Women's
Change
Makers
Permaculture
Design Course
October 4-20, 2024
Crystal Waters EcoVillage
Sunshine Coast, Qld.
Australia
Site tours * Fully Catered * Community Immersion * Visioning
Nature Connection * Heart Circle * Sauna * Yoga & movement
16 Days Regeneration Immersion
Investment ~ $2790 Full Price ~ $2590 Early Bird
Design, Regulate & Regenerate with Permaculture
Land * Livelihood * Lifepath * Legacy
What is Permaculture
Permaculture is a regenerative design toolkit that is informed by ethics and principles.
“Reclaiming our place in nature as Earth Stewards, our sense of place, of belonging to the earth, Permaculture fosters respect for life and its complexity, awareness of the consequences of our actions, and accepting responsibility for how we meet our needs. Permaculture draws from the wisdoms of traditional and indigenous cultures and weaves this with our contemporary knowledge of ecology, earth science and technology to create abundance, regenerate the land and build resilient communities.”
Robyn Francis
Celebrating the 41st Anniversary of the first Women’s Permaculture Design Course, this edition of the 'Change Makers Permaculture Design Course' is being held ‘for women, by women’.
We acknowledge and cultivate the awareness that women often approach the content of a Permaculture course differently - through connecting to country & nature, reading landscape, how we learn, communicate, process information and so much more.
Designed for women who currently or intend to steward land, those travelling and whom desire a fresh toolkit, women seeking a starting place towards a new life direction and those keen to be part of the
‘Re-generation’ : personal, community, planet.
* The first ever Women's PDC was held in November 1983 near Tyalgum, Nth NSW and presented by Lea Harrison, Judith Turley and Susie Edwards. They were inspired to offer the PDC course to bring more balance into Permaculture after attending the first Permaculture gathering of a few dozen people with only 4 women present.
Women's Permaculture Course Overview
This 72 hour plus, Permaculture Design Course curriculum is based on the work of the co-originators of Permaculture Bill Mollison and David Holmgren, with insight and development from many of the Women on that first Women’s PDC, 41 years ago, and women whom came after including : Robin Clayfield, Rosemary Morrow, Robyn Francis, Robina McCurdy, Linda Woodrow and Frances Michaels along side many more…
Participants are required to attend all sessions of the PDC, and will be involved in interactive classroom and outdoor learning, discussions, small group activities and skills building opportunities with practical components of the course subjects, tours site visits and more. The culmination of the course involves a group Permaculture Design Project based on a local site, to apply the learning from the past 2 weeks immersion.
In this Permaculture Design Course we will cover :
DESIGN - ethics, principles, methodologies, strategies & techniques.
PATTERNS - patterns in nature, reading landscapes & maps.
CLIMATE - global climatic regions, influences, & suitable design techniques.
WATER - catchment hydrology, earthworks, water cycle, storage & treatment.
SOIL - soil ecology, management & remediation techniques.
FORESTS - ecosystems, orchards, food forests, syntropics.
PLANTS - perennial & annual plant selection, seed-saving.
BUILDINGS - passive solar low impact design, appropriate technology, compost toilets.
SOCIAL - group ecology, collaborative decision-making & governance.
ANIMALS - integrated animals systems.
PRODUCTION - integrated food-production systems for multi scales & contexts.
ECONOMY - alternative economies, community exchange.
MICRO-CLIMATES - design techniques for home & land to mitigate local climate.
DISASTER PROOF - how to prepare for the worst-case scenario & thrive.
COMMUNITY - bioregional planning, local food, neighbourhood & eco-village design.
Conondale, Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia | info@symbioticnature.com.au
One of the big features that makes our PDC different from all the others is the amount of field experiences and permaculture action we do.
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Crystal Waters Welcome Tour w/ Robin Clayfield.
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Tour Robin Clayfield's home and gardens.
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Tour Annaliese Hordern's Tea Haven Permaculture Gardens & Property.
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Visit an AirCrete Dome House built for $10,000.
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Permaculture Action Day at Crystal Waters.
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Maleny Tour with talks from Maleny Organic Food Coop Founders.
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Deep Ecology in Mary Cairns Cross Rainforest Remnant.
Robin Clayfield's Permaculture Garden Tour
Drop into many aspects of community life, and enjoy yourself with integrative moments of self care.
