Lost Valley Educational Center's Camassia Institute is offering a 2-week permaculture certificate course. The basis for the course is a traditional Permaculture Design Course curriculum. This curriculum examines what it means for human living to integrate ethically, holistically, and dynamically into natural ecosystems. It introduces a philosophy, a set of practical principles and a design method, and a range of techniques and tools. This curriculum serves as many students’ introduction to ecological systems thinking. The permaculture design curriculum includes:
* permaculture ethics, principles, & philosophy
* reading the landscape
* recognizing patterns
* “waste” as resources
* water on the land: catching, storing, and using rainwater
* greywater
* growing soil
* natural building and retrofitting
* renewable energy
* appropriate technology
* transportation and sustainability
* ultra-local food—producing and harvesting it in our yards and communities
* sustainable economics
* “invisible structures” and social sustainability
* rural, urban, and suburban applications
The course uses a variety of formats, including lectures, discussions, hands-on activities, other projects, and field trips. Woven throughout the course is the permaculture design project, students’ opportunity to put what they learn to use immediately by choosing a site at Lost Valley, getting to know it well, and working with a team and with the community to design a permaculture system for the site in alignment with the community’s goals. The design project is also students’ opportunity to have a lasting effect on Lost Valley; the community has implemented a number of elements of student design projects from over the years.
Successful course participation, including completion of the permaculture design project, earns students a Permaculture Design Certificate.
December 5, 2009 - December 15, 2009
$1265 tuition, includes housing and vegetarian organic meal plan
for more information, visit
http://lostvalley.org/content/winter-permaculture-design-course
