Courses

Join Nick Ritar with special guests Hannah Moloney (Cultivating Community) and others for an amazing two weeks of permaculture theory, practical workshops, site visits and intensive design exercises exploring permaculture in the middle of Sydney.

Our PDC graduates leave our courses ready to design and implement permaculture principles into a wide range of scenarios; from urban permaculture systems to small farms and community projects.

Permaculture is set of principles that result in sustainable and productive systems. Systems for living, architecture, food production, land management and community.

No chemicals and no excuses. Just good, thoughtful, innovative and effective design for the needs of our species.

During this PDC, examples of designing for energy conservation, food production systems, nutrient cycling and more will all be addressed with a combination of rural and urban examples.

We also blend into our established and certified curriculum new material from a range of other world-leading thinkers and activators on subjects like transition, food security, regenerative agriculture, urban water harvesting and many more.

Our PDC curriculum includes the following:

•    
Permaculture principles and ethics
•    Permaculture design for urban and rural situations
•    Creating a balanced soil food web
•    Pattern Understanding
•    Designing water into landscape (or streetscape)
•    Passive water harvesting and drought-proofing
•    Intensive food and animal systems
•    Orchard and food forest design
•    System planning + integration
•    Design for different biospheres: tropics / drylands / cool climates
•    Appropriate technologies for future communities
•    Trees, water and energy cycling
•    Strategies for building healthy, resilient communities
•    In-depth site visits to two of Sydney's best examples of urban Permaculture systems.

This PDC will be taught in combination within both a classroom and a community garden environment, with site visits to amazing urban permaculture systems. The class size for this course is limited to ensure quality learning outcomes for everyone, and students emerge as accredited Permaculture Designers.

Nick Ritar's teaching demonstrates high levels of technical expertise, and he is skilled at conveying complex information to a diverse group of learners.

More importantly, he continually demonstrates that permaculture values and ethics can, and should, be embedded within professional practice

- Kath Albury, PDC student

Hannah Moloney is successfully working across the spectrum of food security, production and distribution systems. She has the capacity to strategically map and deliver projects, as well as having an amazing engagement factor with those she works with.

Children are mesmerized by her ability to deliver information in the appropriate package: adults of all ethnic backgrounds are engaged by the honesty, passion and true inner belief in what she is delivering

- Costa Georgiadis (Host of ABC Gardening Australia)

Nick Ritar is a permaculture designer, consultant and educator who works extensively across a wide range of bioregions, farms, watersheds and city environments. He is recognized nationally as a leading advocate on how permaculture principles can contribute to food security through good design and regenerative farming and living.

Nick divides his time between extensive permaculture teaching, permaculture consultancy, writing and farming in central western NSW. Nick's full profile.

Hannah Moloney is a change-maker, permaculture designer and facilitator who has designed and delivered many community-scale programs on local and state levels around food growing, composting and cultivating community.