retreats at ES
Eternity Springs Art Farm is a unique and memorable venue, comprising 20 acres of former farmland which has been transformed by artist Amanda Furze into productive examples of permaculture design. Amanda prefers to live among her art work, not sell it: her sculptures and found objects are as at home in the garden beds as the multitude of colourful plants. The comfortable accommodation buildings are equally unique and colourful, created with Amanda’s flair for incorporating whatever materials are to hand.
The established infrastructure – vegetable garden, chook yard, waste water treatment system, etc. – provide living examples of sustainable landscape design. I have been coming here for years, yet I still frequently see objects and aspects I have never noticed before.
permaculture design course (PDC)
Curriculum
This two week course includes 72 hours of formal teaching on all aspects of permaculture design, both urban and rural, plus outdoor observation and design practice. The beauty of residential courses is that learning continues outside teaching sessions, as participants interact informally with one another and with the landscape, established infrastructure and gardens of Eternity Springs.
No previous experience is necessary. The course attracts people who want to design their own gardens or farms (small or large); professionals seeking to develop an ecological approach to their work; individuals who are concerned about the environment; and people who want to become permaculture consultants.
Day 1 – Arrival, registration and settling in.
- Site, staff and group introductions
- Introduction to permaculture
Day 2 – Guiding principles of sustainable design
Day 3 & 4 – Learning the language of landscape
- Landform
- Forests
- Microclimate
- Soil
- Water
Day 5 – Choosing a building site
- Passive solar building design
- Zone 1 – outside living areas
- planting for privacy and protection
- kitchen gardens
Day 6 – Biological pest management
- Zone 2 – orchards as food forests
- grain growing
Day 7 – Free / Rest day
Day 8 – Animal forage systems (designs for poultry & grazing animals)
- Aquaculture (water gardening and farming)
Day 9 – 13 The mornings continue as classroom sessions; the afternoons are now devoted to working on a practice design in small groups. Each group reports in to the whole class on their design and their group dynamics at the end of each afternoon.
Day 9 – Site analysis (recognising resources & opportunities on site)
- Practice design: interviewing the client
Day 10 – Urban permaculture
- Practice design: assessing the site
Day 11 – Village design
- Practice design: overlays, flow charts, bubble diagrams
Day 12 – Financial systems (alternative ways of financing)
- Practice design: conceptual design
Day 13 – Bioregionalism and cooperative enterprise
- Practice design: detailed design, implementation plan, costing.
Day 14 – Where do we go from here?
- Packing up and departure
Permaculture Design Courses for Women
1 – providing an all female teaching situation where women support each other to learn skills.
2 – keeping the cost low, because generally women have less money to spend.
3 – providing child-care @ $5 for each 3 hour teaching bracket.
