Beyond Buckthorns - Permaculture Design Hub in rural Finland
A life beyond sea buckthorns. Permaculture courses, regenerative gardening, agroecology, permaculture design, biogas and food in rural Finland, Pälkäne.
Come visit!
All visits must either be part of the course or help us with some tasks.
Please contact us in advance - at least one week before.
Study permaculture!
Are you interested in a Diploma in Applied Permaculture Design? Then Nick could be your tutor!
Be a Wwoofer!
Wwoof = World wide opportunity in organic farming.
You want to help us in our garden or with projects?
Support our efforts
In 2022, we founded Vihreä Pourusmäki RY - an association for rural development.
Curriculum was super intensive yet balanced and filled with lectures, theory, lots of practice, lots of groups discussion, which helped us really get along with each other.
From the garden
DIY Biogas movie
In 2023 Nick released his documentary "Holy Shit - a journey into DIY biogas". Follow him visiting several key figures in the DIY Biogas movement in the United States. Learn about DIY biogas. Get inspired!
Latest news
A retreat journey from hope to practice
On the first Saturday of August, people started arriving at Haltia’s old parsonage to spend three days together at our Active Hope in practice retreat. We had ten participants, two facilitators, as well as our hosts, who joined us whenever their kitchen duties allowed.
The summer weather was kind to us throughout the retreat, so we spent a large part of our time outdoors. The grounds of the old parsonage, its old trees and the surrounding nature provided a pretty perfect setting for the weekend.
Goodbye Miss Sophie
The cat named Hymy at the shelter moved in with us in August 2016. We’d moved to Beyond Buckthorns a few months earlier and I was adamant to get a cat. During my city years I didn’t live with cats, but imagining an old farmhouse without a cat was a weird thought for me.
The age of Digital Permaculture
Digital Permaculture extends the current understanding of permaculture into the digital space. Follow Nick on his journey where he explorers how personal digital sustainability can be achieved using permaculture design. On ~352 pages he will guide you through one big permaculture design. Learn about IT and permaculture design at the same time!
About us and our permaculture design hub
Beyond Buckthorns is a permaculture design hub and education centre. In the past years, we have worked on the old log house and its three-hectare plot in accordance with sustainability, esp. the principles of permaculture.