Permaculture design

From WikiEducator

Jump to:navigation, search


Contents

Aim

  1. Understand and describe the principles of permaculture
  2. Outline procedures used to analyze a site for permaculture
  3. Create a permaculture plan for a selected site and describe considerations when implementing the permaculture plan.

Course Schedule 2012

Introduction to permaculture ethics & principles

Session 1

To do

  1. Introductions and welcome.
  2. The main part of your assessment will focus on creating a permaculture plan for a selected site.Please choose a site over the next week.Ideally you may want to choose a site which you can visit frequently in order to observe the characteristics of the site,take measurements, and in time, implement your design.If this is not possible, your learning facilitator will allocate a site for you so you can practice the process which will then be applicable to any site you choose in the future.
  3. Watch this powerpoint to guide us thru an introduction to the ethics and principles.
  4. Our guest speaker is Margaret Kwok. Margaret lives in an intentional community called Tui Community located in Golden Bay and will be speaking to our class about her journey in permaculture.
  5. What is Permaculture?The word permaculture is a portmanteau of permanent agriculture and permanent culture.Permaculture is an approach to designing human settlements and agricultural systems that mimic the relationships found in natural ecologies.Permaculture is a broad-based and holistic approach that has many applications to all aspects of life.
  6. Explore permaculture ethics.At the heart of permaculture design and practice is a fundamental set of ‘core values’ or ethics:

Permaculture ethics class activity

  1. We will now watch the film, Food Inc. and identify examples within the documentary that do not support each of the three main ethics of permaculture.Identify examples within the movie that do support each of the three main ethics of permaculture. (Food, Inc. is a 2009 American documentary film directed by Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Robert Kenner.The film examines corporate farming in the United States, concluding that agribusiness produces food that is unhealthy in way that is abusive of animals and environmentally harmful. The documentary generated extensive controversy in that it was heavily criticized by large American corporations engaged in industrial food production.)

Permaculture principles class activity

Permaculture principles. We will explore the permaculture principles by getting into groups of two or three and looking at the concepts that are connected to the various principles.Your group will be allocated one or more of the following principles and you will be required to describe how you already honour that principle or perhaps an example of how you could honor the principle in the future.

Homework

  1. Before our next session, find an Internet connection and look for resources and video related to permaculture ethics. Free access to computers and the Internet is available at Otago Polytechnic Community Learning Centres.Please take note of any good information you find so we can add it to our list of resources.You may want to start by watching this video by Permaculture expert Penny Livingston-Stark shows how natural systems can teach us better design practices. Learning to work with the earth not only creates a healthier environment, it also nourishes the people who live in it.
  2. Print off your free poster of permaculture ethics and principles.
  3. Read pages 17-26 from *Earth User's Guide to Permaculture. Rosemary Morrow and Rob Allsop. Kangaroo Press, NSW Australia. 2006 (2nd ed.).

Ecology and its relationship to permaculture principles

Session 2

To do

  1. Welcome and attendance.
  2. I would like to suggest that we look out for any interesting articles related to permaculture and post them on the classroom noticeboard.We should also put up some posters related to our studies.I have brought some along to kick us off.
  3. Has everyone chosen a site for their permaculture plan?
  4. The purpose of your homework activity is to embrace the importance of how natural ecosystems underpin our goals in creating a cultivated ecosystem.Watch this video of permaculturist ,Peta Hudson,which explains the purpose of the exercise in exploring natural ecosystems.
  5. Today we will visit Lovelock Bush in the Dunedin Botanic Garden and make some observations about what is happening in this ecosystem.Shirley Stuart is the collection curator for the Native Collection at the DBG and will do a brief introduction to the area we are going to explore.Here is a link to some of the interesting articles that Shirley writes for the Otago Daily Times'Plant Life feature. A guide for the area will be provided as well as a detailed outline of what observations the participants will want to look for.
  6. The desired learning outcomes would be:

Homework

  1. Visit Lovelock Bush or an area of bush near you and spend some time observing what is happening around you-jot down your observations to share next time we meet.

