Permaculture Design LH 028 A-D
Landscape Horticulture Department, Merritt College, Spring 2017
INSTRUCTOR: Christopher Shein- [email protected]
T.A.: Natasha Harden- [email protected]
Facebook page: www.facebook.com/Merritt.College.Permaculture
LH28 Resource Website: http://merrittpdc.weebly.com/
Merritt Permaculture Website: http://merrittlandhort.com/permaculture
LH 28 also has a wordpress page but needs regeneration…
COURSE DESCRIPTION
Welcome to the 38th Permaculture class at the LH department! Class size is limited to 30. This is a hands-on class, so be prepared to get dirty (Wear sturdy shoes; bring gloves, sunhats, raingear, sunscreen, sunglasses, etc…). Bikes, buses (#54 from Fruitvale BART) and carpooling are encouraged.
Bring snacks to share! This is a course requirement for every student to bring a potluck dish 3 separate times. Students can make up limited lab time with bringing extra food for everyone.
Permaculture is a design system for sustainable human settlements. The word originates from permanent agriculture or permanent culture and is a set of ecological design principles, ethics, strategies and techniques that was set out in the late 1970s by Bill Mollison and David Holmgren in Australia.
This concept and many of the ethics and practices of permaculture have been developed and used by most indigenous cultures for tens of thousands of years (“a 10,000 year old cutting edge technology”).
Other ways to understand permaculture include thinking about it as applied ecology, remedial holistics or (wholistics), or just plain ole’ common sense, or participating in the commons. Permaculture is an ethical design system with earth care (land, water, air and all life), people care (yourself, family, community, humanity) and “fair share”, a.k.a. “share the spare”, “future care”, “redistribution of surplus”.
IN THIS COURSE, YOU WILL:
60% of the class is hands-on lab time, so come prepared to garden, build and hike with this class.
Bring all of your skills, information, resources and enthusiasm to share and build a network of committed people to saving our cities, people, wilderness and planet. You are welcome to take this class if you already have taken a permaculture design course elsewhere as all courses have same basic information the local culture, sites, seasons and teachers all provide diverse experiences and approaches.
Please show your respect for all of our wonderful teachers, as well as the rest of the class by arriving on time daily.
SLO’s: Student Learning Outcomes for LH 28 A-D
Students will be able to:
1. Demonstrate basic horticultural tool safety in all applications and perform lab techniques correctly.
2. Function as a productive member of a group by cooperating in interactive learning tasks.
3. Utilize permaculture ethics and principles for applied ecology in urban environments.
4. Deliver a visual and verbal presentation on a permaculture garden design
5. Identify and develop strategies to further the growth of regenerating ecosystems by becoming familiar with existing local efforts to practice ecosystem rehabilitation and community improvement.
SERVICES & ACCOMMODATIONS: If you have a disability and require services and accommodations, you will need to provide disability documentation to Disabled Students Programs & Services (DSPS) in the Counseling Department R-109, (510) 436-2429. A DSPS counselor will meet with you to discuss your eligibility. If you qualify, you will be given an Accommodation form for each instructor. Once you have your form, make an appointment with me to discuss your educational needs. Receiving services and accommodations will not adversely affect your grade. This information will be kept confidential (FERPA).
If you think that you could benefit from the services offered by DSPS, please contact a counselor or go to our College website for more information: www.merritt.edu, click on "Student Services," and then click on "Disability Services Program."
BOOKS
LH28 A: Required Text: Gaia’s Garden, 2nd edition by Toby Hemenway, Chelsea Green Publishers
Strongly Recommended: The Vegetable Gardener’s Guide To Permaculture: Creating An Edible Ecosystem by Christopher Shein Timber Press 2013
LH28 B: Required Text: Harvesting Rainwater for Drylands, vol. 1, 2nd edition by Brad Lancaster
LH28 C: Required Text: see instructor
GRADES: You will receive a grade/credit based on these categories:
● 50% In-class participation
● 10% Homework from readings
● 10% Neighborhood Assessments
● 15% Student Presentations
● 15% Final
Note: Students must drop the class themselves for a refund before the third class.
