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These are the outlines for your permaculture design course. They are based on the Permaculture Institute guidelines as recommended for teaching Permaculture design (available to permaculture trainees and graduates). No topic has been removed. Concepts are regularly updated, enhanced and elaborated by author/compiler: April Sampson-Kelly and written for easier learning via correspondence. There are numerous valuable contributions from successful students of our course, and other tutors.
The course notes are regularly updated to in our response to feedback by students.
We aim for a continual quality loop involving our relationship with our students and now have students in 33 countries and graduates worldwide.
Since 1993 this course has been in a constant process of dynamic evolution: working hard to meeting student needs. SCROLL ON DOWN!

About the Course

The Designer's course is a 72 hour intensive program of tutorials supported by practical exercises, photos, field work and videos. It should be all you need to know in order to:

plan and implement a permaculture system for yourself
assist in designing systems for others
incorporate relevant permaculture ideals and methods into existing systems (home, office, industry, reforestation sites)
assess systems for sustainability
start your research in particular food-stuffs/technology/strategies
develop personal interests in permaculture 'products/outcomes'
Arouse community interest in activities that center on true (and not just economic) growth and development.
On successful completion of the course, graduates are accredited by the Permaculture Institute and awarded a Certificate of Permaculture Design.
After two years of applied work, graduates may apply for a Diploma of Applied Design. This can be conferred through any other teacher or at the Permaculture Institute.
Higher degrees in Permaculture studies may be pursued at various institutions both in Australia and overseas.
It is not necessary to do any more than the design course in order to use the term PERMACULTURE in your activities/business. The design course should enable you to have a thorough understanding of Permaculture and be able to teach others.

Module 1: Introduction to Permaculture - Goals and Methods

Permaculture Ethics

"Care of the Earth" including all living and non-living things, such as animals, plants, land, water and air.
"Care of People" promoting self-reliance and community responsibility. Self reliance is distinct from self sufficiency.
'Dispersal of surplus" ensures that our surpluses (labour, money, information) are shared with others. Our relationship with others becomes the basis of community caring.
"Life ethic" that we view all living creatures as 'not only a means but an end'. Living things have both instrumental value to humans and other living organisms as well as an intrinsic worth. Permaculture is an ethical system, stressing positive approaches to problems and cooperation.

Natural System And Design Principles

Introduction and Application of theory about the guiding principles of permaculture design:

Everything is connected to everything else
Every function is supported by many elements.
Every element should serve many functions

What are my elements? Examine your home system elements and set targets for increasing diversity. Some designs start simple and grow into scores of designed and used elements, including microclimates through to energy production, or mico-organisms through to protein production.

The Value of Functional Design

Design has two components - functional and aesthetic. Aesthetic design should account for costs of pollution and work. If functional factors are not taken into account in a design: pollution and work result. 'Pollution' is simply an unused product, an over abundance of a resource. Work results from a deficiency of resources, when an element in the system does not aid another element. Any system will become chaotic if it receives more resources than it can productively use. (E.g.. too much fertilizer can result in pollution, or too much cultivation can result in erosion.)

A resource is an energy storage which assists yield. The work of the permaculture designer is to maximise useful energy stores in any system on which they are working, be it house, urban property, rural lands, or gardens. A successful design contains enough useful stores to serve the needs of people.

The Web of Life is the relationship of diversity to stability and the importance of connecting elements in your design. Society, gardens, whole systems and human lives are more productive without disorder and opposition.

Therefore, the aim of the designer is two-fold:

To use only that amount of energy that can be productively absorbed by the system
To build harmony, as a cooperation, into the functional organisation of the system.

Methodologies of design

Patterns, functions and species assemblies.
Techniques, Strategies and Design in Permaculture

Approaches to Design
Maps, reading, making and obtaining maps. Analysis of elements. "How do these things connect?" Sector planning."Where do we put things?" Observational. Experimental.

Cultivated Ecology

Use of Zones for planning a system.. Zones ensure that the user can easily manage the design. Everything is placed within easy reach of its needs and waste-use.
Permaculture uses guilds. Similar needs help to group plants, animals and services. Companion planting, insect attractants, deterrent plantings, disguised plants.
Comparative nutritional value of different vegetable and fruit species and varieties.
Animals, (native and domestic) in the system.

