Subject: Permaculture Internships - Australia

From: [email-masked] (David de Vries)
Date: Fri, 27 Feb 1998 16:20:36 +1100

Nine week Permaculture Internship based at the Permaculture Research
Institute, Tyalgum, Tweed Valley, Australia.

Easter Course beginning 13th April, 1998
Full Moon Course beginning 4th Sept, 1998

To quote Skye:
" The minimum of 72 hours for the Design Certificate Course is obviously
barely sufficient to scratch the surface of what is possible. Many
participants leave theses courses with a sense of being overwhelmed, and
have difficulty deciding where to start. Often this is accentuated by
need to integrate the new concepts into everyday life. To accomplish
this, many people often soon find the time visit other Permaculture
projects, to live at those projects, or to going WWOOFing.

While the Internship, will not solve all these issues, it will enable
people to make the necessary integration and adjustments in a more
gentle, supportive manner."

Design Certificate Course

This is the full Permaculture Design Certificate curriculum permitting you
to undertake consulting and teaching work.

        'Easter Course'
1) 11-13 Apr - Easter weekend
2) 1-4 May - Qld Labour Day
3) 6,7 Jun - Queen's Birthday.

        'Full Moon Course'
1) 4-6 Sep
2) 2-5 Oct - NSW Labour Day
3) Oct 31, Nov 1.

Weekends 1 and 3 are at the  Institute using examples from the outstanding
food forest, water management, aquaculture and broad scale regeneration
systems in place.
Weekend 2 is spent visiting some of the exciting permaculture farms and
developments in the region.
Between these weekends, you get homework and further reading material
covering 50% of the full course.

Basic Course: A$750
Includes food, board, Permaculture Designers Manual by Bill Mollison and
further reading.

Internship: A$950
Full course + Full board for 9 weeks.
Living, working and learning on permaculture properties in our region.
Study facilities provided.

The Teaching Team

David de Vries
BSc, PhD, PDC
David is an experienced university lecturer and medical researcher.
Through his position on the Board of the Permaculture Research Institute,
Tyalgum, he is developing research programs directed at demonstrating and
extending our knowledge of sustainable practises.  Combining his experience
in adult education and his passion for permaculture, he has designed and
will co-ordinate the correspondence component of the course.

Geoff Lawton
Dip Pc
Geoff has 10 years of permaculture teaching experience in 8 countries
particularly Brazil where he has projects developing permaculture at both
the indigenous people and governmental levels.  In 1998 he has taken over
the management of the 50 Ha research and demonstration farm of the
Permaculture Research Institute.  Geoff will teach several components of
the design course including his favourite, earthworks.

Tim Winton
BA PDC
Tim has founded the PermaForest Institute at his property adjacent to
Border Rangers National Park where he is applying his many years experience
in forestry techniques to developing permanent forest models combining
sustainability, complexity and right livelihoods.

Jude Fanton
DipPc
As co-founder with her partner, Michel, of the Seed Savers Network, Jude
has established an organisation which has an essential national and
international role in safeguarding our food security.  Jude will present
the biodiversity component of the course using examples of her work through
Australia, Oceania and SE Asia.

Robyn Francis
Dip PC
Robyn has a wealth of experience in her 14 years as a permaculture designer
and educator.  We will visit her property, Djanbung Gardens and learn about
her demonstration farm, her vision for human settlements and work around
the world.

Erwin Weber
BscArch, BArch, PDC
Erwin has been developing his expertise in sustainable design systems over
18 years from his 69 Ha property near Chillingham.  We will visit Erwin,
see his autonomous house designed on active/passive solar principles and
sacred geometry, as well as buildings demonstrating a variety of natural
materials and building methods set amongst food forests and rainforest
regeneration.  You are invited to stay overnight and share your design
philosophies.

Jan Sinclair
BA, PDC
Jan operates, Mother Nature's Bush Tucker, specialising in the design and
establishment of indigenous landscapes, from her property at North
Tumbulgum.  At our overnight stay at her property we will tour her food
forests and sample some of the local and exotic produce.

Lisa Cunial
BSc, PDC
Lisa will demonstrate the progress towards self-sufficiency at Jarlanbah
Permaculture Hamlet including innovative composting toilets and poultry
systems.

Paul Boulter
PDC
Paul's commitment to permaculture and qualifications as a fire-fighter have
combined to make him acutely aware of the impact of catastrophes and the
role of thoughtful design in minimising risks.

The Area

The area has been a mecca for alternative lifestyle seekers for over 30
years featuring a landscape relatively protected by rugged volcanic
mountains, a subtropical climate and proximity to excellent surf beaches.
In recent years permaculturists have begun making a significant impact on
the social and biological makeup the region.  Most notably, Bill Mollison
who moved the Institute to its current site 9 years ago.

For local attractions and map, see:
http://www.bigvolcano.com.au/index.html

Summary

This course offers a unique opportunity for anyone wishing to undertake
a study of Permaculture.  This course offers the opportunity to see food
forests, permaculture village, forest ecology regeneration and to meet the
people that make it happen.  Small scale and broad scale - permaculture in
action.

All your questions answered.

