Student Program

• While a 9 week, multi-cultural program is proposed, we are happy to tailor this program to the individual needs of specific educational institutions.  
• We currently have the capacity to host ten to fifteen students per session.

We will work with you to satisfy the course requirements necessary for students.

Cost of the 9 week program is $4,950 per student.

This includes all lodging, food, tuition, transportation within the county (with the group), and most group recreation activities. 

Additional travel and recreation are at the expense of the individual.

There are several ways to get to Finca Sagrada. However, we recommend that students fly into Quito International Airport for its accessibility, rich history and culture. Here a host from our farm would meet students and arrange for the group to travel together either by flight or by minibus to the Learning Center which is located close to Vilcabamaba, in the province of Loja. 

We will support students in all their travel needs within Ecuador. 

• Housing and meals will be fully provided at both of our Learning centers.
  • Finca Sagrada Learning Center is hugged in the mountains of the Sierra region. 
    • Simple, yet comfortable shared accommodations are provided. 
    • Students gather in the community center for meals, lectures and free time (wifi available)
      • See video of our facilities:  https://youtu.be/uHaIJ1F7i68
    • Fresh food will be harvested primarily from our acres of biodynamic fields and orchards
      • Vegetarian meals are prepared daily
      • food allergies/sensitivities are reasonably accommodated (small additional costs may apply) 
    • Students will have the experience of harvesting and preparing some meals together to strengthen community collaboration skills.  

• Amazonian Learning Center with the Amazonga Community of the Orient region. 
  • Shared sleeping shelters are provided in a rustic, jungle environment
  • All meals are provided in a collaborative community setting
  • A Remote location which lacks both electricity and internet access 
  • This will be an intimate and immersive experience with the many Amazangan family members

• Students must be physically capable of performing farm work for up to two hours per day.
• Students must be able to walk four hours to and from the Amazonian Learning Center with personal belongings.  All other supplies will be carried by pack animals.

• Weeks 1-3: Finca Sagrada Learning Center 
  • 2-day Orientation and Opening Ceremony at the ‘House of Original Thought,’ brought to Finca Sagrada by the Kogi elders of Columbia. 
    • http://www.alunathemovie.com/
  • Permaculture Design Certification Program
• Weeks 4-6: Amazonga Learning Center 
  • 3 Days of Traveling & Tourism, including overnight stays in Baños, Ambato
  • Indigenous Wisdom with Amazanga Community in the province of Pastaza 
  • 3 Days of Traveling & Tourism, including overnight stays in Historic City of Cuenca
• Weeks 7-9: Finca Sagrada Learning Center
  • Biodynamic Agriculture 
  • Ecuadorian Traditional Farming and Land Management
  • 2-day Course Conclusion: Presentations and Closing ceremony

*Students will have weekends free while at Finca Sagrada Learning Center to go for hikes, waterfall excursions, visit the nearby town of Vilcabamba, or enjoy reflective time on the farm.

* Yoga instruction and other student activities will be available while at the Finca Sagrada Learning Center for those interested. 

Students will reside at the Finca Sagrada Learning Center for the first three weeks of the program. The program will include the following:

Two-Days of Orientation

We launch our program with an opening ceremony, farm tour and introduction. Students will be guided to find and activate their intuitive intelligence and to bring that into the community setting.  This skill will then guide their experiences throughout the course.  We call this “heart-felt” thinking.  It is a practice that the Heart-Math Institute has proven to be a key to creativity. (https://www.heartmath.org/).  

Orientation Activities: 

• Introduction to our Learning center, including its facilities, methodologies, gardens, and animals.
• Walking the land to discover its sacred sites, including the “Spirit House”, or “The House of Original Thought,” which was designed and “gifted” to our farm by the indigenous Kogi tribe of Colombia.
• Building the framework for how to work collaboratively within an honest and heart-centered community. 
• Orientation to “Life-Destiny Path,” which will be used throughout our entire program to help students discern and fulfill their life’s purpose. 

Permaculture Training — Weeks 1 – 3. 

