“I left changed, inspired, and very refreshed.
Really opened my eyes to new concepts.”
(One of many quotes from Students.)
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Our New 6-Day 'Hands-on' Training Includes the Curriculum of this 4-Day Training, plus Additional Hands-on Experience |
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Pictures by Milton Dixon and
Bill Wilson.
Narration by Bill Wilson.
I took a quick picture of the Purdue clock tower on one of our walks around campus.
Hosting our first 4-day Suburban/Urban Permaculture Training Intensive at such a well known institution was noteworthy, enjoyable (thanks to our hosts) and delivered what we hoped it would, a good permaculture educational experience.
We would like to thank the
grad students, staff and especially the administration of the Purdue Center for the Environment for having the vision and fortitude to host a permaculture training at Purdue. |
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2.
From the feedback we received our students, they came away with a much deeper understanding of permaculture and were inspired by the possibilities this design approach affords.
A third of the people attending the training are Purdue students (some international) the remaining were folks from the general public from all over the U.S. including Seattle and Boston.
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3.
Being that the summer session was in progress, the campus was relatively empty.
Our classroom and breakout areas were hosted in this agricultural building.
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“You all did a great job of explaining why permaculture is worth
implementing into our gardens and lives and illustrating what one
can do with the principles of permaculture.” |
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4.
Pfendler Hall was built in 1901 and is one of the landmark buildings on campus. |
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5.
Beside comfortable seating and plenty of space, the lecture hall (which is in the modern addition to the building) contained state-of-the-art electronics.
It was nice having a near ideal lecture environment, but much of the training occurred outside as well.
Here Angie Marsh (left) of Champaign/Urbana and Jody Luna of Chicago take on a teaching segment of the training. Our teaching staff consisted of 4 of our PDC (permaculture design certification) graduates who were there to teach and learn at the same time. |
“Lots of useful information for a sustainable life style.
VERY inspiring!!” |
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6.
Bryce Ruddock of Milwaukee, Midwest Permaculture's 'plant guy', was an invaluable asset with his deep knowledge, practical experience and generous nature. |
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7.
Each day students and staff would venture outside for what we called our daily 'walkabouts'.
On a walkabout observations about the sun, soil, water flows and vegetation were made on different landscapes. From this, we would brainstorm various permaculture approaches to redesigning the property to increase fertility and yields, while attempting to decrease work and inputs.
Here, Brent Ladd of Purdue (who was the driving force behind bringing the training to campus) leads a section of the training on one of the walkabouts. |
"In my opinion, the four day Permaculture Intensive was the most relevant and in-depth knowledge exchange I've witnessed at the university in terms of addressing the environmental and societal grand challenges we all face."
Brent Ladd - Center for the Environment at Purdue |
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This particular area on campus where Brent lead us, is part of the horticulture college. Plants from all over the world are put on display here with different field tests and trials being conducted.
Because of Purdue's world renowned reputation, plants and plant tissue from all over are sent here for assessment and study. Some of the more notable samples we observed were sent here by George Washington Carver in the 1920s.
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Not far from the classroom we found the Hillel center which welcomed our assessment of their site during a couple of our walkabouts. |
“Good balance of open lecture, conference calls, walkabouts and group activities. Very informative and inspiring!!”
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10.
Built in the 1950's, the building had a traditional landscape. The management and student participants of the center were already looking at 'greening' up the landscape with edible plants and rain gardens.
Our students and staff merely reaffirmed their thoughts and supplied them with various other ideas to consider. With large trees shading the entire back yard, the sunny flat roof became an area of exploration as a possible location for putting up garden beds for growing food, lowering winter and summer energy costs and extending the life of the existing roofing materials. |
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11.
Just a couple of blocks in the opposite direction from the Hillel Center we found some already existing edible landscaping at the St. Thomas Aquinas student center on campus.
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Being well established, this bed sitting along a west-facing wall requires no mowing and little watering or weeding.
Better still, it is a beautiful spot and contains several edible flowers and herbs.
This is a perfect example of what can be done with open space. Once established there is little work and plenty of yields, not the least of which is beauty. |
“Overall, a great (dare I say, life changing) experience.
THANK YOU!!” |
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13.
Not far off the beaten path, Milton Dixon of Chicago (the fourth member of our teaching staff and Midwest Permaculture's internet technology consultant) found one of several serviceberry trees on campus. |
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14.
The plants were just coming into season with dark purple berries ripening daily.
This is one of the hardiest berry plants available because they are mostly native, i.e. non-hybridized.
They require little maintenance and produce a bounty of berries that resemble blueberries in size and shape but are not as sensitive to crushing.
