?Permaculture Design Certification Course?

Hello Kathy and others,

Thanks for sharing our course offering with Scott. In a previous email communication, I mentioned to him that in 2011 the course may be offered at another college in the North Country. We are considering offering it in even years at PSC and odd years at another location to help promote permaculture on a bioregional basis.

I have appreciated all the earlier points made on this subject, and I want to echo much of what Michael Burns wrote previously. For those of us attempting to make the course more widely available at an affordable price, we often face certain economic and other logistical realities that aren’t always within our control. Since the course at PSC has been a four credit hour upper division course, we have had to discount our tuition rate rather considerably for it to be offered at the going rate. In some cases, scholarships are available as well to help lower the cost for students and community members (or barter deals).

I know how difficult it is to set aside the vacation days to take the course in the intensive format, but our course evaluation also indicates some very positive outcomes with this format as compared to other delivery methods. For these reasons, I think taking the Fundamentals course for one week and then completing the Practicum component at a later date is sometimes a viable solution. It at least worked in my case, and the teachers are usually agreeable to collectively approving the certification.

If anyone out there is interested in organizing a PDC, I’m happy to share a coordinator’s manual that I put together although much of it relates to matters related to offering it at Paul Smith’s College.

Tom

Make an appointment with me through Starfish!

P Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail

Tom Huber

Director, TRiO – Student Support Services

Paul Smith’s College

P.O. Box 265

Paul Smiths, NY 12970

(518) 327-6330 (phone) – (518) 327-6861 (fax)

PSC appreciates your feedback regarding our customer service.

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From: upstatenypermaculture@googlegroups.com [mailto:upstatenypermaculture@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Kathleen Partridge
Sent: Wednesday, December 15, 2010 8:30 AM
To: upstatenypermaculture@googlegroups.com
Subject: RE: ?Permaculture Design Certification Course?

Scott,

As a Paul Smith’s alum you may at some point be interested in the PDC they offer – I really would love to take that one because I can’t think of a prettier place to learn this stuff, but alas the logistics don’t work for me either. (I can do two weeks, but only if it’s between 6/1 – 8/15.) There’s more here: http://www.paulsmiths.edu/sustainability/new.php

-Kathy

From: upstatenypermaculture@googlegroups.com [mailto:upstatenypermaculture@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Scott Fonte
Sent: Tuesday, December 14, 2010 11:27 PM
To: upstatenypermaculture@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: ?Permaculture Design Certification Course?

First off I would like to thank everyone for their suggestions – I did not know there was such a large community her in CNY!

Weekend or "distance" learning would fit best with me for sure. I have a postponed honeymoon planned for this year (Hawaii here we come!) so an additional two weeks is a no-go for me. Honestly though my biggest fear is to take a class, drop ~$1K and not get a "return" –> I am a civil/enironmental engineer by profession, a landscaper/gardener by hobby (worked 5 seasons though college and highschool – not lawn mowing – all bed bed work), and an ecologist by passion (Paul Smiths College EET alum). I by no means mean offense to anyone, just don’t know the "nuts and bolts of the particular curriculums suggested. I am looking for something tending toward the "technical" I guess is the best way to phrase it.

Again, thanks and I loook forward to speaking with and meeting as many of you all as possible!

Scott

On Tue, Dec 14, 2010 at 7:49 PM, Kathleen Partridge <kathy> wrote:

Hi Frank,

I think I’m already a member of your forum…haven’t remembered to check it
in awhile tho. The April workshops look very interesting – one of my goals
next year is to install a series of rainbarrels to collect water off my shed
as a starter project. So I’m particularly interested in that one. One of my
problems is finding a source for used food-safe barrels. I’m picturing some
kind of setup with barrels elevated over compost bins to get better water
pressure. Still, I’ve never actually put such a system together so it will
be good to see it done first.

I’ll put it on my calendar. Thanks!

Kathy