[Sdpg] Is a Permaculture Course for You?

[Wesley Roe and Marjorie Lakin Erickson]

hi everyone
         Thought I would send this out to help folks get to know about why 
it is important to take a 10 day Permaculture Design Course and how to 
figure who to take the course from and where, I would recommend everyone in 
our region take a look the Permaculture Design Courses offered by Larry 
Santoyo www.earthflow.com ,  June 13-26, 2004 as the course is in our bioregion
  this story is about a woman in Australia who took her course from Robyn 
Francis  at her  site Nimbin Australia.
                 wes


Is a Permaculture Course for You? 
http://globalpermaculture.50megs.com/pdcourse.html

Doing a permaculture course is an wonderful investment of time and you will 
be surprised at how much you learn and how much broader your perspective in 
many areas will become.

A permaculture course will leave you will an understanding of the 
importance of site design, systems, observation of natural and seasonal 
patterns, biological and energy efficient resources, polyculture, the 
'edge' effect, the function of trees on our climate, keylines, swales, 
microclimates and many more key elements of permaculture. Below are 
ramblings of my experience with doing a permaculture design course.

I can't quite remember when the word 'permaculture' started to rattle 
around in my brain but as time went on it became more and more pressing to 
investigate it further.
I had read about permaculture practices in several magazines and then one 
day I stumbled upon Bill Mollison's book called The Permaculture Designer's 
Manual on the library shelves. I took the book home and was captivated by 
the new and practical information that lay between its pages. Although I 
understood many of the concepts outlined in the book I couldn't seem to get 
my head around the importance of certain topics. I did not understand the 
importance of keylines and I did not understand how to pull all the 
information together into a single, simple to understand ideology. About 
six months later I borrowed the same book and tried again to 'pull it 
altogether' but once again failed. I just had to understand it. Everyone I 
spoke to about permaculture either reacted with a "Huh? What's that?" and a 
look that suggested I had three heads. Or they just weren't interested. 
Talk about frustrating. I had no-one to bounce off ideas with.

I had learned that the quality of permaculture courses could be variable 
and that it would be wise to investigate several, prior to choosing which 
course to do. I looked up several permaculture designers in the yellow 
pages and asked them where they did their course and what they thought of 
it. I also contacted Ryde TAFE about the structure and topics in their 
course. I finally chose a course that had been spoken of highly by one of 
the permaculture designers.

The cost of a two week permaculture varied in price from around $650 up to 
approx $1100 at the time (2001). The courses are not expensive when the 
content, hours of instruction and meals are taken into account. However, 
having never paid so much for a course before, (I obviously led a sheltered 
life) I baulked at the price but I knew that I wouldn't find out what I 
wanted to know, unless I bit the bullet and forked out the cash. Feeling 
guilty for taking so much out of the family budget to do something that 
seemed so indulgent and whimsical I finally took action, enrolled and sent 
off a cheque for the deposit on the course of my choice. In hindsight the 
cost was small for the knowledge, experience and enthusiasm I gained.

I chose to stay at the available on site accommodation (which cost extra) 
so I could exchange ideas with the other students. The accommodation was 
basic but provided everything necessary for our stay. The permaculture 
gardens were lush and relaxing to be in and staying on site allowed me to 
absorb information visually without even having to thinking about it.

As I explored the train carriage accommodation I was thrilled to find it 
had a compost toilet. (No I am not weird - you'll understand once you're 
immersed in the world of permaculture) I had previously not used a compost 
toilet and wanted to know just how much odour they really exuded. 'Number 
two' was always followed by a handful of wood shavings or sawdust - and no, 
it didn't smell at all which was surprising. I was expecting some odour. 
There was a lot of ventilation in the 'dunny' design which probably helped 
to prevent any odours from lingering. It was a far cry from the nasty 
experience of the old time 'can' dunnies. A garbage bin filled with sawdust 
was used as a urinal in a separate outhouse 'tent'. This was easy for the 
blokes to use but for us ladies it was a much more difficult exercise. 
Trying to do a high squat, whilst leaning back a bit, and having a pee - 
without touching the top edge of the bin, which was wet with urine, was a 
bit of a feat. Especially first thing in the morning. Some of us girls 
preferred the easier option of going behind a bush to pee instead.

Our teacher, Robyn Francis, introduced herself and gave us a bit of 
background on how she came to be teaching permaculture. During the course I 
came to respect the great wealth of knowledge and practical experience that 
Robyn had and wondered how she ever managed to remember so much diverse 
information. All the students introduced themselves to the class and we 
each gave a brief outline of why we came to the course and what we intended 
to do thereafter. There was quite a wide variety in the age, occupation, 
experience and nationality of the students present at the course. There 
were four students from overseas and students from three different states 
of Australia.



Each student was given a folder with a schedule of the course programme and 
an outline of the topic points. Alongside the topics there was space to 
make notes. Some of us chose to make notes in a workbook as well. Robyn 
preferred us to listen and participate instead of writing copious notes and 
missing points of the lesson. The hours went from 9am to 5pm and every 
second evening class continued from 6pm to about 9pm. These evenings 
usually included slides and talks. There was also a library and videos 
available for student use during after class hours.
If the class was looking a bit burnt out from information overload or the 
afternoon 'slump' had hit Robyn would get us outside to participate in a 
right brain activity to freshen us all up. These activities added fun and 
comraderie to the group's dynamics. We also did an exercise which made us 
look at the same view but in several different ways. Part of this exercise 
also illustrated how different people notice different things within the 
same piece of topography.