Upon completion of the course, students will receive an internationally recognized Permaculture Design Certificate which is backed by the Permaculture WorldWide Network (PWN).  

One of the founding fathers of Permaculture, Bill Mollison, has defined Permaculture as “the conscious design and maintenance of agriculturally productive ecosystems, which have the diversity, stability and resilience of natural ecosystems.”

 Training will include sessions on:

• Water management.
• Seed saving.
• Bio-construction with local and natural materials.
• Alternative energy sources for the farm.
• Ancient indigenous agricultural wisdom from the Andes.
• Community building.

A number of site-visits will be conducted to local farms throughout this aspect of the program. 

Students will travel to the Amazanga Learning Center, a remotely located jungle environment of the Ecuadorian Amazon near Puyo, Ecuador. Here they will live with the indigenous Amazonga community, who are descended from the Quichua, Shuar, and Achuar traditions.  

Students will be immersed in indigenous ways of Life based on hunter-gatherer relationship with the land. This will include: 

• Introduction to CosmoVision, the Amazanga world view 
• Practical aspects of forest cultivation and preservation
• Jungle-based survival techniques and food foraging 
• Use of medicinal and ceremonial herbs
• Making of artisan crafts with local materials
• Practices that will develop one’s subtle perception and strengthen one’s relationship with Nature 

Note:  For those who wish, the Amazanga elders can offer power plant medicine ceremonies, including an Ayahuasca, San Pedro, or Tobacco.

The trip to and from the Amazanga Learning Center from Finca Sagrada is an 8-hour shuttle ride. Along the way students will have overnight stays in Baños de Ambato, and Cuenca to enjoy hot springs, nature-based-attractions, and to explore historic centers and national parks. 

Baños de Ambato— an outdoor adventure center that offers the following options. 

• Cliffside tree swinging at ‘Casa de Arbol,’ known as the “End of the World.”
• A plethora of canyon hikes and magnificent waterfall experiences.
• Mineral-rich thermal baths and hot springs.
• White-water rafting
• Zip-lining through trees & mountains

Cuenca— a UNESCO historical city in Azuay Province

• Historic churches, colonial-style buildings and various museums 
• Rich artisan culture and marketplaces
• Ingapirca- the largest known Incan ruins in Ecuador, located in the province of Cañar.
• Cajas National Park- providing rich landscapes and archaeological sites belonging to the pre-Incan Cañari peoples. 

Students will return to the Finca Sagrada Learning Center for the remainder of our program.

Biodynamic Agriculture Methods and Perspectives

Biodynamics is rooted in the work of philosopher and scientist Dr. Rudolf Steiner. His 1924 lectures to farmers opened a new way to integrate scientific understanding with the influence of spiritual forces in nature. Biodynamics has continued to develop and evolve since the 1920s, through the collaboration of thousands of farmers and researchers involved with World Wide Biodynamic Association (https://www.biodynamics.com/)

This final portion of the program will be taught by Finca Sagrada Learning Center owner, co-founder and teacher Walter Moora, who has farmed biodynamically on four continents for decades. His book, A Farmer’s Love, is available at Amazon.com.

Students will learn the four main practices for creating a biodynamic farm:

• Creating and Maintaining a Farm Ecosystem.
• The Study and Use of Biodynamic Herbal and Homeopathic Preparations 
• Understanding and Applying the Biodynamic Lunar Planting Calendar
• Honoring the Nature Beings of the Unseen World

In the morning, students will learn “hands-on” small-scale farming techniques. 

This will be guided primarily by our native Ecuadorian partners – Cristian Ojeda, and Carmen and Jose Calva, former President of the Palta tribe and the land manager of Finca Sagrada. 

In the afternoon, they will attend lectures, integrate their learnings, explore the natural habitat around them, and receive training and coaching for the exploration of their personal life purpose.  

Final 2 Days:  “Bringing It All Together” and “Taking It Home With You.”

The students and staff will spend the final two days reflecting on:

• What they have experienced
• What they have learned 
• How they have changed 
• What they want to take with them into the future. 

This process will include personal reflective sessions which have been woven throughout the program, and collaborative examination of what has been learned. 

