This PDC brings together some of the best minds in the permaculture community. With a variety of backgrounds and areas of expertise, these instructors convey their knowledge during the our Homesteaders Permaculture Design Course.
Tim Barker
Tim has come a long way since his days as a diesel fitter mechanic, and now spends his time between Australia and New Zealand (and sometimes the US) as a semi professional pyromaniac and mad scientist teaching people how to burn stuff and make really cool machines and devices for low carbon living. He currently teaches Appropriate Technology for the Koanga Institute in New Zealand and Very Edible Gardens (VEG) in Melbourne, to name a few.
He has previously been farm manager for the Permaculture Research Institute of Australia, power station operator/mechanic, adventure guide and professional turtle wrestler. His rocket stove and char making powered hot water systems, ovens and cookers reflect his passion for elegant simple and durable combustion technologies. Other projects include gravity powered water pumps, solar thermal cookers and dryers, pedal powered washing machines, cargo bikes, hovercraft, wooden boats and aquaponics, to name a few. When he is not tinkering he can be found on Macleay Island off the coast of Queensland Australia, where he and his family live and are currently in the process of building a rammed earth house (with maybe a little sailing thrown in).
He is particularly well known for his safe and effective rocket hot water heating system.He brings practical, hands on experience with some truly fascinating projects to the table - this from the Koanga institute:
"He has the practical knowledge and skills to construct almost any project with limited resources."
We're thrilled to have him instructing at our facilities!
Paul Wheaton
Paul Wheaton, the bad boy of Permaculture, was proclaimed by Geoff Lawton in 2012 the Duke of Permaculture. He is the creator of two on-line communities. One is about Permaculture, permies.com, and one is about software engineering, CodeRanch.com.
He is a powerful advocate of Sepp Holzer’s techniques, which a recent study showed to have the ability to feed 21 billion people without the use of petroleum or irrigation. He also promotes the use of hugelkultur, which sequesters carbon and eliminates the need for irrigation, and polycultures, which reduces the need for pest control and improves the health of plants. He wrote several articles about lawn care, raising chickens, cast iron, and diatomaceous earth. Paul regularly uploads permaculture videos and permaculture podcasts.
Thomas J. Elpel
Thomas J. Elpel is an author, natural builder, educator, and conservationist. He has authored multiple books: Foraging the Mountain West, Botany in a Day, Shanleya's Quest and numerous others about plant identification, wilderness survival, and sustainable living. He has multiple videos: Building a Slipform Stone House from the Bottom Up, How to Make a Grass Rope, Build Your own Masonry Fireplace - Masonry Heater - Masonry Stove, and many more. Thomas regularly teaches classes on plant identification, primitive skills and natural building. He is founder/director of Green University, LLC in Pony, Montana.
Helen Atthowe
Helen has an MS in Horticulture and Agricultural Ecology from Rutgers University; worked at Rutgers in tree fruit IPM; studied natural farming with Masanobu Fukoka; interned at The Land Institute in Kansas; taught a Master Gardener course in Montana for 15 years while she was Missoula County extension agent; owned and operated Biodesign organic vegetable farm in Montana (1993-2010); consulted for a 2000 acre organic vegetable farm (2011); helped run her husband's Woodleaf Farm organic orchard in northern California 2012-2015; worked for Oregon State University Horticulture Department; and is now farming a 211 acre farm in eastern Oregon with her husband, where they have a mixed fruit and hazelnut orchard, small grain and dry bean production, vegetable gardens, high tunnels, and greenhouse.
Erica Wisner
Erica is a science and art educator, curriculum developer, writer, illustrator, researcher, and rocket mass heater innovator. She loves making things from scratch - anything from blueberry scones to the oven itself. Erica is a skilled educator and project coordinator, with over 20 years of experience building teamwork and leading hands-on learning. Her and Ernie have taught numerous workshops on natural building and rocket mass heaters. Erica has written multiple books on rocket mass heaters, fire making, and survival shelters. She is featured in many videos, documentaries, and podcasts on rocket mass heaters.
Jacqueline Freeman
Jacqueline is a biodynamic farmer, author, and natural beekeeper. She is known for her gentle and understanding ways with bees. She appears in the honeybee documentary, Queen of the Sun and was hired by the USDA to work with rural farmers and beekeepers in the Dominican Repermies, using historic methods of respectful beekeeping. She lives on a farm in Washington state with her husband, Joseph, where they have orchards, gardens, two big greenhouses, a small forest, rich pastures and plenty of flowering bee forage. Jacqueline also has lots of experience raising livestock: cows, goats, chickens for laying and broilers, turkeys, and horses. She has two websites: SpiritBee.com and friendlyhaven.com.
