Course Outline for Six Weekend PDC

Many Topics covered!
Weekend One Source Connection and Community

Day 1

• Introduction to Permaculture and a Context for Today
• Permaculture Ethics
• Permaculture Principles
• Hands on exercises, Principles
• Permaculture and Community – the Power of Connection
• Interactive Needs and Resource Exchange

Day 2

• Elements of Conscious Design
• Natural Law – Energy, Order, and Increasing Yield
• Patterns in Nature
• Hands on – bringing natural patterns into design
• Design Charette – how to draw a design

Weekend Two Land & Nature Stewardship

Day 1

• Learning from Nature – hands on exercises
• Trees and Their Amazing Energy Transactions
• Hands on – Creating connection
• Building Soil Fertility
• Hands on – How to plant a tree sustainably
• The Role of Water in a System
• Hands on – controlling water in the system
• Climate Sectors

Day 2

• Strategies for Temperate, Tropical and Arid Climates
• Hands on – Sheet mulching strategies
• Zones Zero through Zone Five and Watershed
• Based Bioregional Planning
• Hands on – Designing with Zones
• Food Security – Organic Gardening and Farming, CSA’s and Community Gardens
• Biomass Recycling & Composting
• Hands on – Thermophylic Composting/Vermicomposting

Weekend Three Achieving Urban and Broadscale Food Security

Day 1

• Hands on – Observing the Natural World
• Gardening with Nature – Increasing yield with less work
• Natural Remedies for Pests and Disease
• Hands on – Transplanting, Comfrey tea, Propagating
• Food Forestry – Understanding Natural systems
• Accelerating Natural Succession
• How to Create Successful Plant Guilds
• Hands on – designing a plant guild

Day 2

• Caring for Animals and Livestock
• Incorporating Animal Energy and Patterns into the Design
• Broadscale Environmental Remediation – Earth Care
• Keyline Design
• Hands on – Finding Slope, swale building
• Agroforestry, Silvoculture, Holistic Management
• Economics of Broadscale Design

Weekend Four The Built Environment and Tools and Technology

Day 1

• Natural Buildings
• Retrofitting Existing Structures
• Capturing and Reusing Water in the Built Environment
• Hands on – Greywater for outdoor shower
• Hands on – rain catchment
• Eco Village Vision and Planning Community
• Bioregional Land Use Planning

Day 2

• Tools & Technology
• Passive Solar/Wind/Earth – how to increase energy yield with the sun, wind and earth
• Hands on – Solar Hot Water
• Alternative Energy/Fuel – which ones work?
• IT and Computer Tech
• Transportation
• Tools
• Appropriate Technologies

Weekend Five Cultural and Education, Finance & Economics as People Care

Day 1

• Alternative Education Systems
• Alternative Health Systems
• Diversity in Human Systems
• Conflict resolution as a design tool
• Charette – What is tolerance?
• The Arts in the landscape
• Urban landscape – incorporating human energies into design

Day 2

• Legal Strategies for Permaculture Design – LLC, Non-Profit, Corp Sole, etc
• Monetary Systems
• Debt based money
• Sound money policy
• Banking and Debt
• Legal Tender Laws
• Taxes & Inflation
• The Non-Free Market Reality
• Barter Networks
• Local Currencies
• Local Exchange Transaction System
• Debt Free Money
• Examples of Successful Systems in Place
• Sharing the Surplus – what does that mean?

Weekend Six Land Tenure and Community Governance

Day 1

• Role of Community in Sustainability
• Building Consensus
• Elements of Successful Community Building
• Community Solutions – City Repair, Permablitzing, Grass Roots
• Conscious Community – Creating an EcoVillage
• Open Source – Working out community solutions

Day 2

• Bioregional Planning-Land Use
• Watershed, Foodshed, & Energyshed and Bioregional Carrying Capacity
• Care of Natural Systems & Managing Resources
• The Village Republic and Bioregional Confederacies – Earth Care and People Care Aligned
• Design Charette – Our Bioregion
• Transitioning our Bioregions
• Manifesting our Visions
• Permaculture Careers