Permaculture Design Fundamentals

Three new workshops to give you the skills to understand your land and design your dream garden!

This series of 3 workshops and 2 design labs contains the essential permaculture theory and practice to get your own garden or acreage bursting with permaculture productivity.

Workshop 1: Saturday 28 February, 9.30am to 5pm

Permaculture Design Principles

This all-day workshop introduces permaculture and the basics of its design principles with plenty of examples. We'll cover:

• The origins of permaculture and its ethics.
• The systems thinking that underpins permaculture design.
• Feedback loops in natural systems.
• David Holmgren's 12 key design principles.
• Designing for resilience.

This workshop includes a delicious cooked lunch, morning and afternoon teas, plus all day coffee/tea.

Workshop 2: Saturday 14 March, 9.30am to 5pm

Reading the Landscape, Working with People

This workshop covers how to 'read' the landscape with the eye of a permaculture designer! We also look at integrating people's needs into your design. We'll cover:

• Permaculture site and sector analyses.
• The importance of water flows in this region.
• How to uncover the needs of the people you are designing for.
• Practicing new skills with a partner or small group.

This workshop includes a delicious cooked lunch, morning and afternoon teas, plus all day coffee/tea.

Workshop 3: Saturday 28 March, 9.30am to 5pm

Permaculture Design in Practice

Put what you have learned into practice! With a full design brief and plenty of guidance, you'll work with a partner or in a small group to create a design during the day. Includes:

• A detailed design brief and materials provided (aerial photos, site plans).
• Working in small groups to analyse and then design your site.
• Individual guidance/tuition from an experienced permaculture designer.
• Sharing our designs and learning from each other.

Pre-requisite: Open to those who have attended Workshops 1 and 2 above, OR have already completed a full Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC)/have equivalent knowledge.

This workshop includes a delicious cooked lunch, morning and afternoon teas, plus all day coffee/tea.

Each whole-day workshop is $225

Book all three workshops together and save $100 - simply select "Permaculture Design Fundamentals: whole course" ticket at checkout.

Design Labs

Each Design Lab is a 2.5 hour intensive session for you to work on your own garden or land design in a very small group setting (max 4 people). Get input and guidance from Dr Cally Brennan, who has been designing gardens for over 12 years. You will need to bring your own materials for sketching your design (printout or computer/tablet based.)

Pre-requisite: Only open to those who have attended the Permaculture Design in Practice workshop (workshop 3 above) OR have already completed a full Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC)/have equivalent knowledge.

Design Lab 1: Sunday 29 March 10am to 12.30pm

Design Lab 2: Sunday 29 March 2pm to 4.30pm

Each 2.5 hour design lab is $75.

All workshops will take place at a residential home and permaculture garden - our address will be provided in your confirmation email.

About your teacher: Dr. Cally Brennan

Cally has been practising permaculture for over 14 years. In 2013 she founded Canberra Permaculture Design and Education, a permaculture-focused garden design business in Canberra. She has qualifications in permaculture and advanced permaculture design and has been designing gardens and acreages in this region for 12 years. When she's not busy creating designs and plans for clients, she is out in the garden, planting, weeding, making wicking beds or hosting workshops. She also served as a Director and Treasurer on the Board of Permaculture Australia in 2018 and 2019.

Cally, together with partner Jeremy, and their daughter Sophie, manage their productive home food garden in Cook, along with three slightly mad chickens.

About your food: Garden Kitchen Witch*n

Garden Kitchen Witch*n is all about catering with integrity. That means sourcing the most ecologically mindful food possible, often personally knowing the farmers and soils where the food is grown.​ It's about making magick with wholefood ingredients, celebrating the fruit and vegetables that are seasonally abundant in the local region. Food that nourishes the body, the soul and even the environment.

Sam Hawker is the passionate human driving Garden Kitchen Witch*n. The integrity to her ethics is always evident, in cooking, teaching, holding space, and living life. In her life and work, she weaves in many modalities and practices - Earth connection, permaculture, women's work, deep ecology, grief work, minimalism, embodiment, indigenous wisdom, activism, radical homemaking, tiny housing, the work that reconnects, emergent strategy, holistic management, cyclical living and even more.

About the garden

The garden is on an 840 sqm residential block in Cook. That land also contains a house, driveway, existing trees and shrubs - so it's a pretty typical older suburban garden.

The aim is to see just how much food a home garden can produce. In 2024 the family harvested 434 kg of vegetables, fruit and eggs. The goal is to reach a tonne one day!

The garden sometimes gets a bit wild and weedy (two working adults means not a lot of time for maintenance gardening) but so long as it grows food while the soil gets more fertile, we're happy with that!

EXTRA INFORMATION:

Staying healthy: We specialise in personalised group training so numbers are strictly limited. To ensure the highest indoor air quality run a hospital grade air filter any time participants are indoors. In hot weather our evaporative cooling system ensures a constant flow of fresh outdoor air. If you are unwell please don't try to attend: our flexible refund policy (below) ensures you can get a refund or give your ticket to a friend at short notice.

Refund Policy: We allow full refunds (less the Eventbrite booking fee) right up to 48 hours before the event. For later notice than this, you are welcome to give your ticket to a friend if you can't make it. Please contact Cally directly on 0410 121 272 to let her know any last minute changes.

Accessibility and parking: The house is on a quiet street with plenty of on-street parking. There are no steps to the class location - it's easily accessible for a mobility scooter or wheelchair. However, parts of the back garden do include steps, so if you have a mobility impairment, please let us know ahead of time so we can tailor to your needs as much as we can.