A fun filled Practical Permaculture Immersion Weekend. We will illustrate practical ways to design an integrated thriving living system that that partners with nature. Designed to be self regulating, diverse, abundant and resilient. Whether you are on an urban lot or a farm homestead, energy, water, soil building, animal systems, food production and preservation systems, with diverse income streams. Join us if these are important to you.
An extended site tour of the established systems at Inspiration Farm will augment this experiential weekend. A detailed presentation over viewing Permaculture ethics, principals and strategies will be covered on the first day. On the second day an in depth dive into systems relationships and design mapping process and strategies will be covered.
Class format includes lectures, discussions, extensive tours of an established site and hands-on activities.
Presentations and discussion in the AM, site tour, hands on projects with plant guilds, soil creation, Nursery establishment and other integrated systems in the PM.
Installing a guild
one of the designs
Discounts for couples, $250- Pot luck lunch for both days. Camping is available. Limited to 15 Participants.
Feel free to call if you have any questions. 360-319-2029
Join us on March 29th, from 9-2:30pm, for a unique opportunity to learn fruit tree pruning from Jane Campbell while contributing to Whatcom County food security.
The workshop will take place at the CTK Food Share and Farm orchard. This small, privately owned orchard was donated to the CTK Food Share and Farm. All fruit produced on the trees goes to volunteers, food banks and food pantries around Whatcom County.
Timely pruning is essential for: reducing and controlling disease and pest pressure; sculpting strong branch structure; and, increasing flower and fruit yields!
Jane is an experienced local landscaper and orchardist specializing in fruit tree training, maintenance and restoration pruning.
This is a great opportunity to learn how to prune your own trees while helping restore this donated orchard. What to expect: We will spend ~1hr lightly reviewing pruning theory and vocabulary, essential pruning tools and tool sharpening. Then we will dive into practicing techniques. This is our second year restoring this orchard.
All participants will be invited to return to the orchard in summer to learn summer thinning and pruning; and, again in the fall to bring in the harvest.
Learn to create your own Fruit Nursery Stock. Fruit Tree Grafting and Plant Propagation from Cuttings. Sunday, March 10th, 2024, 11:00 am – 2:00 pm
Pruning season is upon us! Remember to save scion wood for the Grafting Gathering! You can learn how to collect scion wood here.
Bring Apple, Pear, Plum varieties from your neighborhood. Share scion wood and graft to start new trees! We will demonstrate basic grafting techniques. Select scion wood and rootstock to graft a tree to take home! Plum and Apple rootstock will be available for a nominal fee. By sharing the scion varieties people bring from their area, will allow us each to have a nice mix of varieties. Also demonstrated will be a variety of techniques we use to propagate hard wood cuttings to create your own nursery stock from winter pruning activities.
One year old Plants from Cuttings
Remember to dress for the weather. This will be a mostly outside event with a tour of the nursery operation and cutting collection tour around the farm. You may want to bring your own snacks and creature comforts.
Keep scrolling for pricing, format, and more details.
Course Format:
The course will be a mix of in-person weekend sessions, a week-long intensive, and some on-line presentations, plus optional mid-week extracurricular work sessions for those hungry for more.
We will learn through lectures, small and large group discussions, reflection/observation exercises and lots of hands-on skills practice. We will also provide suggested reading material, videos and zoom sessions to be viewed on your own time as primers for our in person sessions. Expect some homework toward the end of the course.
The first three weekend sessions will be hosted at Queen Mountain Homestead. Course time will run from Saturday mornings to Sunday evenings. Overnight camping is available onsite and encouraged. Saturday evening we will share potluck feasts (significant others welcome). Bring your own lunches and Sunday morning breakfast . An outdoor kitchenette will be available for simple food prep. Coffee, tea and water will be provided throughout.
Student Design Sessions: July 21st
This is scheduled time for students to gather with their design teams to socialize and dig into their capstone design projects.
