Permaculture Designer

After 72 hours of coursework over two weeks, I earned my Permaculture Design Certificate from PRI Australia. It was a challenging course, in content as well as context-- 34 students form all walks of life in what amounted to a total immersion type situation. We had 6+ hours of class together, ate all meals and tea breaks together, and most people camped at PRI and shared a shower and toilet. (We were fortunately spared that last bit of togetherness-- after our first 2 weeks camping at PRI, Byron and Tracy invited us to pitch our tent in their yard, just up the road from the farm, during the PDC. So we shared a loo, shower, kitchen and wi fi with only the family.)

The course gave me a much better understanding of the concepts and principles of Permaculture, and also of many of the beliefs that many people in this field hold regarding formal education and the "establishment." For example, there was an 'anti-science' theme that ran through a lot of the teaching. Which surprised me, since often, those sentiments were followed with something sciency. I think there may be a specific 'scientific establishment' that is rebelled against, or maybe it is simply an ambiguation of the definition of science. It seemed odd to me to vilify science/scientists in one sentence, then use what was clearly the Scientific Method in the next.

The Design Project we were assigned was huge, vague and complicated by the fact that we had to work in groups of 5-6 people, randomly assigned. Geoff said repeatedly that it was as much a "people exercise" as a design exercise. Me personally, I would have preferred more of a design assignment-- I have had my whole life to develop (or not) my people skills, and will have many more opportunities to practice them than I will to practice Permaculture Design under a master like Mr. Lawton. With only 2 afternoons to work on it, I was amazed at how nice a presentation could be put together. Thankfully, a couple people on our team were good with Google Earth and graphics. Using Shawn's laptop and tablet proved challenging for me-- funny how much I depended on the way the PCs were set up at the lab in order to do something like "work."

So I am now certified to do Permaculture Design. Fortunately I have a much more experienced mentor in Shawn, if we were to pursue any sort of design or consulting work. (I do have some ideas in mind for a few yards/gardens I know, in case any of you are interested in developing some Food Independence/Security!)

Now that class is finished, we are taking a few more days at Byron and Tracey's to have some fun (Poor Shawn was busting his butt at the farm while I was sitting on mine in class) and plan our next moves. It is looking like some sitting on the beach is in order...