Study this course to broaden your understanding of permaculture applications. This fully immersive course is extremely detailed covering a vast amount of ground including what the different growing methods are which underlie permaculture, how it is informed from observation of the science of natural systems, and how this information is used to establish zonal planning. Students get to design and plan their own permaculture system to complete the course.

Lesson Structure

There are 8 lessons in this course:

1. Permaculture principles

1. • Nature and scope

1. • Principles of permaculture

1. • Location

1. • Functions

1. • Elements

1. • Elevation planning

1. • Biological resources

1. • Recycling energy

1. • Diversity

1. • Natural succession

1. • Maximising edges

1. • Other concepts and systems that have been incorporated into permaculture

1. • Sustainability

1. • Organics

1. • No dig gardening (from Esther Deans)

1. • No till planting

1. • Crop rotation

1. • Green manure cropping

1. • Composting

1. • Companion planting

1. • Pest and disease prevention and management

1. Design principles

1. • Ecosystems

1. • Abiotic components of an ecosystem

1. • Biotic components of an ecosystem

1. • Ecological concepts and terms

1. • Biomass

1. • Understanding climate

1. • Microclimates

1. • Degree days

1. • Water in permaculture systems

1. • Minimising water needs

1. • Arid landscapes

1. • Irrigation

1. • Using swales

1. • Reed beds for waste water treatment

1. • Reed bed plant species

1. • Hydrological cycle

1. • Water – Direct fall onto land surface, intercepted fall, fall onto water bodies

1. • Rainfall, Evapouration, Infiltration

1. • Effective rainfall

1. • Soil Environments – micro organisms, organic matter

1. • Types of soil degradation

1. • Types of erosion & control

1. • Salinity and its control

1. • Soil acidification and management of pH

1. • Wildlife in a Permaculture system

1. • Structure of a Permaculture system

1. • Plants and their function in permaculture

1. • Guilds and stacking

1. • Successions

1. Zone & sector planning

1. • Scope and nature

1. • Five standard zones

1. • Sectors

1. • Landscape profile

1. • Site selection

1. • Pre planning information; what is needed and how to find it

1. • Procedure for concept design ; step by step

1. • Recording site and locality details

1. Permaculture techniques

1. • Forests and trees

1. • Trees as energy transducers

1. • Types of forests; fuel, food, forage, shelter, barrier, structural, conservation

1. • Forest establishment

1. • Designing fire or wind break

1. • Fire resistant plants

1. • Mandala gardens & their construction

1. • Keyhole beds

1. • Water bodies in a permaculture system

1. • Water body design

1. • Water containment options

1. • Water plants (Three types)

1. • Managing water bodies

1. Animals in Permaculture

1. • Location for animals

1. • Functions for animals in a permaculture system

1. • Bees, poultry, pigs, cattle

1. • Grazing animals

1. • Types of fencing (post and rail, hedge, wire, barbed wire, electric, banks and rises, gates

1. • Animal water supply

1. • Shelter for animals – trees, a valley, purpose built shelter

1. • Birds

1. • Earthworms

1. • Aquaculture scope and nature

1. • Aquaculture production systems (EP and IP)

1. • Aquaculture species

1. • Aquaculture management

1. • Harvesting fish

1. Plants in Permaculture

1. • Scope and nature of plants for use in permaculture

1. • Growing vegetables organically

1. • Physical characteristics of a soil

1. • How to test and name a soil

1. • Chemical characteristics of a soil

1. • Soil nutrition

1. • Fertilisers

1. • Animal manures

1. • Liquid plant feeds

1. • Rock dusts

1. • Nitrogen fixation

1. • Mycorrhizae

1. • Identifying plant nutrient deficiencies

1. • Using mulches

1. • Types of mulch

1. • Weed management

1. • Preventative weed control

1. • Other methods of weed control

1. • Culture of selected permaculture plants – asparagus, black locust, cassava, chicory, dandelion, endive, fennel, garlic, ginger, horseradish, leek, mint, okra, pigface, rhubarb, sweet potato, tarowarrigul greens, water cress, water spinich, yams

1. • Culture of selected fruits – apple, apricot, cherry, citrus, fig, loquat, nasi pear, olive, peach, pear, plum, quince

