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| Ragmans Lane Farm |
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| Patrick Whitefield |
I did my PDC with Patrick Whitefield
at Ragmans Lane Farm
back in 2004. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Ragmans is in a lovely part of the
Gloucestershire countryside and makes a great setting to the lessons, the
organic, vegetarian food was delicious, accommodation comfortable, I like
learning in a group and Patrick and Cathy are great instructors. However, there’s
a lot of information to absorb in just under a fortnight and, good value though
it is, you’re paying for full board and lodging, so it is quite a chunk of
money and taking two weeks off work could be difficult.
Patrick’s new online permaculture design course might be just what you’re
looking for.
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| A surveying exercise on my PDC at Ragmans |
Gabrielle has wanted to do a PDC for quite a while: she
wanted the theoretical grounding to the practical work we’re doing here in
Brittany, to be encouraged to delve a little deeper into the elements of
permaculture and, lastly, to have the formal recognition of having done the
standard 72-hour permaculture course. We investigated various options but kept
coming up against the obstacles of having to take a considerable time away from our own
smallholding, woodlands and holiday cottage business
and the cost. Then we heard that Patrick was putting together an online course,
which seemed the perfect solution.
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| Me learning online |
He began by putting his Sustainable Land Use course (now
called The Land Course) online and we both signed up for that. It’s allowed us
to work through the four modules of Soil, Ecology, Organic Horticulture and
Sustainable Forestry in the order of our choosing and at our own pace. Patrick
has effectively added in some aspects that would otherwise have been missing in
the translation from a real course to a virtual one, for example, monthly Skype
conferences have allowed us to have some direct instruction from Patrick, followed
by a discussion amongst fellow students. The online forums have allowed us to
communicate with each other, asking questions and sharing ideas and, of course,
we were always free to email Patrick.
We’ve come to the end of the Land Course, perfect timing as
Patrick has only just put the permaculture design course online. You can see
the prices here, there are discounts if you take more than one module.
Even if you don’t fancy doing the whole Land Course, I recommend that you consider taking the Ecology module as it serves as the perfect foundation
course for the PDC, i.e., I think you’d get more out of the PDC having done the
Ecology module first. Why? As observing natural ecosystems (to understand how
they work and copy them) is central to permaculture, the Ecology module's explanation of
observing and interpreting what you see is invaluable: it certainly increased
my own observation skills hugely. If you don’t do that, then at least get hold
of a copy of Patrick’s latest book, TheLiving Landscape - How To Read It & Understand It.
As I’ve done my PDC, it’ll be Gabrielle that takes this
online course but I shall be looking over her shoulder and it should be a
useful revision of the elements that make up permaculture; we’re looking
forward to it.
