Courses/Workshops

Permaculture Certificate and Diploma Courses at PRI Maungaraeeda, Sunshine Coast (Queensland, Australia)

The PRI Maungaraeeda, Sunshine Coast (Queensland, Australia) will be running Permaculture Certificate and Diploma courses. These career courses are not government accredited, but are fully sponsored by PRI Maungaraeeda.

In 2015 we will start our inaugural Certificate and Diploma courses. These courses are:

  • The Certificate of Permaculture Farm Leading Hand
  • The Diploma of Permaculture Demonstration, Teaching and Consulting.

These are targeted career courses, only for people who wish to make a career out of Permaculture. The objective of the courses are to train people to run a Permaculture Demonstration and Training site (Certificate) and to set up a PRI Master Plan site, be a confident consultant on other people’s properties and to be able to apply to become a PRI accredited teacher (Diploma).

The Certificate is a 12-month program. The Diploma is a 24-month program, with the Certificate program taking up the first 12 months of the Diploma. We have decided to offer these courses on a scholarship basis, as part of our return of surplus. This means there is no monetary cost for participants (food and board are included), but we do require a time commitment. These courses are not for the faint hearted! We expect total commitment for your nominated time (12 or 24 months). The days will be long and you will be learning new things every day.

Participants must have a Permaculture Design Certificate!

These courses are meant to further educate people in running a Permaculture farm and teaching Permaculture. They are fully residential. The courses are not government approved. The working week can be 6 – 7 days per week and are hands-on experiences. Research must be self guided, although advice from the teacher can be requested. At times the teacher may not be on site, however advice can always be requested by email or Skype. A close working relationship between teacher and student is encouraged.

These courses have come into being as there is an increasing demand for high quality experienced Permaculturists and Permaculture teachers. There currently is a gap between PDC graduates and experienced teachers/consultants which these courses are trying to fill. Due to the increasing demand for PRI accredited teachers, we felt it was important to create courses targeting that demand.

Besides the certificate and diploma, a written reference and assessment will also be supplied by the supervising teacher.

Participants of the certificate and diploma courses must aim to make Permaculture a career and a lifestyle. These are career courses and are aimed to supply the practical experience needed to move forward into a full time Permaculture career.

The outline below shows subjects dealt with during the year, but it is not limited to these subjects. As things are always evolving on a working Permaculture farm, other subjects may make their way into the program during the year.

Application deadline

Applications to participate in the certificate or diploma will be through an online application made before the deadline of 28 November 2014 (for applications for 2015). Start date for both courses is 5th of January 2015.

Short outline of Certificate of Permaculture Farm Leading Hand:

Teacher: Tom Kendall

Objective

At the end of the certificate year, the participant should be able to run a Permaculture farm. He or she should be able to be employed by any PRI in the world and run the farm, or be able to set up their own Permaculture farm.

Research Project

Subject of choice, related to Permaculture to be presented at the end of the year.

Must write 4 Permaculture related articles (1 every 3 months) for publication on permaculturenews.org.

  • Animal Systems, feeding, care and production
  • Alternative energy systems
  • Compost toilets and humanure processing
  • Composting
  • Mulch cutting and application
  • Food forestry
  • Biological resources
  • Nursery and garden
  • Seeds, seedlings and propagation
  • Water Management and earthworks
  • Erosion prevention
  • Diversity, soil improvement and guilds
  • Running the farm, people management and task allocation
  • Bio fertiliser
  • Worm farms and soldier fly farms
  • Building, maintenance, repair and improvement
  • Aquaculture and aquaponics
  • Resource gathering and storage
  • Machine maintenance and repairs
  • The right tools for the job
  • Tool maintenance and repair
  • Produce, harvesting, preparing, storage and preserving
  • Meat production
  • Working dogs

Click here for more detailed information and application for the Certificate of Permaculture Farm Leading Hand.

Short outline of the Diploma of Permaculture Demonstration, Teaching and Consulting

Year 1: The Certificate of Permaculture Farm Leading Hand (above)

Year 2: (below)

Teacher: Tom Kendall

Objective

At the end of the diploma course, the participant should be able to run a Permaculture farm, teach Permaculture courses and become a Permaculture consultant and a PRI accredited teacher. He or she should be able to set up and/or run a Permaculture demonstration site and education facility and be confident in doing Permaculture consultations on people’s properties.

Project

Design, document and implement a Permaculture project of choice in consultation with teacher on the PRI Demonstration site or in a community garden.

  • Co-teaching 2-3 PDC courses
  • Co-teaching Certificate participant/s
  • Co-teaching Practical/Internship courses
  • Continuing supervision of volunteers, overseeing certificate participants
  • Helping with consultations and design projects
  • Administration and Finances

Click here for more detailed information and application for the Diploma of Permaculture Demonstration, Teaching and Consulting.

12-month Certificate in Whole Food Cooking: from Garden to Plate

We also offer a 12-month Certificate in Whole Food Cooking: from Garden to Plate. This is more a general interest course, but may lead to possible employment with retreats, resorts and education facilities, or to self-employment opportunities. It is also a great course for people interested in setting up a Permaculture education site, as the kitchen and garden aspects are integral to the successful running of people and courses on a site.

Short outline of the Certificate of Whole Food Cooking: from Garden to Plate

Teachers: Tom and Zaia Kendall

Objective

To educate the participant on how to work with freshly harvested, in-season produce and to replace produce in the garden. Long term storage methods of produce is also dealt with and the cycle from seed to seedling to plant to plate. The participant will experience cooking for larger numbers of people and how to cater for different dietary needs and allergies.

Project

Write down at least one new recipe every week, with photos for publication on blog and compile a recipe book.

Course content outline

  • Basic nutrition
  • Basic food safety and hygiene (complete an online food safety course)
  • Food preparation
  • Harvesting, storing, preserving methods
  • Dairy preparation, cheese, yoghurt, cream
  • Slow cooking
  • Flavours, herbs, spices, salt
  • Stews
  • Soups
  • Roasts
  • Vegetables
  • Greens
  • Sauces
  • Meat production, storage and use
  • Cakes and baking
  • Alternatives to grains
  • Different dietary requirements, Coeliac and other allergies, vegan, vegetarian
  • Vegan and vegetarian alternatives and protein needs
  • Easy and quick cooking for the greatest common denominator
  • Nursery
  • Seeds and seedlings, seed saving
  • Planting and maintaining the garden
  • Composting and soil improvement
  • Mulching and watering
  • Knowing what to harvest and when
  • Assessing amounts of produce and needs for amount of people to be fed
  • Creating new recipes based on types of produce available
  • Coming up with alternatives for "conventional" products using available produce
  • Cooking for large groups with different dietary needs
  • Working to deadlines

Click here for more information and application for the Certificate in Whole Food Cooking: from Garden to Plate.

Zaia Kendall

Zaia grew up in a family of musicians in Holland, and has a background in top sport and web development and design. She co-founded the PRI Luganville and PRI Sunshine Coast Inc with Tom, and runs all the background stuff, like finances, business administration, website design and maintenance, writes articles, records and edits videos and also organises the cooking and the kitchen on site. She has been researching and studying nutrition and health for 20+ years, has a certificate in Nutrition and continues to study by research, reading and daily observation. She is a certified member of the International Institute of Complementary Therapists and is a holistic food, health and lifestyle coach. She is also an active member of several musical projects and bands, involved in community music and runs occasional percussion workshops. Visit Zaia's website at DIY Food and Health.

4 Comments

  1. hi,

    are these courses still an option at Maungaraeeda Farm? I don’t see anything about them on your website.

    thanks

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Articles

Back to top button