Permaculture HORT 3330

HORT 3330 – Permaculture Design Certification
Lecture: TUESDAY, 8:40am – 9:55am
Lab: TUESDAY, 1:25pm – 4:25pm
Fall. 3 credits. Letter grades only.
Prerequisite: None
Professor Jane Mt. Pleasant
with Extension Agroforestry Specialist Steve Gabriel (Cornell Small Farms Program)
Permaculture is an approach to land use that meets human needs, increases ecosystem health, and addresses local inequalities. It uses systems thinking and an ecological framework to design gardens, farms, and landscapes.
In recent years, published articles and research have brought integrity to the practices that permaculture has long promoted. This course focuses on research-based strategies and techniques and covers agroforestry and agroecology as parallel disciplines.
Lecture is supplemented with hands-on learning at MacDaniels Nut Grove and Dilmun Hill Student Farm during lab periods. Students will practice site assessment, mapping skills, tree and plant ID, mushroom inoculation, contour tools, and participate in a permaculture landscape design project.
Outcomes:
– Define and explain the ethical basis and core principles of permaculture.
– Describe how permaculture practices vary across climates and scales.
– Implement specific permaculture techniques in the field.
– Prepare a full site design incorporating permaculture knowledge.
– Describe the ways in which permaculture principles and practices can be integrated with knowledge from soil and plant sciences.
Watch a Video on the 2012 PDC made by former Cornell Student Chris Dennis:

Permaculture Design Certification class @ Cornell U from Developing Pictures on Vimeo.
 
This film also offers many examples of Permaculture systems in the Northeastern US: