Category Archives: food growing
Two-Day Permaculture Course (West London: April/May 2015)
Principles to Regenerate the Earth and Strengthen our Communities
Course dates: Sat 25 April (10am-6pm) & Sat 2 May (10am-4pm)
Venue: Westcott Park Community Centre & Garden, 13 Ferguson Drive, Acton, London. W3 6YP.
Advance Booking ONLY; See below.
Permaculture is a practical system for sustainable living, based on observing principles and patterns in nature. By maximising relationships in living systems, permaculture has empowered people worldwide to develop dynamic, resilient projects that work with nature, rather than against it. Whatever scale or aspect of human living, whether the home and garden, community or congregation space, or one’s own life and career, permaculture can be applied to each situation.
Day 1: Introduction to permaculture; Visit to the community garden.
Day 2: Permaculture applied-design: A volunteers plan; Practical gardening.
The course content will include:
- What is permaculture?
- Introduction to permaculture ethics and principles
- Nature observation
- Social permaculture
- Permaculture as a design system
- Applying permaculture
- Next steps
Course fees
£60 if you live outside a one mile radius of the garden.
(Free if you live within the one mile radius)
This course is partially funded by Catalyst Gateway and supported by Routes of Wholeness.
Workshop Facilitators
Shumaisa Khan (Permaculture Designer & Sustainability Tutor)
Muzammal Hussain (Permaculture Designer & Group Facilitator)
Bookings
Booking in advance is essential. For more info and bookings:
Tel: 07424 876 797
OR
Email: westcottparkcommunitygarden@outlook.com
Note: Bookings for this course are being taken by Westcott Park Community Garden, not by Routes of Wholeness.
Food
Bring lunch to share. Refreshments are provided
Permaculture Within Diverse Communities Taster Day (Oct 2014)
LATEST NOTICES
This course is now FULLY BOOKED! If you complete the booking form you will be placed on the reserve list – if a space then becomes available we will let you know. (23/10/2014)
—
The workshop is almost fully booked. We will try to update this page when there are no more places, but there may be a slight delay. If you wish to book, please complete the booking form as normal, and you will be offered a place if still available. If there are no more places, we will let you know and we can put you on the reserve list. Alternatively, contact us to check latest availability; &/or sign up to receive updates of future courses/activities. (23/10/2014)
Principles to Regenerate the Land and Enrich Our Groups
Date: Sat Oct 25th 2014
Venue: The Mill, 7-11 Coppermill Lane, Walthamstow, London, E17 7HA.
Time: 10.45am-5pm
Limited Places. Advance Booking ONLY.
For anyone involved with sustainability or ecology and involved with people – such as members of a Transtion Town; Climate action group; Community gardening; Co-operative; or you’re just curious about permaculture and working in groups…
Permaculture is a practical system for regenerating the earth and communities. By drawing on principles and patterns in nature, permaculture has empowered people worldwide to develop dynamic, resilient projects that work with nature, rather than against it. Whether the home and garden, community space or one’s own life and career, permaculture can be applied to each situation.
This 1-day workshop is about ecological and social healing. It will give a taste of both permaculture and working with social diversity. Together we will explore and open up ways to work together effectively, to recognise our differences and our common ground, and to discover how permaculture and contemporary group approaches can support our vision to co-create more conscious, real and productive relationships between one another and the land.
The exact content of the workshop is to be finalised and potential areas include:
- What is permaculture?
- Intro to permaculture ethics & principles
- Social permaculture: Nature in us
- Diversity: Feeling in our own shoes, and stepping into the shoes of the other
- Conflict: an opportunity for growth
- Strategies for collaborative decision making
Fee: £20 /£12 concessionary rate – limited number ( e.g. Full time students; On benefits, State pension etc. Waltham Forest residents only). Also two £5 places on application (see below)
Workshop Facilitators:
Shumaisa Khan (Permaculture Designer & Sustainability Tutor, Routes of Wholeness)
Muzammal Hussain (Permaculture Designer & Group Facilitator, Routes of Wholeness)
Organised in collaboration with The Mill & Hedge Herbs.
Food: Snacks will be provided. Teas available for donation; Bring a packed lunch.
We actively invite members of Waltham Forest community groups to join the workshop – all spaces are to be held solely for local residents until 1 month beforehand.
Bookings:
Participant numbers are limited. If you know you want to participate on the course, we recommend you book as soon as possible in order to secure your place.
