We are excited to announce that we will be running our first certificate course of our newly developed curriculum of “sustainable Community Management”.
The course will be host to roughly 15 young Ugandan students who have been attracted to our teaching through word of mouth. We have been over the past 3 months developing a relationship with another grass roots organization titled “green youth world” that was originally associated with the Dewe School over 4 years ago.
The group consists of College and University students and graduates who are concerned about the environment and seek solutions and action to further the environmental movement in Uganda. When they first arrived at Dewe over three months ago we were unaware they were coming and found ourselves suddenly teaching 4 hour Permaculture workshops for them over three full days.
This initial experience lit a fire within the group who upon returning to their homes began spreading the word and putting to practice the valuable knowledge learned from the workshop. Approximately 2.5 months latter another group showed up of 10 students, again completely unannounced, with only two from the previous group among them.
We asked “What are you here for?” In response they all claimed they wanted to learn Permaculture because of all the things their friends had told them about it!
So our movement has sincerely begun and we now have a real deal youth led organization that is serious about getting down to business.
Our sustainable managers course is meant to be taught to people who have completed their permaculture certification, however, with the course being freshly made and this amazing group of youth very eager to learn, combined with my personal itinerary to return to vancouver in june, we decided we have a great window of opportunity to test our the curriculum and record the results via video prior to my flight home.
Im very excited about this and look forward to capturing the honest and extremely uplifting reactions our education is having amidst the group to show how our education is actually being recieved by the young people of this nation.
Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC), Global Peace Hut, Dewe Uganda November 2012
When:
Nov 3rd -17th 2012
Where:
Global Peace Hut, Dewe, Uganda
Time:
9am – 5pm daily,
Details:
TBA
Permaculture is powerful tool set for restoring environmental health will providing personal security, healthy well being and right livelihoods for people. Students who complete the permaculture design certificate cannot help but looking at the world in a positive and productive way. If you are look for a once in a life time opportunity this is it. You will be completely immersed in the permaculture concepts for two weeks on site in Dewe Uganda. Home of the Global Peace Hut permaculture and conflict resolution project. This is a double winner course as you get to take that African trip you have been yearning for, while learning some empowering knowledge and skills in a cultural experience that will blow your socks off. We can’t wait to see you there.
Check out this short video highlighting the course we taught there last May.
Take Pacific Permaculture for a risk free test drive. We invite you to attend one of Jesse Lemieux’s spring lecture events, we promise that you will learning something new, learn something useful and be inspired about the future. To see the full lecture series schedule please click HERE.
Course Description:
This course covers the fundamental elements of: site analysis, cultural necessity and climate appropriate design for:
low energy organic food production sustainable water management alternative energy systems energy efficient house design local food security and food sovereignty habitat restoration and land reclamation equitable and sustainable social organization disaster and emergency preparedness and much much more…
As a leader in the field, we draw on our diverse experience to deliver an innovative, interactive and design orientated PDC course. Students are exposed to real world case studies and examples in a healthy combination of lectures, group exercises, field observation, site visits and design projects. This mix allows students to gain a working practical understanding of permaculture design in all of its applications; urban to rural, balcony to broad acre, at home and abroad.
Students learn how to successfully connect technology, biology, and information in systems and patterns that are sustainable today and will be for centuries to come.
This course will focus student design work on the requirements and conditions on the ground in Uganda. Believe it or not, this is the best way to learn more about where you live, as you will come home with an entirely new perspective on your home climate and environment.
Upon completion of the course material students receive a permaculture design certificate (PDC) and will have planted the seeds of a design portfolio for real clients and real places.
Do you want real world skills and practical knowledge?
This PDC will be lead by Jesse Lemieux BSc. PDC, Principle of Pacific Permaculture. Jesse’s working experience includes: commercial field crop agriculture, commercial nursery crop agriculture, commercial orchard production, environmental reclamation, industrial scale composting, permaculture design and consultancy services, edible landscape implementation, heavy machine operation, and broad acre earth moving. His permaculture work in teaching has been carried out in: the West Bank of Palestine, Uganda, Australia, British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. His teaching style is entertaining, open, honest, and works to support the knowledge that students bring with them to the classroom.
Jesse is currently located on Bowen Island and divides his time between family, design and teaching. Jesse is qualified and capable of helping you understand the full breadth of permaculture in today’s society. Check it out for yourself, view Jesse’s Full CV.
