Tag Archives: courses

Our Cal-Earth Permaculture Course 2012 – Picture Summary

Posted on by Bill Wilson

Pictures and Text by Bill Wilson

For a second year we co-delivered with the teaching staff a combined Superadobe Earth Building and Permaculture Design Certificate Course.  At the close of our training we were pleased to host Geoff and of PRI-Australia who shared their work in desert environments with us while they were in the USA for a brief visit.  This workshop was also opened to the general public seen here at the end of a really great day of learning.  

Our 2012 Cal-Earth on Guest Day with Geoff and Nadia Lawton – Picture taken on one of the Cal-Earth buildings.

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Stelle Winter PDC

Posted on by Milton Dixon

Now that we’ve wrapped up our last course in 2012, it’s time to look forward to our offerings in the coming year. Our first course of 2013 is our Stelle Winter PDC, with a focus on creating productive growing spaces from kitchen gardens to small farms. 

We see this as part of an evolving pattern for our , one for every season.

Being in the midst of the winter season, with the short days and cold weather it brings, makes it a different experience than our other courses. At the same time this gives the students an opportunity to meet with farmers that would have less time during the rest of the year, like the folks at Spence Farm or our friends from Fox Hollow Farm.

We think this course is great for food growers,  farmers that have downtime in January, students who have the month off, gardeners that want to head into the season with a new outlook, or anyone else who is otherwise occupied the rest of the year. 

Also this course will have a few seats with at a discount, available to students and retirees. 

For more information check out our Winter PDC course page or  download the course flyer.

Is taking a Permaculture Course Worth It?

Posted on by Milton Dixon

Is taking a Permaculture Course Worth It? When I think back on my own experiences of taking a Permaculture Design Course () and look at the knowledge, skills and path that I am now on as a result, I would have to say that taking a permaculture course is absolutely a worthwhile experience. It has propelled me to where I am today and I would highly recommend it to most anyone.

Hugelkultured Swale Digging at PDC

First it’s useful to step back for a moment and look at the larger picture. When we take the systems that are available in the mainstream today for providing for ourselves , we can easily recognize that they are not caring for the planet, people, or the future. In fact, the situation is getting worse. These systems which manifest as the standard strategies for providing for oneself — such as going to college, getting a job, buying a house, driving a car and even shopping for necessary items — are breaking down. The price of college far outpaces inflation and for most isn’t an option without taking on crushing student debt. The economy is shedding jobs, manufacturing has followed cheap labor across the seas, government and business are paring down to the bone, and millions are unemployed and have given up looking for work. The housing market has crashed and threatens to collapse much further with the inventory of empty homes that no one can afford. The price of owning a car is climbing, with gasoline alone tripling in price in the last decade. Long supply chains, easily disrupted, bring us all the things around us, most of it is unnecessary junk or designed to fail in less than two years. The quality and safety of our food is highly doubtful. And the list goes on.

What is needed is not to trash the systems that are still providing for us, but instead  to enable each person to establish other systems capable of taking up the slack, ensure that they are ethical, resilient,  robust, and that most of all they meet the needs of people without being a detriment to the planet or the future. This is where the Permaculture Design Course comes in.

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Pictures From our June 2012, Stelle PDC Course

Posted on by Bill Wilson

 Pictures by Milton Dixon and Bill Wilson – Captions by Bill

Day 1 in the Classroom – The World Map on the Wall is a Nice Addition to any Learning space. – Becky Wilson Teaching

“Thank you Bill and Becky for such an incredible, life-altering week.”
Jody T. – Community Organizer

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Picture Summary of UWRF PDC Course

Posted on by Milton Dixon

Pictures and Text by Bill Wilson and Milton Dixon

Thank you to our hosts Dr. Kelly Cain and Cynthia Wells-O’Mally of the University of Wisconsin, for hosting us for a second year.  The bulk of the training was held on campus.  Although we had some university students, most of the people taking this training came from the general public and from 5 different states.   We had a fantastic time.

Course Graduates – University of Wisconsin, River Falls – June 2012

 

Panoramic View of Dr. Cain’s Permaculture Oriented Residence

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Applying Local Resources to Capture Greywater

Posted on by Bill Wilson

The harvesting of is an important technique that we often use in permaculture . Not only does it utilize what is considered a ‘waste product’,  it helps our gardens grow, reduces the amount of fresh water required for our gardens, remediates this ‘waste water’ better than municipal systems can, recycles nutrients, and it creates a direct connection to where we live. Good greywater design can save us time, money, and improve the environment.

We met (greywater and rainwater collection practitioner) while we were in So. Calif. last year and have asked her to join us for our permaculture design course and super adobe earth building training (Oct. 8-10, 2012)  

She is a long-time admirer of ’s work and studied under Nadir Khalili (founder of Cal-Earth) while she was earning her masters degree in architecture.   It wasn’t long before she became friends with Nadir and several Cal-Earth staff.  

She will be leading the installation of a greywater system from a washing machine located in the interns house at Cal-Earth to the permaculture/ garden system that we will be designing and building during the training. 

Candace Vanderhoff, M.Arch, LEED AP
Founder/CEO RainThanks & Greywater

Candace has a masters degree in architecture from the Southern California Institute of Architecture, is certified as a LEED accredited professional by the US Green Building Council, and is an experienced Permaculture designer.

In 2009, Candace trained with Greywater Action in the Sand Francisco Bay area and also completed the Green Plumber Training for water professionals. 

Her current work with RainThanks is managing, consulting and designing systems, sustainable landscapes and water conservation products.

See Pictures of her work below… or by clicking on “Continue reading…”

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Connect Africa Hub – A Permaculture Design

Posted on by Bill Wilson

Illustration of the Final Design

Permaculture Design Course Graduates – Summer 2011 – , IL

 Context:

Grant Shadden took his Training with us – summer 2011.  While here, he shared about his upcoming 2-month trip to Africa to support the work of the Connect Africa hub. 

We were all moved by the work of this organization and by Grant’s, and his wife Paige’s, devotion to assist in the work there.  Grant was actually taking this training in order to come up with a design for this organization and a 20-acre site they want to develop.  

As such, we made the decision to assist him by making it one of the final design projects for the PDC Course.  4 other students self-selected themselves to work on this design with Grant. 

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Photos of Winter PDC, Feb.2012, at Midwest Permaculture

Posted on by Hayden

Here are a handful of from this training…

This was one of our standard, full, and included an emphasis on the growing of food.  
We expect to continue to offer this winter training yearly which is well timed for those folks too busy during the growing season to attend a full PDC course.  Keep an eye on our schedule for this and all other future trainings. 

Our Group Photo with Rocket Stove in Foreground and Midwest Permaculture Homesite to the Rear. Mom (Becky) standing on left... me (Hayden) standing on right...and all of our great students.
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