permaculture

[Michael Pilarski <friendsofthetrees@yahoo.com>]

PERMACULTURE DESIGN COURSES
The Balance Between Universality and Uniqueness
Some thoughts by Michael Pilarski
 
There are many similarities between pdcs and most all of
them tout that they are delivering the Bill Mollison curriculum. The ones that
offer certification in particular take pains to keep a lot of the original
curriculum.  In truth, every single
permaculture design course in unique, even by the same instructor because the
students change. The majority of pdcs are structured to focus on the climate
zone and culture in which the course is held.  For instance, when I teach a 
course in Missoula, Montana,
the course has a focus on the inland northwest climates, landforms, soils and
biomes and Montanan society. We also look specifically at the ethnobotany and
life ways of the interior Salish and other tribes from the region. I have
taught four courses in the Hawaiian Islands and they focus on subtropical
climates, soils, landforms and the biomes of Hawaii and Hawaiian ethnobotany.
 
PDCs cater to the climate and culture that the participants
are from. That said, a permaculture course worth its salt will be useful for
people working in any climate or culture on earth.  In other words, pdcs were 
set up to have universality.  The plants may change, the soils might
be different, each culture is different but the permaculture ethics, 
principles
and methodology are universal in their application.  That is what a pdc 
teaches first and foremost. 
 
The curriculum developed early on by Bill Mollison has
remained the standard for pdcs today. The first pdc was held in 1980 in
Australia.  When I took my first
course in 1982 (with Bill Mollison and Andrew Jeeves) the standard pdc
curriculum was already developed and has changed little over the years. The
standard course curriculum addresses all the major climate zones and parts of
the world. Tropical, subtropical, warm temperate and cold temperate.
Strategies, plants, animals, housing styles, and techniques for each major
climate zone.  This is impressive.
Some pdcs still aim to do this, particularly international pdcs.
 
That said, it is a difficult thing to deliver and few
teachers can really do it justice like Bill Mollison could.  Most pdcs 
include a few sessions on
other climate zones, but for the most part pdcs world round focus on the
climate zone and the culture(s) the participants come from. This is a good
thing. Permaculture is very much about diversity, decentralization and
localization. 
 
You can view the standard course curriculum online at Scott
Pittman’s Permaculture Institute USA website. Go to
http://www.permaculture.org/nm/index.php/site/professional_practise_pages  
and click on Permaculture Design Certificate
Course Handbook. I adapt the standard curriculum for my course curriculum to
make it place-based, but I always consult the standard curriculum to make sure
I don’t leave any topics out. 
 
I recommend that people do some research before deciding
where to take their first pdc and with what instructor(s). Most likely you 
will
want to take a pdc in the climate zone you live in, locally adapted so to
speak.  Closer is better than
farther in most cases, but some people travel quite a distance to take a pdc
with a particular instructor(s). For some people cost is a factor in their
choice.  For people who have the
time and the money, I would recommend taking a number of pdcs with different
teachers and even in different climates.  I have now gone through 36 full 
pdcs and sat in (or guest taught at) many
more, mostly in the US and Canada. Nepal, Belize and the Hawaiian Islands have
been my subtropical pdcs.  I learn
lots at each new pdc and I am always learning and evolving between pdcs. This
means my courses evolve as well.  This will be a certified pdc, certified by 
the respected Cascadia
Permaculture Institute. 


PERMACULTURE DESIGN COURSE with MICHAEL PILARSKI, August
3-16, 2013
 
Okanogan Valley, north-central Washington. An opportunity to
take a pdc with the Inland Northwest’s leading permaculture teacher. 
Early-bird price of $1,000 extended until July 7. 
 
Probably no better investment at today’s point in history.
Learn how to grow food in climate extremes. Learn how to work with nature to
create bio-diverse, fully functioning ecosystems that are biologically and
economically productive. Permaculture has solutions!
 
Plant walks, design teams, field trips, hands-on, and
internet resources are all part of the agenda for the course.  
 