Guest teachers presented topics in their area of expertise and various 
field trips took place. Practical permaculture principles were demonstrated 
on site as the property where the course was held had a lot of working 
permaculture systems in place. These included a compost toilet, greywater 
system, swales, water systems, orchard, poultry and ducks, suntraps, herbs, 
composting, etc. These on site systems and the various field trips made 
learning the course topics much easier. They also demonstrated how various 
permaculture concepts are brought together to build an efficient, adaptable 
and ecological design that really works.

The guest teachers were just as interesting as our main teacher, Robyn. Not 
just for the knowledge they imparted but for the experiences they shared 
with us and their obvious passion for what they do. They all had slightly 
different slants on permaculture which served to improve and widen our own 
awareness of the subject.

Morning tea and lunches were provided each day and an evening meal every 
second night. The meals were mainly vegetarian with some animal protein 
dishes thrown in. The food was absolutely scrumptious (kudos to Robyn and 
her daughter) and we all made pigs of ourselves for the first week! Then we 
all got sick of stuffing ourselves and we cut back and ate normally. Some 
of the foods came from the on site garden and we had the opportunity to 
taste foods we had not previously been exposed to. Taro chips, soup with 
jerusulm artichokes, yam bean, and rosella tea to name a few.

I am glad I decided to stay in the on site accommodation because the 
conversations and interactions with the other students were rewarding and 
at times, very funny. The span of knowledge between the students was wide 
and discussions were often lively.

There were several group exercises which we had to participate in and some 
of these proved to be quite challenging as it required good communication, 
compromise and teamwork to complete them. Once we had successfully risen to 
the challenge and found a solution we all felt rewarded. We also realised 
just how difficult it can be to find a workable solution between people who 
have very different ideas about how things should be done. Doing the site 
design for a chosen property was quite memorable for the variances in ideas 
and people's way of handling differences. This exercise demonstrated the 
difficulties that can arise when developing a permaculture site is 
undertaken with a group of people. It also demonstrated the inherently 
flexible nature of permaculture design.

Overall, the permaculture course was very intense but not as difficult to 
absorb as I and some of the others had feared. Information overload and 
'brain burn' was common but we were eager sponges wanting to soak up as 
much knowledge as possible. Some of the course content was just common 
sense and common knowledge but it was presented in such a way as to show 
how much better certain things worked when integrated thoughtfully into a 
system. However, there was a lot of content that was very eye opening 
indeed. We all wondered why nobody had ever taught us these vitally 
important ecological laws and systems. Systems that are essential to our 
own life were being destroyed or severely compromised each day and every 
day. We all felt that permaculture should be taught in all schools, 
agricultural and economic studies/degrees.

Even before the course was finished our brains were ticking over with all 
sorts of plans and activities that we intended to implement once we got 
back home.

At the end of the course we were all given a contact list so that we could 
keep in touch and share progress if we wished. Everyone who attended felt 
good about doing the course and felt that it was just the beginning to many 
more doors just waiting to be opened. I for one, enjoyed all aspects of the 
course and felt I had definitely received my money's worth. It answered the 
questions I had not been able to answer previously. It also caused me to 
ask and think about many more questions.

I returned home and began to implement the concepts I had learned. It has 
increased my conviction that I am on the right track and each week the 
passion for permaculture and all things sustainable grows. My awareness and 
disdain for gratuitous consumerism also grows as well as my appreciation 
for the natural world.

Other permaculture designs would vary with location and teacher skills but 
all should cover the same basic outline. For anyone contemplating the idea 
of doing a permaculture course my advice is to say "Go do it! What are you 
waiting for? You'll be so glad you did."

PLEASE POST - PLEASE FORWARD
--------------------------------
EarthFlow Design Works, The Terra Foundation and The Center of Natural 
Design Presents:
PERMACULTURE DESIGN COURSE
June 13-26, 2004
San Luis Obispo County, California
http://earthflow.com/courses2004/index.shtml
Join us, once again, at the Center of Natural Design with one of the finest 
gatherings of Veteran Permaculture Teachers ever assembled!
The Center of Natural Design is proud to showcase a Consortium of Friends, 
Internationally Acclaimed Educators and Leaders in the Worldwide 
Sustainability Movement, including:
* Larry Santoyo, Director, the Center of Natural Design
* Scott Pittman, Director, The Permaculture Institute
* Toby Hemenway, Author, Gaia's Garden
* Jude Hobbs, Director, Cascadia Permaculture
* Joseph Kennedy, Co Founder, Builders without Borders
-and a growing list of other Very Special Guests...
SPECIALIZED CURRICULUM
This course has something for everyone... Curriculum includes inspiring 
examples of sustainable land use and human ingenuity from around the world.
The core curriculum will, of course, include chapters 1-14 of the 
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expanded material: Eco-Literacy, Designing and Building your own 
Home-Ecosystem, Natural Building Techniques, Food-Forests, Fossil-less 
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Also Field Trips, Design Exercises and a variety of Hands-on Learning 
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The Center of Natural Design is located on California's beautiful Central 
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for full 2 week intensive -register for all or part.
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Trade, Work-trade, and Group Discounts also available...
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For Information & Registration contact:
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805.528.3763 (9-5 Pacific Standard Time)
visit:
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