Johanes Wibowo, PDC Teacher

Jiwa Damaiis a learning space. We bring knowledge from all the corners of the world and share it with people who in turn will spread it to all the corners of the world. During our Permaculture Design Course Through the Heart in February, we have an international team of experts: Neil Willmann, Daruma eco farm founder in Thailand; Margret Rueffler, founder of Jiwa Damai permaculture center Bali and Lagu Damai foundation and Johanes Wibowo, head of Green School Bali gardens.

In this article we will tell you more about Johanes Wibowo. You can read more about our facilitators here. And you can find more information about the course here.

It wouldn’t have been right to do a permaculture design course in Indonesia without accessing the local knowledge. Johanes Wibowo is a certified Permaculture Designer with years of experience teaching locals on the islands of Sumatra, Kalimantan and East Java (Indonesia) in the transition from conventional to organic farming. He received his training in traditional Javanese farming methods at KPTT Salatiga in central Java as a designer and planer.

We asked him why people should study permaculture and who should attend this kind of course. His answers came from the heart showing how much he loves nature.

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Why permaculture?

Permaculture reminds me of the time when I was a kid. In my village we were growing so many trees, there was a huge variety. Permaculture talks about the diversity of plants or animals. In my village they were following the traditional calendar: the wind season, the rain season, the dry season, the breeding season and so on. They were following the rhythm of nature so they were using in a sense Permaculture principles.

Permaculture means learning from the nature. And there are so many new things to discover every day. This is how permaculture design works. Therefore, it is a life long learning process and no matter how many permaculture courses one had before, each course brings something new. One can read a book on Permaculture design but the reality is always different because every experience is different.

Jiwa Damai is following the permaculture standard so it is a great place to learn about the permaculture principles here. The garden is very generous and one can experience a lot and explore different possibilities.

Who should attend the course?

I think everybody should attend this course. People have to learn what nature needs. It isn’t only farmers or permaculture designers, or only for students or trainers. Everybody could come and should come. Because nature is not a place out there somewhere. It is everything that surrounds us: sun, energy, plants, animals. And everyday we should get closer to nature.

When I give trainings I am really happy if people tell me afterwards that they applied what they learned from me in their own gardens, in their own offices, in their own schools or in their own beautiful spaces.