Zachary Weiss
Protégé of legendary Austrian farmer, Sepp Holzer, Zach is the first person to earn Holzer Practitioner Certification outside of the Krameterhof training program. Blending a unique combination of systems thinking, empathy, and awareness, Zach uses an action-oriented process to improve human relationships with earth. Enhancing ecosystems and harvesting natural productivity over time is the ultimate goal - with high initial input, high yield systems that will last until the next ice age.
Zach currently has projects in 11 nations on 4 continents, spanning a wide range of climates, contexts, land-forms and ecosystems. Having experience with a wide range of techniques and systems (from natural building, to greenhouses, to carpentry, to watershed restoration), Zach also graduated summa cum laude with a degree in Ecology. He has two websites elementalecosystems.com and holzerpermaculture.us
Davin Hoyt
Davin is an architect, artist, and entrepreneur. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Architecture and has 16 years of drafting experience. Davin has established two community gardens in Georgetown, Texas and he is the first to map Wheaton Labs. Davin practices architecture as a one-man firm and will soon be a small restaurant chain partner. He is the future illustrator of Paul's book on "Wofatis".
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The attendees enjoyed a wide variety of lectures and projects, and got an up close and personal tour of Wheaton Labs.
Day 1: Introduction to permaculture Session 1: Tim Barker - welcome and introduction to course
Session 2: Tim Barker - introduction to permaculture
Session 3: Tim Barker - history & context of permaculture
Session 4: Tim Barker - design framework; ethics
Day 2: Design concepts and themes Session 1: Tim Barker - permaculture design process
Session 2: Tim Barker - design process: ecosystems; holistic perspective
Session 3: Tim Barker - design principles: connections, diversity
Session 4: Tim Barker - design principes: nutrients, energy
Evening Session: Ernie & Erica - Fire
Day 3: Methods of design Session 1: Tim Barker - design principes: succession, resources
Session 2: Tim Barker - design principes: small-scale, edges
Session 3: Tim Barker - design principes: overview
Session 4: Tim Barker - design principes: summary
Evening Session: Byron Joel - introduction to keyline design
Day 4: Managing holistically Session 1: Tim Barker - history & context of holistic management
Session 2: Tim Barker - decision-making process
Session 3: Tim Barker - triple bottom line
Session 4: Tim Barker - forming holistic context
Evening Session: holistic management videos
Day 5: Climate and land form Session 1: Tim Barker - climate zones, brittleness scale
Session 2: Tim Barker - land shape & brittleness; landscapes
Session 3: Tim Barker - patterns; reading landscape; design teams formed
Session 4: Davin Hoyt - architectural & landscape drawing
Evening Session: Davin
Day 6: Water and access Session 1: Zach Weiss - ecology; water retention landscapes
Session 2: Zach Weiss - earthworks: model building
Session 3: Tim Barker - zones & strategies
Session 4: student designs
Evening Session: Zach - elemental ecology
Day 8: Trees & soils Session 1: Byron Joel - tree ecology; succession
Session 2: Byron Joel - strategies & techniques; zones; summary
Session 3: Helen Atthowe - soils: ecology, structure, chemistry, biology
Session 4: student designs
Evening Session: Helen Atthowe - creating a commercial forest garden
Day 9: Soils & crops Session 1: Helen Atthowe - soil strategies & techniques zones 1-4
Session 2: Helen Atthowe - crops; grass, herb & forb ecology
Session 3: Helen Atthowe - strategies & techniques, zones 1-4
Session 4: student designs
Evening Session: Jacqueline Freeman - building relationships with farm animals
Day 10: Animals Session 1: Jacqueline & Joseph - beekeeping
Session 2: Jacqueline & Joseph - animal ecology, ethics, zones 1 & 2
Session 3: Jacqueline & Joseph - animals: zones 1-4
Session 4: student designs
Evening Session: Paul Wheaton - animals in the landscape
Day 11: Appropriate technology Session 1: Ernie & Erica - appropriate technology
Session 2: Ernie & Erica - strategies & techniques for differen climates
Session 3: Ernie & Erica - strategies & techniques for different climates
Session 4: student designs
Evening Session: Paul Wheaton - animals in the landscape
Day 12: Bioregions & Communities Session 1: Tim & Byron - community vs self-sufficiency; bioregions & communities
Session 2: Tim & Byron - eco villages; intentional communities
Session 3: Paul Wheaton - making a living using permaculture
Session 4: student designs
Evening Session: Jocelyn Campbell - money & finance
Day 13: Botany in a day Session 1: Thomas Elpel: simple plant botany
Session 2: Thomas Elpel: plant walk; try out new identification skills
Session 3: Thomas Elpel: homesteading experiences
Session 4: student designs
Evening Session: design time
Day 14: Design time; presentations Sessions 1-3: Design time
Session 4: presentations
Evening Session: talent show
Just starting to download, but I found a couple issues.
