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Keep shoppingPermaculture design made simpler
67 students
Permaculture design made simpler
Basics of Simple Living
Created byBrian Newhouse
Last updated 3/2024
English
What you'll learn
- A simple approach to living off-grid
- How to build with earth, filter water, and make compost
- Strategies to survive as if you lived on an island
- The importance of poop and how soil works
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Course content
9 sections • 33 lectures • 1h 57m total length
Requirements
- No requirements. Having a parcel of land in mind is useful.
- This is the second course produced on this topic. Watching the first course "Basics of Permaculture Design: Sustainable Living Made Simple" may be useful though is not necessary
Description
This course describes a simple method for farming. Using simple language, it describes how to make compost, how to filter water, and how to make mud, among many other simple living strategies. As if you lived on an island. This course is easy to follow and includes colorful, cartoon drawings. Most videos last 2 and 5 minutes and cover a wide range of material.
This course is designed to be appealing to people of all skill levels and ages. The course uses common language to describe a more self-sufficient paradigm, such that we may heal ourselves, each other, and the earth. So sign up, and learn how to live well and live long.
A full text of the course is available for download.
This is the second version of a similar course I created in 2016 called "Basics of Permaculture Design: Sustainable Living Made Simple".
WHO THIS COURSE IS FOR
This course is for people of all ages and skill levels, anyone interested in living a more sustainable lifestyle.
WHAT YOU NEED
No previous experience is necessary. It is helpful if you have a land parcel to apply these strategies, though it is not necessary.
TABLE OF CONTENTS AND TOPICS DISCUSSED
PREVIEW
What three skills do we need to live more sustainably?
MOTIVATION
What is unsustainable with how we live today?
Why are governments and corporations necessary?
INTRO
Why is it important to learn how to live as if we were alone on an island?
TOOLS
Four categories of tools
How our body is a tool
Common hand tools and power tools
CLIMATE
How do humans affect climate?
Climate design strategies
MAP
Why is a site map important?
What is a detail drawing?
ZONES
What is the purpose of zoning?
What are five zones included within most land parcels?
SELF
Simple methods to detox your body
Laundry detergent alternatives
Good food to eat every day
Benefits of drinking tea
NATURAL BUILDING
What are the benefits of building with earth?
What is earthen mud?
What are a few techniques to build with mud?
What are the benefits of building with strawbales, earth bags, or rammed earth?
WATER
What are ways to store water on your land?
What is one way to filter water using affordable and available materials?
One way to heat water with the sun
What is one way to filter greywater?
SANITATION
What are ways to reduce the volume of trash we produce?
How do bio-gas toilets?
Methods to build composting toilets
ELECTRICITY
How does solar power work?
What are a few ways we could use less electricity?
EARTHWORKS
What is succession in biology?
How can we accelerate the rate of growth of nature?
What are a few types of earthworks strategies?
What is the length of the average human step?
What is the main thing to keep in mind building a road?
SOIL
What is the soil food web?
How to creatures consume plants and return nutrients in the soil?
COMPOST and MULCH
What is compost?
What is mulch?
COMPOST TEA
What is compost tea?
SEEDS
Where to buy seeds locally?
What are a few common gardening strategies?
What is a planting schedule?
STARTING SEEDS
What is potting soil?
What are sprouts?
GREENHOUSE
What are design considerations for greenhouses?
Advantages of building an underground greenhouse
GARDEN
What are a few types of garden beds?
How does hydroponics work?
HARVEST
What does a post-harvest area include?
What are methods to save seeds?
SALES AND CERTIFICATION
What does it mean to be certified organic?
What common items to bring to a farmers market?
FIELD
What is hedging, in regards to farming?
FISH
What are chinampas?
Why are air pumps and water pumps important for aquaponics?
INSECTS
What is an insect hotel?
What products do bees make?
ANIMALS
What common things do animals need?
FOREST
What are strategies to plant a food forest?
What are methods to propagate plants?
MUSHROOMS
How we can listen to the sounds of living species in a forest?
What is one method for growing mushrooms from spore to mushroom?
What are common substrates for growing mushrooms?
GRADE
How can we determine a grade for our farm?
What is an organic positive aggregate?
COMMUNITY
What two things are important for everyone in a community to do every day?
Why is it important to do these two things with some frequency?
QUEST
Why is it important to learn another language?
Who this course is for:
- Beginners and experts: Anyone with an interest in living from the land. Total newbs to nature and experts interested in a new approach to sustainable development, permaculture design, and self-sufficient living
- Rich and poor: For rich people looking for new hobbies, and poor people interested in making money as a farmer
- Young and old: Young people looking to learn more about the natural world (language used is family friendly), and old people looking for hobbies to pass the time
- City-dwellers and rural-dwellers: City-dwellers looking to learn more about nature, and rural-dwellers interested in growing more stuff around the home
- Corporate folks and hippies: Corporate folks to learn of the potential profitability of nature through organic development, and hippies folks looking for ways to organize a strategy