Each student will prepare a final presentation which will encompass their overall takeaways, most impactful experiences, describe how they have changed and what they intend to do to take advantage of that.

A concluding ceremony will be held to further one’s connection with Nature, to honor the work completed, and to receive support in carrying it forward.

* Final requirements for students to receive academic credit will be accomodated. 

Staff and students will be encouraged to exchange contact information so that each person has a support network available to further the work they have done in our program.

Students will spend the majority of their time at Finca Sagrada, a biodynamic farm nestled in a sacred valley in the mountains of southern Ecuador. Located just south of the Equator at 4,200 feet, the farm experiences spring-like weather all year round — which enables us to cultivate a wide variety of both temperate and tropical plants.  Most of the food that students will eat is picked fresh out of our gardens and food forests. 

Finca Sagrada sits on five hectares (twelve acres) of rolling irrigated pastures, food forests, a large herb garden, vegetable gardens and fruit trees galore. It is bordered by a pristine mountain stream which runs into the river, feeding our natural canal system along the way and is great for swimming!

Situated at the heart of the Learning Center is the “House of Original Thought”. The elders of the Kogi Tribe of Northern Columbia chose to have us build an exact replica of their own Spirit House, which serves as a part of a network of 12 Spirit Houses they are building around the world. (http://www.alunathemovie.com/) Finca Sagrada Learning Center and its owner-partners were honored to be the first place in the world in which such a sacred, indigenous worship center has been built. 

Finca Sagrada is owned by US Citizens Walter and Susan Davis Moora.  The farm and educational services are managed and operated by the non-profit Finca Sagrada Association, whose mission is to:

 Exemplify a farm-based, multicultural learning center where people can reconnect to self, community and nature through heartfelt thinking. 

Non-profit partners in addition to Walter and Susan Davis Moora include two indigenous leaders and two Ecuadorian environmental leaders:

•  Virgilio Bonavedes: Former sub-secretary for the Ecuadorian National Ministry of Environmental Quality 
• Nancy Hilgert: A leading Ecuadorian environmental consultant who is documenting native Ecuadorian plants and medicines.
• Jose Calva: Former President and present historical consultant for the indigenous Palta community
• Carmen Calva: Palta grandmother, Finca Sagrada land manager and traditional healer 
• Cristian Hartman-Ojeda: Ecuadorian ancestral builder/farmer who is a social welfare leader in the local farm community.

The Permaculture Program

This three-week, 70 hour, training is taught by Zia Parker, a lifelong practitioner and teacher of Permaculture. It will be primarily conducted at the Finca Sagrada Learning Center. Upon completion of the course, students will be awarded the internationally recognized Permaculture Design Certificate which is issued by permaculture trainers whose skills have been vetted by the Permaculture WorldWide Network (PWN). The Permaculture Design Certificate is widely respected around the world by organizations with a focus on permaculture. 

Students will gain experience in systems-oriented thinking, applying both the theory and practice of integrated design to several different farm settings. Approximately half the course is devoted to theory, while the other half is devoted to hands-on practice. Site-visits to local farms will also be included for students to be exposed to the breath of ways to apply permaculture within unique environments. 

For this locale, special attention will be given to these topics:

• Water Management: water retention landscaping;  key-line design; ferrous-cement storage tanks; water re-use systems (grey water); and dry toilets.
• Seed Saving Strategies for multiplying seed saving initiatives.
• Bio-Construction with local and natural materials.
• Alternative Energy such as solar, biogas, etc.
• Ancestral Knowledge from the rich indigenous agricultural heritage of the Andes.
• Community Building strategies and practice.

Throughout the training, students will be encouraged to personally embody the following permaculture ethics:

• Care for the Earth.
• Care for the people.
• Sharing Earth’s abundance.

The Indigenous Amazanga Experience

This learning and life experience will take place to the North in the Ecuadorian Amazon and involves a four-hour walk to reach the jungle center. Students will live in extremely simple housing and be served meals that are locally provided by our indigenous hosts.