1. • Culture of selected tropical fruits – avocado, banana, carambola, coconut, custard apple, guava, mango, paw paw, pepino, pineapple

1. • Culture of selected vines – grape, passionfruit, kiwifruit

1. • Culture of selected berries

1. • Culture of selected nuts

1. • Culture of rarer nuts

1. • Crop plants which grow in shade

1. • Fodder plants

1. • Plant pest and disease management for permaculture

1. • Plants with insecticidal properties

1. Appropriate Technologies

1. • Scope and nature of appropriate technology

1. • Solar energy

1. • Wind energy

1. • Methane

1. • Biofuel power

1. • Composting toilets

1. • Energy efficient housing

1. • Living fences (hedges, hedgerows etc)

1. • Water recycling

1. • Domestic needs – climate control, space heating, washing and drying clothes, cooking and cook stoves, refrigeration and cooling, hot water supplies, water conservation, electricity and lighting

1. • Alternative energy and management

1. • Waste disposal: kitchen waste, non composting waste, recycling

1. • Biological filtration system

1. • Conservation and recycling

1. • Types of waste water (liquid waste, grey water, black water)

1. • Energy conservation

1. • Solar energy

1. • Solar greenhouses

1. Preparing a Plan

1. • Scope, nature and methods

1. • Designing for natural disasters

1. • Drawing a plan

1. • Developing the final design

What You Will Do

• Differentiate between Permaculture and other sustainable systems.
• Explain the procedures followed in practicing different techniques which are sympathetic to Permaculture, including: No-dig gardening, Companion Planting, Biological control, and Sustainable harvesting.
• Explain the interactions that occur between living and non-living components in five different natural environments, including: Forest Systems, Aquatic Environments, Soil Environments, and Arid Environments.
• Evaluate different Permaculture designs against the nine Permaculture principles.
• Distinguish between different garden zones in a Permaculture system.
• Explain sector planning in a specific garden design.
• Design a mandala garden for a specific site.
• Determine the appropriate use of swales on a sloping site.
• Investigate distinctly different Permaculture systems.
• Explain three different cultural techniques used to minimise the maintenance requirement, in Permaculture systems you study.
• Determine different animal breeds, which can provide a useful and sustained harvest from a permaculture system in your locality.
• Describe the harvest, treatment and use of various products derived from different types of animals in a Permaculture system.
• Explain the factors which can affect the success of different types of animals, in a Permaculture system, including: Poultry, Aquatic animals, Domestic farm animals, Insects, Earthworms.
• Describe the husbandry of one specified type of animal, in a Permaculture system visited by you.
• Determine different species of plants which can provide a useful, sustained harvest from a Permaculture system.
• Describe the harvest, treatment and use of various products derived from twenty different plant genera in a Permaculture system.
• Compile a resource file of fifty information sources for different plants which can be incorporated into Permaculture systems.
• Explain the factors which can affect the survival of different types of plants, including those used for: vegetables, fruits, herbs, fibres, building materials, and fuel.
• Explain the husbandry of one specified type of plant, in a Permaculture system visited by you.
• Explain the relevance of appropriate technology to Permaculture design.
• Compare three different waste disposal techniques which may be used for kitchen scraps in a Permaculture system.
• Compare three different waste disposal techniques which may be used for effluent in a Permaculture system.
• Evaluate the suitability of different building techniques in a Permaculture system.
• Explain the application of two different systems of alternative energy in a Permaculture system.
• Compare differences in the impact on a Permaculture system, of three alternative technologies designed for the same purpose (e.g. three alternative sources of electricity).
• Evaluate the use of technology in a house (your choose the house).
• Determine more “appropriate” technologies to replace currently used technologies, in a house you evaluate.
• Illustrate on a plan, twenty different components of a design, including: plants, buildings, and landscape features.
• Transpose a simple Permaculture plan to a different scale.
• Represent an existing site, drawn to scale, on a plan.
• Describe the stages involved in the process of producing a Permaculture design.
• Prepare a concept plan for a Permaculture system surveyed by you, which is between five hundred and one thousand square metres in area.
• Prepare a detailed design for a Permaculture system of between five hundred and one thousand square metres in size, including: scale drawings, materials specifications, lists of plant and animal varieties.