permaculture

[Skye <skye@tortuga.com>]

Full PERMACULTURE DESIGN CERTIFICATE COURSE in MEXICO
Veracruz, MEXICO
with SKYE of Earthcare Education (Australia) and the Instituto de
Permacultura de Mexico AC.
June 13 to 28, 1998

This is the standard 72 hour curricula initially developed by
Permaculture co-founder Bill Mollison. It is the only curricula
recognized by the Permaculture Institute of each country where
Permaculture is operating. Completion of the Design Certificate course
entitles students to become fully endorsed Permaculture consultants,
with the right to teach and to use the term Permaculture in financial
endeavors.

All courses in which I am involved use modern interactive, participatory
and creative teaching methods. These methods have been developed and
tested by Earthcare Education (Australia) over six years and is based on
modern research in areas such as Educational Psychology, Accelerated
Learning, Kinesiology and Lateral Thinking. These methods have been
shown to create a better learning environment and to empower
participants to take responsibility for their own learning. The result
is a course that is fun, effective, exciting and very empowering.

The curricula outline is meant as a guide, as the course participants
will be actively encouraged to have considerable input to their own
course.

Broad Outline of Curricula

Principles of Ecology
Principles of Permaculture
Soils
Water
Gardening
Orchards
Production of Maiz and Grains
Microclimates
Management of Pests
Aridland Strategies
Animal Systems
Alternative Energy
Ecological Housing
Urban Strategies
EcoVillages
Social Strategies
Financial Strategies
Practical Design Exercise


The course will be taught in English.

It will be held at a Camp in the Filo-Bobos ecological reserve near the
town of Tlapacoyan in the north of the state of Veracruz. The area
surrounding the camp is subtropical with 1,500 mm of rain per year.
Towards the mountains (1/2 hour away), rainfall exceeds 2,000 mm and
vegetation is tropical gradually changing to cloud forest and then to
temperate pine and oak forest. Towards the coast there is very little
native vegetation, and there are mostly plantations of citrus, bannana
and coffee giving way to cattle ranches in the plains. At the beach,
there are mangrove swamps. Terrain near the camp includes the valley
below where two rivers join, steep cliffs and hills. Inland, terrain
becomes steeper and first increasingly wet, and then dryer up to the
dessert plains towards Perote. 

Agriculture in the area is primarily banana, coffee and citrus. There
are examples of banana and citrus monocultures and examples of
polycultures and organic agriculture. Nearby we have access to
banana-coffee organic polycultures, and a plantation that is not organic
but that combines fruit trees, coffee, bananas and native plants
gradually blending into a beautiful secondary tropical forest next to a
river. We can also gain access to cattle ranches where erosion and
destruction of the natural vegetation are becoming a problem. At a
government experimental station 20 minutes from the camp, there are
examples of legume trees and coffee polycultures, as well as
aquaculture.        

In our camp we have a central building with bathrooms, showers (with hot
water), a meeting room for more than 40 people, a dining room and even a
swimming pool with a view of two rivers in the valley below. We will be
staying in large safari-type tents for 4 people with large cots. 

The Facilitator

Skye  - Bach. Sci (hons.), Dip. Of Permaculture, Permaculture Community
Service Award 

After graduating from the University of Melbourne, Australia with an
Honors Degree in Nuclear Science I turned my attention to the commercial
field and used my knowledge of computer systems. For ten years I was the
Administration Manager of a well respected Construction Company in the
state of Victoria, Australia.

Wanting to work less with machines and more with people I then spent a
number of years as a Construction Supervisor, and was then self-employed
for many years, initially as a House Renovator and later as a Jewelry
Importer

In 1982 I did a Permaculture Design Certificate Course, with the
co-founder of the philosophy, Bill Mollison. In subsequent years I was
involved in forming the Geelong Permaculture Design Collective (State of
Victoria), undertook many landscape designs and helped establish a
community garden and a local food cooperative.

In 1988 I moved to the State of Queensland to join the newly formed
Crystal Waters Permaculture Village community. For the next ten years I
was actively involved in helping this community develop, and was
involved in developing the Land Use Policy, the Leaseholders Agreement
and held many responsible positions with the communities legal
structures.

While at Crystal Waters I also teamed up with Robin Clayfield, with whom
I started teaching Permaculture Courses. As the partnership, Earthcare
Education we pioneered the development of creative interactive teaching
methods within Permaculture, and in 1994 published the "Manual for
Teaching Permaculture Creatively".

Since 1996 my main involvement and activity has been promoting
Permaculture within Mexico, although I have also taught in USA, England,
Japan and Australia, andlater this year will be touring with Robin
Clayfield through USA, UK, Gemany, Africa and back to Australia.



The cost of the course is $3,500 (pesos) per person, including lodging
and all meals. 

For details on Registration contact Arturo Farias, tel 52  5 294 8583,
fax 52 5 2948554, email advetrav@compuserve.com.mx. or email directly to
Skye on skye@tortuga.com

-- 
Skye - Apdo #391,Patzcuaro,Michoacan,Mexico.CP61600 
       Fax(caseta)52 434 23395
Permaculture Teacher & Designer  
Director - Instituto de Permacultura de Mexico AC
Workshops in Human Scale Development, 
  Community Economics, & Participatory Planning