The trainers for this portion of the program are Don Rafael Santi and Doña Lucila Santi Vargas and their extended family, all of whom are descendants of the indigenous Quichua, Shuar, and Achuar cultures. They will offer lectures and demonstrate the creation of traditional Amazangan artisan skills such as crafting furniture, instruments, ceramics, traditional spears, etc. 

Students will experience how the indigenous have been able to support themselves in the deep jungle through hunting and gathering throughout the centuries. As described below, they will experience a dramatically different way of relating to Nature. Some of the explorations include:

Learning the Art of Dreaming True

Throughout the ages, up until 2004, the Amazonga have lived without satellite phone or internet. In their daily practices, from the dark of pre-dawn to late at night, the Amazanga’s days are filled with a high level of “seeking and sensing” forest knowledge. They call this their practice of “dreaming true” and they use this to help them better manage and strategize their survival needs. 

Observing the Mind of the Other

The Amazanga’s favorite spiritual game or pastime is called “Emic Analysis.” It is a process for observing the consciousness of non-human beings, plants, and animals. A primary goal of any cultural anthropologist is to try to understand the perspective of people in other cultures, by practicing the role of “participant observer.” The Amazonga practice of Emic Analysis does that by stepping into the consciousness of the animal or plant they are observing, from a witnessing point of view.

Plants as Medicine

Doña Lucilla introduces us to the flowers her people use for dreaming, the leaves they use for dancing, the berries they use for sleeping, and the bat garden her people use for their ceremonies. She shows us her midwifery garden and her womens’ garden to maintain health for all ages.

Forest Management

Walking with the Amazangas through their forests, we will learn ancient agroforestry skills necessary for the cultivation and gathering of foods and traditional medicines.

Hunter-Gatherer Skills

Throughout the program students will experience the elementary skills of trackers, as well as the perception and aim of hunters and gatherers.   

CosmoVision

Students will hear about the Amazanga’s native CosmoVision that connects Quichua, Shuar and Achuar perspectives on life. This includes their worldviews and experiences of birth and death, our role as humans and interconnection with “Pacha Mama,” or Mother Nature, along with physical and spiritual midwifery.

The Biodynamic Agriculture Program

“A Biodynamic farm is diversified, it is interesting and it is beautiful. It is a place where people like to visit and feel welcome. Not only does it grow food that nourishes, but also allows people to feel safe and connected.”- A Farmer’s Love, by Walter Moora

While the students are on the farm, we trust that they will experience this harmony. These three weeks will be packed with both hands-on experiences and in-depth lectures. 

For those interested, days will start with a sunrise “Agni Hotra” ceremony in the House of Original Thought.

After breakfast, there will be a short guided meditation to anchor students in their own consciousness and the consciousness of Nature. From there, our indigenous Palta partners Jose, Carmen and Cristian will explain, demonstrate and lead the farm work for that day. During this time, students will learn all practical aspects of preparing a seedbed, planting, weeding and harvesting as well as animal husbandry practices such as milking the cows and caring for the chickens. 

As Finca Sagrada is located in the Sierras of South America, home of many indigenous tribes, students will experience the correlation between indigenous practices and our biodynamic practices.

In the afternoons, Walter will give lectures on the principles of biodynamic farming. These include:

Creating a Farm Ecosystem

Biodynamic farms are living systems that are both diversified and complex. How this ecosystem is organized on both a physical and spiritual level will be discussed. 

Use of Biodynamic “Preparations”

The Biodynamic preparations that are used on the farm are likened to homeopathic medicine for the Earth. Students will learn what substances and plants are utilized, how to make them, and when and where to apply them.

Use of a Biodynamic Planting Calendar

Rudolf Steiner pointed to the influences from the Sun, planets and stars as important factors to work with in agriculture. Out of these indications it was discovered that the plants’ health and nutritional value could be enhanced by sowing seeds when the moon is in the appropriate sign of the constellation (Earth, Water, Air, Fire) of the zodiac for a particular plant. 

