Final diploma review and summary
And finally I have reached the end. Ten projects over 3 and a half years, charting my journey into a deeper understanding of how to use permaculture design to positively impact my life and the lives of those around me. Looking back upon this portfolio I feel that it shows my life's story over the past few years, with each project entwined completely with my life at that point, and as each project has developed with it has come life changes and shifts in direction for my family and I.
Using permaculture design to help to guide my decisions has been incredibly valuable for me. I knew that I wanted to develop my knowledge and skills in many areas of permaculture right from the beginning, but it was by running my choices through a design process as part of this diploma's work that I have managed to make some huge changes in my life that have a solid foundation, and now I have several projects running that are working towards providing me with a beautiful home, sustaining income, creative fulfillment, and a gentle and happy lifestyle for my family. I am so grateful for this diploma and for the opportunities for growth and development it has provided me with.
I have found the experience of self initiated study a learning experience in itself. For the first half of this diploma I had a solid network of support, with regular tutor contact and a very supportive structure of peer groups, guilds and review partners to push each other along with our work. But for the second half of this study I had the different experience of being fully responsible for my own learning and the pace that I moved forwards. This has had it's ups and downs, as I found my own pace and ability to put priority on my study above the other things that I have had going on. I think it has been really helpful that I have been able to tailor my projects to what is happening at that moment of my life. I also feel that it has been a fantastic learning experience, and one that has helped me to develop a work ethic and dedication to my chosen path that could not have been stronger.
Below you can see my original Action Learning Pathway (A.L.P.) showing the topics I wanted to cover throughout this diploma. I re-evaluated this during my interim review at the midway point after project 5, and I have now done the same at the end.
Using permaculture design to help to guide my decisions has been incredibly valuable for me. I knew that I wanted to develop my knowledge and skills in many areas of permaculture right from the beginning, but it was by running my choices through a design process as part of this diploma's work that I have managed to make some huge changes in my life that have a solid foundation, and now I have several projects running that are working towards providing me with a beautiful home, sustaining income, creative fulfillment, and a gentle and happy lifestyle for my family. I am so grateful for this diploma and for the opportunities for growth and development it has provided me with.
I have found the experience of self initiated study a learning experience in itself. For the first half of this diploma I had a solid network of support, with regular tutor contact and a very supportive structure of peer groups, guilds and review partners to push each other along with our work. But for the second half of this study I had the different experience of being fully responsible for my own learning and the pace that I moved forwards. This has had it's ups and downs, as I found my own pace and ability to put priority on my study above the other things that I have had going on. I think it has been really helpful that I have been able to tailor my projects to what is happening at that moment of my life. I also feel that it has been a fantastic learning experience, and one that has helped me to develop a work ethic and dedication to my chosen path that could not have been stronger.
Below you can see my original Action Learning Pathway (A.L.P.) showing the topics I wanted to cover throughout this diploma. I re-evaluated this during my interim review at the midway point after project 5, and I have now done the same at the end.
The original A.L.P. for this diploma
Here you can see my first draft of my action learning pathway, as I laid out in project number 1.
How the first 5 projects followed my A.L.P.
Here is the map from my interim review I completed halfway through this diploma, showing how my first five projects linked in with the original pathway design.
Anticipated A.L.P. for the last 5 projects
And here is the pathway I anticipated following for my final five projects.
How my last 5 projects followed the A.L.P.
Here is the journey that my last five projects has taken. I have included the topic of 'living sustainably off the land', which was in the original A.L.P. right at the beginning, but that I left out in the second version. This became much ore relevant and necessary for me to explore once we moved to our land in Spain.
I also added one more thing that I hadn't included in the earlier planning, which was 'learning to live within the ethics of permaculture'. This is of course at the core of a diploma journey, but my final project really solidified for me ways to integrate permaculture into every area of my life to bring about conscious decision making and harmony in my personal life.
I also added one more thing that I hadn't included in the earlier planning, which was 'learning to live within the ethics of permaculture'. This is of course at the core of a diploma journey, but my final project really solidified for me ways to integrate permaculture into every area of my life to bring about conscious decision making and harmony in my personal life.
Here below are the parts of my first action learning pathway that have run alongside my diploma but that I haven't focused any projects on. These will continue to be a part of my life, helped and enhanced greatly by the diploma projects that I've started that have included development in these areas.
My next steps
I really see this diploma as a starting point of my life's work in permaculture design. I now have many plans to move forwards and build on the knowledge that I have gained over the past three years of study.
Based on the outcomes of some of my projects, I now have several livelihood projects that I am becoming fully immersed in.
Organic Playgrounds (my school garden design company, as developed in projects 6 and 8) is really taking off and providing me and my partner lots of opportunities to get our hands dirty in school gardens across the UK. We are currently working with teachers and groups of school children developing different ideas for inspiring outdoor nature based learning, including designing composting systems, wormerys, bug hotels, sensory gardens and outdoor natural crafts. We hope to bring this idea back to Spain with us during 2015 and develop this further there.
