permaculture

[Pacific Edge Permaculture <pacedge@magna.com.au>]

on 6/7/00 10:11 AM, rick valley at bamboogrove@cmug.com wrote:

>> Regarding weekend courses, we have found that-
>> - students get to know each other well over the 18 to 19 days (mainly
>> Sundays) of the course and have formed friendships, meeting socially (the
>> course are longer than the usual 14 days because we have more in them and
>> because we have found that the 14 day courses are too rushed, allow too
>> little student interaction and groupwork and do not acquaint students with
>> critical skills such as group skills and project management concepts)
>> 
>> - participants meet in non-course time, during the week, to work on their
>> group assignments which are a required part of course assessment
>> 
>> - the outcome appears to be sound in an educational sense.
> 
> So it appears your weekend courses are longer than those given in the US-
> which are usually 10 to 12 days only. Too rushed by far!

Yes, we include people skills and other material as well as introductory
project management concepts. The courses are taught be a team of experienced
people each of whom bring their own perspectives to permaculture design.
They include a planner and landscape architect, an anthropologist, a
builder, a professional facilitator/group worker, a local government worker
(versed in local government development planning and related matters), a
waste educator and a journalist/overseas development worker.


> Do you include group meals in your weekend courses?

On the two weekends we spend out of Sydney on a rural cooperative on the
Southern Highlands (about an hour and a half's drive south of Sydney) we
have catered meals - delicious Indonesian food prepared by a Javanese
caterer (whose husband did our PDC and who specialises in tropical forest
foods).

During our meetings in Sydney, the students set up teams which prepare food
beforehand and cook/ heat it at the centre depending on time needed to do
this (the teams also prepare their design assignments and monitor compost
changes over the duration of the course). The team tries to source organic,
minimally packaged ingredients and explain how they did this to the class
before we eat. This fits in with the waste minimisation education material
in the course and focuses on how and where such ingredients may be obtained
(this fits the food systems component of the course where we learn about
organic gardening, community gardens, food coops and other sources of food).
> 
...Russ Grayson

---------------------
PACIFIC EDGE
Permaculture & Media
Russ Grayson and Fiona Campbell

PO Box 446, Kogarah NSW 2217 AUSTRALIA
Phone/ fax   02-9588 6931   (IDD-61+2+9588 6931)
Email: pacedge@magna.com.au
WWW: http://www.magna.com.au/~pacedge/

PERMACULTURE/ COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT: permaculture education + Community
Gardens Network (NSW contact) + organic gardening training + overseas
development aid project services.
MEDIA: publication design + desktop publishing services  + website design &
content production + journalism/ photojournalism.