Inspiration Farm : July 13th & 14th ; July 29th – Aug. 2nd (5 day Intensive )
We will dive deeper into content during the week-long campout, while giving you an immersive taste of Permaculture living at Inspiration Farm. In addition to more hands-on practice, you will work with a team of fellow students on a capstone design project. Your team will present your project to the whole learning community at the end of the week. The final day will also include: a certification and closing ceremony; a celebratory feast (loved ones welcome); and, a talent show of epic proportions.
Fresh meals will be prepared on-site by a local chef for lunch and dinner all week. Breakfast will be DIY with seasonal ingredients provided by us. Coffee, tea, water and fruit will be available throughout. Let us know your dietary restrictions on your registration form. We are happy to accommodate.
We acknowledge that Whatcom (Xwotʼqom) County is the ancestral and current home of the Lhaq’temish (Lummi) & Nooksack people. As the descendants of displaced settlers, we acknowledge how much we have to relearn about place-based living. Actively, we seek ways to honor and uplift how the Lhaq’temish & Nooksack nations live out resilience, resist displacement and embody regenerative culture. We acknowledge that the permaculture movement was inspired by, and in part built on the appropriation of, indigenous knowledge. We take it as our ongoing responsibility to watch for and address the harmful pattern of appropriation. We believe that, despite past and present harms, permaculture can be used as a tool for healing the deep wounds of disconnection inflicted by colonialism on indigenous and settler communities, and, the more-than-human world we share.
PDC Course Pricing
Secure your spot with a $500 deposit
Course fee: $2,000
Benefactor price: $2,200 (extra payment helps provide scholarships to other students; enquire for more info)
Payments cover all course materials, camping, field trips and a week of amazing local meals.
Some Partial Scholarships are available, for more details fill this application out.
Donations to the Scholarship fund are welcome. Help those who need it.
Click the register button to fill out the form and the click to pay
Maintain your body, not your machines. Learn the sharper points of this elegant tool. Thought to be old school, but better blades and an ergonomic set up makes them one of the most efficient tools out there. Learn what makes a good scythe, how to select a scythe for your needs and how to properly maintain it for years of efficient use. Participants will be able to try out a number of different blades and snaths (handles) to learn the benefits of each.
Mowing pattern strategies, fences, trees, working as a team.
Sharpening, Peening the blade
Fixing nicks and cracks
Sharpening with a stone
April 28 @ 10:00 am – 3:00 pm
“As the grass is starting to grow, we are getting ready to mow! Now is the time to look at your tools and see if they need any maintenance, sharpening, oiling or adjusting.“
https://youtu.be/3JeboKSJY08
This took me 5 minutes and I did not break a sweat!
“Best Tool for the Job” presentation for the PNW Permaculture Convergence 2020
If you are considering getting a new Scythe setup you can contact Alexander at Scythe Works and see if he has what you are looking for.
April 22, 2023
@
10:00 am
–
April 23, 2023
@
5:00 pm
A fun filled Practical Permaculture Immersion Weekend. We will illustrate practical ways to design an integrated thriving living system that that partners with nature. Designed to be self regulating, diverse, abundant and resilient. Whether you are on an urban lot or a farm homestead, energy, water, soil building, animal systems, food production and preservation systems, with diverse income streams. Join us if these are important to you.
An extended site tour of the established systems at Inspiration Farm will augment this experiential weekend. A detailed presentation over viewing Permaculture ethics, principals and strategies will be covered on the first day. On the second day an in depth dive into systems relationships and design mapping process and strategies will be covered.
Class format includes lectures, discussions, extensive tours of an established site and hands-on activities.
Presentations and discussion in the AM, site tour, hands on projects with plant guilds, soil creation, Nursery establishment and other integrated systems in the PM.
Discounts for couples, Pot luck lunch for both days. Camping is available. Limited to 15 Participants. Feel free to call if you have any questions. 360-319-2029
Grow Abundance
Put together a design
Make it so, let it GROW!
Meet others who share your passion!
To Pay BY Check: Please make it payable to Inspiration Farmand mail, or drop it by 619 E Laurel Rd Bellingham Wa. 98226. This saves us from having to pay the transaction fee, thank you!
Hi Everyone! Just wanted to take a moment to let you all know some of what we have planned for this year. Other events may pop up to fill in some gaps but here are the events we have on the books at this point.
Ongoing- Permaculture Meet-ups will continue to happen the last Friday of each month. Stay tuned for locations and details at www.whatcompermaculture.com
Salish Seed Swap Saturday Feb. 18th, 12:00 pm – 3:00 pm At the – Bellingham Unitarian Fellowship Downstairs, 12 noon to 3pm – Masks Requested
$10 suggested donation, at the door. No one turned away for lack of funds Early entrance (11:30 am) for members of the Salish Seed Guild and people bringing seeds to share. Find out more.
Please Bring your own Envelops to package bulk seeds being offered.
Hope you can make it to the Salish Seed Swap happening in person for the first time in three years!
Create your own Fruit Nursery Stock. Fruit Tree Grafting and Propagation from Cuttings. Pruning season is upon us! Remember to save scion wood for the Grafting Gathering! You can learn how to collect scion wood here. Bring Apple, Pear, Plum… Read more
A fun filled Practical Permaculture Immersion Weekend. We will illustrate practical ways to design an integrated thriving living system that that partners with nature. Designed to be self regulating, diverse, abundant and resilient. Whether you are on an urban lot… Read more
Sell the weed eater and use a scythe! Maintain your body, not your machines. Learn the sharper points of this elegant tool. Thought to be old school, but better blades and an ergonomic set up makes them one of the most efficient tools out there. Find out more
We will celebrate International Permaculture Day May 7th 2023! A day to showcase permaculture around the world. An opportunity to experience permaculture and meet its practitioners. Visitors can see first hand an established permaculture system and ask questions. See how… Read more
Plant a garden, eat for a year, plant a Food Forest Guild, eat for decades! This hands on workshop shares design elements necessary for a perennial food forest. Learn about fruit and nut trees as well as supper food berries… Read more
August 19 – August 20 … Exact details are still being worked out.
This workshop will cover reading the landscape for water retention and management. Diving into, Mapping, ponds, swales, reed-beds, terraces, key line design, implementation cover cropping and guild planting. This will be a hands-on workshop/installation, with earth moving equipment and lasers! Read more!
Permaculture course weekends you can attend separately!
We will be offering certain modules of the course as a stand-alone workshops for people who are interested in specific topics but may not be able to commit to an entire course.
Weekend #4 July 9th and 10th $200
This Fourth weekend will focus on Social Relations and Practical Tools. On Saturday we will explore awesome Community Projects happening within the scope of Permaculture Design. We will also investigate social relationships between ourselves, each other and our larger consumer culture as well as how to design in the Human Landscape.
On Sunday, we will learn How to Use and Care for Tools. Both hand tools and power tools are an essential part of any land-based work. We will cover the basic tool kit, trade-specific kits, power tools, safety and maintenance.
Permaculture course weekends you can attend separately!
We will be offering certain modules of the course as a stand-alone workshops for people who are interested in specific topics but may not be able to commit to an entire course.
Weekend #3 June 18th and 19th $200
This third weekend will focus on Soil and Water. On Saturday, we will explore the complex, living, breathing edge between the earth and the sky. By exploring the dynamic Soil Food Web, we will learn about both the geological and ecological relationships which best facilitate plant growth.
Sunday will explore Water Systems and provide a practical and accessible approach to this most critical infrastructure. We will look at Residential Irrigation systems that connect the garden to the home. We will also explore Domestic Plumbing systems such as the kitchen sink, toilet and grey water irrigation. We’ll learn how to troubleshoot simple problems that homeowners and renters may encounter in everyday life.
