Illawarra Permaculture Design Course

Our course will have an urban focus and a unique approach where you will develop a deeper understanding of Permaculture theory through engagement in ‘hands on’ practices on a working Permaculture Demonstration Site.

Topics will be delivered using a creative facilitation approach, with supporting documentation from current working Permaculture applications. There are a diversity of excellent local and bioregional tutors who are a combination of active Permaculture practitioners, producers, activists and educators to provide you with current information and practice.

The topics we will cover follow the Mollison’s The Designers Manual with a particular focus on urban solutions. This course has been designed from the very successful Brogo Permaculture Gardens PDC model.

In the first week, the hard science topics are covered for example, Soils, Water, Trees and Earthworks. This is followed by a full day of site visits thus providing you with knowledge and a contextual base to draw upon for the first day of design on Day 6. We find this approach to be most effective for participants to adequately prepare for the initial 2 days of design.

The second week of the course we go into more detail with “hands on” application of plant and animal systems, house design and retrofit, renewable energy, household and local economies and community networking. These topics will provide you with the skills and understanding to develop a detailed design for your particular setting.

We will be holding evening sessions where inspirational speakers will be joining us, motivating films will be screened while we share the tasty nourishing meals from our Permaculture network.