PERMACULTURE IV VSS107

Take the Final Step into Permaculture: Learn to design and manage a comprehensive permaculture system.
 
There are ten lessons taking about 100 hours to complete

Learn how to bring together all aspects of permaculture, into design and management of a comprehensive and balanced system.

Permaculture takes inspiration from the natural habitat where plants tend to grow in the following relationships:

  1. The "Upper story trees" can grow to over 100 ft tall, though they are often shorter.
  2. The "Understorey Trees" grow below the branches of the upper story, in some degree of shading, at 
    least during part of the day.
  3. The "Seedling Tree" protected in it's early life by the mature trees.
  4. The "Shrubs" growing below the trees.
  5. The ground covers, herbaceous perennials, annuals, mosses and other very low plants.

In permaculture terms this relationship is termed as "stacking". The plants used in stacking is termed as "Guild".

Stacking also can refer to the careful selection of plants in the design. For example, how are the following plants stacked?: plants that supply nitrogen; plants that use nitrogen; plants that repel insects, plants that climb using other plants for support. How careful are the guilds selected?.

Successions occur in nature, whereby the type of vegetation changes in an area, over a period of time, as the environment is affected by the plants and animals living in it

 


Course Content and Structure
There are ten lessons in this course

1. Overview of Permaculture: Advantages of permaculture, review of different systems.
2. Buildings & Permaculture: The alternatives (e.g. houses, sheds, greenhouses).
3. Buildings and Permaculture : Integration into the environment.
4. Waste Disposal -Effluent systems, animal waste, manure, weeds, etc.
5. Recycling -Timber, prunings, mulching, composting, etc.
6. Designing for natural disasters -Fire, storms, floods, etc.
7. Natural Watering -Swales, windmills, etc.
8. Indigenous plants and animals -Problems, advantages, wildlife, conservation, etc.
9. Preparing management & development plans.
10.Major design project -production of a full scale permaculture design.

Course Duration - 100 hours