Top End Permaculture Design Course

Darwin Permaculture Design Course (PDC) 9th – 21st May 2011

This full time two-week (72 hour) intensive course is fully accredited and internationally recognised. The course runs from 9am – 5pm most days though times may depend on activities. The course is brought to you by the Lakeside Drive Community Garden and hosted by the Mulch Pit Community Food Garden at Nightcliff Uniting Church. Cost: $750 + GST (cheap!)

Topics will include:

•    State of play – where the world is at and where we want to go
•    Ethics and Principles of permaculture
•    Physical and elemental scientific basis for applying permaculture
•    Design techniques used in permaculture including zones and sectors
•    Natural Patterns and how we use them
•    Permaculture in different climates –
      tropical, subtropical and temperate
•    Water security and water use
•    Healthy living soils
•    Home gardens and agriculture
•    Seed saving and nurseries
•    Animal Systems
•    Orchards and Tree crops
•    Housing – low energy design, local materials and retrofitting
•    Renewable and sustainable energy • Reusing and recycling household and
      society waste
•    Developing sustainable and locally based communities
•    Developing sustainable and locally based economies

Course Facilitators

Lachlan McKenzie is a permaculture junkie. After completing his PDC in 1994 in Burra, South Australia, he practiced permaculture for many years in S.A., W.A., and Tasmania. In 1998 – 99 Lachlan undertook a training apprenticeship at Djanbung Gardens Permaculture Centre with Robyn Francis as well as a Creative Facilitation Course with Robin Clayfield and Skye at Crystal Waters. His permaculture adventures took him to East Timor in 2001 where he ended up living for 5 years working with a Timorese and internationals providing training and setting up demonstration sites.

Floyd C. Constable has worked in natural area restoration/management and horticulture for many years. Over this time he has organically developed a passion for Permaculture and sustainable integrated design methods. Floyd completed his PDC with Bill Mollison and Geoff Lawton and since then has practiced permaculture wherever he lives. Floyd has just returned from a 3 month stint at Milkwood Permaculture.

Emma Lupin sailed around the tropics with her partner Jon for many years before settling in Darwin. She worked as a chef and enjoyed making food from the local foods available at the time. She has completed a PDC with Geoff Lawton and is a keen permaculturalist, gardener and local food promoter. She currently works at Alawa School Farm as the coordinator of their School Kitchen Garden Project.

Lia Gill is a born and bred local horticulture expert (as well as being an accomplished artist). She has worked with the CSIRO grafting and taking cuttings of plant specimens and has run a market stall for many years selling plants she propagated herself. Lia completed a PDC two years ago in Darwin with Rosemary Morrow and shared her knowledge on last years PDC. She currently works at Alawa School Farm as the garden expert of their School Kitchen Garden Project.

Michelle Shugg is a renowned top end sustainable landscape designer who also has a keen interest and wealth of knowledge in sustainable building designs and retrofitting of dwellings.    She    co    runs   In-Scape-Out landscaping and teaches at Charles Darwin University. Michelle completed her PDC two years ago with Rosemary Morrow.

More information and registration forms here.

Planting to Share

The Mulch Pit Crew, a rag tag bunch of regulars who garden in the Mulch Pit community food garden on the NUC property, started the new year off with planting native fruit trees around the place on a Friday evening this month. The trees will provide bush tucker for passers-by of all shapes and sizes, from birds to small animals to people.

Other benefits to adding to the native bush stock on the property include some nice screening between the confluence of two roads and the church building, and shade when these trees get bigger.

Everyone is welcome to help out with the community gardening, either on Fortnightly Fridays or Saturday mornings. Visit the Mulch Pit website at www.themulchpit.net or befriend us on facebook for updates and events.

Grants are Great

NUC has recently been awarded three grants to help us be an alternative resource community and make the property an environmental precinct of sorts.

We received an EnvironmeNT grant for a large rainwater tank and to help us create education programs on permaculture-related topics to share with local schools, community groups and families.

Another government scheme, the Solar Champions grant, is going to put solar energy panels on the building roof.

Finally, we've been working for a few weeks in a row, with a few to go, on a shade house/nursery in the Mulch Pit Community Food garden. Thanks to the Open Gardens scheme for making this possible.

Sponsor a Chook in the Mulch Pit

Welcome Chickens to the Mulch Pit!

We now have a chook house and run and will soon have chickens of various sizes scratching, clucking and doing their chook thing;  enriching the soil, eating unwanted pests and maybe even providing us with a few eggs!

If you like this idea why not SPONSOR A CHOOK for only 10 cents per day (this will cover food) or even buy a young chicken for the run for $7. You can then have the pleasure of naming it, cuddling it and writing anecdotes about it in our new chook diary .

For more information see us at the Mulch Pit on Saturday mornings, or contact us here.

Eco Church Community

We've been asked to share our Mulch Pit story in a collection being put together by the Uniting Church Synod of Victoria and Tasmania and the Five Leaf Eco-Awards about churches around the country who have taken actions to care for the environment. The organizers hope to use these resources to help inspire more churches to act for the environment by showing them what is possible and that others are doing it.

It's part of the Green Church initiative.

Gai's taken a crack at it and we'll post it here when it's in final form. 

Meanwhile, we'll be out in the garden living it out!

Update on Friday, July 9, 2010 at 1:54PM by NUC

The Church Greening stories booklet including the NUC story is available to download here.