Module 2: Understanding Nature

Soils
Soil Analysis and Interpretation

pH: Tests and prediction of pH in soils, effects on plant choice, dealing with Ph extremes. How Ph is affected by water supply and shape of the land.

Mechanisms of Soil Degradation
What is Humus, how does it enrich the soil?
Central role of Nitrogen.
Difficult soils Platin soil, Caliche soil, Water resistant soil, Clay.

Analyse what soil and persistant vegetation types you have and learn the different ways to deal with them.
Ph testing, plants for different acidities.
Composting, mulching, green and animal manure and worm farming. Increasing fertility of your site naturally.

Forests and Trees

Trees as energy transducers: wind, sun and rainfall. Wind and Forests: Understanding how trees deflect wind, absorb it 's impact, affect temperature change ( type of chill-effect)
Light and Forests: Design for absorption and transmission or reflection of light by trees. Understanding the use of light, photosynthesis by trees and more.

Rain, trees and ground water tables

Prevention of erosion, transportation of nutrients.
Function of taproots.
Value of litter from trees.
How ground water is filled.
The role of trees in transpiring ground water.
How rain is made, including cloud seeding.
Why trees put out condensation at night.
Negative ions from trees - what they do.

The Different Types of Forest

Fuel
Food (traditional orchards, classic vines and trees, indigenous fruit crops)
Forage
Shelterbelt and animal barrier
Structural forests
Natural and Conserved forests
Establishment of Forest
Forest management

'Weeds' of the your local native Bushland or Forests. Identification and organic removal options. And staging plans for widespread weed infestations.

Vital Water in The Landscape

Water is a rare mineral and the world's most critical resource.

Learn how to manage water, ensuring that it is contained and filtered, not polluted and recycled as many times as possible by your system.

The Duties of Water: Learn to use water as many times as possible before it passes through the system.

Duty #1: to procreate life.
Duty #2: to develop productive water systems.
Duty #3: to develop hydraulic uses for energy production.

In particular we can:

Increase surface storages
Reduce run-off
Decrease evaporation

The essential techniques are:

Soil storage (rehabilitation of compressed and/or sealed soils)
Swales (soakage to high groundwater)
Mulch (prevention of evaporation)
Small surface storages (dams and tanks)
Dams and natural swimming pools
Evaporation strategy
Large roofed tank
Irrigation Systems and rules (arid regions)
Managing Waste Water
Clearing polluted water; Greywater.

Aquaculture and Mariculture

Aquaculture is the employment of water systems for food production. Mariculture is the management of salted water for food production. These include mangroves, estuaries and tidal areas. Learn how to select species (plant and animals) for pond size. Set up self-forage Polyculture systems for fish. Pond sizes and productivity: What to avoid and how to be successful on a small scale.

Wildlife Management and Biological Pest Control.

What and how to encourage valuable species. Human Settlement design and protection of surrounding native species. Interlaced wildlife corridors. Ideas on Pest 'Control'. Integrated pest management. Plant species for different native animal feed, protection and habitat.

Buildings and Structures

Objectives of environmental housing are to minimise energy input for heating and lighting, provide low-allergenic living space, connect the home with the landscape and surrounds, build for durability rather subject to fashion to avoid wasteful demolition and reconstruction, minimal maintenance and housework, planned well to accomodate future needs.
The temperate to sub-tropical house : Orientation, Insulation and draft-proofing, Thermal mass, Ventilation, Insulation of the ground under the house, Heat banks, Cold sinks and wall shading, The Greenhouse, shadehouse and water tanks, Function and aspect of rooms.
The tropical house : The tropics (Latitudes 0-30) requirements: Orientation, shade, Reduction of mass, Venting and air flow ducts, Trellis and shadehouse, Air scoops, Tanks and cisterns, Insect screens, Guttering and rain catchment.
The Desert house: Underground houses, Patio structure, Shadehouses, Insulation, Trellis, Positioning of Windbreaks, Underground water tanks.
Retrofitting Existing Housing. Exploring ventilation, Heat banks, Living area use. Easy money-saving options for people on low incomes, or in rental homes.
Special Houses: Houseboat, Bioshelter (plant house), Earth houses, Cave houses, Pond housing, Reflective systems, Flat land, Earth-bermed houses
Planting around houses: Sun Traps, paths to funnel light and wind, reflect heat, reflective species, and structures; Windbreaks (short and long term low budget options); Wall trellis; Shade/heat; summer-winter use of deciduous and evergreen plants; Roof trellis. Plan for least work, control and use of leaf litter where it falls, replacement of 'lawn' and mud.
Fencing types and locations: Fox proof fencing/boundaries; Dog-proof fences. Management of the Dog in your system. Fences of stone and earth; Hedges - living fences; Combination ditch/hedge; Trellis types; Electric; Woven; Railed. Different designs as well as materials.
Integration of functions in homes: Room by room analysis of the home, functions, needs and opportunity for maximising space. Includes Redesign of existing homes for natural light and warmth.