Getting started on your site plan

Session 3

To do

  1. Welcome and attendance.
  2. Why are we doing permaculture?#Read pages 5-8 from *Earth User's Guide to Permaculture. Rosemary Morrow and Rob Allsop. Kangaroo Press, NSW Australia. 2006 (2nd ed.).
  3. How did we enjoy and learn from our visit to Lovelock Bush?
  4. What observations did you make about a natural ecosystem?
  5. Why did we do the observation exercise and what does it all mean?
  6. What permaculture principles may apply to this exercise?
  7. Today you will need to start on your base plan. Use an A3 or A2 piece of paper and draw everything that is on your site. A base map is a drawing that captures everything that is already on your chosen site. It includes buildings, fences, trees, hedges, pathways and driveways, power lines and services.Please choose a scale that will suit you and your site.The most common scales that students have used in the past are a scale of 1:100(1cm.=1 meter) or 1:50(2cm.=1 meter)
  8. Check out this helpful link by Graham Burnettwho in addition to writing, illustrating and self publishing a number of books, Graham Burnett is an experienced permaculture practioner, designer and teacher. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Permaculture Association (Britain), and holds the Diploma in Permaculture Design (Dip Perm Des).

Homework

Visit to Two Permaculture Gardens

Session 4

Homework

Base Plan and Sector/Site Plans

Session 5

To do

  1. Welcome and is everyone familiar with the Living Campus?#The permaculture garden at Otago Polytechnic from 2008-2011.
  2. What did you think of the HortTalk and Blue Tick?
  3. A quick review of last week and did you find an example of a home or an office building that you think would meet some of the expectations of permaculture design?
  4. Could everyone briefly show the class their base plan.
  5. Look at plans from last year's students for a sense of direction/goals and check out page 98 from your text
  6. Hand out more paper for site analysis map-this may be more cartridge paper or tracing paper may be used.
  7. What is the difference between your sector analysis map and site analysis map?

Sector Analysis Plan

Site Analysis Plan

Homework

The elements and zones in a permaculture garden

Session 6

To Do

  1. Welcome and attendance
  2. Our guest speaker today is Mark Jackson who is going to talk about the potential impact Peak Oil will have on our world. Closer to home Mark is also going to share with us what Otago Polytechnic is doing to reduce,recycle and re use our resources."The wide use of fossil fuels has been one of the most important stimuli of economic growth and prosperity since the industrial revolution, allowing humans to participate in take down, or the consumption of energy at a greater rate than it is being replaced. Some believe that when oil production decreases, human culture, and modern technological society will be forced to change drastically. The impact of peak oil will depend heavily on the rate of decline and the development and adoption of effective alternatives. If alternatives are not forthcoming, the products produced with oil (including fertilizers, detergents, solvents, adhesives, and most plastics) would become scarce and expensive."This statement was extracted from Wikipedia and will hopefully spark some consideration and debate about some of the global issues we are facing.
  3. How is everyone doing with their base plan and building up the information for site/sector map(s)
  4. How is your list of elements going?
  5. The elements and zones within your garden are very important-I will show a few examples from my own garden which may help-remember that the yields and needs of your elements need to be carefully considered.Think about our visit to Lovelock bush and how we observed naturally occurring relationships between the elements in the bush-how can you transfer these examples to your site? (Use edges and value the marginal)For example,a pond needs: shelter from wind, some sun, a water source/catchment, plants, fish, and aeration. It provides extra humidity & light to the area surrounding it, moisture to the edges, thermal mass (holds heat & radiates it out in the evening), food & beauty. It’s needs will be met, if placed in good relationship to other elements & in return their needs will be met by it.
  6. Even on a small site all zones from 0~5 can be included. See “Earth Users Guide to Permaculture Design” and read pages 104-107 for more detail. Zones are about creating & placing areas of activity in good relationship to their needs & yields.

Homework

Growing Fruit Trees in Dunedin

Session 7

To Do

  1. Welcome and attendance
  2. Class discussion/reflection on last week's session.Did you find some more unusual elements that could be used in your perma site plan or just some neat ideas to share with the class?
  3. Zones are about creating & placing areas of activity in good relationship to their needs & yields.You should have your base plan,site plan and sector plan finished or at least well under way so you will be thinking about where you will place your zones.
  4. Today we are looking at growing fruit trees and useful permaculture trees in Dunedin.Bill Mollison, who coined the term permaculture, visited Robert Hart at his forest garden in Wenlock Edge in October 1990.Hart's seven-layer system has since been adopted as a common permaculture design element.Let's get a feel for the topic and travel to Australia with this vid about a permaculture food forest.
  5. Jim Channons food forest garden
  6. Distribute class set of Edible and Useful Trees and Shrubs for the Dunedin area by Jason Ross.
  7. Discuss concept of food forest use page 2 of Jason's book for specific plants to fit food forest layers.
  8. Power point on Growing Fruit Trees/Shrubs in Dunedin
  9. Otepoti Urban Organics is a not-for-profit network of gardeners, community groups and businesses who have an interest in fostering and engaging in organic food growing activities, and other sustainable practices, in the Dunedin area. Check out this link to their newsletter on Urban Orchards
  10. What does Fukuoka say about pruning fruit trees?
  11. Practical session in the nursery!We will head over to our nursery and sow some seeds from hortykim's Cape gooseberry plant.What is a Cape gooseberry?

