Expanding Their Training Options to Permaculture Students
In 1995, Bill and Becky Wilson of Stelle, IL,were introduced to the Permaculture Activist magazine, and in it they read an article about a woman who made the decision to never let a leaf, a twig, a branch or any grass clippings leave her property. This was her organic matter, her own store of carbon, and she was going to turn all of it into a richhumus to help nurture her own soil. Becky took this to heart and for 15 years, nothing has left their home, or what is now the Midwest Permaculture property.
Every piece of organic matter from Bill and Becky’s home property (and some from their neighbors as well) goes into either a compost pile, a berm, or used as the foundations of a hugelkultur bed.As their interest grew in permaculture, so did their desire to find some excellent trainings on the subject, in the Midwest. With almost nothing to choose from at the time, Becky and Bill hosted a 72-hour Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) course in 2004 and brought in a permaculture teacher from California. The training was a great success and during it, Bill realized that teaching permaculture was to become his life’s work. Becky was up for the adventure as well.
Now into their 6th year together, Midwest Permaculture has hosted dozens of PDC course and many other shorter trainings with the primary objective of making permaculture ideas and thinking available and understandable to anyone interested in the subject.
They have hosted their trainings around the Midwest and beyond now including several college and university campuses. Some picture summaries of a variety of trainings can be found on the Midwest Permaculture home page.
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| Training at Purdue |
Through their permaculture trainings, Bill, Becky and their other teachers, guide students in how to develop the observational skills, the knowledge, and the practical information to create sustainable landscapes and communities -- to develop more permanent cultures. Students explore in some detail how we as a culture can consciously provide all of the goods and services we need to live well, while also developing ways to leave the planet in better condition than when we arrived on it.
The trainings offered through Midwest Permaculture are well received by students. Not only do they get a great foundational understanding of permaculture, but many come away with a much deeper understanding of the world and even of themselves, for permaculture is ultimately about relationship - all relationships.
What makes a Midwest Permaculture training effective is the variety of learning approaches they use. Every trainingover a day in length includes some use of:
• Stimulating Classroom Teaching (sometimes outside)
• Video Segments
• Design Exercises
• Hands-on Exercises
• Small Group Work
• Student Sharing
• Discussion
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| Training at Cal-Earth |
A visit to their organized, educational, and photo-rich website will lead one to a wide variety of training options and learning materials. Here is a good portion of their schedule that only includes their 72-hour Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) courses. This is the same training that Bill took years ago that changed his life. It has changed many other’s lives now as well. Midwest Permaculture has over 550 PDC graduates.
Dates
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Location
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Information – Links
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Jan. 28-Feb. 4
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Midwest Permaculture – Stelle, IL
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March 25-31
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Arbor Day Farm, Nebraska
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June 7-14
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University of Wis. – River Falls, WI
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June 23-30
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Midwest Permaculture – Stelle, IL
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July 17-27
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Midwest Permaculture – Stelle, IL
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Sept. 22-29
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Midwest Permaculture – Stelle, IL
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| Family-friendly Hands-on Training at Midwest Permaculture in Stelle, IL |
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