dam | Permaculture Research Institute of Australia

25 - 27th April 2008 - Goulburn NSW

Water and soil fertility are the major issues on every Australian farm. This 3-day intensive course, taught by acclaimed earthworks experts Geoff Lawton + Darren Doherty, will cover a wide range of sustainable earthworks from design through to implementation. Come and learn how to drought-proof a property while building soil fertility, with on-going earthworks on-site during this essential course.

Earthworks for landholders

18 - 20 December 2007 - Mudgee (near Sydney) NSW
Water is the major issue on every Australian farm. Water harvesting and storage earthworks need to be intelligently designed and well implemented in order to meet their primary objective - drought-proofing your property. This three day intensive course taught by Geoff Lawton will give you the knowledge to design and construct earthworks that will act as an insurance policy against drought and increase the value of your property.

This is a rare opportunity to see Geoff teach his pet subject as a stand alone short course.

At Diversity Farm we offer a working experience for anyone who has a permaculture design certificate and is prepared to camp and contribute $50 a week towards food.

We have a basic farm camp ground with compost toilet and solar shower. The work will involve the general running of the farm on a day to day basis as a permaculture demonstration site and education centre with our farm staff. Bookings are essential. No drugs or alcohol are allowed on the property.

Following up on Testing the Dam in SouthWoods in Minnesota, here’s a series of pics showing how the new swales handled a decent storm.

Following on from yesterday’s post on dams and swales in Minnesota, here are some pics of the system in action with the addition of the most important element: water.

Hi folks! — we have been busy digging up Minnesota with dams and swales. This is just the beginning of the “Permaculture Research Institute for Cold Climates”. We’re now on route to California, hopefully to do some more serious digging.

Here’s how we started:

Click thru for the entire photo series!