Milkwood Permaculture

Join Milkwood Permaculture's Nick Ritar and special guests for an amazing two weeks of permaculture theory, practical workshops and intensive design exercises exploring permaculture at Milkwood Farm.

A Milkwood Permaculture Design Certificate provides an exceptional grounding in Permaculture design and theory. Our PDC graduates leave our courses ready to design and implement permaculture principles into a wide range of scenarios; from urban permaculture systems to small farms, suburban blocks and overseas aid projects.

The class size for this course is strictly limited to 24 students to ensure effective learning outcomes for everyone, and students emerge as accredited Permaculture Designers.

Permaculture is set of principles that result in sustainable and productive systems. Systems for living, architecture, food production, land management and community. No chemicals and no excuses. Just good, thoughtful, innovative and effective design for the needs of our species.

"Though the problems of the world are increasingly complex, the solutions remain embarrassingly simple"
Bill Mollison (co-originator of the Permaculture concept)

About this Permaculture Design Certificate Course

Milkwood Permaculture provides the PDC course in an intensive residential format, with small class sizes for each course. This means more time for questions, discussion, demonstration and for lots of hands-on practical sessions.

This PDC will be taught in combination within both a classroom and a living, breathing permaculture system; incorporating design exercises and practical workshops. 

Examples of designing for energy conservation, food production systems, nutrient cycling, holding water in the landscape and community strategies for resilience will be addressed with a combination of rural, urban and community-scale examples. All workshops during the course will also focus on Permaculture in practice and the skills you acquire will translate to any environment.

"I have done several permaculture courses now and I would say that Nick Ritar of Milkwood is definitely the best and most dynamic permaculture teacher I've experienced. His inclusive style of teaching and his effective design coaching, combined with his extensive knowledge and experience, has activated me towards becoming a permaculture designer. Thanks again, Milkwood." - Paul Jordan, Project Officer + budding Permaculture Designer

Our PDC is based on the curriculum set out by the Permaculture Institute, and uses Bill Mollison's "Permaculture: A Designers Manual" as its central text. We also blend into this curriculum new material from a range of other world-leading thinkers and activators on subjects like transition, food security, regenerative agriculture, urban water harvesting and many more.

This course is FarmReady approved. Primary producers, indigenous land managers, land managers and all their immediate families can get a $1500 subsidy towards the price of this course, plus $500 for travel, accom and childcare. See our FarmReady page for details. The FarmReady course number for this course is: FRTC0409

Sessions will include the following:

• Permaculture principles and ethics
• Permaculture design for urban and rural situations
• Creating a balanced soil food web
• Pattern Understanding
• Designing water into landscape (or streetscape)
• Passive water harvesting and drought-proofing
• Intensive food and animal systems
• Orchard and food forest design
• System planning + intergration
• Design for different biospheres: tropics / drylands / cool climates
• Appropriate technologies for future communities
• Trees, water and energy cycling
• Strategies for building healthy, resilient communities
• Farm walks and explaination of Milkwood's permaculture system
  

This PDC accreditation can lead to further training, teaching, international aid work, local design work or just implementation of Permaculture principles within your own life and surrounds, depending on your own personal trajectory. Students emerge as Permaculture Designers, certified by Milkwood Permaculture and our affiliated certification bodies.

About the teachers:

Nick Ritar is a permaculture designer, consultant and educator who works extensively across a wide range of bioregions, farms, watersheds and city environments. He is recognized nationally as a leading advocate on how permaculture principles can contribute to food security through good design and regenerative farming and living. Nick's full profile.

Other guest teachers to be announced shortly! Have a look at our current and past teachers here.

Included in your course fee:

Your course fee includes a free copy Permaculture: A Designers Manual, and is all-inclusive for the duration of your stay at Milkwood Farm, including all meals and camping on-site (BYO camping gear). Meals are organic country cooking with omnivore or vegetarian options, with a high ratio of yummy organic produce coming from Milkwood Farm itself. See our Staying at Milkwood page for full info on accommodation and facilities.

Mates rates: we know that you're more likely to succeed in changing the world with a like-minded crew. To enable this, we arrange a 20% discount off full price for group bookings of 2 or more. Please get in touch for details.

As part of our Fair Share policy, we provide pensioner, couples and unwaged discounts where needed. Please get in touch for more information.

During the course:

Class starts on the morning of Sunday 5th February and concludes in the afternoon of Saturday 18th February with a day off in the middle on Saturday 11th. Students are welcome to arrive from 3pm onwards the day before. Departures occur on the day of the course's completion.

Classes run in a rough 9am - 5pm format, depending on the material of the day. Outside class hours, students are welcome to interact with the farm and its daily chores, go for a swim, go for a bushwalk or make use of our extensive library of Permaculture and sustainability texts.

Once you've booked into this course, we will contact you via email regarding food preferences, what to bring along with you, and any further info you might need or request regarding camping and transport to/from Milkwood Farm.