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Experience the Crystal Waters Iconic Monthly Market.
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The Flowerpot cafe is open through out the week with great coffee and treats.
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Saturday morning bakery, with divine croissants and pastries.
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Join a weekly table tennis club game.
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Walk amongst the community commons, alongside friendly kangaroos and wallabies.
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Enjoy Sauna at the community Sauna House.
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Book a massage from a local practitioner.
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Enjoy yoga and body movement sessions during the PDC.
Community Sauna House
Local cuisine, world flavours
Our chefs are Bec & Yoav from Good Food Vibe are part of our core team caring for YOU - Their love and passion for home grown cuisine menus, and connection to the local community is a pleasure to witness.
Meals cater for all dietary requirements and are a mix of cuisine from local, fresh and organic ingredients.
Meals will be prepared in the Crystal Waters commercial kitchen and served on the iconic Crystal Waters Deck overlooking the Village Green, located only a short stroll from the Eco Centre.
All meals during course days are included in the course fee - except the mid course integration day off - 12/10.
Testimonials from past
Graduates
“I'm learning things that feel so good in my body, I feel my heart expanding, I know I am on the right journey”
Leana
Barkers Vale, NSW
Our Facilitation Team
Annaliese Hordern
Annaliese is here to be part of the Regeneration - People and Planet!
Creative Director of the Change Makers PDC, she is passionate about permaculture, restorative Earth based and community regeneration with a strong focus on ethnobotanical research and holistic lifestyle.
Annaliese holds a degree in Environmental Resource Management and a Diploma of Permaculture. She draws upon two decades of Permaculture experience, intentionally exploring our world learning from eco-communities and Permaculture pioneers about localised regenerative practices for land and people. She pours this wisdom into her education.
Weaving Earth based connection into her work, Annaliese runs regenerative retreats calling people to be in greater service to Mumma Earth, redirecting and refining life purpose, hosts women’s circles, Dj’s Ecstatic Dance sets and acts as a big heart beat amongst community.
Jane Little
Many years ago, Jane left the city to find somewhere with lots of trees and fresh air, and ended up becoming a resident of an intentional community on the Sunshine Coast.
Living off grid has provided many challenges to meet head on, and lots of juicy learnings.
With her family she developed her home garden, and started applying her skills in the Kitchen Garden program at the local primary school, where it was her very great privilege to teach children how to think and act within an ecosystem, and develop skills to grow food for themselves.
This led to the development of the Kitchen Garden Consultancy which has allowed her to develop her understanding of soils, edible plants and humanure and how best to serve others on their food growing journeys.
She also develops and delivers workshops across a wide range of permaculture topics, always learning and sharing.
She brings a fresh curiosity and dynamic teaching style to her sessions to inspire others towards systems thinking and design in all things.
She can often be found in the great outdoors, observing and seeking to understand how it all fits together.
Jess Steele
Jessica Steele is an enthusiastic, spirited permaculture educator that has been developing and caretaking CAP 'Centre of Applied Permaculture' - now called ADAPT, in Crystal Waters for over 2 years. Their organic community gardens and nursery provides a space to thrive abundantly through permaculture practices, education & co-creation.
Jess enjoys delivering a practical hands-on learning approach to permaculture for all ages. There are new Projects and Ventures now underway for 2024!
Special Guests
Robin Clayfield
Erin Young
* Welcome tour *
* Robin's Garden tour *
* Reading Landscapes *
Robin Clayfield is a Permaculture Pioneer and an acknowledged Permaculture Elder who's lived at Crystal Waters Permaculture EcoVillage since its inception in 1988. Over 39 years of living and evolving Permaculture has seen her excel as an international educator, group facilitator and author specialising in creative, interactive facilitation, group leadership, Permaculture, Deep Ecology, Social Permaculture and social change.
Her legendary book 'You Can Have Your Permaculture and Eat It Too' has sold over 5,000 copies (a best seller in OZ) and her educational card games, teacher training Manual and resources support and inspire educators globally. Her main focus for the past three decades has been Training Permaculture Teachers, Educators, Facilitators and Group Leaders along with popularising Social Permaculture.
Social Permaculture
Special Guest TBA
* *
And More To Be
Announced...
