Introduction to Permaculture Course in Woking

This course covers the basics of Permaculture in a wide varietry of applications, from housing to land design to community development. Permaculture is a design process that helps us to make more sustainable choices - from making lunch through to designing an eco house.

Participants are introduced to the core design principles and learn about inspiring examples of Permaculture in action around the world, and have some quick opportunities to put it into practice on the day. The course assumes no previous knowledge, and can be taken by itself, or as a sampling before going on to a full 90 hour Design Course.

The areas covered on the course will be:

• What is Permaculture? - its origins and definitions.
• Permaculture ethics.
• The design process.
• Introduction to the principles used in Permaculture design.
• How to apply Permaculture to our lives.
• Design principles in action.
• Some tools for designing and decision making.
• Permaculture and food choices.
• Inspiring stories and techniques.
• How to get more involved - contacts, next steps and resources.

There will also be a practical 'how to' session on building a hay box no-fuel slow cooker.

Host: Peter Cow

Peter Cow is an experienced Permaculture teacher, consultant and designer based in Surrey. He was awarded the 'Diploma of Applied Permaculture Design' by the UK Permaculture Association in 2007, and has been teaching on Permaculture courses since then, from 1 hour taster sessions to 2 week residential courses. He also now mentors designers through the 2 year Permaculture Diploma.

He has been involved with Permaculture since 1998, and co-founded the Steward Community Woodland sustainable living project in Devon in 2000, where he lived for 7 full and happy years. He has designed and implemented many Permaculture projects including low impact buildings, water treatment systems, community events, Permaculture training courses and forest gardens in both the UK and Portugal.

Peter's teaching style is inclusive and engaging, mixing media, learning styles and content to create a rich experience of inspiration, fun and information.

This fun and engaging course is being held in one of the only fully functional low carbon retrofit show homes in the South of England. Oak Tree House is an existing property that has been renovated with a wide range of low carbon technology, energy efficiency measures and renewable technology. Whilst taking your course at the house, you will have the opportunity to look around the property and learn what you could do in your own home to further reduce your carbon footprint or find out more about a renewable technology.