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GreenFriends Farm - Castro Valley, California
Course summary

Course Overview

Earthworks construction, reforestation initiatives, or food production projects can be a rewarding investment in your property and for your family, community, and bioregion. Improving the functionality, restoring ecosystem health, enhancing aesthetic appeal, and increasing the value of your landscape are all realistic and achievable potential outcomes. However, it can be intimidating to undertake large projects like ordering heavy machinery onto your property, or designing and installing a large food forest orchard. Getting it wrong can be discouraging and very expensive. This course will give you the knowledge, practical experience, and confidence to get the design and implementation plan of your earthworks and follow-up strategies right the first time around.

Course Description

In 4 days, you will learn the basic theory and practice of Permaculture Earthworks, Watershed Design, Food Forest & Agroforestry including site design, survey, and analysis; directing earthmoving machines to establish dams, swales, terraces, ponds etc; watershed design and restoration techniques; and designing and implementing reforestation, agroforestry, and food forest projects accordingly. This course will blend theory with hands-on practical application in the context of a real life project and landscape of GreenFriends Farm. Many of the existing broad acre permaculture projects and strategies being implemented on-site were influenced and initiated by Geoff Lawton 3 years ago, and have since taken flight. This course will be a wonderful opportunity to learn from Geoff as we survey and assess the conditions, goals, and success of these initiatives, and determine the best strategies moving forward.

Other teachers
Geoff Lawton
Course type
Advanced Design Skills

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