PDC | workshop 2015

Permaculture Design Course organized with Richard Perkins

Are you interested in designing your own garden, farm or maybe even creating a self-sufficient habitat? Or are you passionate about learning how to regenerate damaged ecosystems while catering for the needs of local people? Perhaps you want to become a professional permaculture designer? This is your chance: we would like to invite you for the first international certified.

Permaculture Design Course organized with Richard Perkins in Poland, between 11-22 July, 2015 in Kopaniec.

It’s also the first international PDC in Central-Eastern Europe where a babysitter is arranged so that couples & single parents could bring along their children to a fun, organic, rural tourism farm. The farm is located at the foot of the Sudety mountains, close to the German and Czech borders, 15-min drive from Jelenia Gora, 2 hrs from Wroclaw and Prague and 3 hrs from Berlin.

About the teacher

Richard (left) is one of Europe’s leading Permaculture designer/educators & Keyline practitioners, working professionally in every major climate zone across several continents consulting to projects, farms & industry. Having led over 35 PDC trainings as well as dozens of other specialist courses, internships and seminars, Richard has designed for varied projects in more than a dozen countries. He is a certified teacher with the Permaculture Research Institute of Australia and the Permaculture Association of Great Britain.

richard our permaculture teacher pdc

About the venue

The course will be held on a 75-ha organic rural tourism farm (right), in a mountainous area of south-west Poland, near to the border with Czech Republic. Participants will be lodged in a farmhouse called „Farma 69”, which includes a medieval settlement that presents the lifestyle and common occupation of villagers in the 13th century.

mountainous area of south-west Poland
the final frontier lie ahead

About the project

One part of the farm is being developed to a unique agroforestry project and educational hub (called Roots&Roofs Farm). The goal is to establish a model polyculture system for soil regeneration based on productive trees, perennial gardens, ponds, holistically managed pastures, and living structures built from natural resources. This project intends to unfold all possibilities that can be reproduced on a larger area of land in a cold temperate climate using permaculture techniques.

Course content

For a detailed break-down of the course, open this document: PDC_Content. The course will cover the following aspects:

  • Theory and principles of Permaculture
  • Methods of design
  • Digital Design, CAD and GIS systems
  • Understanding patterns in nature
  • Earthworks & their use in earth repair
  • Creating a balanced soil food web
  • Soil microscopy
  • Soil rehabilitation and erosion control
  • Trees & their energy transactions
  • Trees, water and energy cycling
  • Forest gardens and agroforestry
  • Aquaculture
  • Regenerative livestock management
  • Holistic Management®
  • Kitchen garden design
  • Composting
  • Biofertiliser, compost teas & biochar
  • Intensive annual & perennial food and animal systems
  • Appropriate technologies for future communities
  • Strategies for building healthy, resilient communities
  • Energy efficient architecture
  • Eco-friendly house placement and design
  • Catastrophe preparedness and prevention
  • Design for different biospheres
  • Strategies for urban and rural settings
  • Reading landscapes
  • Right livelihood
  • Money and finance
  • Bio regional organization
  • Regenerative enterprise
  • Keyline Design®
  • Designing water into landscape
  • Water harvesting and drought-proofing

Course fee

  • Standard price: 450 €
  • Reduced price for students/unemployed/local residents/seniors: 400 €
  • Couples: 800 €
  • Special early bird price (if you pay by 11th May, 2015): 400 €

The price includes the 12-day course fee, hand-outs, and refreshments during course-hours. Course language is English, but Polish-English translator will be available too. The prise does not include food & accommodation.

Food & accommodation

Either bring your own tent to the farm, or choose shared or private rooms in the farmhouse. Prices are for 13 nights (arrival on 10th July, departure on 23rd July): 40E/person in tent, 80E/person in shared rooms, and 150E/person in 2/3-person rooms (private rooms are limited, so book in advance).

Food will be cooked on-site as much as possible from local & organic ingredients. Breakfast, lunch & dinner is available for a reduced price if booked in advance: prices are 150E. Possibility to only have one/two meals per day too.

Travel

We encourage everyone to travel by public transport/car-pooling and avoid using planes. We will coordinate travels in order to help with car-sharing for those coming from the same region.

Booking

We manage bookings for this course through bank transfers. Please send the deposit/full amount to the following address indicating “PDC – July 2015”:

FUNDACJA HARMONIA KULTURY, Kopaniec 69a, 58-512 Stara Kamienica.

From Poland: BZ WBK 65109026330000000116371426
From abroad: Bank Zachodni WBK
IBAN: PL65109026330000000116371426
BIC/SWIFT: WBKPPLPP

Please use your name as reference & email to let us know you have made a booking so we can confirm receipt. We take reservations on a first-come-first-served basis. You can also save a spot by paying a deposit of 200E but in that case early-bird rate does not apply. Remaining balance due by 11th June.

Contact

For any questions, please contact Filip (in Polish) at filip.podwinski@gmail.com  or Noemi (in English) about our contact form