Permaculture Design Course

The Earthship hosted a professional Permaculture Design Course with full certification offered, 26 Feb to Mar 10, 2009. The course was taught by Wayne Weiseman, internationally known permaculturist and educator. Concerned about depleted soils, food and water contamination, manipulated energy prices, economic betrayals, and other issues of basic survival that currently are putting us all at risk. Permaculture is a design science that offers solutions to bring about a sustainable society that create abundance for all of life. The course gave an intensive look at solutions to problems that seem overwhelming – it is possible to solve these problems, one neighborhood at a time. Permaculture works with nature instead of against it, and the results can appear miraculous. The students were taught how permaculture designers:

  • Grew trees and vegetables in the salty sands of the Dead Sea in Jordan that no one believed could be grown there
  • Reforested devastated ecosystems in a short period of time
  • Increased farm yields by 3-8 times over commercial yields without any irrigation or outside fertilizers.
  • Grew 6000 pounds of food on a small suburban lot
  • Created an energy efficient, aesthetic and comfortable 3 bedroom house for less than $20,000
  • Created fuel for vehicles in their backyard
  • Created a mature, productive “food forest” in a bare lot in less than four years, which revitalized the neighborhood and lowered crime
  • Cleaned up biohazards organically – including radiation
The Earthship site offered an ideal location to explore the principles of permaculture at work – there was lots of hands on work mixed with learning new knowledge.

A few of the workshops that were offered :
  • A special workshop by the Earthship builder on building techniques and navigating the permitting process in Florida for natural and alternative structures
  • Mentoring and workshop by a Florida native plant specialist and landscaper
  • Workshop on medicinal herbs
  • unique field trips to explore sustainable resources in Florida

Course curriculum was a comprehensive look at creating sustainable community or living off the grid, including:

  • Plant Guilds, Polycultures and Succession Planting
  • Aquaculture and Micro Livestock
  • Urban Animal Husbandry
  • Water Use & Reuse, Swales, Ponds, Rainwater Collection
  • Pattern Understanding and Observation
  • Climatic Factors and Climate and Microclimates
  • Sustainable Building & Retrofitting Energy Conservation
  • Trees and their Energy Transactions
  • Guilds, Polycultures, Succession
  • Various Climatic Factors: Focus on the Temperate Climate
  • Practical Work on Design
  • Permaculture Ethics, Principles
  • The Business of Permaculture: creating an urban livelihood
For information on future courses go to: Thepermacultureguild.com

Earthship Facts

  • Earthships are made out of recycled materials, such as tires and soda cans.

  • Earthships catch water from the sky and use it up to four times.

  • Water is heated from either the sun or by natural gas, but they can have city/county water as a backup water supply.

  • Earthships produce their own electricity, but can have multiple energy sources such as solar and wind-generated energy. The energy is stored in batteries and supplied to electrical outlets in the home.

  • Earthships contain and reuse all household sewage in indoor and outdoor treatment cells. The waste is used for food production and in landscaping.

  • Earthship toilets flush with greywater that does not smell.

  • Because of the way they’re built, Earthships maintain comfortable temperatures in any climate.

— Information obtained from Earthship Biotecture.