Learn on a self-sufficient farm at an altitude of 1,000 m
L’Arche du Livradois is a permaculture nursery and farm, founded in 2013 in Peslières, in Livradois-Forez (Auvergne). The farm is 100% self-sufficient: solar electricity, rainwater and spring water. Everything we produce grows in open ground and outdoors, never in a heated greenhouse, with organic fertilisation only; our citrus trees have been grown here at an altitude of 1,000 m since 2015.
The courses take place on the farm: you learn hands-on, in a small group or in a private lesson, in a place where self-sufficiency is part of everyday life. We offer four courses:
- permaculture, to design and cultivate a sustainable and productive place to live;
- grafting, to propagate your fruit trees and citrus trees;
- earth building, to build and renovate with a local, natural material;
- an introduction to lapidary, to shape gems as faceted stones or cabochons.
All our courses are booked online: on the product page of each course, choose your date in the calendar, then pay for your booking with your order. You will find them all in our Training courses and services section.
Course calendar
The grafting, permaculture and earth building courses take place every year during set course weeks, on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, excluding public holidays. The third week of a month is the week that begins on the third Monday of the month.
Grafting: late winter, spring and autumn
The third week of February, March, April and September. 2027 dates:
- February: Monday 15, Tuesday 16, Thursday 18 and Friday 19;
- March: Monday 15, Tuesday 16, Thursday 18 and Friday 19;
- April: Monday 19, Tuesday 20, Thursday 22 and Friday 23;
- September: Monday 20, Tuesday 21, Thursday 23 and Friday 24.
Permaculture and earth building
The third week of May, the second week of June and the first week of September. These days are shared between the two courses: each day has a single theme, set by its first booking, and then remains open to that theme only, for up to 8 participants. 2027 dates:
- May: Tuesday 18, Thursday 20 and Friday 21 (Monday 17 May, Whit Monday, is a public holiday);
- June: Monday 14, Tuesday 15, Thursday 17 and Friday 18;
- September: Monday 6, Tuesday 7, Thursday 9 and Friday 10.
Introduction to lapidary
On a Monday, Tuesday, Thursday or Friday, during French school term time (zone A, Clermont-Ferrand education authority), excluding school holidays, public holidays and grafting and permaculture course weeks.
Permaculture course
Permaculture is a method of designing sustainable places for living and growing, inspired by the way natural ecosystems work. At L’Arche du Livradois, you discover it on a working farm, self-sufficient in electricity and water, where fruit trees, soft fruit, perennial vegetables, herbs and hardy citrus grow in open ground.
Programme
- The principles and ethics of permaculture
- Observing and understanding a site: aspect, soil, water, microclimates
- Feeding a living soil: organic fertilisation, ground cover, compost
- Managing water: harvesting rainwater, making the most of a spring
- Producing your own electricity: the example of the farm’s solar self-sufficiency
- Combining fruit trees, soft fruit, perennial vegetables and herbs
- Growing hardy citrus in open ground, at an altitude of 1,000 m
Practical information
- Dates: the third week of May, the second week of June and the first week of September, days shared with earth building
- Full day, from 9:00 to 16:00: €150 incl. VAT per person
- Morning, from 9:00 to 12:00, with the full-day group: €85 incl. VAT per person
- Participants: 8 people maximum per day, morning and full-day participants combined
- Clothing: bring outdoor work clothes and suitable footwear
Book online: the full-day permaculture course or the morning course.
Grafting course: fruit trees and citrus
Grafting joins two plants: a rootstock, which provides the roots, and a scion, taken from the variety to be propagated. It makes it possible to reproduce a variety true to type and, through the choice of rootstock, to adapt the tree to your soil and climate. On the farm, we graft all our citrus trees low onto Poncirus rootstocks that we sow ourselves: low grafting gives them full hardiness and a vigorous trunk that needs no stake. This course teaches you how to graft your fruit trees and citrus trees.
