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 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.
The schedule for the PDC:
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
Evening Session: student and instructor mixer
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
$50.00
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