Are you keen to live a more connected, sustainable, healthy and enjoyable life?

Our Permaculture Living Course is here to support you in that quest, with the skills, inspiration and community to help you live your version of the ‘good life.’ This exclusive course is happening for the second time in October 2024 at Perth City Farm.

Over five full days our teachers will share the skills and techniques you need, a ‘best of’ selection of City Farm’s education offering. We’ll cover:

Productive food growing, soil, compost and propagation
Foraging, edible weeds, fermenting and healing with plants
Urban wildlife and ecology, climate and water use
Alternative energy use, transport and planning for disaster
Alternative living models, building community and careers
The permaculture framework, ethics and zones

This is no boring theory class, instead we focus on practical skills and activities, and you will go home with at least one product you made nearly every day of the course. Where a Permaculture Design Course focuses on design, this course will focus on techniques - giving you the HOW.

Most importantly though the course will support you on a journey of lifelong learning, connect you with like-minded people and is designed holistically to have a real impact on your life.

This course is exclusive to Perth City Farm, developed to make use of our unique working urban farm. The teaching will be hands-on, practical and fun, and geared towards what’s possible in an urban setting. We split the five days over three weeks, so you have time to reflect and absorb the learning and fit it in with other commitments.

This course will be led by Rod Hughes of Leafcutter Permaculture and Martina Hoeppner of Perth City Farm, with several guest teachers included.

Course dates

Five days spread over three weeks to fit around your life:

Friday 4 October: 9 am – 4 pm
Saturday 5 October: 9 am – 4 pm
Friday 11 October: 9 am – 4 pm
Friday 18 October: 9 am – 4 pm
Saturday 19 October: 9 am – 4 pm

Location

All sessions will occur at Perth City Farm in East Perth, in our education room and out in the Farm and gardens. City Farm has excellent public transport links, bike parking and paid car parking nearby.

Our Teachers

Rod Hughes and Martina Hoeppner have developed this course together with the unique site of Perth City Farm in mind. They will be joined by specialist guest teachers throughout the course.

Rod Hughes

After nearly three decades in environmental management Rod turned his attention to permaculture learning and how this system of thinking can create new and critical connections between people, the environment and the food we eat. Rod has completed a Permaculture Design Certificate, Advanced Permaculture Design Certificate and Diploma of Permaculture and
uses these skills in his business Leafcutter Permaculture. Rod’s motto is “be nice and grow things” and believes that being kind to each other, looking after mother earth and ensuring fair share is critical to our survival.

Rod served as Farm Manager at Perth City Farm from 2018 to 2022 and knows the site intimately. He now lives at Fair Harvest Permaculture in Margaret River, where he is a teacher in their Permaculture Design Certificate courses.

Martina Hoeppner

Originally from Germany, Martina Hoeppner has completed a Diploma in Permaculture in Australia and is the founder of Dandelion Permaculture and the Permaculture Educators Alliance. She has grown up a suburban girl and specialises in urban permaculture and RetroSuburbia topics. Martina has taught many PDCs and accredited Permaculture courses, has served as the co-convener of Permaculture West for three years, and is now working as the Education Lead at Perth City Farm.

When she isn't teaching or baking for courses, she gardens in the northern suburbs of Perth, builds community in her street, reads a mountain of permaculture books and dances kizomba.

Pricing

These prices include GST and booking fees.

$800 Early bird price (ends 31 July 2024)

$875 Full price

Booking Options

Please book here through Humanitix. If you would prefer to pay over two instalments via bank transfer (incurring a $20 admin fee) please contact us at education@perthcityfarm.org.au.

Ticket price includes all tuition, learning materials, farm fresh morning teas and take-home materials. Students should bring their own lunch each day.

Refunds

If you notify us at least 30 days prior to the commencement of the course, we are able to refund your course fee minus administrations costs of $150. No refunds are available within 30 days of the course commencing, although if the course is sold out we will do our best to resell your ticket for you. You are welcome to give your ticket to a friend.

If we had to cancel the course you would receive a full refund.

About Perth City Farm

Perth City Farm is a community urban farm that supports connected, sustainable communities. Established on a former industrial site in East Perth, this polluted site has been lovingly rehabilitated by volunteers to become a Western Australian icon for environmental sustainability and community engagement. We provide space and opportunities to build community connections, and educate and enable people to live sustainably.