Advanced Permaculture Online Course

Learn to design naturally inspired living systems.

This Advanced Permaculture course sustainable systems, how to determine planning strategies for a site, seasonal patterns, water management, earthworks, considering different climates, and comprehensive planning including preparing costings. This will give you a sound background in all aspects of developing and running a permaculture system.

You will learn:

• • Evaluate appropriate design strategies for a specific development site.
  • Explain the relationship between a Permaculture system and natural patterns occurring in your local area.
  • Develop strategies for the management of water in a Permaculture design.
  • Determine earthworks for the development of a Permaculture system.
  • Design a Permaculture system for the humid tropics.
  • Design a Permaculture system for a dry climate.
  • Design a Permaculture system for a temperate to cold climate.
  • Determine planning strategies for the development of a Permaculture system.
  • Prepare cost estimates for a Permaculture development plan.
  • Explain alternative sustainable systems practiced in various places around the world.

Detailed Course Outline

This course is made up a number of lessons or units. Each of these has self assessment questions, a set task (practical homework) and an assignment which you can upload online.

There are 10 lessons in this course:

1. Evaluating Design Strategies

• • Introduction
  • The need for sustainability
  • Low input farming
  • Regenerative farming
  • Biodynamic systems
  • Organic systems
  • Conservation farming
  • Matching enterprise with land capability
  • Polyculture
  • Integrated management
  • Permaculture planning
  • Observation
  • Deduction
  • Reading patterns
  • Analysis
  • Mapping overlays
  • Sectors
  • Zones
  • Design strategies and techniques
  • Undulating edge
  • Spirals and circles
  • Zig zag trellis
  • Temporary shelter
  • Small scale sun trap
  • Small scale sun shading
  • Pathways
  • Keyhole beds

2. Understanding Patterns

• • Understanding patterns
  • Know your land: evaluate a site
  • Weather patterns, soil pH, EC, temperature, water etc
  • Electromagnetic considerations
  • Herbicide or pesticide consideration
  • Land carrying capacity
  • Assessing land capability
  • Checklist of sustainability elements
  • Indication of sustainability
  • Log books

3. Water

• • Water supply
  • Water saving measures
  • Tanks
  • Dam and pond building
  • Edges
  • Construction; concrete, brick, stone,
  • liners, earth construction
  • Collecting rainwater
  • Recycling waste water
  • Using farm waste water
  • Town water supply
  • Well drilling
  • Pumping subterranean ground water
  • Pumping from natural supplies (eg. lakes, rivers)
  • Pumps and plumbing supplies
  • Water use: power generatyion, deisel generators
  • Fish culture: land and water, dams
  • Water plant cultureWater plants to know and grow
  • Seasonal changes in a pond
  • Sweage treatment: reed beds
  • Problems with water
  • Wating water and conservation
  • Swales and keylines
  • Keyline design

4. Earthworks

• • Site clearing
  • Levelling
  • Drainage
  • Solving drainage problems
  • Surveying techniques: triangulation, direct contouring, grid system etc
  • Levelling terms
  • Levelling procedure
  • Levelling a sloping site
  • Loss of soil fertility
  • Erosion
  • Salinity
  • Sodicity
  • Soil compaction
  • Soil acidification
  • Build up of dangerous chemicals
  • Improving soils
  • Using lime, gypsum or acidic materials

5. Humid Tropics

• • Climatic systems
  • Precipitation
  • Wind
  • Radiation
  • The wet tropics
  • Sources of humus
  • Mulches
  • Soil life in the tropics
  • Barrier plants
  • Animal barriers
  • Permaculture systems for the wet tropics
  • Garden beds
  • Tropical fruits to grow

6. Dry Climates

• • Water storage and conservation
  • Dryland gardens
  • Dryland orchards
  • Planting on hills
  • Corridor planting
  • Overcoming dry soils
  • Drought tolerant plants
  • Vegetables
  • Fruits
  • Vines

7. Temperate to Cold Climates

• • Introduction
  • Characteristics of a temperate biozone
  • Cool temperate garden design
  • Useful crops for this zone
  • Crop protection
  • Soils in a cool temperate area
  • Growing berries
  • Orchards
  • Soil life
  • Blueberries
  • Raspberries
  • Strawberries
  • Nuts
  • Herbs

8. Planning Work

• • Alternative planning procedures
  • The planning process
  • What goes where
  • Equipping the environmentally friendly garden
  • Barriers, walls and fencing
  • Gates
  • Rubble, brick and concrete walls
  • Retaining walls
  • Trellis
  • Hedges
  • Changing an existing farm to be more sustainable
  • Monitoring and reviewing
  • Contingencies and seasonal variations
  • Planning for drought
  • Excessive water

9. Costing

• • Property costs
  • Making cost cutting choices
  • Planning for the cost conscious
  • Likely costs to establish a garden
  • Socio economic considerations in farming
  • Production planning
  • Economies of scale
  • Materials
  • Equipment
  • Value adding

10. Sustainable Systems

• • Other sustainable systems
  • Working with nature rather than against it
  • Minimizing machinery use
  • Only use what is necessary
  • Different ways to garden naturally
  • Organic gardening
  • No Dig techniques
  • Biodynamics
  • Biodynamic preparations
  • Crop rotation
  • Bush gardens
  • Succession planting
  • Seed saving
  • Hydroponics
  • Environmental horticulture
  • Sustainable agriculture around the world
  • Integrated pest management
  • Cultural controls
  • Biological controls
  • Physical controls
  • Chemicals Quarantine
  • Controlling weeds without chemicals
  • Animals in sustainable systems
  • Chickens
  • Turkeys
  • Ducks
  • Geese
  • Pigs

When you have completed the lessons of your Certificate course, you will be given the option of taking the optional exam. It’s okay if you don’t want the exam, we still issue your Careerline Certificate. For Advanced Certificates however, the exam is compulsory (per module) and are included in the course fee.