Videos about food forests

Where can we source fruit trees/shrubs and shelter/forestry/firewood trees that are suitable for the Dunedin area?

Homework

Tutorial and Site Plan Work

Session 8

To Do

  1. Welcome and attendance
  2. Today our guest speaker is Bart Acres from Otepoti Urban Organics which is a non-profit network of gardeners, community groups and businesses who have an interest in fostering and engaging in organic food growing activities and other sustainable practices.Bart will be speaking to us about seed saving.
  3. The rest of the class will be spent looking at how we have progressed with your site plan(s).Kim will hand out "The Designers Checklist" which will be a guide to pulling all of your ideas and plans together and ensuring you have included all of the crucial aspects required for your final plans.When I say final plans I mean the ones you are submitting for assessment. It is important to know that a garden is always changing and never "finished" and your site plan may continue to evolve.
  4. If time allows then we will do seed ball/guerrilla gardening activity
  5. Join the many people who receive the DCC Environmental Events Newsletter for neat stuff like Foodweb - Increasing Local Food Resiliency and Sustainability

Foodweb (www.foodweb.org.nz) is a local food resiliency network for Otago. Founded in 2010, it has been collecting information about food and farming in Otago and viewing it in the context of the latest research into food systems from around the world.

It aims to facilitate and promote the growth of a more resilient and sustainable local food system in the Otago region, by helping farmers, backyard gardeners, community groups and other local businesses and organisations access the resources they need to be as effective as possible in all aspects of local food production.

We are always keen to hear from anyone interested in sustainable food production at any scale, from the backyard to the farm. If you are interested sign up to our email list on the 'Contact Us' page at www.foodweb.org.nz.

Designer's checklist


What are your needs from your site? What resources do you have available?
Observe what is happening on your site. (Design from patterns to details.)

For example, a pond needs: shelter from wind, some sun, a water source/catchment, plants, fish, and aeration. It provides extra humidity & light to the area surrounding it, moisture to the edges, thermal mass (holds heat & radiates it out in the evening), food & beauty. It’s needs will be met, if placed in good relationship to other elements & in return their needs will be met by it. Look at other elements that you have or need, in the same way & see how you can place them so that their needs & yields are met by each other. Cycles of energy are enhanced & created this way.(Catch and store energy)

Sector Analysis Map

(Observe and interact.) Think of your sector analysis as what energies are affecting your site from the four different directions(north south east and west)outside of your site.See above for more detail.

Site Analysis Map
Analyze elements and flow patterns
Zone planning

Try to include all five zones on your site even if it may take a few years to develop all zones .You may want to seek advice from your local council when you are developing or adding to plantings for your zone 5. (Apply self regulation and accept feed back)

Now pull all of these steps together for your final site plan.

Homework

Growing Edible Plants in Dunedin

Session 9

To Do

Soils Improvement Techniques in the Permaculture Garden

Session 10

To Do

Managing pests and diseases in the Permaculture Garden

Session 11

To Do

Managing Weeds in the Permaculture Garden

Session 13

Design Presentations and Pot Luck Celebration

Session 14

Resources

Books

Useful links

Movies to make you think

Course information

Workshops and talks

Numeracy and literacy

Session One

Session Two

Bonus Activities

  1. Student activity:Read pages 17-26 from *Earth User's Guide to Permaculture. Rosemary Morrow and Rob Allsop. Kangaroo Press, NSW Australia. 2006 (2nd ed.)Find a buddy and discuss the topics from your readings and where possible give examples for the following concepts.Each group will nutshell their topics for the rest of the class.*Hand out activity topics that include negative and positive stories about issues facing our world,students will nutshell and present to class.
Navigation
Community
Create a book
Toolbox
Bookmark and Share