Introduction to Permaculture Course

This weekend (14/15th April) I spent at The Greenbackyard on the Introduction to Permaculture course. I knew some of the principles already from things I've read and other people I've talked to, but to have the course here in town rather than having to travel 100 miles to the next nearest one was fantastic.

Permaculture has 3 ethics at its heart and uses the principles learned from nature to design and create productive, eco-friendly, energy efficient places and projects. What I hadn't realised before the course was that the ethics and 12 principles of permaculture can be applied to events. This was especially useful to learn with Peterborough in Transition  group as we prepare for the launch in June.

The 3 ethics are

Earth care
People Care
Fair Shares

We did an exercise using these ethics in a Venn diagram (made out of stones on the ground outside the classroom) and had various activities given on pieces of paper and were asked to see how these activities fitted into the Venn diagram. It sparked interesting discussion.

We looked at input/output analysis for a 'typical' small holding.

Watched a really interesting film about forest gardening which although it may not produce the same amount of crops as say a traditional allotment plot, it is more resilient, and is less energy intensive, and therefore overall more productive.

The permaculture design process that we started looking at was fascinating, and simple and complex all at the same time. Learning about zones and sectors for a project. The size of the project isn't important as the same process can be applied no matter the scale.

One of another things that I found really useful were different feedback techniques that we looked at. A positive, minus, interesting (PMI) chart (an Edward de Bono technique), and a bullsye type chart were both different and short feedback systems that could be really positive within the groups that we're all working in at the moment.

There was lots more that was covered, and during the breaks and the social on the Saturday evening there were some fascinating discussions and ideas/concepts that have given a lot more food for thought. (I didnt take any photo's myself, but am hoping to get permission to use some in this blog post that someone else took.)

On a personal level what I gained from the course was a more joined up picture of how permaculture basically underlines the dreams and aspirations I have for myself (will go into detail at a later date), and also gave me confidence in the knowledge that I already have. The realisation that the principles can be applied to event planning as well was a real revelation.
There were parts of the course that took me far from my comfort zone and I need to work out a way to deal with those situations more productively in the future than have a 'rabbit in the headlights' reaction.
I know there is much more I would like to read up about and further my knowledge on a range of subjects
After the design exercise in small groups I volunteered to present the information to the rest of the group, which was something I'd not normally do and I think it went really well.

It was a great course, a fantastic experience and something I definitely want to pursue further....

Thanks to Peterborough in Transition for use of the photos.