For information on old-fashioned 2 week intensive PDC courses, contact:
Permaculture Research Institute
Box 1, Tyalgum
2484
[email-masked]

For further information on Internships, please contact me:
Box 209, Uki
2484
[email-masked]

David

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From: Marsha Hanzi <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 27 Feb 1998 05:42:42 -0800

David-

	Geoff Laughton does NOT have projects in Brazil.  He co-taught three
courses here  (two with me and Ali Sharif one with Ali and my colleague
Marcio Armando).  As he  is arrogant and offends the local people, he
was only invited back because of ALi`s INSISTANCE that he come, against
the resistance of everyone who knew him in the previous two courses.  At
the end of the third course  it was decided that "we don`t need gringos
here in Brazil any more".  He is competent in earthmoving strategies,
yes, although  in the last course he ignored local understanding of
conditions and had to be corrected by local engineers.
Al his courses are accompanied by tension and fighting-- something which
never happens in the Permaculture movement here -- even with Ali, even
though they have often co-taught.  So please modify his CV which is
misleading and offensive to the Permaculture movement in Brazil.

---

From: Fiona Campbell + Russ Grayson <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 01 Mar 1998 19:14:28 +1200

David de Vries wrote:
> " The minimum of 72 hours for the Design Certificate Course is obviously barely sufficient to scratch the surface of what is possible. Many participants leave these courses with a sense of being overwhelmed, and have difficulty deciding where to start.<

I can only agree with this. Perhaps the sense of being overwhelmed and
confused explains why many PDC graduates simply fade form the
permaculture scene.

>Often this is accentuated by the need to integrate the new concepts into everyday life. To accomplish this, many people often soon find the time visit other Permaculture projects, to live at those projects, or to going WWOOFing.<

Some of our graduates have gone wooffing and visiting other permaculture
projects after completing a PDC and say that it was a worthwhile
experience.  

For the many people who simply cannot take time off work, study or
family commitments, the problem of integrating their new knowledge into
life certainly does present a problem. 

It presents less of a problem for out PDC students because our 18 day
courses are run on weekends, mainly on Sundays but a few Saturdays too.
Students have reported that this format allows them to review and take
in the information as well as to consolidate bonds of friendship which
develop with other students.
> gentle, supportive manner."<

Yes, it should. It's good you're experimenting with internships. The
idea has been talked about in Australia but there has seldom been the
capacity to follow through, particularly in the cities. I believe that
the only other internships available have been those offered by Robyn
Francis at Permaculture Education in Nimbin. Congradulations for your
initiative - I hope it works.

The Australian City Farms and Community Gardens Network has also been
asked about internships and working visits by overseas people but the
problem of capacity to cope with this again arises.

It seems that issues of locating where peopple could work, the capacity
of different gardens to accommodate them, accommodation needs to be
thought out. 

To accommodate interns in the city in community garden or permaculture
situations would be a positive move because the cities are becoming the
focus of human settlement on the Earth and because they are such
resource sinks. If we are to have a habitable, sustainable planet then
it is imperative that the cities receive a great deal more permaculture
attention than they do at present.

>This is the full Permaculture Design Certificate curriculum permitting you to undertake consulting and teaching work.<

I think that this might be the case where the student has some
preexisting skill to marry the permaculture knowledge to.

For people without this preexisting knowledge, going out to teach,
consult and design can bring problems. Poor work reflects poorly on
permaculture when done in the public sphere.

Whether we like it or not, the issue of perceptions of credibility does
affect permaculture. 

While we as a social movement (or whatever we are) might understand what
it is that new consultants are trying to do and what they are capable of
doing, decision makers in local government and other organisations
permaculturists deal with, as well as people in the design professions,
question our capabilities and base their decisions affecting
permaculture participation in a project on what they believe is within
our capacity to accomplish.

It is these people who make the decisions on whether a permaculture
community based project is allocated resources such as funds or public
land for its implementation. Their decision will be based on the
perceptions of permaculture they hold and these will have been
influenced on permaculture projects they have seen implemented. 

How do we deal with this? 

In our courses we graduate people as permaculture trainees. We encourage
them to then go out and gain experience. This may take the form of
further study, perhaps in a particular area in which permaculture
principles can be applied. It might also be implementing their own small
scale projects where they can do no harm or working with other
permaculturists to gain the necessary experience. We then encourage
them, after two years of applied and documented work in one or more
areas to apply to us for a diploma of permaculture design.

Good luck with your internships.

...Russ Grayson

-- 
PACIFIC EDGE PERMACULTURE
Russ Grayson and Fiona Campbell
PO Box 446, Kogarah NSW 2217 AUSTRALIA

Phone   02-9588 6931    (IDD-61+2+9588 6931)
Fax     9514 2611 (Mark fax: ATTN: RUSS GRAYSON - APACE) 
          (IDD-61+2+9514 2611)
Email: [email-masked]

Permaculture education, publishing, design. 
NSW co-ordinator, Australian City Farms and Gardens Network.

---

From: Marsha Hanzi <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 27 Feb 1998 05:42:42 -0800

David-

---

From: Fiona Campbell + Russ Grayson <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 01 Mar 1998 19:14:28 +1200

...Russ Grayson