Permaculture Courses and workshops 2010-11

PDC | Horticulture | APT | Workshops | Bookings

What is permaculture?

“What permaculturists are doing is the most important activity that any group is doing on the planet” David Suzuki

Permaculture is a design system for creating sustainable human environments. It aims to bring food production back to where people live and to develop new, sustainable ways of living in our cities and rural areas.

Northey Street City Farm provides its “living classroom” and experienced permaculturists to help people become confident and competent local food producers and earth healers.

Permaculture Design Course (PDC)

This exciting program gives you knowledge and skills for designing productive gardens and properties, growing your own food, applying appropriate technologies, using resources wisely, designing animal and plant systems to minimise your workload, rebuilding community values, and generally reducing your impact on our precious environment.

The Permaculture Design Course gives a good overview of permaculture principles and practice, with an emphasis on design. At Northey Street, we include significant hands-on practical experience as well.

Course Dates:
Choose from the following 2010-2011 courses:

• Fridays from 3 September to 10 December 2010, 9 am to 4.30 pm.
• A two-week intensive PDC each day from 18 September to 2 October 2010.
• Thursdays from 27 January to 5 May 2011.
• Saturdays and Mondays from 30 April to 13 June 2011

To qualify for a PDC, students need to attend all workshops including four permaculture design workshops, and complete a design project.

Additionally each participant will be assigned a permaculture plant to research, present to class, and prepare a dish with. Each student is required to design a property – their own or a friend’s or family’s – and present their design to class.

The Permaculture Design Course (PDC) includes

• What is permaculture?
• How permaculture design works and how to apply it to your property and situation
• Basic ecology, plant identification and how it relates to designing productive gardens and properties
• Understanding and improving your soil
• Water capture, control, use, re-use in permaculture systems
• Propagating your plants and seed saving
• Growing healthy vegetables and maintaining healthy gardens
• Managing pests and diseases organically
• Improving your soil with composting and worm farming
• Keeping poultry and how a wide variety of animals are incorporated into permaculture systems
• Sustainable city living walking tour
• Trees in permaculture design
• Thinking of a tree change hinterland tour
• Living sustainably using passive heating and cooling, sustainabe housing design, appropriate and renewable energy
• Building local permaculture communities

Further details about the PDC program (coming soon)

Enquiries, Bookings and Payment

Download the 2010-11 Permaculture Courses brochure (651 kb)

Organic Permaculture Gardening Course (Horticulture Certificate 2 units)

Design and create your organic sustainable home garden.

Join others learning in the relaxed atmosphere at Northey Street City Farm and other community gardens around Brisbane.

Each ten-week course is a self-contained group of nationally accredited units designed to improve your skills in a particular area of gardening.

Choose just one course to suit your needs and time. Then gradually add others if you wish. The classes are held on Saturdays, from 9 am to 3 pm.

1.  Delicious Organic Herb and Vegetable Garden
Starts Saturday 17 July 2010
Whether on a balcony or in a backyard, understand and improve the soil with compost and worm farming. Identify plant families for good companions and crop rotation. Plant and manage herbs and vegetables for year round harvests.

2. Grow Your Own Green Fingers Starts
Saturday 2 October 2010
Turn a single shrub into a hedge or grow just the right number of salad greens each month. Try those heritage seeds and learn to save and store your own. Learn more about the nursery industry.

3. Design the Backyard Blitz
Starts Saturday 29 January 2011
Learn to read and reshape your landscape for our subtropical climate and to get the most benefit and enjoyment from your space.

4. The Fruitful Urban Orchard
Starts Saturday 9 April 2011
Want to put many fruit trees on a small block? A skilled approach to selection, planting and pruning will increase your long-term success. Install water-wise irrigation and learn organic management of plant pests, diseases and disorders.

These four courses together lead to a full TAFE Certificate II in Horticulture over a 12 month period.

Further details about the Organic gardening course (coming soon)

Note that Organic Gardening Course fees are subject to confirmation: contact our office for fee and booking details, or enrol directly with TAFE by telephone on 131 248, or online at http://enrol.tafe.net

Enquiries, Bookings and Payment

Accredited Permaculture Training (APT) Internships

Periodically, NSCF may offer Accredited Permaculture Training (APT) programs, depending on demand.

These hands-on programs provide guided learning to help you apply permaculture on your own property or elsewhere.

NSCF’s APT3 (nationally accredited certificate level 3) program is for those who wish to gain in-depth practical experience of planning, installing and caring for permaculture gardens and orchards. It includes, and builds on, a Permaculture Design Course and provides hands-on experience to achieve competency in:

• assessing sites, including testing soil and water;
• designing gardens and orchards;
• planting and maintaining gardens and orchards;
• caring for animals;
• installing and maintaining water systems and structures;
• restoring natural areas;
• processing and storing the harvest; and
• obtaining and providing information on permaculture.