Completed booking forms are welcome from anyone irrespective of location. However…
… Waltham Forest residents will have priority until one month before the workshop. A limited number of concessionary places of £12 are also available for Waltham Forest residents unable to afford the full fee. We also have two places of £5 (applications welcome from Waltham Forest residents – priority given to those with particulary limited finances – please let us know if you would like to apply.)
…If you live outside of Waltham Forest, your booking form will be acknowledged when received, and processed from 25th Sept with places being offered according to availability at that time (full fee only for those outside Waltham Forest).
Click here for booking form
1-Day Course: Introduction to Permaculture (Oxfordshire: Aug 2014)
COURSE CANCELLED: We are sorry to announce that we have had to cancel this course. Bookings on this particular occasion have been low, likely due to it being August and many people who would want to do the course being away. If you have any questions please get in touch. You can also stay updated with future courses here, and there is also the PAB website. Sorry once again for having to cancel.
Date: Sat 16th Aug 2014
Venue: Willowbrook Organic Farm, Hampton Gay, Oxfordshire, OX5 2QQ. UK.
Map: Click here
Times: 10am-6pm
Permaculture is a practical system for sustainable living, based on observing principles and patterns in nature. By maximising relationships in living systems, permaculture has empowered people worldwide to develop dynamic, resilient projects that work with nature, rather than against it. Whatever scale or aspect of human living, whether the home and garden, community or congregation space, or one’s own life and career, permaculture can be applied to each situation.
This is an interactive taster day outlining permaculture and introducing you to some of the fundamental tools and principles that can be used to design sustainable, resilient projects.
The course content will include:
- What is permaculture?
- Introduction to permaculture ethics and principles
- Nature observation
- Social permaculture
- Permaculture as a design system
- Applying permaculture
- Next steps
Course Tutors:
Dr Muzammal Hussain (Permaculture Designer & Group Facilitator)
Dr Shumaisa Khan (Permaculture & Sustainability Tutor)
Course fees £55 standard rate / £45 concessionary rate: e.g. Full time students; On benefits, State pension etc.
Food: Teas will be provided; Bring snacks to share (if wished) as well as a packed lunch.
This is an introductory day that promises to be fun, educational and transformative. There will be opportunities for networking with other course participants.
Bookings:
To support a rich learning space, we are limiting participant numbers to a small group size. If you know you want to participate on the course, we recommend you book as soon as possible in order to secure your place.
Transport: While we may be able to connect up participants in advance, please be responsible for your own travelling to the farm. If coming by train, bus 25A has worked well before – 10-15 mins walk from Oxford train station. (A bus journey planner is here). Alternatively, you might want to take a taxi from the train station. Closer to time, we will communicate with all registered participants, so you can choose to meet one another at the station for a joint ride to the farm (about 8 miles or 25 minutes), thus sharing travel costs!
One Day Course: Introduction to Permaculture (Oxfordshire: May 2014)
LATEST NOTICES
This course is now FULLY BOOKED! If you complete the booking form you will be placed on the reserve list – if a space then becomes available we will let you know. (26/4/2014)
—-
There are still a couple of places left! We will try to update this page when there are no more places, but there may be a slight delay. If you wish to book, please complete the booking form as normal, and you will be offered a place if still available. If there are no more places, we will let you know and we can put you on the reserve list. Alternatively, contact us to check latest availability; &/or sign up to receive updates of future courses/activities. (18/4/2014)
Click here for booking form (Note: There is a reseve list as the course is FULLY BOOKED).
We are offering a 1-day introduction to Permaculture in Oxfordshire.
Date: Sat 10th May 2014
Venue: Willowbrook Organic Farm, Hampton Gay, Oxfordshire, OX5 2QQ. UK.
Map: Click here
Times: 10am-6pm
Permaculture is a practical system for sustainable living, based on observing principles and patterns in nature. By maximising relationships in living systems, permaculture has empowered people worldwide to develop dynamic, resilient projects that work with nature, rather than against it. Whatever scale or aspect of human living, whether the home and garden, community or congregation space, or one’s own life and career, permaculture can be applied to each situation.
This is an interactive taster day outlining permaculture and introducing you to some of the fundamental tools and principles that can be used to design sustainable, resilient projects.
The course content will include:
- What is permaculture?
- Introduction to permaculture ethics and principles
- Nature observation
- Social permaculture
- Permaculture as a design system
- Applying permaculture
- Next steps
Course Tutors:
Dr Muzammal Hussain (Permaculture Designer & Group Facilitator)
Dr Shumaisa Khan (Permaculture & Sustainability Tutor)
Course fees £55 standard rate / £45 concessionary rate: e.g. Full time students; On benefits, State pension etc.
