Some Words from Past Participants
Gail Pomare
In August 2019 a Morag Gamble 'How to make a no-dig garden' video popped up on my youtube and I clicked on it just because it was the middle of the night and I was bored. Not even 5 minutes into the video I knew I had found 'my thing'! She talked about this word 'permaculture' and something deep within my soul resonated with the principles and practices. I spent the next 3 hours watching every video I could find on permaculture and searching how I could learn more in Christchurch.
Within 2 weeks I had signed up and was attending my first introduction to permaculture class with the Canterbury Permaculture Institute. I sign up for the Permaculture Design Course right there and then.
The course gave me such a good grounding in permaculture - but I would say it was more a springboard rather than arriving at a destination. It opened me up to ideas and resources I never knew were out there. The workshops were all taught in very considered ways, offering us a smorgasbord of information and practices. It was seriously M.I.N.D. B.L.O.W.I.N.G and I loooooooooooved it. Lillee has the most amazing wealth of knowledge and resources, I was constantly amazed at her work.
It's been 2 years since I jumped right in. I have transformed my own backyard into a semi-food forest. I use permaculture principles to help run a community garden and of course, I've been asked by a few friends to help design spaces for them. I have so many die-hard takeaways from the PDC that remain my foundation. First off I learned to consider the space, who uses it, how it is used, natural forces on the space etc. then I turn to my 7 keys of creating a garden space, build the soil, harvest water, bring the bees, it's all about layers, leave your weeds alone - or better yet, put them in a salad, strengthen the plant = pest control, everything must do more than one job! but most of all, make it pretty.
I feel like no matter where life will take me in the future I will always create beauty....a space to feed the soil, and ourselves, and community. I am so grateful for the tools I invested in for our sustainable future.
Lois Hill
I signed up for the permaculture certificate course mainly to develop my confidence with gardening & growing veg. It certainly did this… but it has also been hugely valuable in more ways than I’d anticipated. Lillee has put together a fantastic course with a broad range of topics and wonderful array of guest speakers and site visits. The course has shifted the way I view the world and opened my eyes to an inspiring community network of people and organisations that are right here on my doorstep. It’s contributed to both myself and others on the course making some significant life changes. For me, I have left behind work in a more corporate environment and am now working for two charities, which I am finding hugely fulfilling.
Sophia León de la Barra
Completing the PDC with Canterbury Permaculture Institute had a profound effect on our backyard, our community gardens and the development of a new ecovillage. I really enjoyed the format of doing a unit each month so there was plenty of time to digest, research and bounce ideas off classmates. The quality and delivery of instructors was excellent. I would highly recommend doing the Permaculture Design Certificate if you want to learn more about permaculture and how to live in harmony with nature and community.
Jacqui Barnes
Just wanted to let you know the significance the Permaculture Design Course has made in my life. After some months into a pandemic and knowing that we will be facing further shocks in the future, I took the decision to sell my suburban house and buy land. My day of completion of my house sale (and moving out) was the day before my first weekend of attending the course. Needless to say I was exhausted that first weekend but inspired. Contemplating a bare piece of 6 acres of land and one tiny house on wheels is overwhelming and I knew I was not going to be able to tackle it without some guidelines. I had always wanted to dive into permaculture and knew this was the opportunity and the piece of land to do so. At the end of the course I was able to produce a plan of action and logical reasons for it. It was a starting point of what I wanted from this new adventure, where and why to put structures, where and why to site plantings, how to deal with water, etc, etc but also allowed me the knowledge that it doesn’t have to be perfect and can change. For someone who likes things to be perfect before going ahead this was a big step forward in allowing myself to breathe into action and not be held up by seeking perfection. It is a plan that I am constantly adding to, a road of learning that I continue to enjoy and a group of people that I so enjoy the company of.
Thank you so much for your passion, inspiration, empathy and friendship.
Pauline Sitter
Doing my PDC with Lillee helped me find my feet: I’d long felt that the current system didn’t work for me, or at all, but I didn’t know what practical alternatives existed. Enter permaculture! The course introduced me to lots of new concepts and practices but also confirmed what I knew…there is a better way. Meeting fellow students and the amazing contributors was a huge positive in showing that there is no one way of living a permaculture life, but a whole ecosystem of practices :)