The links to "001 - Day 1 - Session 1 - Big Download - Welcome, Housekeeping and Expectations" and "005 - Day 2 - Session 1 - Big Download - Permaculture Design Process" both return "The requested file could not be found. It probably was deleted. Click here to go back to the topic."
Also, a couple of file naming convention issues.
"004 - Day 1 - Session 4 - Big Download - A Permaculture Design Framework" links to a file named "219314065.hd.mp4"
"010 - Day 3 - Session 1 - Big Download - Make Connections" links to a file named "010-day-3-session-1-tiny-download-make-connections.mp4"
Bryce Royal wrote:
"004 - Day 1 - Session 4 - Big Download - A Permaculture Design Framework" links to a file named "219314065.hd.mp4"
"010 - Day 3 - Session 1 - Big Download - Make Connections" links to a file named "010-day-3-session-1-tiny-download-make-connections.mp4"
Thank you for the heads up. These have now been renamed properly.
Community and Team Building/Education for Preppers, Permaculturists, Homesteaders, and Homeschoolers: ThriveThrough.com
Bryce Royal wrote:The links to "001 - Day 1 - Session 1 - Big Download - Welcome, Housekeeping and Expectations" and "005 - Day 2 - Session 1 - Big Download - Permaculture Design Process" both return "The requested file could not be found. It probably was deleted. Click here to go back to the topic."
Bryce Royal wrote:Just checking since I can't find the schedule link right now, but I don't see any Day 7 sessions and I think that was a day off during the PDC.
Days 8 and 9 session 4 doesn't appear to be listed anywhere (035 and 040).
Morning Paul,
I have tried to gain access to download the PDC etc, but it is telling me that I do not have permission to access.. I was wondering if there was an issue?
paul wheaton wrote:I just now sent this out to the kickstarter supporters. Please let me know if there are any issues.
$200 kickstarter pledge seeing link to paypal. Did I misunderstand the reward structure?
Nicholas,
You should have received an email directing you to all of pdc and atc videos in this thread. Near the bottom of the first post, you should see a lot of big blue text and links (when you are logged in). Do you see it?
I also paid the $200 for the Kickstarter, but cannot download the HD recorded videos and it says paying $200 via PayPal is required. Only the instant view HD videos appear to be accessible.
You said to Nicholas "you should have received an email directing you to all of pdc and atc videos in this thread. Near the bottom of the first post, you should see a lot of big blue text and links (when you are logged in). Do you see it? "
I am logged in and do see that blue text in that thread with the links.
I did not receive any email about the recorded videos being available, was one sent? If so, maybe this is a clue to the problem. The last "Kickstarter Project Update" email I got was #13 on June 20.
My Kickstarter receipt, which I saved and just looked at again, says I chipped in $200. It says it includes the DOWNLOAD bundle (which was at $120 or more) which the Kickstarter page says includes downloads of the 220 hours of the PDC and ATC videos. I realize the Rocket Mass Heater and World Domination Gardening are only HD streaming, that is not what I was trying to download.
This is what the Kickstarter receipt said:
Reward BUNDLE
INCLUDES
• Rocket Mass Heater 8DVD set as HD Streaming
• World Domination Gardening 3DVD set as HD Streaming
• everything in "BOTHLIVE"
• everything in "DOWNLOAD"
• everything in "BOTH"
• everything in "CANDY"
• everything in "THANKS
Gregory Swensen wrote:Why is there a misunderstanding about this?
When you look at the DOWNLOAD description, it says:
When the whole event is over, you will be given all of the video collected during the Permaculture Design Course and the Appropriate Technology Course as a "tiny download". This will be about 220 hours of video as small mp4 files. Probably 360p. It will probably be about 100 gigs. We offer this because a lot of our peeps don't have good internet at home, but they can pop into town, download it, and watch it later.
And when you look at the more expensive option called ALLFORMATS, you see that that includes "HD Download". Please note that BUNDLE does not include "HD Download", but it does include "DOWNLOAD" which is "tiny download" or "probably 360p." BUNDLE does includ "HD Streaming".
This thread is the option for "HD Download".
The link I provided earlier should have all the regular download stuff and the HD streaming stuff which you bought.
