So I finally finished the diploma studies, 12 years after I took my first PDC course, and decided that I wanted the diploma in applied Permaculture design.
I know the different associations are working on ways to help apprentices get through the diploma process faste, not get stuck. But in my specific case I was happy that it took me such a long time and so many years to get it finished.
The lengthy process meant many reitterations of my learning pathway, many deadlines that I set myself and didn’t end up reaching. New deadlines I set for myself, new learning pathways. I remember looking forward and thinking that more than anything I wanted to improve my building skills. I wanted to the practical skills, the feeling for ecological and sustainable building, but I wanted the know-how to go with it. I needed experiene, mentors, and new knowledge. I needed to try my hand at new techniques and at crafts I wasn’t yet comfortable with. I kept writing on my learning pathway that it would be my 10th design, a later design, not right now. I took every opportunity I could to get involved with building projects, helping out to retrofit a small house on the island where I lived, rebuilding the walls with traditional methods, building cob ovens, visiting eco-villages and speaking with builders. I woof’ed at eco-villages building eco-houses, and still after the many years I felt like I wasn’t really getting closer to being able to build my own place. Self-builders biting off typically more than they can chew, I think it was fine that I didn’t get there quickly. I helped my friends build their house in Portugal, light straw technique, it took us a month from foundation to roof on and windows in. Of course it wasn’t a building technique that would be particularly useful in the colder and wetter Denmark.
Finally in my 10th design I designed a retro-fit for the barn. I’d bought a house in Denmark together with some friends, and had the idea to create an apartment and living space in the barn of the farm. I spent a really long time researching and designing the build, finding out about local materials and trying to be really realistic. (sometimes we permaculturists are really dreamers, jacks of all trades, and sometimes it comes back to bite us in the butt!) This time I wanted to be realistic, no fast solutions where rodents would get in..no fire hazards, no impossible equations for loads and load bearing structures, it had to work! Luckily my father offered to help me with the design and we spent the best part of 6 months researching possibilities, materials, techniques, the building and structure itself. When the design was finalised , there didn’t go much time before I AGAIN in my diploma process had problems with tenure. I couldn’t stay at the farm. The friends I had bought the place with did a complete U-turn and wanted to sell-up and move out. Well we’d only been there 2 years at that point so I had no chance of buying them out of their share, and the only thing to do was sell the place and suck it up. So the final design of my diploma couldn’t be implemented. I thought I’d thought of everything, budget, timescales, skills, who i would ask to help.
But I’d obviously not thought of everything. So I don’t really know if I could call the design successful, let’s be honest, I can’t!
One of the good things about it is it gave me such a good basis of knowledge, that I could easily design a retrofit again, after the necessary observation phase of course. Since I’ve had so much practical experience building with wood, with clay, with renders and cob, I feel ready to tackle the next building challenge. I’ve already found my next challenge, and that is building a home for me to live in. A tiny house to be exact. One that can be moved around with changing tenures. If you can’t beat ’em, design your way out of it. So that is my next project for the spring and the design is all ready to go. The diploma helped me to reach where I want to be in so many aspects of my life. I wanted to become a qualified permaculture educator, and after all the training and experience I gained through my permaculture teacher design, I feel ready to teach the full PDC. We’ll start the PDC at Avnø Highschool this winter, and I can’t wait to meet the participants and share my passion for design with them.
I wanted to have a right livelihood, a job and work that I felt was ethical and still challenged me every day. Working at Hideaway vineyard really is the solution to this challenge. We are farming land in a perennial agriculture and creating a really top quality local wine. It couldn’t be better. I’m learning every day, following my mentor Jens Heinemeyer, organic wine grower from Rheingau in Germany, and seeing the land and the systems develop and flourish. We are taking advantage of the fabulous climate on Fejø and growing figs, kiwis, peaches and much more along side our grape production. I love seeing people come and taste our wines, a beautiful experience in a local setting, where the wine comes from soil, to the winery we have on-site, over to the restaurant we also have on-site.
I’ve learnt to grow my own food, and gotten pretty good at it, saving a great deal of money, CO2, packaging, transport and water by doing it all myself at home. I feel like I’ve spread inspiration around me over these years, designing for others. I have my right and ethical livelihood, and soon my home will also be built and ready to live-in. (Until it’s ready I’ll be in my small tipi!) I’ve become a qualified teacher and I feel like I really know my stuff, after studying in depth and trying things out first hand the last 12 years. My network has also grown exponentially, from joining the board of Permaculture Denmark, and working with the Nordic Institute of permaculture for some of those years, I know some lovely people around Scandinavia, working with permaculture day-to-day. Isn’t network and the people around us really everything? Happy healthy and feeling great about what I’ve acheived. I would recommend the diploma to anyone. The one piece of advice I would give to someone already on the diploma pathway? Enjoy the ride…the journey is everything, or something cliche like that. It’s really true!
Permaculture Learning 