Community Training in Ecological Design
Are you a landowner, farmer or gardener?
Do you want a more sustainable and abundant life?
Learn a land use design method to improve home scale food and forest production, to conserve resources, and save money.
Study basic ecological principles and methods and use them to solve problems on your own home and landscape.
We will meet over a weekend and then once a week to discuss the principles and techniques of permaculture and ecology that help us make better choices for our land, families, and communities.
Class work will include a self-selected design project. You can design your own backyard, garden space, vacant lot, field, forest, or even an entire neighborhood. Examples and applications will be presented in both an urban and rural context.
Weekend Workshop: February 4 & 5, 2012 (10 a.m. to 5 p.m.)
- Permaculture Principles
- Ecological Design Basics
- Basemapping
Thursday evenings: 6:00 to 8:30 p.m.
- 2/9: Plants & Niches
- 2/16: Build a Guild
- 2/23: Soil & Compost
- 3/1: Water
- 3/8: Earthworks
- 3/15: Trees & Forests
- 3/22: Community Design
- 3/29: Design Lab
- 4/5: Share Design Work
- 4/14: Perma-blitz at Rahma Health Clinic garden.
*curriculum subject to changes
Presented in cooperation with the Alchemical Nursery, and Cornell Cooperative Extension of Onondaga County (EPO/EEO)
Instructors:
Steve Gabriel and Michael Burns, with Kayleigh Burgess, Frank Cetera, and regional guest presenters.
Tuition:
$200 - $400 (based on what you can afford)
A limited number of scholarships may be available.
Location:
The Atrium, 2 Clinton Square, Syracuse, NY 13202
[Leave a comment to seek rides or riders to carpool.]
About this Program
FLPCI decided to introduce Community Training in Ecological Design (CTED) in 2009 to meet the time and financial limitations of many local residents seeking an introduction to sustainable design. We offered a weekly, evening class with a sliding scale fee and opportunities for community-sponsored scholarships. Our first class was held in downtown Ithaca at the Southside Community Center and was overwhelmingly successful. We had 28 participants, of whom six received partial or full scholarships thanks to Sustainable Tompkins, Ithaca College, and the Southside Community Center.
This year, in collaboration with CCE, we held the course in Schuyler County. The course gave community members concrete methods, frameworks and principles that they could immediately implement on their own land, homes and business. Each comes to class with a specific site and/or problem they wish to address. Through the course of nine weeknights and a weekend they map, analyze, and design their scenarios as they explore ecological design principles.
This winter we look forward to bringing the program to Onondaga County with the cooperation of Cornell Cooperative Extension of Onondaga County and the Alchemical Nursery.
This program does not teach-nor is it limited to-the whole breadth of the permaculture discipline. Instead our teachers lead students to ideas, strategies, and their own design solutions.
How you can support this program
Each scholarship opens this valuable opportunity to a worthy individual. Your sponsorship allows us to reach people for whom these skills can have a significant impact. When FLPCI considers awarding scholarships, we look for individuals who will use their new skills to enrich their community and may share ecological design ideas to others. FLPCI is seeking local organizations to sponsor scholarships for individuals of their choosing, or for those who apply through our website.
Please consider whom in your organization, neighborhood, and circle of colleagues who would benefit from this course and what organization might sponsor them. If you are aware of individuals who might benefit from such training, please point them to this website or to call us.
NOTE: This is not a Permaculture Design Certification course. However, your tuition to this series of classes can be applied to our summer course.
[Student Resources for the 2011 CTED course]
