We have just concluded our first Permaculture Design Course since the 1990s at Perth City Farm and can report that it was a full success. The temperatures were brutal for all ten teaching days, so we spent most of the time under the big jaboticaba tree in the garden. Icy poles were an afternoon tea feature on many days. The temperatures did drive home the importance of correct property and house design though, as well as the need to design for resilience.
Because in the end, that is what permaculture is all about – using natural energies to our advantage to make our systems energy efficient and easy to maintain – and mitigating the negative effects of too much energy.
Teaching under the jaboticaba tree
Permaculture is holistic and diverse, spanning many topics.
A Permaculture Design Course covers many topics – in our case about 40 of them. We learned about assessing these energies and creating a basemap, soil, nutrient cycling, plant choices for Perth, agroforestry and syntropic farming, animal management, Integrated Pest Management, alternative building and appropriate technology, community building and social permaculture, and much, much more.
The PDC touches on all aspects of sustainable and ethical living, making it a good allrounder course for beginners in this area.
Ken learning about topography by putting contours onto a sweet potato
Excursions and real life permaculture inspiration.
We went on inspiring excursions to three varied permaculture properties across Perth: Jetto’s Patch, an advanced suburban food forest, Capranup, a family hobby farm in the hills, and Ecoburbia, a community hub and alternative infill development showcasing all aspects of sustainable living.
We also got to know each other well over the course of these two weeks, and new friendships were made that will continue to thrive in the future.
Our final project was the design of a fictional new home for facilitator Martina, making her neighbours to Ecoburbia. Despite the very limited timeframe, both groups did an excellent job, and Martina wishes she could move into a crossover between the two designs.
The fictional property our students designed for Martina
Kind words from our participants.
What participants say about the course:
“Martina and Sarah are incredibly knowledgeable and welcoming. As the first permaculture course I’ve done, it was comprehensive but not overwhelming, set in the beautiful Perth City Farm with amazing facilitators. Thank you!”
“This PDC scratched all the itches in my brain I had regarding living sustainably. It connected many ideas across all aspects of living ethically and sustainably as a human being. I’m fired up to learn more and more now!”
“Thank you for ‘reminding’ me of the magic and power of nature and how to work with it, respect and mimic it.”
“I came on this course just wanting to learn more out of interest, but I am walking away inspired to change my life.”
Learn permaculture with us!
We are looking forward to our next PDC in 2026 – hopefully in a cooler season!
If you don’t want to wait until then to start learning about Permaculture, we have an Introduction to Permaculture with Rod coming up on 12th April. The best way to hear about new permaculture courses and workshops we’re running is to sign up to our newsletter.