Seeding Collaborative Learning across our Watersheds

Date: October 12, 2026

Location: De Eemlandhoeve, Bisschopsweg 7, Bunschoten-Spakenburg

Dear Changemakers, Landscape Cultivators and Delta Stewards,

The regeneration of our landscapes cannot be designed from behind a desk. It is born on the ground, felt through the soil, and woven together through the unique communities living along our rivers and in our valleys.

On Monday, October 12th, 2026, we invite you to step into the living landscape of the North Sea Delta for a profound one-day immersion. Together with global bioregional leaders Joe Brewer and Penny Heiple, we will gather at the Eemlandhoeve to bridge local ground-up action with global and bioregional systemic wisdom.

Design School for Regenerating Earth

Joe and Penny are the founders of the Design School for Regenerating Earth, a global community working on bioregional regeneration in their own watersheds. We have the honour of welcoming Joe and Penny during their European bioregional activation tour across the Mediterranean, the South of France, and the rivers of the North Sea Bioregion.

This day is not a standard conference. It is a living laboratory. We will ground our senses in the physical landscape, enjoy the talk of Joe Brewer on bioregional regeneration and the Dandelion activation strategy and dive into practical, peer-led workshops to equip you with the tools, logic, and funding strategies needed to weave regeneration into your own watershed.

Earth regenerates itself in watersheds.

Joe Brewer

Takeaway

Your takaway for this special day is to go back to your own communities and work in education, government or NGO’s, inspired and empowered to weave, regenerate and learn bioregionally, in deep and lasting connection with one another across the entire Delta.

What to Expect

Morning: Grounding & Vision

Start: 9.30 (welcome from 9.00)

We begin by stepping into the landscape together. Through an Immersive Landscape Station Walk, we will quiet our minds and attune our senses to the ecology and the deep time of the Eemvalley. We will build a collective altar of our shared commitment, listen to the voices of the next generation of stewards.

The keynote will, of course, be delivered by Joe Brewer on bioregional regeneration and the Dandelion Strategy. Following his talk, you will have the opportunity to engage in a conversation with Joe. Afterward, the Bioregional Weaving Labs and the Bioregional Learning Center of the North Sea Delta will showcase their work, sharing how they are driving bioregional regeneration in our part of the world.

Afternoon: Deep-Dive Workshop Tracks

Closing: 18.30 (including community drinks)

The afternoon is dedicated to capacity building and practical weaving. You will have the opportunity to join specialized parallel tracks, running across two rounds. We close the day with an open plenary Q&A to harvest our insights, followed by community drinks.

Inner Work and Place-Based Organizing

In this workshop Penny Heiple and Joe Brewer will explore the realms of inner work and place-based organizing that give rise to real possibilities for how we can come together and regenerate the Earth. Our approach is to work with what is emerging — which means the specific shape of this workshop will be informed by other activities and questions that arise earlier in the program.

Bioregional Commons

Ralph Thurm, Managing Director of r3.0 (Redesign for Resilience and Regeneration), will give a workshop on the need for Bioregional Commons, touching on aspects as necessary mapping, the need for Knowledge Commons and Bioregional Governance. He will share examples from all over the world and go into the joint learning from 80+ Bioregional Confluences globally. What can be applied anywhere? How important is cultural differentiation? And what can be done on community and collaboration in and between bioregions?

Portfolio Weaving

Often landscapes don’t struggle because of a lack of good initiatives. They struggle because systemic innovations — those working on the root causes of ecological and social challenges — remain fragmented and are not supported by the relationships, coordination and financing they need to grow. This workshop, led by Natasha Hulst, starts from the landscape itself: its needs, its dynamics and what is already trying to emerge. From there, we explore portfolio weaving as a practice to identify systemic innovations, understand how they relate, and begin to see them as part of a coherent whole.

Towards a Human and Nature-Inclusive Regenerative Society

What if the river had a voice and the soil could speak? What if a village could reinvent itself? What if a community could create its own rules? What if children could shape their neighbourhood? What if a tree had a place at the table of local governance?
What if beauty became one of the foundations of society? In this visionary workshop with Anouk Bolsenbroek we journey beyond what is — and into what could be. You will leave with an inspiring vision of the future and a first concrete movement towards making it happen.

Young Adults / Future Generations

Youth-Led Regeneration: Fresh, generational perspectives on landscape activation.

Energy from Soil to Plate

Agricultural and horticultural sectors are facing immense challenges. Pressure regarding nitrogen emissions is mounting and reliance on synthetic fertilizers is becoming increasingly problematic. What if the real solution doesn’t come from a chemical factory, but simply can be found right beneath our feet? My name is Wim Heppe. After decades in the field, I know one thing for certain: nature doesn’t need chemistry to achieve peak performance. In this workshop I will introduce you to an innovative, natural approach.

How to Start in Your Local Watershed?

How can we turn concern for climate, biodiversity and community into action in our local watershed? In this interactive workshop with Mieke Elzenga and Elly Rijnierse we explore ecocommunity LiberTerra’s place-based approach: connecting people, resources and local ecosystems to create practical experiments. Like a dandelion seed, initiatives around water, energy, food or housing need fertile soil to flourish. We explore how local initiatives can navigate today’s institutional landscape, identify allies, and contribute to building the commons-based infrastructure needed for resilient bioregional communities and a thriving local economy.

Bioregional Financing

Finance can be a key inhibitor, but also a key enabler of bioregional work. For it to turn into a catalyst, we need to both flow more money into the work AND change how it flows into regions. In this workshop Karin Müller will introduce the key concept of Bioregional Financing Facilities and how they are currently manifesting in regions. And she will give participants the opportunity to experiment with building new financial architecture through a fun and interactive role play.

Transformative Fool’s Journey

Are you working with others to create strong, self-organising communities where people and nature nourish and strengthen one another? Do you recognise the experience that transformation and change in the land, in yourself and in the community are deeply connected? The Transformative Fool’s Journey, facilitated by Anouk Bolsenbroek and Albert-Jan Abma, is a collective adventure of regional pioneers, experts, funders, members of the Proeftuin voor Transitieversnelling and other kindred spirits. Together we work towards magical solutions for the questions that arise in our regions. And along the way we become wiser. Might this be your journey too?

Please note: not all workshop spaces are accessible to people with mobility impairments or those in wheelchairs. If this poses a problem for you, please send an email to events@proefdetransitie.nl so that we can take this into account when scheduling the workshops.

Join the Movement

Are you ready to help birth the future of the North Sea Delta?

Buy your ticket below.

Stay at the Eemlandhoeve before or after this event? (or both)

Stay in a tiny house, bring your camper or tent and book your spot via the website of the Eemlandhoeve.

An impression of the location Eemlandhoeve: the vegetable garden, the restaurant, the chapel and one of the tiny houses to stay overnight.

This event is co-organised by:

Meet the Weavers & Stewards

This day is held and guided by a collective of regional cultivators, changemakers and catalysts.

Noa Lodeizen

Co-founder Bioregional Weaving Labs

Sandra Barth-Oosting

Co-steward Bioregional Learning Center North Sea Delta (alias Proeftuin voor Transitieversnelling)

Anne-Marie Benschop

Founder Green Heart Community (Groene Hart)