(www.organicplaygrounds.com)
Now I have my diploma certification, I will be hopefully hosting my first Permaculture design course on our land in Spain in Summer of 2015 when we return there. I will be working with Oriol Ferrando my partner, and some other inspiring and creative friends and teachers. I plan to develop a range of courses based on land and life based permaculture design courses for both children and adults through the name of Nomadic Permaculture. We will be using these courses to help us to develop the land and infrastructure there.
(www.nomadicpermaculture.weebly.com)
Above all, I want to share all I know and have a passion for, and learn from everything and everyone I meet. To keep learning, and keep growing. I want to keep moving and living with those who inspire and uplift me, and find ways to work together with these people to bring about positive change in the world, right from the inner landscapes of our minds and hearts, to the world around us and communities we live within. I guess my highest intention for the future, for me and for all of us, is to be the change we want to see in the world. If we all aim for that I don't think we can go far wrong.
Based on the outcomes of some of my projects, I now have several livelihood projects that I am becoming fully immersed in.
Organic Playgrounds (my school garden design company, as developed in projects 6 and 8) is really taking off and providing me and my partner lots of opportunities to get our hands dirty in school gardens across the UK. We are currently working with teachers and groups of school children developing different ideas for inspiring outdoor nature based learning, including designing composting systems, wormerys, bug hotels, sensory gardens and outdoor natural crafts. We hope to bring this idea back to Spain with us during 2015 and develop this further there.
(www.organicplaygrounds.com)
Now I have my diploma certification, I will be hopefully hosting my first Permaculture design course on our land in Spain in Summer of 2015 when we return there. I will be working with Oriol Ferrando my partner, and some other inspiring and creative friends and teachers. I plan to develop a range of courses based on land and life based permaculture design courses for both children and adults through the name of Nomadic Permaculture. We will be using these courses to help us to develop the land and infrastructure there.
(www.nomadicpermaculture.weebly.com)
Above all, I want to share all I know and have a passion for, and learn from everything and everyone I meet. To keep learning, and keep growing. I want to keep moving and living with those who inspire and uplift me, and find ways to work together with these people to bring about positive change in the world, right from the inner landscapes of our minds and hearts, to the world around us and communities we live within. I guess my highest intention for the future, for me and for all of us, is to be the change we want to see in the world. If we all aim for that I don't think we can go far wrong.
How my portfolio has met the accreditation criteria of the P.C. association
1. Demonstrating Design Skills
“The process of using permaculture design tools and processes to create working designs for a client or project”
You have gone through an intentional design process, using the theory and methods of permaculture design a number of times.
I have met this in all of my projects by using a variety of different design frameworks. See projects 2, 6, and 10 for examples of using the design web, and the remaining projects to see examples of SADIMET and OBREDIMET.
2. Applying permaculture in your own life
“The process of using permaculture ethics, principles and design strategies to enhance the sustainability of your own life and household”
You can show changes you have made that bring you closer to a sustainable lifestyle, in line with permaculture's ethical framework.
Projects 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 10 all show examples of applying permaculture in my own life.
3. Applying permaculture to your work and projects
“The process of applying permaculture within a given situation to create new systems and resources.”
Projects 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8 and 9 all show examples of applying permaculture to my work and projects.
4. Dissemination
“The process of sharing your work and insights with others.”
Through sharing all of my work on this website I am making it very accessible for others to view. I also have a facebook page (under the name of nomadic permaculture) where I share interesting knowledge and links to permaculture related topics, which is widely shared and accessed by a range of different people, some involved actively with permaculture and some not. I like this form of sharing as it brings permaculture topics to people that may otherwise not come into contact with it. I also have a facebook page under the name of Organic Playgrounds, where I share child and family related permaculture ideas and knowledge.
In project 3 Nomadic Adventures, I created another website (www.littlenomads.weebly.com) specifically to share knowledge and support for travelling parents. And in project 8 Little Folk, I started work on creating an online database of lesson plans for teaching permaculture to children, to freely share any work that I do on this subject so that it can be easily accessible and free for anyone anywhere to use.
In all of my projects I try to share any knowledge that I feel may be interesting or valuable for anybody else to use. With each project of mine I usually do a lot of research, and in projects such as project 6 Money Matters I shared links to all of the documentaries that I was watching for research, whilst also adding my own views and conclusions of the material for others.
5. Community Building
“The active process of developing supportive social networks.”
Throughout my diploma I have made great use of peer support groups and guilds, much more so in the earlier projects, where these were all documented very well. (See the final pages of projects 2-6 for reviews) Unfortunately, due to many students leaving our group when our tutor left midway this started to break down a little from projects 6-10. From this great starting point I did however gain a lot of experience in setting up my own useful support network, and for the final projects I did this informally with local friends (such as Oriol Ferrando and Matt Prosser, other diploma students) and also whilst at local and national gatherings.
In project 6 money matters I looked into many different ways that I could use examples of positive community projects and networks to enhance ours and other's lives, and I then integrated these further into our everyday ways of living and our future plans.
Also in project 8 Little folk I looked into who I could work with to create the most wonderful permaculture courses for children, and created a companion map of likely people to work together with. This is something I am actively now moving forwards with in planning my upcoming courses.
