First day of Classes

The Permaculture design course (PDC) started yesterday. We received our packets which explained some of what we would be doing throughout the course. The first day was spent mostly getting to know all of the participants. Some of the participants are from Australia (Melbourne, Brisbane) and a couple are from abroad (Israel, New Zealand). There are about 8 of us in all, which is just about the right size (in my opinion) to get things done efficiently. As the day continued, we examined each others learning styles in a timed protocol exercise. I think it makes it a lot easier to collaborate with someone when you have a little insight into their learning process.

The next day or two will be spent building a foundation of permaculture theories. This will help us to find the context and reasoning behind the applications we will learn in the future. Oh, almost forgot, we toured the wild food forage forest. There were lots of fruit bearing lime trees and spice plants, like the cardamom and nutmeg bushes (I thought they smelled a little like eggnog).

Cultural Note: I asked if there was any tomato sauce in the kitchen. I was handed what looked like ketchup, it was. Apparently ketchup is "tomato sauce" here. I'm not sure what "real" (ha ha) tomato sauce is called.

-Matt