25 Feb, 2022
Follow your passion and immerse yourself in this Modular Permaculture Design Course held in the Beautiful Byron Shire. In this hands-on course you will discover how Permaculture principles can develop resilient systems, contributing to environmental, social and personal well-being. Through gaining a clear understanding of these principles, you will be able to apply them to your everyday life and surroundings – from a small home garden to commercial production.
You will learn how to design, build and maintain abundantly productive food gardens within sustainable human settlements and be shown how to work with an appreciation and understanding of nature’s patterns and cycles. There is an additional focus upon practical activities in the garden including no-dig gardening, seed saving, plant propagation, food forestry, Hugelkultur, tree maintenance, animal care, composting and more…
The course takes place over 14 days held as individual short modules on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays throughout the year. The foundational 72 hour International Permaculture Design Course (PDC) curriculum is covered – plus loads of hands on experience and field trips. This modular course is designed to support flexible, part time learning with the opportunity to complete all the modules within a 4 – 12 month period, depending on your availability to attend each one*. Upon completion of all 14 modules you will graduate with a Permaculture Design Certificate. The PDC course is held twice a year. The modules can be enroled in seperately but to take advantage of price savings, enrol in the PDC rather than in each individual module.
2022 course dates are:
Fri 25th Feb – Permaculture Ethics, Principles And Patterns with Bunya Halasz
Sat 26th Feb – Plant Propagation And Seed Saving with Bunya Halasz
Sun 27th Feb – Introduction To Permaculture Design with James Nash
Fri 11th March – Community Design And Social Permaculture with Dani Wolff
Sat 12th March – Trees And Perennial Crops – Creating Food Forests with Bunya Halasz
Sun 13th March – Vegetables – Integrated Organic Production with Bunya Halasz
Fri 8th April – Animals – Integrated Production Systems with Sharon Gibson
Sat 9th April – Settlements – Sustainable Housing And Appropriate Technology with James Nash
Sun 10th April – Water Systems For The Home And Landscape with James Nash
Fri 29th April – Soils – Organic Management with Joey Venables
Sat 30th April – Group Design Project with James Nash
Sun 1st May – Individual Design Workshop with James Nash
Sat 21st May – Ecology – Weeds, Pests And Diseases In The Garden with Joey Venables
Sun 22 May – Design Project Presentations and Locavore Feast with Bunya Halasz & James Nash
The course will incorporate field trips to the award winning Mullumbimby Community Garden, Urban Food Forests, Intensive Permaculture Production Systems, Bush Permaculture gardens and Natural Forest Ecosystems.
The teaching team, led by Bunya Halasz, has a diverse, complimentary and deep range of experience and skills.
Other Tutors Include: Sharon Gibson, James Nash, Dani Wolff and Joey Venables
This course offers a great introduction to permaculture and is suitable for anyone concerned with the environmental and social challenges around them who wants to help develop positive solutions. It would also benefit students interested in studying Permaculture Certificate III or IV with Byron Community College in the future.
22 Jan, 2022
If you want to get growing your own food for the purposes of self sufficiency then this intensive 8 day course will give you all the knowledge and skills you need to grow an abundance of food year round. Delivered by a team of professional facilitators with expertise in food security, rural sustainable development, soils, permaculture and plant propagation you will learn a vast range of skills whilst undertaking this course including
Planning and growing a garden for year round supply of fruit and vegetables
Identifying of plant nutrient dificiencies and solutions
Testing soils and undertake organic improvements
Collecting, storagee and successfully seed sowing
Various plant propagation techniques including cuttings and grafting
Installing a simple irrigation system
Identification of invasive weeds, pests and disease and organic management
Building basic garden structures and install trellises and fencing
Poultry management and breeding
Creating a food garden that can cope with extreme weather
Workshop materials, tools, morning tea and lunch are all provided
Onsite camping and cabin accomodation is available.
16 Jan, 2022
Take a guided tour of An Alternative Life Learning Centre, see how we grow food year round, check out the vegetable gardens, stroll though the mixed fruit and nut orchard, say g’day to the chooks and ducks, see our off grid aquaponics set up and the new espalier cider orchard progress. Filled with inspiring ideas and a load of tips on how to grow food year round even in difficult conditions. Enjoy a lovely morning tea of farm produce.
Held on the 3rd Saturday of each month in 2022. Limited places, bookings essential
26 Nov, 2021
Red & Blue is back for 2021 as an online event. We have a great line up with over ten workshops starting with the opening session by David Holmgren discussing Retrosuburbia. You can sign up for workshops for free or buy an all session ticket to help support the event. .
Single Sessions: FREE
Full event tickets: $20-$40
Theory and Design
Retrosuburban resilience – David Holmgren
Food growing and Living Systems
DIY Composting toilets – Ben Telford
Social Permaculture
Holistic Activism – a new way forward – Mark Allan
Changing the System! – Theo Kitchener
Crafts and Skills
Animal based resources – Ei Yang
Building with Hemp and Light Earth – Kirstie Wulf
Lessons from 500 homes – insights into home energy and comfort – Ricahrd Keech
Health and Healing
Going off!! Fermenting medicines anywhere, anytime – Dean O’Callaghan
With more workshops still to be announced.