Housework: Design for ease of permaculture activities such as recycling, seed saving, gardening, and housework. Permaculture aims to reduce waste - your time that may be wasted also counts. People friendly homes can be designed for reduced housework (maintenance) load and more time to be productive.
Commerce and light industry in home, Function of the Garden, Kitchen and Wet Zones, The Indoor/Outdoor relationship of people-friendly homes.

Module 3: Invisible structures.

Waste Disposal and Recycling

The use of water and different plants as cleansers of system pollution. Waste reduction and Recycling methods: domestic, commercial, community recycling of materials and other resources. (see also TOPIC: Recycling in the Community).

Design for catastrophe

Fire: Criteria for fire control: plant species to assist fire control. Strategies for saving house, stock and garden in case of fire
Flood, Earth-movement: Avoiding flood areas by reading the landscape and conserving essential forest pockets. Methods for lessening damage potential. Working in a flood prone site - mobile plants and animals, conserving fragile soils.
Cyclone, Hurricane; Tsunami: Best house design and siting. Crop saving strategies.
Drought: An understanding of macro and microclimatic conditions, water behaviour and plant life cycles help to design for drought. Dealing with unexpected drought, home grown mulch; fire retardant species; plant management during drought.
Man-made disasters Air-borne, water-borne and soil Pollution, soil erosion, blue-green algae and more.

Appropriate Energy Conserving Technology

What Is Energy? The history of human 'energy' use. Forms of Energy. Why Change To Renewable Energy Sources?

The effects of climate change on plant and animal species.
O, CO and the greenhouse effect
The two Ozone layers
Transport, the car and the mobile society
The cost of our waste and the mounting problems for future generations.

Domestic energy use: Behavioural

Lifestyle choices: Including: Cooking, holiday choices, night activity, power independent entertainment, meal sharing.
House design: (as discussed extensively in Buildings and Structures the house must be designed for climate, utilizing energy conserving siting, use of plants and use of structures such as greenhouse, shadehouse, ponds etc.)
Transport: the hidden costs of current transport choices.
Technological: energy generation and choice of appliances
Climate control and room heating options;
Hot water supplies; Electricity and lighting; Photovoltaics, Windpower, Energy-conserving lights, Hydroelectric power, Gas and Kerosene lighting.
Cooking and cook-stoves, food preserving methods.
Why each person should become part of their food production processes (cooking, preserving) - and Kitchen design and use to encourage interest in cooking and nutrition. Refrigeration and cooling.
Washing and drying clothes.
Water conservation Water tank off roof, ideally located uphill from the house, Grey water catchment designs; Compost toilets; Dual-flush toilets; Hydraulic Systems; Pumps and waterlifts; Hydraulic rams and pumps; Water wheels; Water turbines; Hydro-pneumatics (air compression); Harnessing tide or stream flow.

Biothermal systems Composting toilets etc. are discussed in Waste Disposal and Recycling, Compost heat, biogas, solar ponds, wind kettles, etc.

Permaculture System Supplies.

Seed saving - collection and exchange. Perennializing annuals - how to reduce the need for seeds. Need for specialised, permaculture nurseries for unusual plants, e.g. bamboo, palm, cacti and forage species. Seed companies -why you should buy from small, non-hybridized stock. Books, association, magazines and centres. Government bodies providing advice. Contacts

Classical Landscape Profiles

Recognising different landscape profiles and how this affects the design. Reading the landscape can help anticipate natural disaster, the use of 'fill' on commercial properties, flood potential and more. Learn to work with all landscape types including Volcanic, High Islands, Low Islands, Coastlines, Wetlands, Estuaries and

Humid Landscapes: Keyline system of water control, Treatment of Individual Slopes, Flatlands. Arid Landscapes: Swales, Dams, Mulch, Pits, Shade. Climatic Differences in soil fertility; growth patterns; energy needs. Learn about the most productive methods for different landscapes and climates. Permaculture designers are equipped to work further afield, from deserts to atolls.

