Mollison/Lawton PDC

I’ve mentioned that I did a Permaculture Design Course last year with Cam Wilson of Forest Edge Permaculture. I had always wanted to do the PDC with Bill Mollison (co-inventor of the concept) and Geoff Lawton, which usually runs each year at Melbourne University during the summer break. This course is a full-on, 2 week course and because of other commitments, I couldn’t spare that amount of time all at once. So Cam’s course, running one day a week for 13 weeks, was ideal for me. However I still would have liked to take the Mollison/Lawton course, mainly to experience the expertise of Geoff Lawton.

So it was with interest that I learned recently that this course had been filmed and professionally edited into a 13 disc DVD set, available from Tagari Publications.

From the publicity blurb:

The Permaculture Design Certificate Course was filmed in September 2005 at The University  of Melbourne. Using a professional production team. The entire course is presented by Bill Mollison and Geoff Lawton. Each disc has  (+/-) 4.5 hours of content, 58.5 hours total for the set. The last disc finishes up Chapter 14, student questions, the design assignment, graduation, round table  and conclusion to the course.

It isn’t cheap—$379.50, plus postage—but when you consider that a full PDC course can cost between $1000 and $2000, it is extremely good value. So on that basis, I threw the budget to the winds and ordered a set.

It arrived today and I fired up the PC to have a look. I’ve watched the first 2 sessions on disc #1 and it’s all Bill—being Bill.  In other words, stories and anecdotes, liberally sprinkled with diatribes against the universities, politicians, including ‘little Johnny’ (Australia’s PM at the time, John Howard), and others whom Bill loves to hate in that inimitable way of his.

But he’s a fascinating guy. Already he’s introduced some familiar permaculture  concepts in new ways that I hadn’t thought of. Geoff has made a brief appearance so far—sans beard, short haircut and wearing a suit, no less! Not the Geoff I’m familiar with, but when he gets going I’m sure it’ll be great stuff.

I think I’m going to thoroughly enjoy this course. If you can’t afford the time or money to take a regular PDC, I’d recommend purchasing the DVD set.

Geoff in full flight