Dripping water slowly on to the clay model clearly shows how rain water can be moved around a landscape and held to rehydrate the soil.
As permaculture teachers, we have landed on this simple clay-model demonstration as an excellent tool for explaining earthworks. We can cover how swales, ponds, key points and key lines all fit together. The appreciative response from our students continually confirms this.
Here is a brief picture summary of our 2015 Winter PDC at Midwest Permaculture in Stelle, IL. As expected, during a winter course with high temperatures below 32 degrees, we did not spend a lot of time outdoors but we did manage to capture a few pictures of these activities.
Hayden Wilson and Bethany Gardner of Midwest Permaculture
Hi Friends of Midwest Permaculture.
Bill, Ernest, Hayden and I ( Bethany) are at our farming PDC course here at Fox Hollow Farm in Ohio. Bill is doing most of the teaching while the three of us support the delivery of the course along with the Rickard family (the farmers) and staff.
Bill asked me and Hayden to make a brief photo-log of the course and to drop the pictures here into a single blog post.
We’ll break it down into daily selections which we hope will give you an idea of what happens at a typical PDC course along with the unique aspects of this wonderful farming course. We’re having a great time.
Hope you enjoy…. Bethany
Day 1
On day 1 we toured the farm meeting one of the Rickards horses, Polly. It is a halflinger breed used to pull logs and other heavy items around the farm.
A Full Day with Bryce Ruddock Author of the Plant Guilds e-Booklet
Next Scheduled Workshop — Spring 2016 — Check back for date Price: $95.00 Includes Lunch and printed copy of the Plant Guilds eBooklet ($20 value) At Midwest Permaculture in Stelle, IL (Limit 24 Students)
Locating Key Plant Databases and How to Access Them online
Sources for Good Plant Stock
Students Will Also:
On Walk — Identity Naturally Formed Plant Guilds
See Plant Guilds Created by Midwest Permaculture
Help Design and Actually Plant a Guild with Bryce Bring Your Gloves…!!!
Private Consultations with Bryce… If you have a specific project and would like Bryce’s undivided attention and recommendations, we will set a few private, 1-hour appointments on Saturday evening and Sunday Morning. Call ahead to reserve… or… seek out Bryce following the workshop should you feel you still need additional assistance. Price: $95.00/hr.
Sorry – This Course is Now Full Please Check Back for Next Year’s Dates
— About the world renowned Permaculture Design Certificate Course here. — How Midwest Permaculture delivers this comprehensive training (regardless of the location) here. — Download a .PDF of the PDC course curriculum outline here.
Below is a picture summary from a previous joint training to give you an idea of how full and rich this combined training is. Please Note: Geoff and Nadia’s visit was a one-time event. They are not expected to join us this year (2017).
Interior View of ‘Triple-Vault’– A Super-Adobe Structure at Cal-Earth – Students will learn the basics of how to build structures like this and how to design the total environment surrounding it at this combined training.
Blog Post of Previous Combined Course Pictures and Text by Bill Wilson of Midwest Permaculture
For a second yearwe co-delivered with the Cal-Earth 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 Nadia Lawton 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 PDC on Guest Day with Geoff and Nadia Lawton – Picture taken on one of the Cal-Earth buildings.
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.
PDC Course Graduates – University of Wisconsin, River Falls – June 2012
Panoramic View of Dr. Cain’s Permaculture Oriented Residence
All 200+ workshops at the Energy Fair are free to attend…!!! The Energy Fair is one of the largest events of its kind in the world. If you’ve never been to it and are interested in ‘all things sustainable’… this is the fair…!!!
Here are the 8 workshops that we will be teaching.
FRIDAY
Introduction to Permaculture: Learn what permaculture is and how to apply this brilliant approach to ecological design to your own life and community. Friday 11:00 a.m. in Green Tent; (Becky Wilson and Milton Dixon)
Pictures by Milton Dixon and Bill Wilson — Narrative by Bill
We delivered what we believe to be the first Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) Course at this world renowned location. The Arbor Day Foundation is a leader in promoting the importance of trees for us as people and for the health of our planet. This is solid permaculture thinking.
Our PDC Design Course on an exploratory walk early in the week.
You won’t! Most all of the hands-on activities we undertake at our regular PDC courses we can also do at our winter courses. These include:
Learning to use the A-frame and sight level.
Building a dry-brick rocket stove and firing it up.
Making a clay model of a landscape to learn about swales, keylining, and ponds.
Touring Midwest Permaculture’s yard and the CSC land
Doing fruit tree grafting
Making cob from clay, sand and straw
and touring the Malchow’s (our neighbors) permaculture home to fire-up their thermal mass rocket stove couch/bench.
The one thing we cannot do because of the frozen ground is continue to work on the hugel-swale we are constructing for CSC, but this basically consists of digging a section of a ditch, putting logs in, and then covering them up. We’ll show some pictures of the details related to this so you’ll get the information without the tactile experience.
Raising Profitable Heritage Breed Hogs at Spence Farm in a very Humane Way
The one thing we do extra for this course is focus a bit more on the growing of food and what it takes to create a successful farming/growing/permaculture operation.
Many people want to make part or even all of their annual income from growing food. This is certainly possible but it requires quite a bit of knowledge and then real practical experience. Our objective through this training is to save you years of time and money by giving you some critical information and fresh insights.
To help anchor this learning experience we’ll be taking an extra field-trip over to Spence Farm in Fairbury, IL, to meet Kris and Marty Travis who are doing pioneering work in these areas.
If the timing works for you to attend this winter course, we are confident that you will not leave feeling like you missed any hands-on activities. It’s an amazing and very-full 8 days like all of our other PDC Courses.
Here are Pictures from one of our Winter PDC Course (from 2012) Narration by Hayden Wilson (Standing, far right, son of Bill and Becky)
Our Group Photo with Rocket Stove in Foreground and Midwest Permaculture Home-site (our house). Mom (Becky Wilson) is standing on far left. Dad (Bill Wilson) took most of these pictures.