Take Your Permaculture Design Skills to a Higher Level
Course Code: BHT301
Course Duration: 100 hours (approximation, self paced study, commonly 3 to 6 months, longer if you need)
This course provides advanced training for:
- people with prior experience in permaculture
- graduates of either a PDC or our Permaculture Systems course
- anyone with sound knowledge of garden or farm design
Permaculture involves creating a landscape that is made up of useful and productive plants; and establishing them as a balanced ecosystem that will be self sustaining. Once established; a good permaculture sute will permanently produce a whole variety of useful products (eg. fuel such as firewood; building and craft materials, food crops, etc).
This is a complex concept; but one that is relatively achievable for anyone with the passion and commitment to learn, experiment, and apply their insights to the site they are working on.
COURSE STRUCTURE
There are ten lessons in this module as follows:
1. Evaluating Design Strategies
- Introduction
- The need for sustainability
- Low input farming
- Regenerative farming
- Biodynamic systems
- Organic systems
- Conservation farming
- Matching enterprise with land capability
- Polyculture
- Integrated management
- Permaculture planning
- Observation
- Deduction
- Reading patterns
- Analysis
- Mapping overlays
- Sectors
- Zones
- Design strategies and techniques
- Undulating edge
- Spirals and circles
- Zig zag trellis
- Temporary shelter
- Small scale sun trap
- Small scale sun shading
- Pathways
- Keyhole beds
2. Understanding Patterns
- Understanding patterns
- Know your land: evaluate a site
- Weather patterns, soil pH, EC, temperature, water etc
- Electromagnetic considerations
- Herbicide or pesticide consideration
- Land carrying capacity
- Assessing land capability
- Checklist of sustainability elements
- Indication of sustainability
- Log books
3. Water
- Water supply
- Water saving measures
- Tanks
- Dam and pond building
- Edges
- Construction; concrete, brick, stone,
- liners, earth construction
- Collecting rainwater
- Recycling waste water
- Using farm waste water
- Town water supply
- Well drilling
- Pumping subterranean ground water
- Pumping from natural supplies (eg. lakes, rivers)
- Pumps and plumbing supplies
- Water use: power generation, diesel generators
- Fish culture: land and water, dams
- Water plant culture Water plants to know and grow
- Seasonal changes in a pond
- Sewage treatment: reed beds
- Problems with water
- Conservation
- Swales and key lines
- Keyline design
4. Earthworks
- Site clearing
- Levelling
- Drainage
- Solving drainage problems
- Surveying techniques: triangulation, direct contouring, grid system etc
- Levelling terms
- Levelling procedure
- Levelling a sloping site
- Loss of soil fertility
- Erosion
- Salinity, Sodicity, Acidification
- Soil compaction
- Build up of dangerous chemicals
- Improving soils
- Using lime, gypsum or acidic materials
5. Humid Tropics
- Climatic systems
- Precipitation
- Wind
- Radiation
- The wet tropics
- Sources of humus
- Mulches
- Soil life in the tropics
- Barrier plants
- Animal barriers
- Permaculture systems for the wet tropics
- Garden beds
- Tropical fruits to grow
6. Dry Climates
- Introduction
- Water storage and conservation
- Dryland gardens
- Dryland orchards
- Planting on hills
- Corridor planting
- Overcoming dry soils
- Drought tolerant plants
- Vegetables
- Fruits
- Vines
7. Temperate to Cold Climates
- Introduction
- Characteristics of a temperate biozone
- Cool temperate garden design
- Useful crops for this zone
- Crop protection
- Soils in a cool temperate area
- Growing berries
- Orchards
- Soil life
- Blueberries
- Raspberries
- Strawberries
- Nuts
- Herbs
8. Planning Work
- Alternative planning procedures
- The planning process
- What goes where
- Equipping the environmentally friendly garden
- Barriers, walls and fencing
- Gates
- Rubble, brick and concrete walls
- Retaining walls
- Trellis
- Hedges
- Changing an existing farm to be more sustainable
- Monitoring and reviewing
- Contingencies and seasonal variations
- Planning for drought
- Excessive water
9. Costing
- Property costs
- Making cost cutting choices
- Planning for the cost conscious
- Likely costs to establish a garden
- Socio economic considerations in farming
- Production planning
- Economies of scale
- Materials
- Equipment
- Value adding
10 Sustainable Systems
- Other sustainable systems
- Working with nature rather than against it
- Minimising machinery use
- Only use what is necessary
- Different ways to garden naturally
- Organic gardening
- No Dig techniques
- Biodynamics, Biodynamic preparations
- Crop rotation
- Bush gardens
- Succession planting
- Seed saving
- Hydroponics
- Environmental horticulture
- Sustainable agriculture around the world
- Integrated pest management
- Cultural controls
- Biological controls
- Physical controls
- Chemicals Quarantine
- Controlling weeds without chemicals
- Animals in sustainable systems
- Chickens, Turkeys, Ducks, Geese, Pigs
COURSE AIMS
On successful completion of the course you should be able to do the following:
- Evaluate appropriate design strategies for a specific development site.
- Explain the relationship between a Permaculture system and natural patterns occurring in your local area.
- Develop strategies for the management of water in a Permaculture design.
- Determine earthworks for the development of a Permaculture system.
- Design a Permaculture system for the humid tropics.
- Design a Permaculture system for a dry climate.
- Design a Permaculture system for a temperate to cold climate.
- Determine planning strategies for the development of a Permaculture system.
- Prepare cost estimates for a Permaculture development plan.
- Explain alternative sustainable systems practiced in various places around the world.