Barking Frogs Permaculture News
2008 BFPC NEWS RELEASE
Contents below:
o New Online Program--Help With Your Home Permaculture Design
o 13th Annual Permaculture Design Course Online
o Discounted Publications
o Internships
o Florida Permaculture Workshop Opportunities
o Scholarship Deadline--Aug. 1
o Permaculture-suitable Land for Sale
o Unsubscribe Instructions
This is our annual news release. For more detail information and updates, please visit our web site at www.barkingfrogspermaculture.org
New: Elfin Permaculture Design Clinic Online Begins Sept.14
For the first time this year we offer a special program to support people in producing a permaculture design for their own home. This non-certificate program features looser structure and total focus on the designs offered by each participant. The program will follow the outline of our Online Permaculture Design Course and run concurrently with the online course. Robert Waldrop (see below) will moderate the course and lead discussions, with backup by course designer Dan Hemenway. The clinic suits people who do not currently plan for permaculture to be a major focus of their lives, but who wish to undertake a transition to more nearly sustainable living. The program is not intended as support for people designing for others. The more rigorous online course is better supports professional design projects.
Unlike the online certificate course, all clinic participants are expected to complete their work within the six-month schedule. (If a need arises for continued support of difficult designs, we will consider the matter for future clinics.)
The clinic design allows for three levels of design support and correspondingly three levels of tuition. Homeowners or renters also have the option of taking the full Online Permaculture Design Course, which will provide greater depth of design support, but at a larger tuition.
While following the same overall schedule as the online course, in the clinic, no assignments are required. The moderator will identify those topics that he feels are of least importance to someone simply working on a home design with no immediate goals of outreach or professional permaculture service.
Go to our website for a preregistration package that includes a protocol for this first clinic, fee schedules, a registration form, and related information.
Elfin Permaculture Announces 13th Annual Permaculture Design Course Online
Elfin Permaculture's 13th Annual Permaculture Design Course Online, which begins Sept. 14, 2008, benefits from more than a dozen years of the online courses and more than a quarter century of teaching permaculture by the lead instructor, Dan Hemenway.
The deadline for scholarship applications is Aug. 1 each year. (See below.) Otherwise, students may register at any time. Students who are fully paid before the cycle begins receive a $100 discount.
People with limited funds or time may also monitor the course free with purchase of the course CD self-study version, or the full self-study reading package. Monitor registration must accompany registration for free tuition. See the Course Protocol, on our web site, for details.
The certificate course runs six months and includes the following learning approaches:
o extensive reading in books, papers, both in print and on the course CD-ROM;
o 21 modules of at least one week, mainly presented on the CD, representing the formal presentations of course instructors;
o at least four reports from each student, including a full permaculture design report;
o class discussion via email of readings and reports, as well as questions and issues raised by students or instructors;
o the opportunity to participate in student study groups where interested students can pursue any agreed-upon topic as long as they wish (independently of the course schedule);
o support for students by three instructors: Dan Hemenway, course designer leader; Cynthia Hemenway CNM, designer and discussion leader for a special week on Design for Health, and Robert Waldrop, founder of the Oklahoma Food Cooperative and leader of several online discussion groups, course moderator and currently discussion leader. You may read further background of our instructors on our web site. In practice, Robert will lead most discussion groups and review early design work and Dan will review more complete design drafts and provide deep backup throughout, as needed. Cynthia focuses mainly on the Design for Health module and serves as further deep back up.
The online course consists of three consecutive sections, plus work on a permaculture design which students undertake throughout the cycle in which they are registered. Samples of student design work are included in the course CD. We offer several registration options to accommodate people in varied circumstances including a non-certificate track, certificate training in one six-month cycle, and two ways to carry training into the next six-month cycle.
Registration is limited because of the time required to review and critique individual designs. To enable more students to participate, students may enroll in a fast track, 2-cycle track, or deliberate track, each with different design report deadlines.
Content of the course sections follow:
Section 1: Introduction and Basic Principles
a) World ecological problems and interrelationships.
b) Principles of natural design.
c) Permaculture design concepts.
d) Classical landscapes.
e) Patterning, edges, edge effects.
f) The Permaculture Design Report
g) Principles of transformation (Unique to Elfin Permaculture courses.).
Section 2: Appropriate Technologies in Permaculture Design
a) Energy--solar, wind, hydro, biomass, etc.
b) Nutrient cycles (3 modules)--soil, microclimates, gardening methods, perennials, tree crops, food parks, composting toilets, livestock, "pest" management, food storage, seed saving, cultivated systems, forests, etc.
c) Water--impoundments, aquaculture, conservation, etc.
d) Shelter/buildings and access.
e) Design for Health.
Section 3: Social permaculture. Design Report.
a) Design for catastrophe.
b) Urban permaculture.
c) Bioregionalism.
d) Alternative economics.
e) Village development.
f) Final design reports and critiques.
g) Final evaluation.
