seasonal elphinstone permaculture course

2010 Sustainable Living Arts School
Permaculture Design Certification
and Food Cycles Program

Join Delvin Solkinson and Robin Wheeler for a dynamic year round adventure in education. We offer a full Permaculture Design Certificate with a complete Food Cycles Program to create anintegrated system of both design concepts and functional living skills.

Permaculture is a holistic approach to conscious living. It promotes an awareness of the world with a focus on sustainability, low impact living and healthy community development.

The Food Cycles course promotes seasonal awareness with practical activities to do at every time of year.

Learn the role of native plants, tips for organic gardening, growth cycles, propagation, seed saving, harvesting, food preservation, water wisdom, medicine making, integrated composting and so much more as part of practical and relevant Timely Actions in the Garden. Other course topics include design methods, patterns in nature, climatic factors, water, soils, earthworks, design strategies for urban and rural applications, practical living for all climates on the planet, trees, aquaculture, waste management, sustainable architecture, ethical business practices and economics, bio-regional organization, and effective aid.

From dormant earth to finished season, the Food Cycles program will occur in conjunction with the Permaculture Design classes to round out and ground in the new permaculture practitioner's certificate.

13 spaces only
register now to hold your space

Class will begin this winter and last for 15 months.

Contact
Robin Wheeler : info@ediblelandscapes.ca (604) 885-4505
or Delvin Solkinson :  delvin@illuminated.com
for more details


Permaculture Intro Course : September 19 and 20

Intro to Permaculture Course : September 19-20  

Organic Gardening, Composting and Native Plants: Permaculture Design

Permaculture Design is a holistic approach to sustainable community development. This course is a basic introduction to permaculture principles and concepts. Organic gardening with native plants will be discussed, and there will be tours of the Heart Gardens and Gumboot Gardens in Roberts Creek. There will also be a discussion about composting and a hands-on workshop about making your own organic solid and liquid fertilizers with an easy to create and maintain worm farm. The class meets at the “Elfinhome”, at the back of the Gumboot Café in the Heart of Roberts Creek.
 
30122 Byron Gelin
1 Sat & 1 Sun Noon - 5 pm
Sept 19 & 20                    
Capilano University Sunshine Coast - Continuing Education

Gaiacraft PDC : july 2009 - september 2010

the croak of a frog
pierces through the whole cosmos
turning it into
a single family.

- Chang Chin-ch'en

Gaiacraft : Temple Permaculture
Permaculture Design Certification Course

Permaculture is a whole systems approach to conscious living. It promotes an awareness of the world in a new light with a focus on sustainability, low impact living, organic gardening and healthy community development. Using a series of principles, techniques and technologies, permaculture empowers people with the skills to evolve their relationship to themselves, each other, the land upon which they live and the planet.

Bill Mollison, the founder of permaculture, defines the world as such:

 "Permaculture ("Perm"anent "agri"culture and "Perma"nent "culture") is a sustainable design system stressing the harmonious interrelationship of humans, plants, animals and the Earth.
 Permaculture principles focus on thoughtful designs for small-scale intensive systems which are labor efficient and which use biological resources instead of fossil fuels. Designs stress ecological connections and closed energy and material loops. The core of permaculture is design and the working relationships and connections between all things. Each component in a system performs multiple functions, and each function is supported by many elements. Key to efficient design is observation and replication of natural ecosystems, where designers maximize diversity with polycultures, stress efficient energy planning for houses and settlement, using and accelerating natural plant succession, and increasing the highly productive "edge-zones" within the system.

Permaculture is a philosophy of working with, rather than against nature; of protracted & thoughtful observation rather than protracted & thoughtless labour; & of looking at plants & animals in all their functions, rather than treating any area as a single-product system."

Join us for an adventure in learning. With the 72 + hour core curriculum we will learn together how to map and design our land and our lives, to plan for emergency, grow food organically and work together to build a more sustainable future. With the certification you will be empowered to use the word permaculture in your business and consider yourself a permaculture designer able to hire yourself out for permaculture consultations and teach permaculture workshops with confidence. Not only is this a course about learning how to practice permaculture, it is also about how to teach permaculture. 

Course Topics include 
* design methods * understanding patterns in nature * climatic factors * water * soils * earthworks and their use in earth repair * techniques and design strategies for both urban and rural applications * the temperate climates * dry lands * cold climates * humid cool climates * humid tropics * trees and their energy transactions * aquaculture * waste management * energy efficient architecture * legal strategies and trusts * effective working groups * right livelihood * money and finance * ethical investment * bio-regional organisation * effective aid and much much more

There are 13 core classes, one a moon for a full year. All classes are required for completion of the course. Normally these courses cost $800 - $2000 but here in Roberts Creek at this time the course costs only $300. The maximum class size is 8 to ensure an intimate learning environment. We will move around to different locations for each class, students have the option to host a class on their land if they wish.

Permaculture Primer : SLAS : may 23 - 24

Saturday May 23 – Permie Weekend – Permie Primer, SLAS, Roberts Creek
3:00 - 5:30    Essentials of Permaculture Design Part One : Ethics and Principles with Delvin
Together we will explore the basics of permaculture ethics and principles in the context of a permaculture site design.
A great intro to the permaculture way and how it can be applied to your 
own life.


 Sunday May 24 – Permie Weekend – Permie Primer continues
 2:00 - 4:30    Essentials of Permaculture Design Part Two : Mapping, Zones and Sectors with Delvin
This class can be taken independent from the first class though it is also the natural extension of it. Here we will look at permaculture site design with mapping using zones and sectors preparing you to do a permaculture evaluation of your own home and property. $25



Check the website for all the many other offerings at this weekend of classes and courses at the fabled Sustainable Living Arts School.


http://www.ediblelandscapes.ca/SLA_School.html           


Saturday May 23 – Permie Weekend – Permie Primer, SLAS, Roberts Creek
3:00 - 5:30    Essentials of Permaculture Design Part One : Ethics and Principles with Delvin
Together we will explore the basics of permaculture ethics and principles in the context of a permaculture site design.
A great intro to the permaculture way and how it can be applied to your 
own life.

 Sunday May 24 – Permie Weekend – Permie Primer continues
 2:00 - 4:30    Essentials of Permaculture Design Part Two : Mapping, Zones and Sectors with Delvin
This class can be taken independent from the first class though it is also the natural extension of it. Here we will look at permaculture site design with mapping using zones and sectors preparing you to do a permaculture evaluation of your own home and property. $25


Check the website for all the many other offerings at this weekend of classes and courses at the fabled Sustainable Living Arts School.

http://www.ediblelandscapes.ca/SLA_School.html           

Design Course in Victoria - April 19

Temple Permaculture :
Map Making and Design Development
Sunday April.19th 2009
1-4pm
address attained with registration
Victoria, b.c.

Join us for an exploration of permaculture design and map making.
This interactive, practical, and applicable workshop
will explore the role of mapping in the conscious
design and development of the future culture.

Working with the land, we will explore the features and parameters
of a local scale property, overlay our understanding of permaculture
to generate ideas, visions and maps of sustainable future strategies.

facilitated by Delvin and Brook