HOMEWORK: Reading from the required text is assigned as one chapter or article each week. You will be given credit for completing the readings by writing three paragraphs (no more than one page) in response to the reading due at the beginning of each class. You can write about questions that we provide or about anything of interest to you within the reading.
STUDENT PRESENTATIONS: you will be expected to prepare outside of class time for your presentations.
COURSE OUTLINE: Every week we will work on small group projects and/or whole class projects, share a potluck snack. We ask you to must bring a dish at least 3 times and more is encouraged.
NOTE: These dates and speakers are subject to change.
CLASS SCHEDULE
1-26
2-2
2-9
2-16
2-23
Ongoing: Come help Christopher Shein and Theresa Halula at St. Mary’s Center in West Oakland. Since 2000, I’ve been helping create a food garden and pollinator sanctuary garden for and with low income and homeless seniors Wednesday mornings.
3-2
Group #1 locate place for new urbanite herb spiral
Group #2 locate place for new plum tree
Group #3 locate place for new bamboo species
Group #4 locate place for pond
Group #5 locate place black locust grove/coppicing on hillside
Group #6 locate flock or herd schedule for livestock
Lab: Move Mulch
3-9
3-10
3-16
3-23
3-30
3-31 United Farm Workers’ Cesar Chavez Holiday Observed 1st year Peralta CCC ever holds during regular semester
4-6
4-13 Spring Break
4-20
4-27
5-4
5-5 and 5-6 Merritt Plant Sale Saturday 9am-3pm and Sunday 12-3pm
Extra credit for lab time only if you sign up early with Molly Sealund
5-11
5-18
5-19 HOLIDAY MALCOLM X BIRTHDAY
5-26
Permaculture Design Principles
(David Holmgren, Co-Founder of Permaculture Concept)
Observe and Interact
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder
Catch and Store Energy
Make hay while the sun shines
Obtain a Yield
You can’t work on an empty stomach
Apply Self-Regulation and Accept Feedback
The sins of our fathers are visited on the children unto the seventh generation
(The icon for this principle is a person as a tree, emphasizing ourselves in nature and transformed by it. It can also be envisaged as the keyhole in nature through which one sees the solution.)
Use and Value Renewable Resources and Services;
Let nature take its course
(The proverb “make hay while the sun shines” reminds us that we have limited time to catch and store energy before seasonal or episodic abundance dissipates.)
Produce No Waste
A stitch in time saves nine,
Waste not, want not
Design from Patterns to Details;
Can’t see the forest for the trees
Integrate Rather than Segregate;
Many hands make light work!
Use Small and Slow Solutions;
The bigger they are the harder they fall
Slow and steady wins the race
Use and Value Diversity;
Don’t put all your eggs in one basket
Uses Edges and Value and the Marginal;
Don’t think you are on the right track just because it’s a well-beaten path
Creatively Use and Respond to Change;
Vision is not seeing things as they are but as they will be
(Designing to make use of change in a deliberate and cooperative way and creatively responding or adapting to large-scale system change that is beyond our control or influence.)
Peter Bane’s Design Principles
Former Publisher of Permaculture Activist and author of The Permaculture Handbook
Location and Connection
Multiple Functions
Redundancy
Energy Cycling
Zones, Sectors and Elevations
Use Biological Resources
Appropriate Technology
Succession and Stacking
Observe and Replicate Natural Patterns
Incorporate Diversity and Edge
Attitude Matters
Start Small
Landscape Horticulture Department, Merritt College, Spring 2017
INSTRUCTOR: Christopher Shein- [email protected]
T.A.: Natasha Harden- [email protected]
Facebook page: www.facebook.com/Merritt.College.Permaculture
LH28 Resource Website: http://merrittpdc.weebly.com/
Merritt Permaculture Website: http://merrittlandhort.com/permaculture
LH 28 also has a wordpress page but needs regeneration…
COURSE DESCRIPTION
Welcome to the 38th Permaculture class at the LH department! Class size is limited to 30. This is a hands-on class, so be prepared to get dirty (Wear sturdy shoes; bring gloves, sunhats, raingear, sunscreen, sunglasses, etc…). Bikes, buses (#54 from Fruitvale BART) and carpooling are encouraged.
