Our Urban Permaculture Design Course is coming up fast in July, and is shaping to be pretty special. Leading the learning will be the awesome Hannah Moloney, supported by Nick Ritar and none other that the co-originator of Permaculture, David Holmgren.
The great thing about this teaching team is the breadth of experience and enthusiasm they bring to share with students of urban permaculture design – Hannah is a long-time urban community cultivator, Nick’s focus is the small farm / urban permaculture resurgence, and David Holmgren, well, he’s David Holmgren. Need we say more. But we will.
Hannah in her most recent rental home garden in Hobart, Tasmaina
We’re really proud to be working with Hannah Moloney as the lead teacher. Hannah has been working in community renewal and practical permaculture for over 10 years, and is a positive force to be rekoned with.
One of the things we like best about Hannah is her ability to teach, without telling. She has this marvelous ability to draw the existing knowledge in the room out of students who didn’t even realise they knew that much, and before you know it, you’ve figured out the solution to the question.
Hannah is also a doer. If you look at her body of work, this becomes quite apparent – she’s not just throwing about theoretical solutions to community renewal and neighbourhood food security, or nutrient cycling, or resilience.
This girl had walked the walk. And we LOVE that in an educator. Inspiration for us all.
Nick making hot thermophilic compost with Urban PDC students
Joining Hannah will be Nick Ritar. Nick probably doesn’t need much introduction on this blog, as he co-founded Milkwood as a social enterprise, farm and network.
Nick’s focus is resilient, intelligent systems and design. Making things work together – geese and sheep, solar energy and tinyhouses, chooks and fruit trees.
And also principles. How and why different kinds of biomimicry works. How to apply patterns from nature for use in the home, in the backyard and in the back lane.
Originally an engineer by training, Nick is amazing at breaking down dauntingly large concepts, stats and projects into simple blocks, so that they’re very understandable. And if you understand, you can design your way towards a solution. And then do it. Whether we’re talking backyard chicken house, DIY solar hot water system or urban farm nutrient cycling, it’s all about good design.
David Holmgren with his Partner Su Dennett on the permaculture small-acre homestead they’ve been developing these last 20+ years
David Holmgren is the co-originator of Permaculture, alongside Bill Mollison. We love working with David partly because of his gigantic brain, but also because of his energy and enthusiasm to share what he knows with others.
David will be guest teaching on this PDC and covering the permaculture principles he has set out. These permaculture principles are simple yet hugely powerful concepts that enable the everyday application of permaculture to the homestead scale and beyond.
Catch and store energy. Design from pattern to details. Use edges and value the marginal. Obtain a yield. And so on…
We will also be drawing on David’s extensive knowledge of weeds and wild nature – what does the probable future hold for our notions of wilderness? Should, when planning for resilience, we take a different attitude to weeds? These questions may seem odd, but they form part of our future, as climates change and plant species migrate…
Milkwood PDC students exploring Michele’s Marrickville verge garden…
Plus, there will be field trips! A tour of Urban Permaculture in Action – rocking verge gardens, urban food forests, appropriate technology and more.
And of course, all of this learning will happen smack-bang in the center of Sydney, at the wonderful community center we call our Sydney education home. Its flourishing veggie and forest gardens, DIY aquaponics system, native beehive and all the rest make for a beautiful setting for learning, thinking and doing.
Milkwood students in the community garden that wraps around our Sydney classroom
So if you’re ready to take on 2 weeks of Urban Permaculture design thinking, designing and doing, please join us! The class is half full already, and the early bird price finishes on the 18th May.
Urban Permaculture Design course: July 2013: Sydney NSW
Milkwood PDC student design for a wicking bed – simple, affordable solutions to everyday needs…
I would love to attend of of these, maybe I can find something in St. Louis.