APT3 coursework and practical work, takes place on a number of days each week at NSCF.

Note: The entire program includes the Permaculture Design Course (PDC). PDC graduates within the past five years will be exempt from attending the PDC-specific sessions, but not the other sessions, providing suitable evidence of PDC training is available.

APT3 training is Centrelink and Austudy approved, and is conducted in partnership with Eltham College Training Services and Brisbane North Institute of TAFE Grovely, Registered Training Organisations.

Please call or email us to register your interest in participating in an APT course.

Further details about the APT3 program (coming soon)

Download the 2010-11 Permaculture Courses brochure (651 kb)

Workshops on Permaculture and Sustainable Living

In addition to the Organic Gardening Course, PDC and APT3, we offer an exciting range of sustainable living workshops.

Get passionate about establishing your own nutritious food garden, using sustainable building products, saving money, developing new skills and discovering old ones.

Herbs for health, bamboo harvesting and building, keeping chickens in your backyard, therapeutic gardening, cheese making, establishing and maintaining a healthy vege garden, cob oven building, propagation and seed saving, fermenting food, solar cooking, composting and worm farming are just some of the workshops on offer here at the Farm.

Spaces fill up fast for these popular, informative and fun workshops. Please book early to avoid disappointment

The workshop program is developed seasonally. The program is also somewhat dynamic and additional workshops may become available as opportunities arise. Please check back for new workshop postings, or sign up for our free monthly email update for news on the workshop program (sign-up form in right-hand column).

Winter 2010 workshop program

Saturday 10 July

9 – 12 Growing Healthy Vegetables – Limited places. Seasonal selection, crop rotation, companion planting and other ways to get the best out of your edible garden. Full-day fee if booked together with “Establishing and maintaining a vegetable garden” on the same day.

1.30 – 4.30 Establishing and maintaining a vegetable garden – Limited places. Learn how to build “no-dig” and other vegetable gardens, plant them out and maintain them. Full-day fee if booked together with “Growing healthy vegetables” on the same day.

Saturday 17 July

9 – 12 Pests and Diseases in plants – Limited places. Learn how to identify common pests and diseases in the garden and how to use organic methods to restore a healthy balance.

Saturday 24 July

9 – 12 Trees in Permaculture 2 – Limited places. Tree identification, care and design exercise. Learn how to identify many useful trees, how to care for them and where best to place them in the landscape. (Limited spaces). Full-day fee if booked together with “Trees in permaculture 1 – characteristics, functions and design applications” on 19 June.

1.30 – 4.30 Seed Saving – Limited places. Learn how to collect and store seeds. Skill up and create your own seed bank.

Saturday 31 July

1.30 – 4.30 Natural Cosmetics. Be beautiful naturally. Learn how to make your own body care cosmetics with fresh, natural ingredients from your garden in your own kitchen. Please bring a towel and two clean jars.

Saturday 7 August

9 – 12 Sustainable Housing and Renewable Energy – Limited places. Reduce your greenhouse gas emissions through good design and appropriate technology. Includes designing new houses and retrofitting existing ones. Full-day fee if booked together with “Sustainable city living walking tour” on the same day.

9 – 12 Bush Food. Sample some of the flavours of the Australian Bush – from bunya nuts, to lilly pillies, wattleseed and native spices – and learn some recipes to help you start to explore our unique native cuisine.

1.30 – 4.30 Sustainable Living Walking Tour – Limited places. Be inspired by visiting some interesting permaculture gardens and sustainable buildings in the inner city suburbs. (Limited spaces). Full-day fee if booked together with “Sustainable housing and renewable energy” on the same day.

Saturday 14 August

9 – 12 Growing Food in Small Spaces. Do you love to garden but have a small space? Would you like to make your balcony a productive food growing space? Plant a potted garden, learn some clever techniques and how to grow plants in your small space to feed your family.

1.30 – 4.30 Growing and Propagating Herbs. Herbs have a long history, a variety of uses, are an invaluable part of gardens and most are easy to grow. Learn about these fascinating plants, how to grow and propagate a variety of them.

1.30 – 4.30 Building a Local Permaculture Community – Limited places. Learn about and discuss where you live and how you move around. Discuss ‘Food miles’, globalisation vs re-localisation including case studies of re-localising communities. How to go about re-localising your community.

Saturday 21 August

9 – 12 Urban chooks: keeping chickens in your backyard. Learn how to keep healthy and happy chickens in your backyard for a supply of fresh eggs, garden work and entertainment.