Food: Teas will be provided; Participants will need to bring a packed lunch/any snacks.
This is an introductory day that promises to be fun, educational and transformative. There will be opportunities for networking with other course participants.
Bookings: Click here to book.
To support a rich learning space, we are limiting participant numbers to a small group size. If you know you want to participate on the course, we recommend you book as soon as possible in order to secure your place.
Transport: While we may be able to connect up participants in advance, please be responsible for your own travelling to the farm. If coming by train, bus 25A has worked well before – 10-15 mins walk from Oxford train station. (A bus journey planner is here). Alternatively, you might want to take a taxi from the train station. Closer to time, we will communicate with all registered participants, so you can choose to meet one another at the station for a joint ride to the farm (about 8 miles or 25 minutes), thus sharing travel costs!
Why No Digging?: Nature as a Teacher
“Why no digging?“… This important question was recently asked following a post I wrote titled, ‘9 Months No-Dig Permaculture in Smal
l Growing Space‘.
I felt the answer to this question deserved a blog post of its own, and which can then be referred to in future posts around no-dig approaches to food growing.
How nature replenishes itself
How I understanding permaculture is that it draws on nature as a teacher. Nature can be an example of how to nourish and regenerate the earth.
Nature demonstrates deep and coherent principles of sustainability, and if through witnessing and reflecting on nature, we can be humble enough to allow nature to be our teacher, there are principles we might discover that nature embodies and that we can apply in creating our own systems, whether this be around food growing, economic systems, or social ones. Of course these can all interact, and that is one of the beauties of this interconnected dynamic world we are part of!
So, back to digging. If we look at nature, we can see that it rarely digs in the sense that it rarely dramatically inverts the soil. Instead, nature tends to work gently. In a forest, for instance, leaves fall, they slowly breakdown on the surface, and are gradually taken to deeper layers, in particular through earthworm activity. This process of organic matter being left on the soil surface and taken down (without digging) is a part of the process that naturally builds the fertility of the soil and feeds life, a foundation for the creative effortless development and sustenance of a forest and the abundance that comes from it for an incredibly diverse range of life forms.
Drawing on Nature’s principles
Permaculture would be not about copying this exactly, but about drawing on these principles to design systems (permaculture is a design approach) that provide for our needs in a sustainable way – which means also caring for our wider family: the earth and our fellow human beings.
Choosing to minimise digging
Breaking it down a bit more, here are some specific tangible reasons for not digging (or at least minimising it):
- By inverting the soil, many microorganisms accustomed to living and functioning at a particular soil depth will die, and this impacts negatively on soil fertility (and increases the need for adding fertilisers/external inputs).
- Digging can bring weed seeds to the surface, increasing the need for further digging and leading to an upward spiral of digging! Instead what we have been doing on our plot is, in part, seeing weeds as a form of life that store valuable nutrients. By just hoeing weeds along the surface of the soil, we leave them on the surface (as mulch) where they suppress further weed growth and break down naturally, gradually releasing nourishment for other life, like leaves do when falling on the soil surface in a forest.
- Soil is a carbon sink. Digging releases the carbon stored in the ground into the atmosphere, so is counter to what we ideally want to be doing to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
A bit of an experiment!
When we began our plot with a no-dig approach, it was a bit of an experiment! We were not sure how things would turn out. Although it’s been only nine months and it’s raised eyebrows, we’ve certainly found that weed growth on our plot seems to be much less now than on many others in the area, meaning less work in the long run, and the soil looks much richer as well.
‘It depends!’
While digging is something I would try to avoid where possible, there is an unofficial permaculture principle that underlies all of them, and prevents permaculture from becoming dogmatic. This principle is ‘It depends‘! After all, there are instances where some kind of digging would be appropriate and helpful (e.g. in heavily compacted soil). The aim, instead of no digging [full stop], is rather to create the conditions that minimise the need to dig, particularly over the longer term, and that means digging as little as possible in the first place. In our case, we have been fortunate whereby we have got away essentially without digging the soil at all.
All the best to everyone who is working (or working less!) to do this, and thank you to all my teachers who have helped me to explore the wonderful approach of permaculture which continues to support me in drawing on principles in nature to inspire my work in all its forms.
—
I have found these two books to be really helpful (and both of which have pages about tilling/not tilling the soil):
The Permaculture Garden: by Graham Bell (simpler)
The Earth Care Manual: By Patrick Whitefield (more comprehensive)
Muzammal Hussain
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License
Routes of Wholeness 