Erin Young uses nature wisdom to activate leaders and organisations with balance, creativity and collaboration to create a more beautiful world. She works with individuals in life and leadership coaching based on the design principles of social permaculture. She also helps organisations to be adaptive, responsive and effective by consulting in collaborative decision-making and governance, based in sociocracy. Facilitation, training and mediation are equally stocked in her skills toolkit.
A creative from a non-creative background, Erin holds a Bachelor of Environmental Engineering (Hons) with Brisbane’s Griffith University (2004). She first studied regenerative ecologically-based design by attaining her first Permaculture Design Certificate in Portugal in 2010. Originating in Brisbane,
Erin is now based near Eumundi on the Sunshine Coast, South East Queensland, Australia where she hikes, forest baths and ogles at nature.
Course Location
Crystal Waters Eco Village
65 Kilcoy Lane, Conondale, Sunshine Coast Hinterland Queensland
Crystal Waters is located near Maleny in the Sunshine Coast Hinterland, Qld, Australia, on 640 acres of bushland at the headwaters of the Mary River.
Crystal Waters is an environmentally and socially responsible rural community, designed using permaculture principles.
It now celebrates its 34th year, with a community of over 230 people of all ages living in the village of 83 one acre lots, it is continually evolving, physically and socially and provides an excellent living example of permaculture design and community.
The Village Green is also a place for regular social interaction with many varied events including the iconic monthly markets, which the course dates have been specifically chosen to align with so you will get to experience it first hand.
Venue - Eco Centre
Our primary learning space is the Eco-Centre, a rammed Earth, purpose built solar passive facility with several areas; indoor, verandah, breakout spaces outside & sand pit node.
The space lends itself perfectly to the learning experience for participants to get the most from the PDC.
It includes a kitchenette for refreshments and filtered water supply.
The wide north-facing Verandah overlooks the Village Centre, the main Kitchen & The Deck with the Blackall Range to the East.
Accomodation
The Ecopark camping area provides a restful place for visitors to stay during events and Permaculture courses.
We recommend you stay at the Crystal Waters Eco-Park Visitors Camping Area. Family can stay there with you.
Bring your own tent, van or camper OR you can opt for one of the cosy bunk bed and cabin options.
The Eco-Park has a good amenities block with hot
showers and laundry facilities, a covered camp kitchen setup
with hot plates as well as a large open fire pit.
Set in a lovely bush setting with wildlife (mainly Kangaroos &
Wallabies) and abundant bird-life.
After you register for the
PDC we will send you details on how you can book your
accomodation. Check out their pricing and options.
** Please note accomodation is not included in the course fee.
Onsite accomodation options.
Prices Include a 10% discount.
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Camping unpowered site $270
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Camping powered site $333
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Dorm Bed in a bunkhouse $459
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Private Cabin $963
Invest in yourself & your future
Join Our Women's
Permaculture Course
* Full Investment $2790
* Early Bird $2590 (ends 1st August).
* Payment plan available
Limited numbers, bookings are essential.
Place a $400 deposit into this PayPal link
and fill out the registration form --->
To reserve your place
Welcome to Change!!
October 4-20, 2024
Cancellation Policy
Cancellations on or before August 1st - we provide a refund less $100 processing fee.
Cancellations on and from August 2 to September 12th - we provide a refund less $200 processing fee.
Cancellations on September 13th onwards are non refundable.
In the unlikely event the course is cancelled by us for any reason, your full amount will be returned.
Get in Touch
Questions?
Women's Change Makers Permaculture Design Course,
Crystal Waters EcoVillage, Sunshine Coast, Qld.
Grow Your Vision
If you are feeling the call, but need to tune in a little further?
Let's arrange a call to discuss how Our Women's Permaculture Course
can be of service to your life and how it can benefit you!
Email Annaliese to book in a time, NOW! ~ info@symbioticnature.com.au
After Our Permaculture Course
Continue Connection
There will be the opportunity to continue working with Annaliese and the team, in a 6 monthly online meet up and in person events.
You will also be invited to join the Change Makers Permaculture Design Course FaceBook Community Page, upon graduation.
Acknowledgement
of Country
With Respect, we acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we live and host the PDC, the Gubbi Gubbi and Jinibara peoples.
We pay our respects to the Elders past, present and emerging and give thanks for their caring for country for so, so long.
We are honoured to live and offer our work in these beautiful lands. Thank you.