PDC Info for interested participants 2012

Full Permaculture Design course, PDC + an advanced Permaculture skills certificate 147hrs starts Tuesday 28th Feb 2012 & each Tues 9.00-3.00 pm@ Emerald for the first day then 9-4.00pm when at my "Telopea Mtn" classroom plus on 5 Sat or Sun------ final day late July .

"see typical topics list below for this course"

cost is still only $495 full fee due to the Govt funding but we will be limited to 20 students and will be followed by a night 91hr PDC class as well at Emerald in 2012.

Call Emerald community house on 5968 3881 to book an early place or call me for more info on 0418 665 880 you can also book & pay online via the Emerald community house website

Note Feb class for 1012 is already 1/2 full in Aug 2011

PDC Info for interested participants

What is a PDC ?
A “Permaculture Design Certificate”, started as an intense 72hr course developed from the “Permaculture- A designers manual” written by Bill Mollison and published by Tagari Press in 1988. this followed the work of the co-originators of Permaculture,
Bill Mollison & David Holmgren that started in the early 70’s in Tasmania.

Bill still runs a 72 hr course (for $1600-1850 with no visits) in Melb once a year (2008)
In Victoria this has progressed to a syllabus written for South East Australia by the Permaculture Melbourne Victorian educators group (VEG.) over the last ten years.
We will use this syllabus for our 147hr course

By completing a PDC you would cover the concepts and could then practice and teach Permaculture as people have now done all over the world. now with the Nationally "Acreddited Permaculture Training" ( APT) you can apply for RPL- RCC to convert my course into units towards Cert III, IV or Diploma in Permaculture (with some additional homework), this works well with Hort and other similar studies as well.

Who would benefit from completing a PDC ?
Simple answer is anyone.
 Whether you just wish to expand your knowledge.
 You may be a student in a related discipline you will find it beneficial to see things from another side of your chosen field.(ie Horticulture, Agriculture, Social sciences, Environmental pursuits, Scientist or Teaching)
 Any household in suburbia wouldbenifit from better design of space and resourse use
 It is an essential prerequisite to anyone contemplating a rural property purchase or a Conversion to Organic or Bio-Dynamic farming.
 Or even starting and operating a business.

There are no age, social, political, ethnic or spiritual barriers, no slick sales talks or people trying to convert you to something.
You may bring any past experiences, Spiritual belief or anything else with you to the course and should find no conflict with integrating it into your life.

How is the course conducted ?
The guidelines we run by are rooted in the “Ethics of Permaculture”
 Care of the earth,
 Care of the people,
 Set limits to consumption and reproduction, and redistribute surplus.

The course will cover essential topics including design tools and principles;
it will also involve site visits to see examples.
It will also draw on the large volume of knowledge that is usually present
within the participants of a course on an enormous array of subjects.

Why do a PDC ?
It is this last point that consolidates the value of attending a PDC as opposed
to reading the growing volume of publications produced over the last 30 years now available on the subject.
The conversations in the breaks often yield the most answers to your
individual questions.

This program of topics is from the  2009-  2 certificate course, the sequence varies yearly due to Tutor availablilty plus it has to fit around the many commitments we and the visitor properties have in Permaculture or Heritage Fruits Society