9 – 4 Bamboo Construction. An Introduction to Bamboo, from cultivation to harvest and hands on skills in splitting, weaving, joining and constructing with this remarkable plant

7.30 – 5  Tree Change Bus Tour – Limited places. Be inspired by this tour of productive permaculture properties and organic farms in our rural hinterland.

Saturday 28 August

9 – 4 Fermenters Kitchen – Limited places. Expand your bacterial horizons, cultivate your prebiotic oligosaccharides and join us for a day of cultured beverages, foraged fruits, pickled veggies and other wild microbial wonders. In this hands-on workshop you’ll learn the art of traditional food processing and get to sample and enjoy healthy and nutritious fermented foods.

Saturday 4 September

1.30 – 4.30 Interesting Edible Plants. Discover delicious easy to grow, subtropical edible plants you wont find  in most nurseries. Learn what they are, how to grow them and cook with them.

9 – 4 Introduction to Permaculture. This two-day workshop (concluding Saturday 11 September) will introduce you to the basics of permaculture and how you can apply it to your daily life. It is also a great way to decide whether you’d like to continue with your permaculture design studies. Special offer: after completing a two-day Introduction to permaculture workshop, $100 full fee/$70 concession will be credited towards a booked and fully-paid PDC course that you enrol in.

Friday 10 September

1.30 – 4.30 Propagating your Plants – Limited places. Learn how to propagate useful plants from seeds, cuttings, tubers and root division.

Saturday 11 September

9 – 12 Designing a Productive Urban Space. Don’t know how to get started designing your urban space to produce  your own delicious, organic food? This workshop will get you started.

9 – 4 Introduction to Permaculture. This two-day workshop (commencing Saturday 4 September) will introduce you to the basics of permaculture and how you can apply it to your daily life. It is also a great way to decide whether you’d like to continue with your permaculture design studies. Special offer: after completing a two-day Introduction to permaculture workshop, $100 full fee/$70 concession will be credited towards a booked and fully-paid PDC course that you enrol in.

Friday 17 September

9 – 12 Understanding Your Soil – Limited places. Learn about soil, how to identify soil types and test for pH and structure. Full-day fee if booked together with “Improving your soil including composting and worm farming” on the same day.

1.30 – 4.30 Improving Your Soil, including Composting and Worm Farming – Limited places. Learn the art, science and mystery of creating lush compost and enlisting worms to enrich and revitalise your garden soil. Full-day fee if booked together with “Understanding your soil” on the same day.

Saturday 18 September

1.30 – 4.30 Herbs for Health. Throughout history people have used herbs to maintain health and well being. Discover the first aid kit in your own backyard – learn how to harvest and prepare herbs to make remedies for some common ailments.

Saturday 25 September

9.30 – 12.30 Cheese making for cheese lovers: discover the magic of curds and whey – Limited places. Learn the ancient secrets of preserving milk by making your own ricotta and Indian paneer cheeses. An enjoyable afternoon of hand-on learning followed by a tasting session of local cheeses to inspire you.

1.30 – 4.30  Cheese making for cheese lovers: discover the magic of curds and whey – Limited places. Learn the ancient secrets of preserving milk by making your own ricotta and Indian paneer cheeses. An enjoyable afternoon of hand-on learning followed by a tasting session of local cheeses to inspire you.

Dates to be determined

Cob Oven Building. Learn how to build a versatile, efficient earth oven for baking, roasting, and even oven-drying foods. During this hands-on workshop we will actually build an oven. Note: there may be opportunity for a participant to nominate their own site for the build. If having your oven built for you during the workshop appeals to you, please indicate your interest and we’ll forward you details of what you will need to provide and organise – Book your place now – put your name on our wait list

Designing and building a portable chook house (tractor). Learn how to build a light-weight, portable chicken coop (tractor) using readily-available, low-cost materials, to help you in your garden. During this hands-on workshop we will build a chicken tractor and you’ll learn how to customise it to your own requirements – Book your place now – put your name on our wait list

Enquiries, Bookings and Payment

Enquiries, Bookings and Payment

Phone: 07 3857 8775 (9am-4pm, Tue-Fri)
Email: info@nscf.org.au

Bookings for PDC require payment of a deposit of $300 ($240 conc.) There is a discount for payment in full by one month prior to course commencement. Monthly payment of course fees may be arranged by negotiation.

Book for PDCs and workshops by calling our office Tuesday to Thursday between 9.30 am and 4 pm.

Course & Workshop Fees

*Health Care Card holder

Organic Permaculture Gardening Course (Horticulture Level 2 units) fees are subject to confirmation: contact our office for fee and booking details, or enrol directly with TAFE for the Organic Gardening Course only by telephone on 131 248, or online at http://enrol.tafe.net

Download Booking Form
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Thank you for supporting Northey Street City Farm!

PDC | Horticulture | APT | Workshops | Bookings

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