Schedule: Spokane Permaculture Design Course

January 14 edition

Note: This is the first draft of the course curriculum/schedule. It will undergo some revision as new information becomes available. Many more topics besides those listed here will come up. Since permaculture is such an integrated systems approach the topics will not be so compartmentalized as this schedule looks. The inter-relationships between various topics means that many things will come up over and over again during the course. We recommend day-people call ahead if they want to attend certain parts of the curriculum as this schedule will change to adapt to unforeseen circumstances and participants’ inputs.

You can also download a printable version (link at bottom), but save a tree if you can live without a paper copy.

Weekends: General Schedule

Fridays: 5:00-6:00 pm. Dinner for those who wish.

Fridays: 6:30-8:30. Evening presentation.

Saturdays

Check-in: 8:00-9:00 am

Morning session 9:00-12:00

Lunch 12:00-1:00

Afternoon Session 1:00-5:00

Dinner period 5:00-7:00

Evening session 7:00-9:00

Sundays

Morning session 9:00-12:00 am (Usually a field trip and/or hands-on).

Lunch 12:00-1:00

Afternoon Session 1:00-5:00

Weekends: Specific Schedule

January 20-22. Weekend #1

January 20, Friday evening:

Lecture: Permaculture Principles and Ethics. Local and Global Solutions.

January 21 – Saturday

Morning Session: Course introduction. Participants introductions.

Afternoon Session: Permaculture principles. Zone and Sector analysis and design.

Evening session – Permaculture movie night. Bill Mollison, Sepp Holzer, Amelia Hazelip, others.

January 22- Sunday

Morning session: Walk around the local neighborhood to visit sights of interest and local properties that we will work on during the course.

Afternoon session: Humid and arid landscapes, landforms, microclimates, elevational planning.

February 3-5. Weekend #2

February 3 - Friday evening:

Lecture: Ethnoecology, Native Food Webs, Invasive Plants and Restoration Ecology

February 4 - Saturday

Morning session: Water & permaculture. Keyline System of Soil & Water Management.

Afternoon session: Collecting and storing water, rooftop catchment, rain gardens, tanks, swales, gabions, contour terraces, earthworks, grey water, irrigation.

Evening session: Ponds and aquaculture; a slide show. Aquaculture by Sepp Holzer video. Discussion.

February 5 - Sunday

Morning session: Field trip to local wild ecosystems. Walkabout and meet the plants. Patterns in nature.

Observation exercize.

Afternoon session: Permaculture methodology. Site analysis. Mapping. Design teams meet.

February 17-19. Weekend #3

February 17 - Friday evening:

4:15 – 5:15. Dinner for those who wish.

5:30. Spokane Permaculture Seed Swap opens

6:30 -7:30 Lecture: Regional Seed and Food Self-Sufficiency: A Permaculture Perspective.

7:30 – 8:30 Seed swap continues.

February 18 - Saturday

Morning session: Soils, soil building, vermiculture, fungi, soil inoculants, composting, mulch, sheet mulch,

Afternoon session: Gardening methods,hugelkulturs, forest biomass, human waste. Greenhouses and season extenders.

Design teams meet.

Evening session:

February 19 - Sunday

Morning session: Gardening hands-on in a local neighborhood yard.

Afternoon session: Fruit and nut trees. Windbreaks & hedgerows. Plant establishment through the zones, propagation, seeding, tree planting, etc.

March 2-4. Weekend #4

During this weekend we plan on having several experienced people join us including Deborah Berman, Maurice Robinette, Seth Williams and a local beekeeper.

March 2 - Friday evening:

Lecture: Integrating Animals into Urban and Rural Landscapes.

March 3 - Saturday

Morning session: Small livestock, chickens, etc

Afternoon session: Large livestock. Pasture management. Grazing/range management. Holistic Resource Management.

Design teams meet.

Evening session:

March 4 - Sunday

Morning session: Field trip to be determined.

Afternoon session: Wild animals. Beekeeping. Integrated pest management.

March 16-18. Weekend #5

Richard Merrill, Larry Kulick and others will be guest presenters this weekend.

March 16 - Friday evening:

Lecture: Permaculture and the built infrastructure, natural building, and energy systems.

March 17 - Saturday

Morning session: Energy strategies. Solar, wind, hydropower, ethanol, biofuels, etc.

Afternoon session: Natural building. A permaculture approach to dwellings, building materials and retrofits.

Design teams meet.

Evening session:

March 18 - Sunday

Morning session: Robert Merrill will lead a hands-on project.

Afternoon session: Urban Permaculture. Design for catastrophe. Emergency preparedness. Design for slums and refugee camps.

March 30-April 1. Weekend #6

March 30 - Friday evening:

Lecture: Permaculture & the Invisible Structures: Community, Economics, Governance.

March 31 - Saturday

Morning session: Ecovillages, intentional communities, kin’s domains.

Afternoon session: Permaculture in the tropics and subtropics.

Design teams meet.

Evening session: Perma-Culture Talent Show. Poetry, performances, music, skits, etc by participants.

April 1 - Sunday

Morning session: Design teams presentations on the design sites.

Afternoon session: Design teams presentations.

Where do we go from here. Parting Remarks

SPECIES REPORTS

Each person going for certification is to research and write a report for at least one plant or animal species. How it fits into permaculture systems, uses, ecological functions, growing conditions, traditional uses, etc. You will have a 3-minute presentation period to present your report to the group during the 2^nd half of the course.

DESIGN TEAMS

The design team projects start on the 2^nd weekend. Each team will prepare a design with map, time-lines and species lists for their project. Only those students who are taking the whole course will be on the design teams (there will be 4 to 5 people on a team). The teams will meet each weekend. Plus some team members can meet in between course weekends and people can do research at home between course weekends. Design presentations are on the last day of the course.

Some ideas for hands-on projects.

We won’t have that many sessions for hands-on plus what we can do will be somewhat at the mercy of the weather, but we should be able to fit some things in.

Sheet mulching

Mini-ponds.

Plant propagation, grafting, hardwood cuttings, etc

Seedballs

Mulching.

Wildcrafting roots.

Making tinctures.

Raised beds, double-dug beds, square foot gardening.

Hugelkulturs.

Straw bale with plasters, fibercrete or straw/light clay.

Others.