Honoring and working with the Elemental Beings of Nature

As society has moved towards a more mechanistic approach to farming, human awareness of the unseen beings such as the elementals and nature beings has faded away. When the students visit the Amazanga indigenous community, they will have the opportunity to experience how this ancestral culture interacts with the spiritual forces they call “nature spirits.” While at Finca Sagrada, students will explore this realm further, reawakening this level of human awareness with lectures, exercises and guided meditations.

Exploration of “Life Purpose” and the Building of Collaborative Community Skills

At Finca Sagrada, our simple life revolves around growing and preparing food, sharing meals, and cleaning up after each other. This is emblematic of the necessity for people to work together to thrive. This serves as the basis for our training, fostering both communication and group development skills.

Weekly collaboration meetings, also called ‘Satir’ meetings will take place as a group ‘check in’. This is an opportunity for both staff and students to appreciate one another, express and resolve any needs and concerns, plan for the week ahead, and vocalize their affirmations. This process is based on the work of the late, innovative group development trainer, Virginia Satir. (https://satirglobal.org/)

The beauty and inspiration of Nature around us at Finca Sagrada and in the Amazon jungle calls us to reflect more deeply on our connection to Nature and our purpose for living on this planet.  That is the context for the coaching work we do to help each student explore their larger “Life Path.” 

Susan Davis Moora leads this part of our program. Through inspirational personal stories and coaching Susan will serve as a guide, facilitating the exploration of each student’s life purpose. Students will maintain a personal reflection journal throughout the program to log these deeper insights. 

Walter Moora

Walter was born in the jungles of Borneo in 1949 of Dutch parents. As a youth, his family lived in Malaysia and England and finally, when he was 9, in New Zealand. By the end of high school, he knew he wanted to be a farmer and began his life’s path. Walter soon realized that conventional farming fought nature instead of working with her so he left New Zealand in 1972 to learn biodynamic farming, which works intimately with nature. Most of his adult life he lived in the U.S. working on Camphill community farms or his own farms. In 2007, he and his wife Susan moved to the beautiful mountains of Ecuador. Here they are helping to create a community on land that the indigenous Kogi from Columbia designated sacred.

Over the years, to add value to his farm products, he made Gouda cheese, European sourdough breads, grew vegetables and helped launch Seven Stars Yogurt. For many years he was on the Demeter Certification Board that certifies biodynamic farms.

In 2001 he met and married Susan Davis and they have been weaving their work together ever since. Through Susan’s Capital Missions Company, they co-created a successful KINS Innovation Network called Kindred Spirits. This network invited social investors and philanthropists to visit their farm to learn how non-farmers can steward the Earth.

In 2007, they began living in Vilcabamba, Ecuador, for a substantial part of the year. Here Walter wrote his book A Farmer’s Love, and he and Susan started giving workshops on their beautiful farm in the mountains of Ecuador.

Two passions guide Walter’s life. One is to grow the healthiest food possible by farming Biodynamically, thus treating the Earth with respect and love. The second is to help non-farmers learn the importance of nutrition in the food we eat, learn how everyone can help steward the Earth and, last, learn how to connect to the spirituality of the Earth.

Susan Davis

Susan Davis Moora is the innovator of KINS Innovation Networks, who helps people manifest their life missions collaboratively with others.  She left a Division Administrator position for Harris Bank’s Personal Trust Group after nine years to start Capital Missions Company (CMC) in June of 1990. CMC created an innovation method highly effective in social investing and other niches of sustainability using principles of generosity and trust.

Ms. Davis used these experiences in business and finance to create this unique networking innovation method now proven successful with 35 networks created over a 35-year period. This method, called KINS Innovation Networks, uses nature as a model for innovation following a simple 7-step method anchored by 30 people from 30 diverse constituencies.

In 2007, Susan took a health-required 3-year sabbatical in Vilcabamba, Ecuador, where she and her husband, biodynamic farmer Walter Moora, used KINS and funding from FlowFunding.org to model how a town’s leaders could help take their town green and resilient. Susan also wrote a book, The Trojan Horse of Love, to teach others how to start KINS networks through telling the KINS stories. Susan gifts this book from her heart rather than selling it and it has been downloaded free 16,600 times. 