Online course participants have come from every inhabited continent and a number of island countries, from latitudes spanning the equatorial tropics to sub-arctic, and a comparable range of elevations, climates, etc.. The course is suited to beginning permaculture design students, people seeking deep support in producing a permaculture design for their own homes, and, by special arrangement, people with some permaculture training and experience who wish to undertake work. Successful students receive certification as entry-level permaculturists. Advanced students pay no extra, but are expected to serve as additional resources to the beginning students.
To review information about the course methodology, content, certification requirements, tuition & fees, registration process, scholarship policies, reading list & cost, and assignment schedule, download the course preregistration package from our web site, www.barkingfrogspermaculture.org
To download only the package without visiting our site, go to http://www.barkingfrogspermaculture.org/Preregistration8_10_07.pdf
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Publications Discounted by as Up to 1/2
We have begun to offer heavy discounts on some of our publications that have been stained in storage. These contain all information of unstained copies. We also have a number of single copies of books that we will list on our web site from time to time. Check our web site for details.
Internships at Barking Frogs Permaculture Center
While Barking Frogs Permaculture Center, for various reasons, is not open to the public, we infrequently host permaculture interns who wish to learn practical matters associated with permaculture design implementation and maintenance. For details, see our Intern FAQs and related documents on our web site. Our location in North-Central Florida particularly suits internships over the winter months. Interns here may simultaneously participate in Cycle 13 of our online course at no tuition charge. This option may not be available in future course cycles.
Florida Permaculture Workshop Opportunities
For personal reasons, we have drastically curtailed travel for teaching and consulting in the US and Canada. (We will consider requests for programs in other countries on a case-by-case basis.) In order to continuing sharing our permaculture experience and insights, we are looking to offer short programs in Florida, where we now live.
We have strong interest in programs in the Palm Bay area and in the Tampa area. Contact us to be put on a list for notice of such programs, if they develop. (You can also check our website periodically.)
If you live elsewhere in Florida, and wish to have a program in your area, please download the appropriate documents from our web site explaining our standard terms and what is involved. We are looking at designing programs over a series of weekends, as well, to minimize the duration of time away from our own site. For programs offered nearby, of course, we can commute. This would be the area between Gainesville and Ocala.
After reading what is involved, please contact us if you are interested.
We are also willing to undertake a few consulting jobs each year in Florida. Again, details are already on our web site.
We never offer training programs at Barking Frogs Permaculture Center. This is an ironclad policy.
Scholarship Deadline--Aug. 1
The annual deadline for scholarship submissions is August 1. ONLY APPLICATIONS SUBMITTED BY AUG. 1 WILL BE CONSIDERED. Instructions for scholarship application may be downloaded from our web site. If you miss the deadline, you may submit an application for a scholarship to a specified online program between July 1 and Aug. 1 next year. This one month window is the same every year.
Permaculture-Suitable Land for Sale
Because we are consolidating our resources at our current home base in Florida, we are seeking to sell 18 acres of land that Dan has owned since 1968. This land has not been sprayed for decades, is very suited to the construction of a resource and energy-efficient solar home, and has fruit and nut trees planted in several areas. Photos and more details are on our web site. Purchase of the entire parcel comes with a one-day verbal consult on the land's features and potential by Dan Hemenway.
Elfin Permaculture is a project of Barking Frogs Permaculture Center operated by Dan and Cynthia Hemenway. Other projects include Yankee Permaculture (publications) and the Solutions Network (permaculture volunteers).
October 10, 2007
Uncommon Knowledge, produced and directed by Eliza Hemenway, now available as a downloadable DVD.
Permaculture designer and teacher Dan Hemenway has talented kids. His daughter, Eliza has announced the availability of her first documentary film, Uncommon Knowledge as a DVD download While it is common knowledge that dads are proud of their progeny, in this case it is especially justified. Permaculture is art and like true art, is concerned with truth. That's all the justification I need to put this announcement on my site.
Award winning documentary filmmaker Ellen Bruno called Uncommon Knowledge, "A beautifully crafted and poetic
political commentary." Jon Garfield, Media Studies Professor said, "Stunning visuals and leaps of insight, this film is as
entertaining as it is illuminating. " http://caachi.com/Members/trinity/uncommon_knowledge/landing
This compelling and poetic documentary takes place inside the University of California as plans unfold to shut-down its
historic San Francisco campus. A unique view of privatization, filmmaker Eliza Hemenway worked at the campus for
over six years. Wondering why a public university was closing a campus in favor of private development, she picked up
her camera and began to film. Uncommon Knowledge is a revealing look into higher education and a hauntingly
beautiful portrait of a campus and the community it served. (26 min., 2006)
Uncommon Knowledge is accompanied by an original soundtrack by Tim Barsky and Everyday Theater, with additional
music by The Toids.
You can own a copy for $2.99 by downloading it, DVD Quality, at Caachi, an independent online film distributor at
For more information, contact Eliza Hemenway, Producer & Director, Trinity Productions,
http://www.hemenwaydocs.com
The Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival
http://www.sebastopolfilmfestival.org/