Pacific permaculture is excited to be teaching this PDC, on behalf of Global Peace Hut, for the second year running. As a supplement to this PDC course we are also offer a 10 day advanced permaculture workshop as part of a 1 month long real world permaculture learning experience. Last year was a great success and we are looking forward to spending one month on the ground in Uganda this coming November. If you are interested in registering for this course our have any logistical questions please contact Global Peace Hut
2 – Design, Earth Moving and Landscape Modification, Uganda November 2012
On the tail of the permaculture design certificate Uganda, we are excited to be offering a hands-on advanced permaculture training experience. this course will teach you the practicalities of real life permaculture design and implementation on the ground in a challenging climatic, social and economic situation. Learn what it takes to make sense and make a difference when it really counts. Come over to Africa and join us for a permaculture experience that is not to be missed.
A large component of this workshop will be permaculture earth works. Dubbed “earth repair surgery,” by my permaculture teacher, Geoff Lawton, permaculture earthworks can be a powerful tool set for landscape rehabilitation, soil building and reforestation. The most famous example of permaculture earthworks is Lawton’s “Greening the Desert.” No matter if we are in the Dead Sea Valley or on the “Wet Coast” of Canada water will always be the limiting factor to productivity. Appropriately placed, Well designed, and well constructed water harvesting earth installations will have a dramatic positive affect on a farm’s long term sustainability and profitability. The human capacity to move earth has never been greater, and a proper understanding of earthworks and their role in permaculture design is of universal importance. From the small scale backyard garden to the full scale subdivision development, connected and integrated water harvesting earthworks are the backbone of any project and the first and foremost consideration in the permaculture design process. Join us at this workshop and learn the secrets to successful earthworks design, planning and installation.
Course Description
An action packed 10 days that will engage your mind and you body for a complete and active learning experience.
We will take through the entire permaculture design process from visioning to sites assessment; site assessment to concept design to planning and finally installing.
Pacific Permacutlure has engaged in design work all over the globe, at ever stage of the game.
We are excited to share with you the tricks of the trade. Permaculture design in the Jewel of Africa.
Do you want to be an active part of the solution?
This is your opportunity.
Earthworks Design Theory in the Permaculture Landscape
The design process: client/project goal articulation, site assessment, site survey/basic mapping
Earthworks planning: test pits/soil test, time and cost estimating, selecting appropriate machinery, proper care of the to soil and site reclamation
* Time is not allocated in this curriculum for covering the basic elements of permaculture design theory. It is highly recommended that attending students have taken a Permaculture Design Certificate. Priority registration will be given to those students who have completed a permaculture design certificate.
Course Outcomes:
By attending this course you will come to understand entire landscapes as a process full of water harvesting and rehabilitation opportunities. You will learn where to place, how to design, how to plan the implementation and to how troubleshoot a variety of potential problem scenarios in any design implementation. You will actually be a part of the process start to finish. After a detailed and comprehensive design process we will fire up the machine and get down to business making the plan happen. There will be plenty of opportunity to get your hands dirty and be involved.
Do you want real world skills and practical knowledge?
Get involved now.
The Designer- Machine Operator relationship
How to overcome the unforeseeable (despite our best efforts we always get an incomplete picture of what is under the ground, success and failure and economics depends on our ability to make quick decisions)
Planting strategies for rapid reclamation and re-vegetation
Instructors:
Your learning will be facilitated by Jesse Lemieux BSc. PDC, co-founder and principle of Pacific Permaculture. Jesse has worked in horticulture, agriculture, environmental reclamation, industrial scale composting and permaculture design for more that a decade. Currently Jesse applies his diverse skill set as a leading edge Canadian permaculture designer. To his credit Jesse has designed and implemented several large scale earthworks designs across Canada.
Top notch experience that is excited to share with you.
Don’t miss out.
Any of our educational programs have at their completion, a certificate for the student. Certificates legitimize and provide graduates with a sense of completion and accomplishment, with their certificate hanging on their walls, they can be reminded of the real and tangible education they have received.
Our available certificate programs depend on our organizations capacity to provide the courses. We are looking forward to expanding our educational calendar to include courses in all three of our primary fields of education on a rotational basis through out each year. To see the available Certificates click on the headings bellow:
SUSTAINABLE DESIGN:
Our permaculture Design Certificates are provided by the Teachers who represent and have the authority to certify students in this comprehensive 72 hour course developed by the Permaculture Research Institute Australia
Enthusiastic students are able to pursue a Degree In Permaculture Design out of 14 options provided by the institute after Two Years of self study and the completion of the institutes requirements for this program. Hence a student can become a PDC Teacher within two years after completing their own PDC. So in two years we will have our own Ugandan Teachers ready to start teaching their own courses.
