lively and inclusive course, exploring and utilising concepts such as Systems Thinking, Holistic Design, Community Empowerment, ‘Whole Person’ Health, Skill Sharing, Critical Thinking, Appreciative Inquiry, Right Livelihoods and much more. Bookings are now being taken, find out more here.