Lots to see at the course venue.  Including a 6-year old permaculture forest 
garden that
Michael Pilarski installed in 2008.
Check out the youtubes of Michael Pilarski at the course
venue.
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-o2kVOyE5Ww
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBmTe9oZNFc
  
I have spent most of my life in the Pacific Northwest and am
very familiar with both the wet maritime and the semi-arid interior Northwest
bioregions.  Right now I am trying
to fill my August 3-16 course in the Okanogan valley of North-central 
Washington.
This is an opportunity to take a pdc from an instructor with deep knowledge of
the Northwest biomes and land at a site where there are lots of permaculture
plantings to look at and work in. The 200-acre site has been under development
since 1972 and I started putting in plantings there six years ago. You can
taste the productivity during the course. And the course is a reasonable fee 
of
$1,000. Most pdcs are more expensive. 
 
We are keeping the early bird price of $1,000 until July 7
(the poster says June 1). Please help us fill this course.  Are you 
interested?  Who do you know who may be interested?
Please email friends, list-serves or like the event on Facebook.
 
If you have any questions about the course content you can
call me (Michael Pilarski) at 406-741-5809. 
 
If you have questions about payment, registration, worktrade
or facilities call Joseph Willging  at 360-913-2242.
 
PS. Joseph is looking for an intern at the Okanogan
permaculture farm where the course is being held.  Would anyone be interested 
in taking the course and staying
on as an intern?
>From forestgarden@gvtc.com  Fri Jun 28 16:19:42 2013
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Date: Fri, 28 Jun 2013 15:12:12 -0500
From: Marjory Wildcraft <forestgarden@gvtc.com>
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Subject: [permaculture] 6th Annual Bug Eating Festival
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If someone could please forward this to other groups - I would sure
appreciate it!

Marjory


Bring the kids! Bring yourself!
But leave everything you've been taught about good table manners at home.

*We're gonna eat bugs!*

Entomophogy...The worldwide practice of eating insects (and spiders)
Big fat juicy ones, wee little skinny ones, we're all gonna eat bugs.

Why not do it in a fun and friendly environment -- you never know when
you might really need it....

Marjory Wildcraft, Allen Davisson, and Robert Allen will again be
teaming up to create an amazing evening that you and your kids will be
remember for the rest of your lives. If you have a camera, bring it! We
will be preparing tasty treats of grasshoppers, crickets, spiders,
katydids, bees, wasps, wormy things and if we're lucky, a scorpion or two.

This will be a BYOB (Bring Your Own Bugs to share) party so start
catching them early so we have lots! They can be stored in a bag in the
freezer until the festival, but get an early start so we have a swarm.

This will also be a 'normal' potluck so bring a dish of ordinary food to
share. Bring a dish large enough to feed 8 hungry people.

  * *June Bugs* are out now around the lights at night.... bag lots of
    them + freeze em.
  * *Grasshoppers, crickets, katydids...* keep them alive overnight so
    they get a chance to "purge" then freeze em.
  * *Wasp nests...* into a jar with the whole nest... NOTHING will be
    wasted.
  * *Wolf Spiders...* put on a headlamp and their eyes glow like green
    laser emeralds at night. They taste like chicken but they'll eat
    each other so keep em separate.
  * *Grubs...*new on our menu this year... not for the faint of heart.
  * *Mealworms....* Usually from the pet store but we wouldn't want to
    miss em!
  * *Scorpions* -- yum, yum, the best of the flavors -- bring as many as
    you can. They show up yellow at night under a black light.

Bring any other insects you find and we will put Alan to the test to see
if he knows the edibility of it.  Last year, the kids brought a walking
stick and munched it down.  Ooossshh.

The Bug Festival is held at Zilker Park in the Rock Garden Picnic area
(just a bit above the hill where the outdoor amphitheater is).  We are
starting at 7:00pm and go until almost dark. Saturday June 29th. Yup,
the *really interesting* people will be there.

This is all you need to bring to the event your family will talk about
for years to come:

  * Bugs!
  * Potluck dish of "normal" food for 8 hungry people
  * Your own beverages (no glass bottles), but alcohol is allowed (and
    Marjory's husband highly recommends lots of beer)
  * A good story or joke
  * An open mind
  * $5 for each grown-up (at the door)
  * kids under 12 free

More info about our crazy projects at www.GrowYourownGroceries.org

PS:  Rumor is we might have a bluegrass band playing during the evening
too!6th Annual Bug Eating Festical