“The process of using permaculture design tools and processes to create working designs for a client or project”
You have gone through an intentional design process, using the theory and methods of permaculture design a number of times.
I have met this in all of my projects by using a variety of different design frameworks. See projects 2, 6, and 10 for examples of using the design web, and the remaining projects to see examples of SADIMET and OBREDIMET.
2. Applying permaculture in your own life
“The process of using permaculture ethics, principles and design strategies to enhance the sustainability of your own life and household”
You can show changes you have made that bring you closer to a sustainable lifestyle, in line with permaculture's ethical framework.
Projects 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 10 all show examples of applying permaculture in my own life.
3. Applying permaculture to your work and projects
“The process of applying permaculture within a given situation to create new systems and resources.”
Projects 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8 and 9 all show examples of applying permaculture to my work and projects.
4. Dissemination
“The process of sharing your work and insights with others.”
Through sharing all of my work on this website I am making it very accessible for others to view. I also have a facebook page (under the name of nomadic permaculture) where I share interesting knowledge and links to permaculture related topics, which is widely shared and accessed by a range of different people, some involved actively with permaculture and some not. I like this form of sharing as it brings permaculture topics to people that may otherwise not come into contact with it. I also have a facebook page under the name of Organic Playgrounds, where I share child and family related permaculture ideas and knowledge.
In project 3 Nomadic Adventures, I created another website (www.littlenomads.weebly.com) specifically to share knowledge and support for travelling parents. And in project 8 Little Folk, I started work on creating an online database of lesson plans for teaching permaculture to children, to freely share any work that I do on this subject so that it can be easily accessible and free for anyone anywhere to use.
In all of my projects I try to share any knowledge that I feel may be interesting or valuable for anybody else to use. With each project of mine I usually do a lot of research, and in projects such as project 6 Money Matters I shared links to all of the documentaries that I was watching for research, whilst also adding my own views and conclusions of the material for others.
5. Community Building
“The active process of developing supportive social networks.”
Throughout my diploma I have made great use of peer support groups and guilds, much more so in the earlier projects, where these were all documented very well. (See the final pages of projects 2-6 for reviews) Unfortunately, due to many students leaving our group when our tutor left midway this started to break down a little from projects 6-10. From this great starting point I did however gain a lot of experience in setting up my own useful support network, and for the final projects I did this informally with local friends (such as Oriol Ferrando and Matt Prosser, other diploma students) and also whilst at local and national gatherings.
In project 6 money matters I looked into many different ways that I could use examples of positive community projects and networks to enhance ours and other's lives, and I then integrated these further into our everyday ways of living and our future plans.
Also in project 8 Little folk I looked into who I could work with to create the most wonderful permaculture courses for children, and created a companion map of likely people to work together with. This is something I am actively now moving forwards with in planning my upcoming courses.
6. Symmetry
“The process of reciprocating support received from other permaculture individuals and networks.”
After completing my teacher training course in June 2014, I was lucky enough to be able to support Looby Macnamara, one of the tutors from that course, in some of her workshops at the permaculture space at the Green Gathering festival that summer. I really enjoyed working together with her as a support teacher, and was able to use some of the techniques I learned about in the teacher training. From this I then went on to host my own workshops in the following days of the festival. Alongside hosting these workshops I volunteered my time in the information area talking with the public and raising awareness of all things related to permaculture.
I also always try to share everything that I am working on as clearly as I can on my websites, so that it is easily accessible for others to follow, and I hope that others can use my work to add to their own projects.
7. Evaluation and Costings
“The process of increasing the knowledge and understanding of permaculture systems, such as their
effectiveness and overall cost.”
In every project throughout my diploma I have made a full evaluation at the end, detailing what has worked and what could have been done differently. You can find these evaluations on the final pages of every project. For costings, you can see detailed breakdowns in both project 7 Humanure and in project 9 Off Grid Power.
“The process of reciprocating support received from other permaculture individuals and networks.”
After completing my teacher training course in June 2014, I was lucky enough to be able to support Looby Macnamara, one of the tutors from that course, in some of her workshops at the permaculture space at the Green Gathering festival that summer. I really enjoyed working together with her as a support teacher, and was able to use some of the techniques I learned about in the teacher training. From this I then went on to host my own workshops in the following days of the festival. Alongside hosting these workshops I volunteered my time in the information area talking with the public and raising awareness of all things related to permaculture.
I also always try to share everything that I am working on as clearly as I can on my websites, so that it is easily accessible for others to follow, and I hope that others can use my work to add to their own projects.
7. Evaluation and Costings
“The process of increasing the knowledge and understanding of permaculture systems, such as their
effectiveness and overall cost.”
In every project throughout my diploma I have made a full evaluation at the end, detailing what has worked and what could have been done differently. You can find these evaluations on the final pages of every project. For costings, you can see detailed breakdowns in both project 7 Humanure and in project 9 Off Grid Power.
I really value and welcome your comments on my work. If you would like to get in touch with me please send me a message through the contact page. Thank you so much for taking the time to read through my portfolio, and many blessings on all of your permaculture journeys. X