Learning to Live with Personal Responsibility, in Peace and Harmony with all Creation.
The Atalanta project is a non-profit enterprise which is building and creating a model permaculture and husbandry environment. It is a place of learning that fosters growth of children and adults in the healing, creative, and technological arts, which honors the human spirit, nature, and community.
ATALANTA SUMMER EDUCATIONAL SERIES 2026
UPCOMING WORKSHOPS:
BEE KEEPING I – Info coming soon
BEE KEEPING II – Info coming soon
We are looking forward to 2026! We have completed our 9th year of fundraising with SeedMoney for the Cooperative Garden and thanks to our amazing supporters, we met our goal of $3000 to improve our solar electric system. We will continue to fundraise to increase our electric capacity for our off-grid project and to begin implementing Agrivolotaic principles on the property, combining solar panels and agriculture. To support our efforts please consider donating through our Colorado Gives account HERE.
PREVIOUS 2026 WORKSHOPS
Permaculture Weekend Workshop with Jerome Osentowski
Come spend May 2nd & 3rd with us in the Atalanta Cooperative Orchard Garden in the high altitude desert of the San Luis Valley. Jerome helped with the original design of the Atalanta Garden and our greenhouse nearly 30 years ago and will be returning to share his knowledge of Permaculture Design and help with the next stage of garden development.
Tuition includes educational materials and light refreshments, please bring a sack lunch.
If you are coming from out of town, we have room for camping on the property and two 10′ x 12′ cabin tents with cots are available to rent.
Financial Assistance is available, please contact us for details.
The Atalanta Cooperative Orchard-Garden provides fresh, local produce, grown without chemicals, to families in the San Luis Valley. We use composted manure from the horses and goats to enrich the garden’s sandy soil. Water regulations in the county allow us to water one acre with our 100 foot well. Some of the produce grown in a typical season are salad greens, kale, chard, collards and other braising greens, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, carrots, beets, root vegetables, peas, beans, tomatoes, herbs and asparagus.
A forager and permaculturist with roots in rural Nebraska, Jerome Osentowski lives in a passive solar home he built at 7200 feet above Colorado’s Roaring Fork Valley. Director and founder of Central Rocky Mountain Permaculture Institute and a permaculture designer for thirty years, he has built five greenhouses for himself and scores of others for private clients and public schools in the Rockies and beyond. He makes his living from an intensively cultivated one acre of indoor and outdoor forest garden and plant nursery, which he uses as a backdrop for intensive permaculture and greenhouse design courses. Among his accomplishments is hosting the longest-running Permaculture Design Course in the world, now at twenty-nine years running. Jerome and his business partner and co-author, Michael Thompson, have also been instrumental in identifying, conserving, and propagating heritage fruit trees that have survived and borne crops for over a century in the harsh environment of the Roaring Fork Valley. Jerome’s explorations of sustainable systems and his travels for development projects have taken him to Baja, Nicaragua, Patagonia, Finland, Australia, and the Caribbean.
Read about his recent workshop in Madeira, Portugal HERE.
To date Atalanta has been using permaculture-based land-use design to demonstrate sustainable living through cultural, economic, and environmental programs. The current structures on the land demonstrate alternative building methods and materials, renewable energy sources, and ecologically appropriate technology. Atalanta projects at this time include the Community Co-Op Orchard Garden, the High Valley Dairy Goat and Sheep Co-Op, and the Therapeutic Riding Program.
Support Atalanta today, your tax deductable donation is appreciated!