PEACE MAKER TRAINING:
Our original custom tailored curriculum is applicable to youth in Uganda. We look forward to re-establishing our courses in the public and private school sectors in the country and various certificates Including Trainer Certification and Youth Peace Maker Certificates will become a staple product of our continued training. We are actively working towards getting this program running full time again this 2011 year.
ECO ENTREPRENEURIALISM:
In the coming years we will be developing custom courses for Ugandan business studies, courses which reflect the needs of local individuals looking to gain financial wellness where THEY ARE. ! We also have connections with other like-minded organizations in the region who we may develop co-op courses with similar to our provision of the Permaculture Certificate Courses. Also we will be developing relationships with banks and other micro-finance organizations to help people from our courses gain access to such funds to upstart their own companies… For many people living in Rural Uganda, these programs are out of reach, our training and assistance programs will change this and help them get going on the right path – the local, organic, artistic, and sustainable one!
On the tail of the permaculture design certificate Uganda, we are excited to be offering a hands-on advanced permaculture training experience. this course will teach you the practicalities of real life permaculture design and implementation on the ground in a challenging climatic, social and economic situation. Learn what it takes to make sense and make a difference when it really counts. Come over to Africa and join us for a permaculture experience that is not to be missed.
A large component of this workshop will be permaculture earth works. Dubbed “earth repair surgery,” by my permaculture teacher, Geoff Lawton, permaculture earthworks can be a powerful tool set for landscape rehabilitation, soil building and reforestation. The most famous example of permaculture earthworks is Lawton’s “Greening the Desert.” No matter if we are in the Dead Sea Valley or on the “Wet Coast” of Canada water will always be the limiting factor to productivity. Appropriately placed, Well designed, and well constructed water harvesting earth installations will have a dramatic positive affect on a farm’s long term sustainability and profitability. The human capacity to move earth has never been greater, and a proper understanding of earthworks and their role in permaculture design is of universal importance. From the small scale backyard garden to the full scale subdivision development, connected and integrated water harvesting earthworks are the backbone of any project and the first and foremost consideration in the permaculture design process. Join us at this workshop and learn the secrets to successful earthworks design, planning and installation.
>>>> Course Description
An action packed 10 days that will engage your mind and you body for a complete and active learning experience.
We will take through the entire permaculture design process from visioning to sites assessment; site assessment to concept design to planning and finally installing.
Pacific Permacutlure has engaged in design work all over the globe, at ever stage of the game.
We are excited to share with you the tricks of the trade. Permaculture design in the Jewel of Africa.
Do you want to be an active part of the solution?This is your opportunity.
Earthworks Design Theory in the Permaculture Landscape
The design process: client/project goal articulation, site assessment, site survey/basic mapping
Earthworks planning: test pits/soil test, time and cost estimating, selecting appropriate machinery, proper care of the to soil and site reclamation
* Time is not allocated in this curriculum for covering the basic elements of permaculture design theory. It is highly recommended that attending students have taken a Permaculture Design Certificate. Priority registration will be given to those students who have completed a permaculture design certificate.
Course Outcomes:
By attending this course you will come to understand entire landscapes as a process full of water harvesting and rehabilitation opportunities. You will learn where to place, how to design, how to plan the implementation and to how troubleshoot a variety of potential problem scenarios in any design implementation. You will actually be a part of the process start to finish. After a detailed and comprehensive design process we will fire up the machine and get down to business making the plan happen. There will be plenty of opportunity to get your hands dirty and be involved.
Do you want real world skills and practical knowledge?
Get involved now.
The Designer- Machine Operator relationship
How to overcome the unforeseeable (despite our best efforts we always get an incomplete picture of what is under the ground, success and failure and economics depends on our ability to make quick decisions)
Planting strategies for rapid reclamation and re-vegetation
Instructors:
Your learning will be facilitated by Jesse Lemieux BSc. PDC, co-founder and principle of Pacific Permaculture. Jesse has worked in horticulture, agriculture, environmental reclamation, industrial scale composting and permaculture design for more that a decade. Currently Jesse applies his diverse skill set as a leading edge Canadian permaculture designer. To his credit Jesse has designed and implemented several large scale earthworks designs across Canada.
