PERMACULTURE DESIGN COURSE: 2 FEBRUARY – 24 MARCH, 2018

The Blue Mountains Permaculture Institute will be running a Permaculture Design Course on Friday evenings and Saturdays, weekly from Friday 2 February to Saturday 24 March. Permaculture is a regenerative systems design strategy for building environmental, social and economic resilience and to create a better future for everyone. This is a great opportunity for those who would like to take the time to fully absorb and integrate permaculture ethics, principles and design strategies, and offers a pathway to completing the internationally recognised course around other work or family commitments. (see curriculum below)

TEACHERS:

Teachers will include Rosemary Morrow, Lis Bastian, and a team of other specialists in their field.

This is an opportunity to work with teachers who have a diverse experience in urban, rural and international settings, as well as social permaculture, permaculture in business, and permaculture strategies for growing regional resilience at government level. 

Rosemary Morrow:

Rowe originally studied Agricultural Science at the Sorbonne, in Paris, but then developed a passion for learner-centred teaching in the community. She walked away from formal education and has been teaching permaculture for 30 years. To this day she is still fascinated by adult non-formal education and the respect it demands from the teacher for students’ prior knowledge and skills. She regards teaching and learning as generous reciprocal acts and has taught permaculture in many unusual and challenging places off the beaten track. Her current focus is Permaculture for Refugees and she has been training more people to teach permaculture around the world, and particularly in refugee camps. 

 

 

Lis Bastian:

Lis is the co-founder of the Blue Mountains Permaculture Institute and has been teaching with Rowe for the last decade. She has been an Al Gore trained Climate Ambassador, Climate Adaptation Officer for 17 Councils in Central NSW, lecturer in Environmental Management, and is the founder of The Big Fix, a NFP organisation focused on growing a collaborative solutions-focused culture, supported by a Solutions Media Service. After a long and varied career that has also included arts and cultural development (she has been CEO of Arts OutWest and Varuna, the Writers’ House),  it is the ‘design’ elements and the systems thinking approach of permaculture that most informs her social change work. 

 

 

Danielle Wheeler:

Danielle Wheeler is a permaculture teacher, designer and community activist from the Hawkesbury Valley. NSW.  A former research scientist, she completed her PDC with Rowe and Lis in 2009 before starting Humble Designs Permaculture, which aims to bring affordable, practical sustainability to Western Sydney.  Danielle heads Permaculture Sydney West’s education team and is an executive member of the Hawkesbury Environment Network.  She enjoys the intersection of traditional knowledge, science and ethics that makes permaculture a force for hope. Danielle homeschools, gardens and battles fruit fly between teaching gigs.

 

 

Emmanuela Prigioni:

Manu is a small scale food grower with a background in Permaculture and agro-ecology. She recently completed her Diploma of Permaculture at the National Environment Centre in the Riverina. She is passionate about building community resilience by encouraging people to grow food locally at a small scale and is an active participant in local food growing and sustainability initiatives throughout the Blue Mountains. Soil regeneration is a big part of her practise in Lyttleton Gardens, where she manages the vegetable garden, teaches and coordinates workshops and events. She is also a regular blogger and records her activities and research on the Lyttleton garden blog..

 

 

 

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DATES & TIMES:

Fridays : 6.00 – 9.30 pm (2 Feb, 9 Feb, 16 Feb, 23 Feb, 2 March, 9 March, 16 March, 23 March)

Saturdays : 9am – 5pm (3 Feb, 10 Feb, 17 Feb, 24 Feb, 3 March, 10 March, 17 March, 24 March)

 

COST:

Course fee: $950

Early Bird fee: $900 if paid before 10 January

Deposit: $100

 

The course fee covers:

• Morning and afternoon tea. Participants are encouraged to contribute to a ‘shared table’ for lunch and dinner, to which we’ll also contribute local produce.
• All tuition as well as class notes and resources.

Numbers are strictly limited. To secure your place email Lis or ring +61 407 437 553 or +61 2 47877533

 

VENUE:

The course includes site visits so classes will be held in a range of venues, but we will be based at the Blue Mountains Permaculture Institute – a short walk from Blackheath Station – at 101 Wentworth St Blackheath. NSW. Australia.

 

ACCOMMODATION:

There will be a limited number of billeting and camping options so contact Lis on +61 407 437 553 or +61 2 47877533 or email Lis if you are interested in taking these up.

Otherwise there are well priced camping and cabin sites at Blackheath Glen Tourist Park which is a short walk from where classes are being held. It is opposite the picturesque Blackheath Pool, so bring your swimmers!

Blackheath is also a well-known tourist destination so a range of other accommodation options are also available.

 

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN:

The Permaculture Design Course is a combination of permaculture theory and hands-on practice, as well as a number of site visits.

Watch a short video here that interviews numerous leading permaculturalists and takes a stab at defining permaculture.

 

The internationally recognised curriculum covers the following topics:

• Global challenges – environmental, social and economic

• Systems thinking

• Ecology basics

• Ethics and principles

• Design methods and site analysis

• Map reading

• Water – domestic, rural, urban

• Climate and microclimates

• Patterns in nature

• Soils

• Seedsaving

• Forests

• Windbreaks

• Biozones

• Aquaculture

• Zones

• Buildings and structures

• Home gardens

• Orchards and animals in orchards (bees, chickens etc)

• Farming/agriculture

• Harvest forests

• Natural forests

• Integrated Pest Management

• Wildlife

• Weeds

 

• Practical design work: a personal permaculture design and a group permaculture design

• How to do a ‘permablitz’

 

SOCIAL PERMACULTURE:

• Design for Disaster

• Permaculture Incomes

• Permaculture in business, government and NGOs

• Financial Permaculture

• Land access and ethics

• Village and community design

• Suburban and urban permaculture