After a traumatic attack and beating by armed commandos in their home in 2009, Susan and Walter decided to become global nomads for a year, traveling pro bono to U.S. towns to teach KINS and biodynamic farming to help the towns go green, sharing the Vilcabamba story. Today they continue to advise such groups, speaking and giving workshops. Meanwhile, they have developed Sacred Land Farm, “Finca Sagrada,” into a non-profit offering various educational programs provided by partners and associates.  The Farm’s mission is to develop a globally conscious farm-based community good for all Life.

Susan received a B.A. cum laude in Russian from Brown University in 1963 and did graduate work in anthropology at the Harvard Graduate School of Education in 1965-66. Her entrepreneurial tutoring came from her father, who grew the Bancroft Racket Company from a small to a large enterprise. Susan and Walter have daughters Eve, Blake and Julia and a son, David.

Cristian Hartman Ojeda   

Cristian joined the farm in 2003. He was born in the small village of Tumianuma near Vilcabamba and spent his childhood in that valley. At fourteen, he began to travel extensively around the country of Ecuador and taught himself English by watching movies and studying.  At twenty-four, he had an opportunity to travel to Ireland to a Camphill community in Glencraig where he apprenticed working on the land and with the disabled people there. Upon his return, he realized how much he loved his home country and land, with its pure water, clean air and earth-supporting practices. Cristian is dedicated to teaching us all the cultural ways of his family and community, who live with health and happiness. He has created many innovations on the farm, including the Inca herbal garden, the canal and rock wall systems, most of the buildings and structures, and the food forest we could live on.  He was invaluable in building our House of Original Thought, the first that the Kogi elders of Columbia ever allowed.Cristian has now been able to manifest a non-profit, El Arte de Reciprocidad, to serve the disabled in 3 different nearby communities.  As a farm partner, Cristian is an embodiment of the native prophecy ‘When the Condor and Eagle fly together, the world will know peace.’

Jose Calva and Carmen Chamba Solano   

José Calva joined the farm in April of 2018. He comes from a family of “Comuneros” from his grand-parents, from the Comuna Sasaco. He is the historical consultant for the Palta Tribe, the indigenous leaders of this area.  Jose’s wife, Carmen Chamba Solano, also comes from “Comuneros” grand-parents, from the Comuna Panduana, in the canton Sozoranga.  José has long experience in agriculture, organic farming and permaculture.  He has also been very active organizing and leading his comuna, and served as the President of the Palta people. He is still very active in the work of promoting indigenous ways. Nowadays José is working at the farm with Carmen, following the traditional ways from his ancestors, while teaching and sharing knowledge with our volunteers coming from all over the world. Thanks to them, we now have a farm that is multi-diverse and productive, almost self-sustainable. It is a hub for research and experimentation, integrating both native species and commonly used vegetables. Jose and Carmen also continuously work toward preserving the seeds that we produce at the farm, to keep on sowing and planting within our own organic and biodynamic seeds, and for sharing. 

Zia Parker

Zia Parker has helped weave together indigenous people and their knowledge with Earth-loving methodologies from the modern world in Africa, Asia and N.America for over 30 years. Since “transplanting” in Ecuador, 8 years ago, she has continued coordinating the internationally certified Permaculture Design Course, which she has done since 1991. As well, she has been busy with sustainability consulting, and developing Finca Vida Verde as a model of rainwater conservation and agro ecology. She also is the hub coordinator for the two Southern Ecuadorean provinces for the national seed saving network Red Semillas, helped initiate the Colectiva Agroecologica de Vilcabamba, which focused on public education and awareness of “transgenicos” (GMOs) and continued to play a key role as this group later started the Randi Nama Feria Agro-ecologico,(Vilcabamba Organic Market) since 5 years.

For More Information, contact:

Walter Moora, Farmer and teacher of Biodynamics

Email address: sacredlandfarm@gmail.com

Website: www.Finca-Sagrada.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FincaSagrada/

Instagram: @fincasagrada 

Vilcabamba, Ecuador