The Use of Pattern in design

This is an important part of Permaculture Design. Observation skill development and awareness is the basis of evolutionary design. The value of different patterns in your design work. Observing patterns in natural ecosystems. Design for growth and predicting patterns of change. Understanding the Edge effect and how to use it.

Flow Patterns

River flow patterns can be used to scour deep ponds, aerate the water, to accumulate mulch on edges, and to build up a layer of silt. Flow patterns need to be appreciated in order to work with water and wind systems.

Recycling in the Community

This section is two parts:

1. Recycling of materials, advantages of large scale community systems, and

2. Recycling of goods and services by control of the common exchange medium - money.

A worthwhile goal of any community is to keep the money saved and earned cycling within itself. The only way to do this is to establish financial and economic systems in the community, such as credit union, revolving loan fund, or local currency.

Wealth is stored energy and Energy is wealth.

Community economics falls into 2 broad categories:

The informal economy, e.g. barter.
The formal economy, subject to accounting procedures.

Learn about your local money/exchange structures. Are you a member of your local LETS network? Where are the local Co-ops. Choose which bank should have the privilege of your money. Learn about Earthbank and 'ethical investment' , community land access schemes and much more.

Producer-Consumer cooperatives
Community savings and loans
Bioregional currency systems- Local currencies
Earthbank
Leasing systems
Land Access And Urban Systems:
City Farms
City as Farm; Gleaning
Farm Link
Farm and Garden Clubs
Commonworks
Trusteeships and land trusts
Legal Forms:
Discretionary trusts
Non-profit, Education, Charitable trusts
Subscription trusts (investment trust)

Permaculture Village Development

Why not cities?

Towards new Eco-cities; renovating exisiting cities. Limiting factors to the growth of cities. City attractants - why people move to the main cities. The role of agriculture in supplying cities, and the dependence of cities on fossil fuels for production and transportation costs of its consumables.

How to design and set up a Permaculture Villages

Permaculture Village infrastructure and activities.
Design for Diversity : occupants; needs and interaction.
Design for all ages to be active members of the community. From care for the aged through to care and design for children.

Small business opportunities and Permaculture

Potential Enterprises and Occupations (Commerce)
Co-operatives and Decentralised work places.
The Role of 'Cash' crops in Third World and developed Nations
Setting about in Small business as a Permaculturalist.
Strategies applicable to small business.
What makes a small business successful?
Eco - tourism: what are the costs and benefits to the environment and the community?

Permaculture and Industry:

Leading arguments in the Environmental Quality Systems,
Quality Assurance
Total Quality Control and the issues relating to reduction of waste (human and material resources)
Environmental Quality Systems

How Permaculture Trainees Operate.

Only Graduates of a permaculture design course are entitled to operate a small business using the word 'Permaculture'.

Graduates of a permaculture design course can teach the design course to others and are encouraged to be active in their community either: passively by sharing their better lifestyle practice; or actively teaching and encouraging others.

Graduates of a permaculture design course are designated by the Permaculture Institute as "trainee permaculture designers" and must complete at least 2 years work in any permaculture field (as designated below) in order to graduate to your Diploma. You can qualify for your Diploma in any one of 11 different fields. Diplomas are issued by the continental Permaculture Institute (see references). Higher degree may be obtained; contact Bill Mollison at Permaculture Institute, Australia. All design course graduates should maintain a subscription to the Permaculture Journal to keep abreast of news and changes.

Report-writing and client needs

Learn how to write and design permaculture systems professionally for your clients. Also, how to avoid common errors in Design for clients

Creating work

Student's contribution.

Students are encouraged to indicate future work and ideas, volunteer for responsibilities, etc.Complete curriculum vitaes are to be collected for the continental Permaculture Institutes. (Student privacy is respected by the institute).

Graduate's assessment of the Course.

Students are encouraged to give a broad assessment of the course and tutors. This shall complement the ongoing student assessment records provided at the close of each session.

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