The sounds of hammers, saws and wheelbarrow squeaks have taken over Dewe, as serious construction continues to take place. Among the various building projects on the go we have: Our first two high tech huts, dog house, a goat house, chicken coop, new water tank installation, chairs, benches, and swings seats. Below is a photo gallery of daily life at Dewe. More images to come as we evolve and grow so check back soon! Enjoy.
Agaba working on fencing
Brian laying the foundation of the new watertank
Aaron and Moses working on dog house
Brian rebuilding benches for the classroom
Our first hut almost completed
Brian and Denise working on goat house
Brian and Denise cutting wood for the chicken coop
By: Jesse Lemieux, February 2012
Lecture Date: March 1st 2012
Location: Strut Studios 203 – 910 Richards Street Vancouver, BC V6B 3C1
Some of you might already know this, and I am assuming that most of you don’t. Above all other environmental issues: air pollution, deforestation, water pollution, and even CO2 emissions; soil loss is the most critical threat to human survival on this planet. Both historic and pre-historic culture have had dramatic, and often catastrophic, affects on soil. Soil repair and soil conservation are the keys to our continued existence on this planet. Restoring and maintaining robust fertile soil lays at the heart of turning the tide on our current environmental and economic woes. It is a good thing we can all take immediate and positive action toward building and protecting healthy soil.
Soil is an overwhelmingly complex web of life. Without soil, land based life is not possible (that includes YOU). A professional soil scientist will dedicate a lifetime of study, and might only scratch the surface of understanding the most basic interactions in a healthy living soil.
Fortunately, we need not be experts to restore and build healthy, complex and resilient soil in our: planter boxes, backyards, and neighborhoods. Successful soil building and thus successful gardening depend upon our ability to recognize and implement the simple patterns of natural soil production. Whether you are an experienced gardener; a first time balcony gardener; or want to know more about how soil will save life as we know it; YOU NEED THIS INFORMATION.
We invite you to join us on Thursday March 1st. Jesse Lemieux will be giving a lively and entertaining presentation on key Permaculture strategies for building healthy productive soils. Don’t forget your notebook Remember healthy soil = healthy vegetables = healthy You.
By: Jesse Lemieux, January 2012
As Part of our Spring Lecture Series:
Lecture Date: February 2nd 2012
Location: Strut Studios 203 – 910 Richards Street Vancouver, BC V6B 3C1
As a teacher of Permaculture design, I am regularly recommended books to read. I am a slow reader, I always have been, and I always will be. Even if I made a full time job of reading, I doubt I would ever get to the end of the recommended reading list. Not all books are created equal. When I read a book I need it to be high value. So, I will only read a book after it has been recommended to me by at least two people I know and respect. It keeps my reading list impressively small, and the books on it of high value. “The 4-hour Work Week” is one of the books to have made my list. Though the author, Timothy Ferriss, might not see the world through a Permaculture or even environmental perspective; I am impressed by the strategies he suggests for success in any course of action.
Central to Ferriss’s approach is the “Pareto Principle” popularly referred to as the 80-20 rule. Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto identified, the often noted fact, that 80% of the wealth is held by 20% of the population. It can also be said that 20% of the factors yields 80% of the results. In fact the two numbers need not add up to 100 at all. It is entirely possible that 5% of my clients will result in 90% of my income. The other side of the coin is what I find most interesting. It is equally possible that 95% of my clients might only yield 10% of my income and a full 100% of my headaches. Without careful consideration we can end up spending most of our time working too hard and too much on the wrong things.
Rather than wasting large amounts of time on things that yield little, we should make the smallest possible moves for the greatest amount of positive change. Really, this is just an amalgamation of two Holmgren Permaculture Principles “Use small slow solutions” and “Obtain a Yield.” Please allow me to share with you an example that clear demonstrates the 80-20 rule application in a Permaculture design scenario.
The per capita electricity usage in Canada is 43 Kwatt-hours/day or 43000 watt-hours/day (4th in the world 2007). The per capita consumption in Uganda is 186 watt-hours/ day1. A Canadian uses approximately 231 times more electricity than a Ugandan.
Obviously we Canadians consume far more electricity than Ugandans, but how does this relate to the basics? Most people in Canada have access to: clean food, clean water, clean air and safe shelter. Because these basics are relatively easy to come-by, Canadians enjoy a certain amount of leisure, recreation and opportunity for creative self-fulfillment. This is not the case in Uganda. Is 43Kwatt-hours/day a requirement to enjoy security the basics of a high quality life?
