Annual Permaculture Design Course
February 12 - March 2, 2014
This course covers the standard 2-week international Permaculture Design Certificate curriculum, taught over a 2 1⁄2-week period in an integrated hands-on way, culminating in a comprehensive land-use design initiative. Upon completion, a Permaculture Design Certificate will be issued by The Institute of Earthcare Education Aotearoa. Please click here to see the pdf or click here for more details and sign up.
Hands-on Workshops
EDIBLE LANDSCAPING & GARDEN DESIGN
Using permaculture design principles and organic methods, participants will learn to design and establish their own properties for abundant food production, within an environment of harmony and beauty. During this workshop, productive vegetable gardens, fruit trees, herbs and flowers, and small wilderness areas are integrated into the small space of a typical sub/urban section. It may be possible to do an shorter one day version on request if we are in an area for a shorter time.
FOOD FOREST DESIGN
Participants will learn how to design a Food Forest (multi-tiered orchard including some vegetables) for their own property to increase household food resilience, as well as produce surplus for local trade opportunities. No previous orchard experience is necessary, knowledge of Permaculture is an advantage but not essential.
Part of the workshop will be collaboratively designing a Food Forest and swale water harvesting system for natural irrigation on the host’s property. We prefer the practical part of this workshop to be on publicly accessible land rather than privately owned land.
SECURING OUR FOOD - 2-day workshop
These two workshops are under this one title, as they really belong together. However as they also stand independently, local co-ordinators could run just
one. We have found that one of the weakest links in bioregional and local food security in Aotearoa/NZ is sourcing locally suited and adapted plant materials.
Over 2 days, we share the practical know-how to support the setting-up and strengthening of a sustainable community scale seed and plant nursery
system.
SEED SOVEREIGNTY
Seed Saving, Seed Networks and Seed Banks
• Seed saving through the ages - a few remarkable stories
• Global origins of the plants we eat
• Why save seed? Some brief documentary exerts
• Roles of the home seed saver and bioregional seed network
• Some seed saving terms
• Seed to seed (a) selecting the best plants for seed saving; (b) growing specifically for seed
• Practical on seed processing, packaging and labelling
• Plant families, pollinating and isolation requirements – theoretical & familiarity walk and practical activity around garden
• Planting & Harvesting seasonal calendars
• Developing a seasonal calendar for local Seed Saving conditions
• Some of our video footage of the Southern Seed Exchange
• Setting up Seed Banks in schools
• Simple seed storage technology
• Seed Bank cataloguing techniques; distribution, financial aspects
RAISING ROBUST PLANTS
Covers designing for optimal vegetable production, enriching soil fertility, raising seedlings, other methods of plant reproduction, community-based seed raising, simple effective technologies.
• Why heirloom plants?
• Year-round food production
• Interplanting and crop rotation
• Integrating pest management into your garden
• Green manures for soil fertility, including seasonal planting & harvest cycle
• Developing a local seasonal calendar for (a) vegetable planting and harvesting (b) soil fertility
• How to make vital seed raising mixes mostly using what you have around
• Gathering and stockpiling different seed raising mix/soil fertility materials through the year
• Different methods of seedling raising and direct seeding
• Multiply from cuttings, root division and layering
• Some of our video footage of heirloom plant raising operations
• Making simple (and can-be portable) mini-greenhouses
• Watering made easy - simple systems for a busy life
• Vegetable storage, drying, preserving
• Our next steps locally
GROWING GARDENERS
This training-of-trainers style course shares effective step-by-step methods of teaching others how to grow food on their own properties, supported by their Home Garden Skill-Share Coach and comprehensive yet simple handout materials. The programme is a proven, fast-track, yet deep and thorough learning approach to facilitating edible landscaping at an urban and suburban scale. It generates confidence in new gardeners, as well as gradually building neighbourhood community and local food self-reliance through the sharing of skills, culture, resource materials, seeds, and food!
This workshop is for reasonably EXPERIENCED gardeners, permaculture and environmental educators keen to do hands-on, in-situ education with people who have small-scale properties, who would like to garden but maybe don’t even know where to start. It will prepare participants to potentially earn a part-time livelihood, or to volunteer in an organisation.
This particular sequence is a synthesis of two programmes which Robina developed called Small Space: Big Harvest – an urban Permaculture approach, under Earthcare Education Aotearoa and Home Garden Coaching programme funded by the Nelson District Health Board, for Victory Community Health Centre in NZ.
The programme has been cut to fit into 2 days. It is usually conducted over 3 days, or over 6 weeks in 2.5 hour sessions with participant’s Practice Garden visits in between sessions.