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Mari Korhonen 's Profile
Mari Korhonen
Details
Joined:
12/02/2011
Last Updated:
13/02/2011
Location:
Finland
Climate Zone:
Cold Temperate
Gender:
Female
Web site:
pohjoinenpermakulttuuri.wordpress.com





My Projects

(projects i'm involved in)

Quinta do Vale da Lama

Quinta do Vale da Lama

Odiáxere, PT


Projects

(projects i'm following)

The Transformation of Our Urban Home Milkwood The GrowHaus Central Rocky Mountain Permaculture Institute Katlaaed Transition Town Tervuren Eats, Shoots & Roots Centro de Convergência (NO LONGER ACTIVE) Quinta Regadinha Semilla Besada
Followers
Following
Aaron Jerad Alfred Decker Benjamin Vidmar Darren J.  Doherty Delvin Solkinson Elena Parmiggiani Emma Petersson Ethan Roland Frank Gapinski Gaye Amus Geoff Lawton Harry Wykman Helder Valente Inge Beernaert Isaac Harkness Jasmina C. Jerome Osentowski Joshua Finch Juha Ujula Kevin Jarvis Kevin Thien Klara Hansson Marc Van Hummelen Maria Svennbeck Michel Fanton Mustafa Fatih Bakir Nicole Vosper Paul Taylor Primoz Turnsek Rhamis Kent Richard Perkins Rob Avis Robyn Francis Sabina Arokiam Seco D. Sherry Coffey Sisko Hirvi Tina Lymberis Triin Pokk

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Permaculture Designers Blitz

Posted by Mari Korhonen over 13 years ago

I just participated a trial of a new way for more or less fresh PDC graduates to get some hands on experience in PC design with the support of professional consultants!

For many people the design excercise on their PDC is one of the few guided opportunities to learn about how to design and perhaps do permaculture consulting. Although some might be ready to jump into it straight away after the PDC, others like me might need a little help with getting more skilled and established in their work.

So how about combining the experience of professional permaculture consultant(s) or practitioner(s) and gathering a handful of PDC graduates to form a team to help them out? It's an interesting new concept and a win-win-win situation for the consultant who gets many helping hands and the helpers who get to participate the process and learn in a real life situation. Also, the client gets an input from a team of 10 people with a price of one or two!

As a sum of many contributing factors including a very accommodating client who partook the process from observation to final presentations, the first known Permaculture Designers Blitz was recently put together and completed! The idea was invented by a Denver based permaculturalist Adam Brock (correct me if I'm wrong) who was invited to do a rural permaculture design for a small Colorado farm. With backup from two local permaculture designers Aaron Jerad and Wind Clearwater this three full days and two half days event (from Sat noon til Wed noon) was an amazing learning experience for all parties and produced a detailed design for a four acre farm/orchard/homestead.

While studying permaculture with Geoff Lawton in Australia I had taken part in many permaculture consultations mostly in the form of an observer. It was a great learning experience but actually designing by oneself for someone is a fairly new field for me to explore and involves a whole other level of empowerment and confidence. Now I'm traveling in Colorado learning more about permaculture and was fortunate to participate this pioneering event.

Blitz schedule

On the first half day we got to know to each other a little, as well as the client and the land we were working with. The second day was dedicated to site survey and basemapping. On the third day we started looking into the design in the form of broad patterns and drafting ideas and on the fourth day we focused on putting together the final design. On the fifth day morning we gave the design presentation to the client and a small local audience and finished with a lunch around noon. The tasks and jobs were divided among people in a fairly organic fashion, and the group was well self-organised so things went on fluently. We produced detailed designs for zones 1 and 2 as well as a broader less in-detail design for an unmanaged orchard and alfa alfa hay field. We worked full hours, shared delicious meals cooked by one of the participants and most of the people were accommodated at the site for the whole duration of the Blitz. Our team consisted of people with a wide set of skills and experience which complemented each others strenghts.

What I learned

What comes to consulting, an important learning outcome for me was that it's one thing to do a design for a site and a whole another thing to design for a client. The people side of things is a very crucial part of succesfulness of the outcome, it's much more than designing just for the land which one might be inclined to do. Listening to the needs, wishes and available resources of the people living on the site are the most important factor in whether the design will be implemented or whether it will serve its purpose once it is. I'm very grateful for learning from the people skills of Adam and Aaron who so fluently navigated the group throughout the process, especially in the briefing and interview part, and the input and presence of our client Barbe who was giving feedback and more detailed information as the design was starting to form. We were working not for her but with her, of which not every client is necessarily interested, but which was very important in this case since it was her request.

Another thing was that for a beginner in design or a designer from different kind of environment - an urbanite designing a rural property, or a Finn designing in high desert climate - experienced local advice is invaluable. Joining forces is a great thing to do and what it seems like is that permaculturalists are happy to share their experience with others, even on a professional level there seems not to be envy or hiding away knowledge. After all everyone is working for the same goals, and are happy to support others to become better at it too. For this the input from Wind who has years and years of experience as a professional landscaper was great.

So, from my personal experience this format is a great way to train designers and hopefully other people will find it beneficial as well!

Design blitz02 Design blitz 19 Design blitz06 Design blitz16 Design blitz 21 Design blitz08 Design blitz17

Comments (4)

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Aaron Jerad
Aaron Jerad : Yeah! It was a great experience. I really enjoyed working with a team of designers. Having the client involved in each part of the process was also quite amazing. Already there are some other local farm/homesteads interested in having a design-blitz on their property.
Posted over 13 years ago

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Tim Auld
Tim Auld : Any chance you can post an image of the design?
Posted over 13 years ago

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Mari Korhonen
Mari Korhonen : Yes, I'll try to get some pictures of the design from people and add them here sooner or later.
Posted over 13 years ago

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Wen Rolland
Wen Rolland : Great idea! Learning together and sharing our understanding is always very rewarding.
Posted over 13 years ago

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My Permaculture Qualifications
Pri verified
Permaculture Design Course
Type: Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) course
Teacher: Geoff Lawton
Location: The Channon, Australia
Date: Mar 2009
Other course verified
Permaculture Internship 3 months
Type: Internship
Teacher: Geoff Lawton
Location: PRI Australia
Date: Apr 2009
Other course verified
Permaculture earthworks course
Type: Earthworks
Teacher: Geoff Lawton
Location: Mulloon Creek Natural Farms, Bungendore, NSW, Australia
Date: Jun 2009
Other course verified
Solar greenhouse design workshop
Type: Gardening
Teacher: Jerome Osentowski
Location: Central Rocky Mountain Permaculture Institute, Basalt, CO, USA
Date: May 2010
Other course verified
Permaculture, solar greenhouse design and forest garden workshop
Type: Gardening
Teacher: Jerome Osentowski
Location: Koroinen, Turku, Finland
Date: Oct 2010
Other course verified
Permaculture Trainer Course
Type: Teacher Training
Teacher: Rowe Morrow
Location: Austria
Date: Jul 2011
Other course verified
RegenAG and keyline design
Type: Other
Teacher: Darren J. Doherty
Location: Vale da Lama, Portugal
Date: Nov 2011
Other course verified
Holistic Management and Grazing Planning
Type: Other
Verifying teacher: Kirk Gadzia
Other Teachers: Tamara Gadzia
Location: La Donaira, Spain
Date: Apr 2012
Other course unverified
Mushroom Cultivation
Type: Other
Teacher: Will Borowski
Location: Sydney
Date: Sep 2012

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