Bring snacks to share! This is a course requirement for every student to bring a potluck dish 3 separate times. Students can make up limited lab time with bringing extra food for everyone.
Permaculture is a design system for sustainable human settlements. The word originates from permanent agriculture or permanent culture and is a set of ecological design principles, ethics, strategies and techniques that was set out in the late 1970s by Bill Mollison and David Holmgren in Australia.
This concept and many of the ethics and practices of permaculture have been developed and used by most indigenous cultures for tens of thousands of years (“a 10,000 year old cutting edge technology”).
Other ways to understand permaculture include thinking about it as applied ecology, remedial holistics or (wholistics), or just plain ole’ common sense, or participating in the commons. Permaculture is an ethical design system with earth care (land, water, air and all life), people care (yourself, family, community, humanity) and “fair share”, a.k.a. “share the spare”, “future care”, “redistribution of surplus”.
IN THIS COURSE, YOU WILL:
- become familiar with design concepts for systems that mimic natural ecosystems and are economically viable
- learn the permaculture principles, ethics and areas of focus in a traditional Permaculture Design Course
- get hands-on fieldwork experience on site
- get practice designing a site with a group
- attend field trips to nearby projects and destinations, where you'll be able to see and participate in some permaculture design demonstrations
60% of the class is hands-on lab time, so come prepared to garden, build and hike with this class.
Bring all of your skills, information, resources and enthusiasm to share and build a network of committed people to saving our cities, people, wilderness and planet. You are welcome to take this class if you already have taken a permaculture design course elsewhere as all courses have same basic information the local culture, sites, seasons and teachers all provide diverse experiences and approaches.
Please show your respect for all of our wonderful teachers, as well as the rest of the class by arriving on time daily.
SLO’s: Student Learning Outcomes for LH 28 A-D
Students will be able to:
1. Demonstrate basic horticultural tool safety in all applications and perform lab techniques correctly.
2. Function as a productive member of a group by cooperating in interactive learning tasks.
3. Utilize permaculture ethics and principles for applied ecology in urban environments.
4. Deliver a visual and verbal presentation on a permaculture garden design
5. Identify and develop strategies to further the growth of regenerating ecosystems by becoming familiar with existing local efforts to practice ecosystem rehabilitation and community improvement.
SERVICES & ACCOMMODATIONS: If you have a disability and require services and accommodations, you will need to provide disability documentation to Disabled Students Programs & Services (DSPS) in the Counseling Department R-109, (510) 436-2429. A DSPS counselor will meet with you to discuss your eligibility. If you qualify, you will be given an Accommodation form for each instructor. Once you have your form, make an appointment with me to discuss your educational needs. Receiving services and accommodations will not adversely affect your grade. This information will be kept confidential (FERPA).
If you think that you could benefit from the services offered by DSPS, please contact a counselor or go to our College website for more information: www.merritt.edu, click on "Student Services," and then click on "Disability Services Program."
BOOKS
LH28 A: Required Text: Gaia’s Garden, 2nd edition by Toby Hemenway, Chelsea Green Publishers
Strongly Recommended: The Vegetable Gardener’s Guide To Permaculture: Creating An Edible Ecosystem by Christopher Shein Timber Press 2013
LH28 B: Required Text: Harvesting Rainwater for Drylands, vol. 1, 2nd edition by Brad Lancaster
LH28 C: Required Text: see instructor
GRADES: You will receive a grade/credit based on these categories:
● 50% In-class participation
● 10% Homework from readings
● 10% Neighborhood Assessments
● 15% Student Presentations
● 15% Final
Note: Students must drop the class themselves for a refund before the third class.
HOMEWORK: Reading from the required text is assigned as one chapter or article each week. You will be given credit for completing the readings by writing three paragraphs (no more than one page) in response to the reading due at the beginning of each class. You can write about questions that we provide or about anything of interest to you within the reading.
STUDENT PRESENTATIONS: you will be expected to prepare outside of class time for your presentations.
COURSE OUTLINE: Every week we will work on small group projects and/or whole class projects, share a potluck snack. We ask you to must bring a dish at least 3 times and more is encouraged.
NOTE: These dates and speakers are subject to change.
