I was very fortunate to have learned about Schumacher College when I was a student at the Findhorn Foundation in Scotland in 2009 as part of a study abroad program with the Massachusetts-based Living Routes project (since closed). I applied to the Holistic Science MSc program after I returned to the United States in the spring of 2011. Jonathan Dawson, my sustainable development teacher at Findhorn, happened to be joining the Schumacher faculty for the upcoming year and wrote me a reference letter, and by the grace of our beloved professor Dr. Stephan Harding (God rest his soul), I was accepted to the 2011 – 2012 program.
Schumacher College was held and housed at the Old Postern building on the Dartington Estate in Devon, England. It was a hub of brilliant people of all ages, nationalities and backgrounds participating in an uplifting quest to better understand the world we live in and experience how we are inextricably connected to it. The overarching drive of the College seemed to be a desire to see clearly and to live in right relation. This can be seen in the proclamation of interdependence from one of the College’s founders Satish Kumar, “You are, therefore I am“; in Stephan Harding’s mapping of the carbon cycle as one of our planet Gaia’s complex and many vast regulation mechanisms; and in the words of E.F. Schumacher, the College’s namesake, “He [man] even talks of a battle with nature, forgetting that, if he won the battle, he would find himself on the losing side.“
My year at Schumacher was one of the most profound experiences of my life. The comradery and fellowship of all the students, faculty and staff was exquisite and unparalleled. Daily meetings and collective housekeeping were made light with shared readings from wonderful books and movement exercises like laughter yoga or improvised aerobics. The College’s good vibes radiated from the kitchen, where people could be found baking bread and making all sorts of delicious vegetarian dishes throughout the day and night, sometimes to the accompaniment of Stephan’s guitar or some raucous dance beats. I could be found there at times making fresh green juices harvested from the nettles and cleaver’s herb of the forest, fried foraged mushrooms or big batches of raw sprouted buckwheat granola.
The conversations throughout the dining area and tea rooms were often as profound and compelling as the lectures in the classrooms and halls on Gaia Theory, the Morphogenesis of plants, Phenomenology and Complexity Theory. Deep thinkers and holistic change agents were often stepping through the College doors to share their latest projects or research, and the place was rich with curiosity, passion and laughter. Last year, after 33 years of service to the collective consciousness of humanity, the lease was ended and the Old Postern closed it’s doors to Schumacher College. A new school is moving into the old castle-like structure to fit it’s beautiful new slate roof. As for the College, it is alive and well in the new growth of a hundred projects around the world, anchors of the knowledge and drive that was so well cultivated and harnessed in the walls of that building nestled in the rolling hills of Devon.
A month ago a group of past Schumacher folk gathered in those hills not far from Dartington, to stoke the embers carried from the Postern, share some old stories and new projects, cook some of the best food and celebrate the wonder of it all. I was fortunate enough to get a week off work from the Santa Fe Art Institute to fly to England. The weekend was very much like a mini Schumacher experience. We had a chore sheet signup (which I didn’t sign but hopefully make up for with this documentation :), readings and walks, and endless tea and coffee and fresh baked cookies.
We got to hear from Julie Richardson on her recent PhD thesis, be guided through the orchard by Adriana Puech (founder of Efecto Mariposa in Colombia), serenaded and moved by Rodin de Carteret (founder of Systems Games in the UK), and cooked for by Julia Ponsonby, who held down the chaos of the kitchen at the College for decades. I was also able to give a short presentation of my current work with Plan For Plastic, in which I am completing a small structure made with nearly 2000 pounds of plastic waste. It is the continuation of my Schumacher dissertation work in Greyton, South Africa, where I started the Trash to Treasure Festival on the edge of the local dumping grounds in 2012.
Looking forward, courses are currently being offered through Schumacher Wild (with one going on right now in Devon) and the potential for finding a new home base for the College is being investigated. I’m so glad I got the opportunity to join this wonderful gathering in the beautiful hills of Devon, and to see so many old friends and make some new ones as well. – Jo Stodgel, June 2025
LOVE TREE PRODUCTIONS 