As I mentioned in the first post in today's series, I am taking a free online Intro to Permaculture Design being offered by Oregon State University. It is a 4 week course led by Andrew Millison and I am at the end of the 2nd week. The good news is that the class is self paced. I regret that I did not share this free course with you, but OSU has announced that the course will be offered again this October.
I must admit that I was slightly apprehensive about how informative and educational the course would be, I mean after all, we've been stewards of our lands and have done some amazing things. The second reason that I was apprehensive is that it is a free course. What American University would give away such valuable information when they could charge a couple hundred dollars for a course like this. What's even more impressive is that Andrew Millison actually participates in the chats/discussions and offers comments and guidance.
I must admit that I have learned a ton so far in this class. One of the mantras I've heard so much in past years is "Think globally, act locally." That is great advice and certainly worthy of respect but a lot of the readings and activities in this course while certainly containing global implications look to act "regionally" while certainly including and improving your individual site.
For the class projects, I am using the Project House and you have seen some of the improvements already if you are following me on Instagram or via your smart phone search AridAcresHomestead. The course has shown me that permaculture design incorporates a lot of factors I may have subconsciously been aware of but now have to think about when deciding plant placement, water features, etc.
In the week one we have completed a sector map that includes natural elements like wind direction, winter and summer sun paths, flood water flow, noise factors, pollution possibilities, etc. We also created a map of the Permaculture Zones.
I must admit that I have learned a ton so far in this class. One of the mantras I've heard so much in past years is "Think globally, act locally." That is great advice and certainly worthy of respect but a lot of the readings and activities in this course while certainly containing global implications look to act "regionally" while certainly including and improving your individual site.
For the class projects, I am using the Project House and you have seen some of the improvements already if you are following me on Instagram or via your smart phone search AridAcresHomestead. The course has shown me that permaculture design incorporates a lot of factors I may have subconsciously been aware of but now have to think about when deciding plant placement, water features, etc.
In the week one we have completed a sector map that includes natural elements like wind direction, winter and summer sun paths, flood water flow, noise factors, pollution possibilities, etc. We also created a map of the Permaculture Zones.
| Week 2 has proven to be thought provoking for me. After learning more about Sectors and Zones we revisited our original maps and revised them and we've been using Google Earth a lot. I've learned so much from using that and including topography and watershed information as well as factoring in things like population growth and it's impact on resources both site specific, locally and regionally. |  |
Thank you for dropping by and I appreciate being able to share some of the things I have learned from this free course so far. I can't wait for Week 4!! I certainly don't think I'm going to be a permaculture expert in 4 weeks but I will certainly have a much better handle on permaculture and how I can implement it on the Project House for amazing results. The rest of today's posts are about various elements for site permaculture like rain catchment and ways to slow water run off while improving soil quality and water retention.
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