Permaculture Design Course

December 3 – 18, 2010

at the

Tanjung Sutera Resort

Southern Malaysia

taught by

Darren Doherty and Christian Shearer

in partnership with:

and

Terra Genesis International

This full 72-hour certified Permaculture Design Course will consist of a broad range of topics applicable to life anywhere on this planet, yet will be tailored to the needs of the students at hand. Participants will help to co-create the design of edible forests gardens, natural buildings, water catchment and irrigation systems, as well as actively implement on the hosting land.

An easy drive from Singapore, in Kota Tinggi, Johor, Malaysia, the Tanjung Sutera Resort is an ideal location for a permaculture design course. Situated on a seaside cliff, this resort is looking to the future, hoping to produce a higher percentage of its own food, capture more of its own water, and to generally operate in a more sustainable manner. The course is one step toward that vision for them.

Course Curriculum

Permaculture courses are fairly standardized as far as content. The 72 hours of course work required to receive a Permaculture Design Certificate will be covered over a two week period, mixing hands-on with plenty of in-classroom studies. All students are required to be present for the full two weeks if they wish to receive the certificate. We will cover every major topic in Bill Mollison's Permaculture: a Designers Manual, including:

• Philosophies and Ethics underlying permaculture.

• Basic permaculture principals to help guide us in our designs.

• Patterns in Nature, and how to use them in design.

• Methods of design. How to go from a good idea, to a functional, beautiful, diverse ecosystem.

• Climactic factors. We will cover all the major climates and how to work with them.

• Trees, forests, and why we want to mimic their systems.

• Water: catchment, usage, importance, and conservation.

• Soil, minerals, microorganisms, building new soil, and preventing erosion.

• Earthworks: How to shape the land to help achieve the goals we are aiming for, including an in-depth session on Keyline Design with Darren Doherty.

• Aquaculture – Using water for food production, irrigation, beauty and habitat, all from one pond.

• Energy Efficient Structures and Natural Building – We will touch on the many forms of natural building and energy efficient design that make a structure so much more functional.

• Alternative Systems: community living, economics, appropriate technology and other ways of choosing to live differently that work well for people and the planet.

• And More!

The course is being conducted in Partnership with The Panya Project, a permaculture education center located outside Chiang Mai, Thailand. Founder and Managing Director, Christian Shearer will be one of the lead instructors and coordinator for the course. With over five years of tropical permaculture experience and his passion for the subject matter, he brings the course to life. This is his second time teaching a PDC in Malaysia.

Teaming up with Christian for this course is Australian native, and avid Keyline Designer, Darren Doherty. Founder of Felix Permaculture, Darren has extensive experience across the world in Permaculture project design, development & management. A career-long focus on the profitable retrofit of broadacre agricultural landscapes has seen Darren acclaimed as a pioneer in this important & often overlooked field. He is a registered Teacher of The Permaculture Insitute (AU), Certified Whole Farm Planner (University of Melbourne), Approved Keyline™ Designer, Accredited Permaculture Trainer (APT ™) & Certified Workplace Training & Assessment. Darren has been involved in design & development of over 1300, mostly broadacre projects across 5 continents in 36 countries, ranging from 1 million hectare cattle stations in Australia's Kimberly to 110,000 acre Estancia's in Patagonia, EcoVillage developments in Tasmania to Public:Private R&D Agroforestry & Education projects in Vietnam.

This course is also being conducted in association with WeForest.com and Terra Genesis International.   WeForest.com in a foundation aimed at increasing the amount of cloud cover on this planet by increasing the amount of Forest on the planet.  We will learn in the PDC course exactly how that is possible.  Christian Shearer is on the advisory board for WeForest.com.

Terra Genesis International is a permaculture education and consulting team providing solutions internationally to help individuals, organizations and companies help achieve their holistic goals, improve their ecological impact, and improve their economic outlook.  Terra Genesis also helps to organize high quality permaculture education courses, like this one.

Costs:

The costs for the course include three vegetarian meals per day (occasional meat for our omnivores), fruit and tea during break time, and full accommodation in the dormatory for the fifteen nights of the course.  All guests will have free access to the swimming pool, and wifi access (in certain areas). Transportation to and from Johor Baru is also included, if needed.

  Full certified 72-hour PDC Course  -  $1050

• NGO staff get $250 off any of the above prices. (limited spaces available)

• Couples get $50 off per person, as we like to promote healthy permaculture relationships.

• Once at the site guests will have the opportunity to upgrade to private rooms at least for part of the course.

If you have more questions about this Course:

Please contact Christian Shearer at:

christian@terra-genesis.com

Please don't hesitate with any questions.

More about the instructors for the course:

Darren J. Doherty has extensive experience across the world in Permaculture project design, development & management. A career-long focus on the profitable retrofit of broadacre agricultural landscapes has seen Darren acclaimed as a pioneer in this important & often overlooked field. He is a registered Teacher of The Permaculture Insitute (AU), Certified Whole Farm Planner (University of Melbourne), Approved Keyline™ Designer, Accredited Permaculture Trainer (APT ™) & Certified Workplace Training & Assessment. Darren has been involved in design & development of over 1300, mostly broadacre projects across 5 continents in 36 countries, ranging from 1 million hectare cattle stations in Australia's Kimberly to 110,000 acre Estancia's in Patagonia, EcoVillage developments in Tasmania to Public:Private R&D Agroforestry & Education projects in Viet Nam, Family Farms across the world, with a range of private, corporate, government & non-profit clients. More recently Darren has been the originator of Keyline Design, Carbon Farming, Carbon Economy & Regenerative Agriculture courses across Europe, North America & Oceania. Darren also holds positions outside of Australia Felix Permaculture and is a Patron of Fundacion + Arboles (España), Project Manager of Carbon Culcha (Australia) & Vice President of New Soil Security Inc. (USA) and Originator of the Regenerative Agriculture Group. This wide experience has created an international reputation of achievement plus an enviable & expansive network that integrates many disciplines.

Originally from the Pacific Northwest of the United States, Christian Shearer is the founder and Managing Director of the Panya Project. He has over six years of permaculture experience, working and living at Lost Valley Education Center outside of Eugene, Oregon, and now residing at the Panya Project in northern Thailand for over five years. He is a permaculture consultant with Terra Genesis International (www.terra-genesis.com), an advisory board member of We Forest (www.weforest.com), a natural builder, a food forest enthusiast, a musician, a certified educator and has extensive knowledge of tropical permaculture systems. He has taught ten PDC courses, in four countries and is excited to continue sharing his passion for a better world and learning from all involved!