Taste wise, they are delicious. Eat them fresh, put into pancakes or muffins, and freeze the surplus for smoothies or other uses all winter long.
More on Serviceberry |
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15.
Back in the classroom, there were two aspects of the training that received the most positive comments from our students.
The first was the use of other permaculture instructors whom we brought in to the classroom with the use of the internet and the telephone.
We couldn't afford to fly people in from different parts of the country to Purdue for a short presentation, but bringing them in through the internet is a very close second to having them actually be there.
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Farmers:
Robyn Streeter (L) and Donna Smith
Your Backyard Farmer
Portland, Oregon
These two are the first we have heard of who run their farming operations from other peoples back yards.
They operate 53 'farms' charging the homeowner so much per year to have food grown for them in their own backyards and left on their doorstep weekly.
Homeowners can also learn how to grow their own food from these innovative and successful farmers. |
Restaurateur Helen Cameron
Uncommon Ground Restaurant -- Chicago
First organically certified roof-top 'farm' in the U. S.. She grows food on the roof and brings it down to the kitchen to cook for customers. Interestingly, Helen did half of her undergraduate studies at Purdue years ago.
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Internet Teachers
Our out-of-state teachers gave a 30-40 minute talk and then we opened up the microphone for students to ask their own questions.
At left are links to a few of the guest instructors we used. Their work is worth looking at.
“Brilliant use of technology to bring permaculture pioneers into the classroom and to share their experience.”
Helen Cameron
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16.
The second aspect of the training that elicited favorable responses from students was the use of the Open Space meeting techniques.
In an Open Space meeting, students decide what subjects will be explored.
If there is a topic that an individual student wants greater clarity on, and they are willing to host that discussion, then it is posted as one of several options.
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“Allowing us to share our ideas with each other in small groups was great” |
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Once all of the topics or subject areas are posted students move into Open Space where they decide for themselves which topic or group they wish to join in with.
They can stay with a single subject for the entire allotted time or they are free to move about the room and go from group to group.
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The only requirement foundational to Open Space is that the student must be either "learning" or "contributing" in their small group. If they are not, then the "rule of two feet" applies and the student must dismiss themselves and move on to another group.
The student may also choose to join in with no group at all. After all, it is an Open Space. No one is required to do anything or be anywhere.
The Open Space session occurred immediately following lunch and instead of people falling asleep at their desks, there were lively discussions happening all around the room.
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19.
When the meeting time concludes, each group is invited to the front of the room to take a few minutes to share the results of their open discussion. Everyone in the room receives the benefit of each groups work and conclusions.
What is discovered more often than not is that there is a deep knowledge and wisdom sitting right in the room amongst the students themselves.
A written copy of each groups notes is kept for everyone to review at a later time.
What makes this process work so well is that those people with the greatest interest in a single topic pool their collective genius, sparking ideas and inspiration from one another.
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“We created a real sense of community, relating to each other as real people.” |
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20.
But once again, getting out of the classroom was a welcomed change.
On one of our WalkAbouts we crossed campus to visit the Purdue student community gardens.
To get there we walked through a service corridor for the campus. How much rain water soaks into this landscape on a rainy day and how much runs off directly into the creeks and streams adding to pollution and potential flooding problems?
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21.
Many of the students who live on campus year round take advantage of the slower schedule over the summer break and put in their own gardens.
We looked at the overall gardens from a permaculture perspective and asked the question, "if we could start from scratch, are there ways we could incorporate permaculture design to improve the use and production of the gardens?"
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Some students raise extra food to sell at the local farmer's market for additional income.
There were plenty of traditional gardening practices to observe but mixed within were some very creative permaculture ideas being practiced.
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“I was impressed by the way you brought people into community
in a very short time, helping us to experience the “globalness” of permaculture and showing us how possible it is to do” |
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Many of the plot holders are excellent gardener/farmers and a few ended up sharing some of their wisdom and tips with our permaculture students.
This was an unexpected gift of people just sharing with other people of what techniques work for them.
This gift of sharing is as old as the human experience and is at the heart of permaculture as well.
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24.
After 4 long days, most of us were ready to return to our own homes satisfied with the rewards from this learning experience and ready to put our newly-found knowledge to work.
There is talk of continuing some sort of permaculture training on campus.
Maybe next year we will create a permaculture design for this interesting building.
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25.
For me, this training was confirmation that no matter what we call it or how we describe it, people are ultimately interested in how we go about caring for one another on the planet while caring for the planet as well.
Through the application of permaculture design principles we can feed the world,
we can repair damaged lands, we can build a bountiful future.
Bill Wilson
June, 2009
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“Bill and teaching staff, this has been a wonderful experience,
worth every penny and ounce of energy. THANK YOU!!!!!!” |
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