Daily schedule
- Breakfast: 6:00 – 6:30
- Morning session (including tea break):7:00 – 10:30 : Field work & Excursions
- Lunch: 12:00 – 13:00
- Afternoon: free time from 13:00 – 16:00
- Evening session (including tea break): 16:00 – 19:30 : Theory, Design Exercises
- Dinner: 20:00 – 21:00
- Late session: 21:00-23:00 : Films, Lectures, Games
Due to the tropical location of our venue we will do practical fieldwork from early morning till 10:30h, when is generally starts to get too warm to work outdoors in the sun.
You are free to do explore the island, go for a swim or dive or just enjoy the sun and good company in the afternoon.
Then around 16:00h, when it starts to cool down again we will resume the program with “theory” in the pavilion. Each evening session will include practical design exercises.
Please note that day-length is pretty much the same all year around. Sunrise is around 6:00h. Sunset around 18:00h. There is a brief twilight of about half an hour before sunrise and half an hour after sunset.
Course Program
Arrival on Tuesday afternoon: transfer to camp site, set up tent or install at B&B/hotel (for those who choose optional accommodation upgrade).
Program may be subject to changes due to needs and opportunities arising.
- day 1 Wednesday: Human Needs
- morning: Introductions
- day 2 Thursday: Ecology
- morning: fieldwork Congo Preserve
- day 3 Friday: Ethics & Principles of Permaculture, Patterns in Nature
- morning: fieldwork Congo Preserve
- day 4 Saturday: Energy & Matter
- morning: Excursion (Historical tour)
- day 5 Sunday: Design, Methodology, Strategy & Solutions
- morning: fieldwork Congo Preserve
- day 6 Monday: Design: Potential of Limits & Landschape
- morning: fieldwork Congo Preserve
- day 7 Tuesday: free time
- day 8 Wednesday: Climate
- morning: fieldwork Botanical Gardens
- day 9 Thursday: Vegetation
- morning: fieldwork Botanical Gardens
- day 10 Friday: Soil
- morning: fieldwork Botanical Gardens
- day 11 Saturday: Water
- morning: Excursion (Marine tour)
- day 12 Sunday: Design for Disaster, Site Analysis & Creative Problem Solving
- morning: fieldwork Botanical Gardens
- day 13 Monday: Zone 0 &1: House and Garden
- morning: fieldwork Botanical Gardens
- day 14 Tuesday: free time
- day 15 Wednesday: Animal Systems & Aquaculture
- morning: fieldwork GreenBlend
- day 16 Thursday: Zone 2 & 3: Orchards, Cropping & Grazing
- morning: fieldwork GreenBlend
- day 17 Friday: Zone 4 & 5: Forests & Wildlife Management
- morning: fieldwork GreenBlend
- day 18 Saturday: Community, Economy & Urban Permaculture
- morning: Excursion (Terrestrial tour)
- day 19 Sunday: Permaculture Education, Enterprise & Right Livelihood
- morning: fieldwork GreenBlend
- day 20 Monday: Awarding of certificates – Celebration!
- morning: Presentations & Evaluation
Departure on Tuesday: strike camp, transfer to airport.
Assignments
Individual assignments: each participant is asked to prepare and deliver some sort of educational activity of 15 minutes maximum on a topic relevant to permaculture. The activity can be anything from a game/play, some practical activity to a lecture or other formal instruction. You may consider preparing your educational assignment beforehand and bring any special materials with you.
Group assignment: working in groups of 3 to 4 participants you will complete a permaculture design. Each group will present their design on the last day of the course. During the course you will do exercises relevant to your chosen design project. Projects should be relevant to challenges observed in the field on Statia.
While each topic will be accompanied by ample theoretical background, the emphasis will be on teaching through the medium of diverse ‘living’ situations in the landscapes and humanscapes where the course will be held.
(program updated: 26 December 2011)