Supporting Evidence - LR2

Herb courses with Rudi Beiser in March/April 2019:

Part 1: Drying herbs
Part 2: Marketing of herb products
Part 3: Growing herbs organically

For all three courses, I have written notes. I will share them in one of my next OP because I first want to digitalize them.

Association "Kraeuterland -BW"
Visit of two herb fields in spring (Rottweil, Schwanau)
-> checking the possibility to market our herbs within the association

Community Supported Agriculture Rosenfeld
The CSA is in one of our neighboring villages. In the future many cooperations are possible. But they only have experience with growing vegetables (and not herbs).

Herbal women circle
This circle consists of six women who are all enthusiastic about herbs. They lead herb workshops about different topics. I am in very good contact with some of the women and we organize a meeting in spring 2020 on our property to talk about future possibilities.

OPTIONAL: Explanation of the learning cycle and learning styles (the following is an explanation I copied from this website: https://www.learning-theories.com/experiential-learning-kolb.html (01,.12. 19))

Concrete Experience: The learner actively experiences an activity / a new experience or situation is encountered

Reflective Observation: The learner consciously reflects back on the experience

Abstract Conceptualisation: The learner conceptualizes a theory or model of what is observed

Active Experimentation: The learner is trying to plan how to test a model or theory or plan for a forthcoming experience/ the learner applies the ideas to the world around them to see what happens

Kolb identified four learning styles that correspond to these stages. The styles highlight conditions under which learners learn better[3]. These styles are:

• assimilators, who learn better when presented with sound logical theories to consider

• convergers, who learn better when provided with practical applications of concepts and theories

• accommodators, who learn better when provided with “hands-on" experiences

• divergers, who learn better when allowed to observe and collect a wide range of information

Going through the Learning Cycle
During this Action Learning Cycle, I went through all four stages of the learning cycle many times and I really feel that effective learning happened. It probably was the most effective learning time I experienced in my life because we had a lot of life transitions. The work for my studies with GaiaU made me consciously accompany and reflect the transformation in my life which highly increased the learning effect.

A Pattern: How We Went Through The Kolbs Learning Cycle
Most of the times my boyfriend and I started our projects with an abstract concept of a theory or an idea. We both love to talk about our projects: My part is to collect as much information as possible, whereas he puts them into a concise logical approach. This „Abstract Conceptualisation“ stage is the phase of the projects where we are making plans and often it requires a lot of time. Not all of our projects are carried on to the „Active Experimentation“ stage. In this phase, we try to create a prototype (e.g. herb drying cupboard) and see how it works in reality. Some projects immediately felt good and the results were promising. Other projects did not go as we expected or we noticed that our motivation decreased. In both cases, we collected „Concrete Experience“. After this experience we reflected on our experience or reached out to expert knowledge in the field to find out what we can do differently, so „reflective observation“ took place and a new learning cycle started.