When I read the Kickstarter page before contributing and again now, I saw that the description for ALLFORMATS says it is for pledges of $175 and more, and the $200 level added streaming of the Rocket Mass Heater and World Domination Gardening videos. So I picked the $200 level, with the understanding it included what was included in the $175 (including the HD downloads) as that is what the Kickstarter page said:
Pledge $175 or more
ALLFORMATS
INCLUDES:
HD Download
everything in "BOTHLIVE"
everything in "DOWNLOAD"
everything in "BOTH"
everything in "CANDY"
everything in "THANKS"
Thus it seems reasonable to expect HD downloads to be included, as $200 > $175 .
Once a person signs up for a reward, i am unable to edit it.
Further, I have never edited the $200 reward.
Further still, ALLFORMATS was a reward that was added pretty late into the kickstarter (when there was just 71 hours left in the kickstarter). So it was not possible to include the ALLFORMATS stuff into the $200 reward.
I am getting the impression that you very much wish to have the HD download, is that correct? The price difference between tiny download and HD download during the kickstarter was $55. I suppose I could set something up so that people with access to the tiny download, could upgrade to HD download for $55. Would that be of interest to you?
I'm curious about the newly updated, "000 - Day 0 - Session 1-5 - Big Download - Wheaton Tour"
Is it just the first 5 sessions mashed together (Files 01-22?)
or is it something else like a pre-event Tour?
At 6.2 GB, I didn't want to download it if not necessary.
Terry Bytes wrote:I'm curious about the newly updated, "000 - Day 0 - Session 1-5 - Big Download - Wheaton Tour"
Is it just the first 5 sessions mashed together (Files 01-22?)
or is it something else like a pre-event Tour?
At 6.2 GB, I didn't want to download it if not necessary.
I received the following via email. If people have experiences other than what is expressed here, maybe they can share their experiences so we can get everything sorted.
I purchased the PDC-ATC-hours-HD-download#premium and man, it needs some love and quickly. The files are out of sequence, there are duplicates, some links point to the wrong files, some downloads show as complete but aren't and when they do complete and are played some files have no content. Can this be remedied? I paid $300 for these courses and would like to get all the files and complete files.
I think this is 4 problems ....
P1 files are out of sequence: we went with the concept of putting all the files in forums. For a lot of reasons. We then loaded the forum as the videos were ready to put up - while the event was happening. The forum will show each thread in the order of which was the most recent. So I guess this means that it will sorta be in reverse order. Sorta. Is this what you mean?
P2 there are duplicates: If there is one duplicate, please direct me to it and I will take a look.
P3 some links point to the wrong files: It seems that we had four wonky links in the beginning which we repaired. If there are more, please list them here and I will immediately repair. But my memory says we have not had a bad link in a year or so.
P4 some downloads show as complete but aren't: I really, really, really don't want people to get the download options. I think I need to raise the price some more. If everybody does streaming, I end up with no support issues. But with download stuff, then suddenly people expect me to develop expertise in stuff I don't want to be an expert at - 98% of which is being an expert in every operating system and browser in existence compounded with downloading massive mp4 files and playing them. .... That said, at the same time, when people sort these problems out in this forum, it seems that there is always another user that will say "I have the exact same operating system and browser and i downloaded it just fine ..." and next thing you know, the problem is solved! Hot diggity dog! To try to solve this, give me an example of one video that is not working.
Please give me a response for each of these 4 points and we will get all this working perfectly for you.
There were some that were labeled wrong. I made comment about it in the forum thread for the particular one. I think it was the rabbit butchering. The link was labeled something different. I think i found 2.
Funny thing. I went into "my stuff" to find my comment and give firm info. I can't find a way into the pdf. Nothing is there, just a ledger. Did something change?
From phone i go to desktop view. From there i click on "my stuff". This is what i get:
wayne fajkus wrote:There were some that were labeled wrong. I made comment about it in the forum thread for the particular one. I think it was the rabbit butchering. The link was labeled something different. I think i found 2.
If you give me links, I will take a look.
Funny thing. I went into "my stuff" to find my comment and give firm info. I can't find a way into the pdf. Nothing is there, just a ledger. Did something change?
I don't know what pdf you are talking about.
I just looked at your "my stuff" and it is loaded with stuff. ??
You are using mobile view. I am looking at your stuff in desktop view. I wonder if that makes a difference. Maybe you have to scroll way down or something?
For those wondering what the online PDC is like, here is a short excerpt of Erica and Ernie Weisner's class about energy transactiions within a permaculture system, as taught in the PDC. They paint a vivid picture of how beautifully intricate and interconnected our natural world is. Here it is:
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