CLASS SCHEDULE
1-26
- Introductions to Class of Spring ’17
- Permaculture Hillside and Landscape Hort. Facilities Tour
- Fruit Tree Guilds
- Syllabus (& Supplement), Carpool Geography, Buy Books, Snacks
2-2
- Permaculture Ethics and Principles
- Patterns & Patterns Walk
- Food Forests
2-9
- Permaculture Design Tool Shed: Zone and Sector Analysis, Needs and Yields,
- Small Group Formation for Hillside Design
- Exercise: Student Groups, Tree Model: 1) Design Seed, 2) Assessment, 3) Vision, 4) Concept, 5) Action Plan, 6) Re-Design
- Cuttings and Grafting, Speaker: Susan Ashley
2-16
- Fruit
- Student Small Group Designs: Assessments
- California Rare Fruit Growers, Speaker: Idell Weydemeyer 5pm
2-23
- Compost, Soil and Mulch
- Student Small Group Designs: Vision
- Permaculture Soil Food Web, Speaker: Theresa Halula
- Homework due next week: Zone and Sector Mapping for your home
Ongoing: Come help Christopher Shein and Theresa Halula at St. Mary’s Center in West Oakland. Since 2000, I’ve been helping create a food garden and pollinator sanctuary garden for and with low income and homeless seniors Wednesday mornings.
3-2
- Students Present: Zone and Sector Map sharing of your home
- Student Small Group Designs: Concept Planning
- Wildheart Designs
- Students Present Tree Models
- Tree Model Exercise: 6 Groups
Group #1 locate place for new urbanite herb spiral
Group #2 locate place for new plum tree
Group #3 locate place for new bamboo species
Group #4 locate place for pond
Group #5 locate place black locust grove/coppicing on hillside
Group #6 locate flock or herd schedule for livestock
Lab: Move Mulch
3-9
- Vegetables, Seed Saving and Seed Libraries
- Student Small Group Designs: Action Plans pt.1
3-10
- BASIL (Bay Area Seed Interchange Library) Seed Swap, Potluck, Live Music at the Ecology Center, 2530 San Pablo Ave., Berkeley CA 94702 7pm-9pm
3-16
- Bioregional Quiz (take home quiz)
- Student Small Group Designs: Action Plans pt.2
- Shellmound: The Movie
- California Natives, Speaker: Glen Schneider
3-23
- Students Present: Action Plans
3-30
- A New Culture of Water: Greywater and Rainwater Gardens, Speaker: Christina Bertea
3-31 United Farm Workers’ Cesar Chavez Holiday Observed 1st year Peralta CCC ever holds during regular semester
4-6
- Social Justice and Grassroots Permaculture Panel, Multiple Speakers and also local urban homesteading business Pollinate’s Yolanda Burrell
4-13 Spring Break
4-20
- Drylands Food Forests, Speaker: Josh Thayer
4-27
- Permaculture Kitchens, Speaker: Seth Peterson
- Permaculture/Food Forests, Speaker: Max Cadji from Phat Beetz
- East Bay Permaculture Guild
5-4
- Special Projects for Returning Students (LH 028B or C or D)
- Ecological Landscaping Panel, Multiple Speakers: TBD
5-5 and 5-6 Merritt Plant Sale Saturday 9am-3pm and Sunday 12-3pm
Extra credit for lab time only if you sign up early with Molly Sealund
5-11
- Field Trip to PIE (Permaculture Institute of the East Bay a.k.a. my house)
- 1526 Fairview St. Berkeley CA 94703 near Alcatraz and Sacramento and the ASHBY BART
5-18
- Natural Dyes Workshop, Speaker: Deepa Natarajan
- Bring a small piece of natural fabric (cotton, linen, wool) to dye
5-19 HOLIDAY MALCOLM X BIRTHDAY
5-26
- Last day to turn in final
- Goodbye to the class and the garden
Permaculture Design Principles
(David Holmgren, Co-Founder of Permaculture Concept)
Observe and Interact
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder
Catch and Store Energy
Make hay while the sun shines
Obtain a Yield
You can’t work on an empty stomach
Apply Self-Regulation and Accept Feedback
The sins of our fathers are visited on the children unto the seventh generation
(The icon for this principle is a person as a tree, emphasizing ourselves in nature and transformed by it. It can also be envisaged as the keyhole in nature through which one sees the solution.)
