Saturday, June 13, 2015

PDC

Permaculture Design Course

This showed up in my in-box last night:


YES!!!  This course has been life-changing.  I know folks say that about a PDC, and now I know why, having been through one - even a virtual one.  I really do believe that what I have learned in this course will enable me to "restore land to its natural abundance". I feel confident that I could do this on a small scale, and would be up for the challenge of designing for a larger area. 

Of course, nothing can substitute for practical experience.  Apart from applying at our home what I have learned in this course, I hope the folks for whom I designed their property as my design exercise will implement all or part of the design, and that I can help them in that process in order to gain more on-the-ground understanding.

Next I'd like to design more properties for folks in my congregation, and for other congregations' properties.  If you currently water and mow your church lawn, why not transform it into a more sustainable, productive landscape that provides food for a local feeding ministry?  Why not create space for animals and increase biodiversity?  How about moderating heat and cooling bills through thoughtful design and planting?  I'll design it for free, just for the experience and to help in the restoration of the planet, one congregation at a time.

In the mean time, I will periodically review the lessons of the course over the next year (all the material will be available for that time) and continue to learn what I can.  I will also continue to discern the connections between the systems thinking espoused in the PDC, and congregation systems.  They are there, I can feel it, and have already begun to tease them out.

Thanks for reading this blog.  Now get out there and grow something.

Galen Gallimore, PDC Graduate!

2 comments:

  1. I would love to see how you have implemented the Back to Eden methods! Couldn't find any contact info, so thought I would comment:)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Aye Carumba! I have not looked in on this blog in ages - my apologies for such a long delay in replying to your query. I implemented the BtE methods at the church I was serving at the time I took the PDC and it was a huge success. A large area was covered with cardboard, compost and mulch, to a depth of about 12", in the Autumn. The next Spring we moved aside the chips and planted, and for the few years I remained there (until 2016) we NEVER watered the garden, and it always produced abundance. There were a couple failures, like cauliflower, but everything else was incredible. Of course the climate was similar to Paul Gautschi's, being in Southwestern Washington but not on the peninsula.

      I hope this begins to answer your request. If and when I post more to this blog I'll see if I can't get an update from that garden. I have since moved to northern California and have been using a No-Dig approach with far less mulch and more compost, due to the nature of the poor soil on the site where I live and the need to improve it more rapidly.

      Thanks for reading and commenting,

      Galen

      Delete