Consider the question from this angle. If electricity were to become infinitely expensive what are the last things that you would give up? I am willing to bet that lighting and an internet connected computer or smart phone are at the top of your list. Think about it for a minute. What do you really need and what could you live without? For my home: hairdryers, kettles, and curling irons would be the first to go (check out the wattage on these items); air conditioners then fans; electric cooking devices and heaters; refrigerators fourth; and pumps for moving water fifth. Electric cooking can be replaced by gas, liquid or solid fuels; refrigeration with cold rooms, root cellars and ice boxes; windmills and hand pumps could be used to move water from wells and rainwater tanks. Information technology and lighting require a fraction of total household electricity consumption. Their net benefit is immeasurable. I challenge you to share a gardening technique with someone in Australia using a candle and Morse Code. The value of lightning speed global communication is to high, and likely impossible to replace without electricity. If we have lights we can read when the sun goes down, reserving day light hours for critical production activities.
In May of 2011 I taught a Permaculture design certificate, for Global Peace Hut, in Uganda. During that course we had an afternoon workshop on solar photo voltaic (PV) systems led by, USA expatriate, Peter Scott. This workshop was an eye opener for me. Peter showed us tiny scale solar systems that would supply the direct current (DC) watt/hr demands of a modest house wired with LED lights2 3 and laptop computing technology. These systems consisted of a single solar panel, a single small battery, and a charge controller for the battery. In some cases these systems came in under $1000 US. For a relatively minor investment a family can be working and reading after the sun goes down and be able to connect with the larger information network. With more time available for study and education, such small scale technology can have far reaching and lasting benefits locally and globally.
These small scale systems have been developed by the boating and sailing community, where small lean technologies for critical infrastructure are essential. I see no reason why this approach to on demand electricity cannot be applied to households here in Canada. Just because we have relatively abundant electricity does not mean we should waste it.
If I have learned one thing in my young Permaculture career, its not how much you have, but how you use it. The secret to success is identifying the key factors and focusing effort in those areas. This is especially true when working with a limited resource base. I was astounded by the workshop in Uganda, but it wasn’t until a month later when reading about the 80-20 rule in Ferriss’s Book that it really sunk in. I have always advocated that the priorities on the ground are clean food, clean water and safe shelter. If we can also provided affordable reliable lighting and information technology we should. As it is with books, not all solar systems are created equal and bigger does not always mean better. We might not always get a perfect fit, but with a solid set of design directives and guidelines we can achieve a high return on minimal investment. The 80-20 rule is fast becoming one of my go to principles when faced with new design challenges.
Students learn how to successfully connect technology, biology, and information in systems and patterns that are sustainable today and will be for centuries to come.
Some of you might already know this, and I am assuming that most of you don’t. Above all other environmental issues: air pollution, deforestation, water pollution, and even CO2 emissions; soil loss is the most critical threat to human survival on this planet. Both historic and pre-historic culture have had dramatic, and often catastrophic, affects on soil. Soil repair and soil conservation are the keys to our continued existence on this planet. Restoring and maintaining robust fertile soil lays at the heart of turning the tide on our current environmental and economic woes. It is a good thing we can all take immediate and positive action toward building and protecting healthy soil.
As a teacher of Permaculture design, I am regularly recommended books to read. I am a slow reader, I always have been, and I always will be. Even if I made a full time job of reading, I doubt I would ever get to the end of the recommended reading list. Not all books are created equal. When I read a book I need it to be high value. So, I will only read a book after it has been recommended to me by at least two people I know and respect. It keeps my reading list impressively small, and the books on it of high value. “
In May of 2011 I taught a Permaculture design certificate, for Global Peace Hut, in Uganda. During that course we had an afternoon workshop on solar photo voltaic (PV) systems led by, USA expatriate, Peter Scott. This workshop was an eye opener for me. Peter showed us tiny scale solar systems that would supply the direct current (DC) watt/hr demands of a modest house wired with LED lights2 3 and laptop computing technology. These systems consisted of a single solar panel, a single small battery, and a charge controller for the battery. In some cases these systems came in under $1000 US. For a relatively minor investment a family can be working and reading after the sun goes down and be able to connect with the larger information network. With more time available for study and education, such small scale technology can have far reaching and lasting benefits locally and globally.