Use and Value Renewable Resources and Services;
Let nature take its course
(The proverb “make hay while the sun shines” reminds us that we have limited time to catch and store energy before seasonal or episodic abundance dissipates.)
Produce No Waste
A stitch in time saves nine,
Waste not, want not
Design from Patterns to Details;
Can’t see the forest for the trees
Integrate Rather than Segregate;
Many hands make light work!
Use Small and Slow Solutions;
The bigger they are the harder they fall
Slow and steady wins the race
Use and Value Diversity;
Don’t put all your eggs in one basket
Uses Edges and Value and the Marginal;
Don’t think you are on the right track just because it’s a well-beaten path
Creatively Use and Respond to Change;
Vision is not seeing things as they are but as they will be
(Designing to make use of change in a deliberate and cooperative way and creatively responding or adapting to large-scale system change that is beyond our control or influence.)
Peter Bane’s Design Principles
Former Publisher of Permaculture Activist and author of The Permaculture Handbook
Location and Connection
- To properly manage our supply of energy and materials, we must place every element of
- To keep a house warm in winter, for example, locate it halfway up a south-facing slope so that frost and cold air drain away, winter winds are blocked, and free energy can fill the dwelling.
- To avoid pumping water, hook roof gutters up to a storage tank. Put the garden below the tank and irrigate by gravity.
Multiple Functions
- If everything in the system serves multiple functions, we can do more with less. Permaculture means that you see your roof not only as shelter, but as both part of the water supply and as a producer of energy (solar collectors).
- Houses that stack functions to meet their own needs approach the elegance of living systems.
Redundancy
- Let every essential function be met by multiple elements.
- Have more than one source of water, heat, and income.
- Parts always fail; larger systems are more stable because their energy pathways are flexible.
Energy Cycling
- Capture, use and recycle energy many times before it leaves the system.
- Turn sunlight into plants; plants into animals; and animals into manure, meat, compost, heat and other animals.
- Catch water high and move it slowly through the landscape, building fertility with every turn.
Zones, Sectors and Elevations
- Plan for energy efficiency by analyzing the influences from outside a system (sectors), the intensity of activity within a system (zones) and the differences of elevation on the landscape itself.
- Place elements requiring high levels of interaction (such as children, a plant nursery, and small livestock) at the center of the system and autonomous elements toward the outer fringe.
- Scatter hostile energies (noise, pollution, storms, cold wings) and focus on beneficial ones (winter sunlight, good views, cooling summer breezes, customers, bird manure).
- Plan to move water, waste, fuels and construction materials downhill.
Use Biological Resources
- Biological resources are cheaper and safer.
- Automobiles pollute the air, kill innocents, and break down to junk.
- Horses run on grass, create food for mushrooms, and replace themselves.
- Air conditioners cost kilowatts and destroy the ozone layer; deciduous trees can cool just as effectively while making rain, building soil, feeding animals, and growing money.
Appropriate Technology
- If you can’t afford it, repair it, fuel it, and recycle it locally, look for something else.
- Make sure it meets the energy test: will it produce more energy and resources over its lifetime than were required to make it?
- Don’t forget the cost of disposal.
- Atomic science hasn’t learned to put its toys away yet.
Succession and Stacking
- Use time in your favor. Anticipate natural succession and plan for your house, garden, or neighborhood to change.
- As things naturally grow up, plan to use all the layers and spaces in three dimensions.
- Harvest from the canopy as well as from the ground. The forest does; why shouldn’t we?
Observe and Replicate Natural Patterns
- Organic life has demonstrated what works cheaply and cleanly. If we pay more attention, we’ll get along much better.
Incorporate Diversity and Edge
- Diverse ecosystems are more stable than simple ones. Variety is the name of life itself.
- Edges are where the variety is greatest; that’s where the action is.
Attitude Matters
- Think positively. Turn problems into solutions.
- Work for the good of life itself and remember to share your surpluses. The natural world is abundant and life begets life.
- Our individual efforts can and do make a difference.
Start Small
- Build out from a controlled front.
- Bite off no more than you can chew, and meet your own needs first; then you’ll be in a better position to help others.