Programme
- Understanding grafting: rootstock, scion, compatibility between species
- Choosing, collecting and storing scions
- Basic skills: cutting, fitting the scion, tying and protecting
- The main grafting techniques and their seasons
- Grafting citrus low onto Poncirus, as we do on the farm
- Checking that grafts have taken and caring for young grafted trees
Practical information
- Dates: the third week of February, March, April and September, for late-winter, spring and autumn grafting
- Full day, from 9:00 to 16:00: €150 incl. VAT per person
- Morning, from 9:00 to 12:00, with the full-day group: €85 incl. VAT per person
- Participants: 8 people maximum per day, morning and full-day participants combined
- Clothing: bring outdoor work clothes and suitable footwear
Book online: the full-day grafting course or the morning course.
Earth building course
Raw earth is one of the oldest building materials: a clay soil used without firing, mixed with water and, depending on the technique, with sand or plant fibres. Local and reusable, it naturally regulates indoor humidity and provides good thermal mass. This course teaches you to understand this material and to work with it.
Programme
- Understanding the material: the role of clay, sand, fibres and water
- Identifying soil suitable for building with simple field tests
- Overview of techniques: rammed earth, cob, adobe, wattle and daub, plasters
- Preparing a mix and applying an earth plaster
- Maintaining, repairing and renovating a raw earth structure
Practical information
- Dates: the third week of May, the second week of June and the first week of September, days shared with permaculture
- Full day, from 9:00 to 16:00: €150 incl. VAT per person
- Morning, from 9:00 to 12:00, with the full-day group: €85 incl. VAT per person
- Participants: 8 people maximum per day, morning and full-day participants combined
- Clothing: bring outdoor work clothes and suitable footwear
Book online: the full-day earth building course or the morning course.
Introduction to lapidary: faceting and cabochon
Lapidary cutting shapes and polishes gems to reveal their colour, transparency and brilliance. This introduction covers the two main families of cut: the cabochon, a smooth, domed shape, ideal for opaque stones or stones with optical effects, and faceting, which cuts the stone into flat facets that play with the light.
Programme
- Getting to know gems: hardness, cleavage, inclusions, colour orientation
- Safety and good practice in the workshop
- Cabochon: choosing the stone, marking out the template, rough shaping, shaping, sanding and polishing
- Faceting: basic optics, reading a cutting diagram, cutting the pavilion and then the crown
- Polishing the facets and inspecting the finished stone
Practical information
- Private lesson, for one or two people, with a programme adapted to the length chosen
- Half day, in the morning from 9:00 to 12:00 or in the afternoon from 13:00 to 16:00: €190 incl. VAT for one person on their own, or €150 incl. VAT per person for two, a total of €300 incl. VAT
- Full day, from 9:00 to 16:00: €340 incl. VAT for one person on their own, or €270 incl. VAT per person for two, a total of €540 incl. VAT
- Days: on a Monday, Tuesday, Thursday or Friday, during French school term time (zone A), excluding school holidays, public holidays and course weeks
- Equipment: machines and tools provided
Book online: the half-day introduction to lapidary or the full-day introduction.
How the courses are organised
- Location: at the farm, in Peslières, in Livradois-Forez. We work at several sites in the commune: the exact location is given to you by email or by telephone, after you book.
- Language: the courses are taught in French.
- Booking: online, from the day after tomorrow and up to 18 months in advance for the courses, 6 months for the introduction to lapidary. The calendar on each product page only shows available dates.
- Payment: full payment when you order, by Google Pay, bank transfer or cheque. If you pay by bank transfer or cheque, your date is reserved for you for 15 days while we await your payment; if payment is not received within this period, the order is cancelled and the date is released.
- Confirmation: your booking is confirmed by email as soon as we receive your payment, and you receive a reminder email the day before.
- Cancellation: full refund up to 30 days before the booked date, 50% from 29 to 8 days before, no refund within the last 7 days; you may send a person of your choice in your place. The cancellation conditions, whether the cancellation comes from you or from us, are set out in our Terms and conditions of sale.
You will find all our courses, as well as grafting and advice at home, in the Training courses and services section.