with James Chapman and Nenya Milne
Qualifications/experience needed to apply. Either a PDC (Permaculture Design Course) or 3 months of relevant experience eg gardening, woodland management, natural building etc.
Are you ready for a career in any of the following: food production, land management, permaculture gardening, green construction, running a permaculture venue, woodland management, permaculture designer, community growing, permaculture teaching and event-organising, workshop facilitation?….. If so, this training could be for you!
This training is aimed to kick-start your career in permaculture through an immersive 6-month long experience. During the course you will attend and potentially help teach on our PDC (Permaculture Design Course), attend and help organise a round-wood framing course, gain experience in permaculture design and teaching, as well as a range of practical and organisational skills from food growing and woodland management to green building and event organising. The training will be lead and facilitated by James and Nenya.
Because of our focus on new careers in permaculture, the intended age range for applicants is 16 – 45. You can still apply if you are outside this age range (although priority may be given to others).
Fees and information about the training
The Permaculture Practitioner Training is a blend of formal training and practical work experience. As well as learning permaculture theory, you will be helping James and Nenya with their diverse real-life permaculture projects and gaining a wide range of practical experience. You will be offered support sessions to help with the practical skills training, setting goals for your learning and recording progress.
We will be designing the activities around the students so we have not yet got a detailed plan for each day. However, we are planning to cover the following : Winter pruning, sowing leeks and seedling onions, brassicas, early peas and greens, eradicating invasive species, preparing and storing firewood, felling and processing trees, setting up a tree nursery, setting up rainwater catchment, planning and growing food in a polytunnel, growing mushrooms on used coffee grounds, mulching, pruning, taking cuttings, mapping a large design project, pruning willow structures, sowing annual veg outdoors (root veg, chard, salads etc) propagating raspberries, sowing tender annuals under cover and planting out seedlings, potato planting using different methods, foraging and cooking, composting and gardening with nature, designing and building a compost toilet, designing and building an outdoor bathroom, wild flower meadow care and more!
The training runs from January to early June 2024. This includes:
(1) most Wednesdays and Thursdays throughout January-June, for support sessions, personal development and practical training with James and Nenya, which will include some theory but will mainly involve learning by doing. During the busy spring period there may be days when we are just doing practical work.
(2) 6 weekends of the Greater Edinburgh PDC modules, on which you will be shadowing and also have an opportunity to teach. See dates below
(3) The preparation for and the running of a round-wood framing course. See dates below
Over the duration of the training you will also be studying some key texts and keeping a learning journal. This amounts to about 3 hrs a week outside the course dates plus extra time if you are preparing sessions for teaching.
This training is time-intensive for both students and tutors, so unfortunately we cannot run it for free, but we’d like to make it affordable, so are offering a sliding scale on a pay-what-you-can-afford basis. You can also request to pay over 6 instalments.
Fees range from £1000 to £3500 for the entire 6-month training, which if paid monthly works out at between £166 and £583 per month. (We are not giving priority to those who can afford to pay more; a good fit with the training is a more important factor for us.) As a rough guide, £1000 is aimed at people whose household income is very low. £3500 is aimed at people whose household income is above £40,000. This does not take into account savings, investments or the number of children in a family or other variables.
We are offering a maximum of 3 places on the training, so you can be sure of a very generous teacher to student ratio.
There is no formal assessment, but you will be given detailed feedback and help with setting your longer term goals.
Venues and travel
The main venues are:
1) James’ home – Willowburn Lea, Leadburn
2) Nenya’s home in the Inch and allotment in Blackford Glen, Edinburgh, plus sites of her other land-based projects across the city
3) West St. Arts Centre in Penicuik (for the PDC modules)
Willowburn Lea is accessible from Edinburgh by the X62 bus run by Borders Buses. The Inch, Blackford, Penicuik, and other Edinburgh project sites are on the Lothian bus network.
On occasion we may be working elsewhere but you will be given advance notice.
Please note that travel costs or food are not included with your training fee.
Personal checklist for applicants
This training is for you if you:
- have completed a Permaculture Design Course (PDC) or have 3 months of relevant experience
- want to make a positive change in the world and are looking for a practical way to do so;
- would like a career in permaculture, food production, woodland management, green construction or broader sustainability;
- are interested in learning and enjoy independent study;
- are physically fit, happy to do manual work outdoors and willing to learn new practical skills;
- have good people skills and like working with others;
- have the time and commitment to complete the training (i.e. can commit to all of the programme dates listed below, plus approximately 3 hrs a week of study and reflection time).
Application process
- Go through the personal check list and dates. If you feel the training is for you,
- Email, text or phone James to arrange an informal interview/discussion about the training (contact.nonstuff @ gmail.com or 07790 265883).
- If the informal interview goes well, you will be sent an application form and date for a second interview with James and Nenya.
- After the interview, we will let you know quickly if you have been accepted for the training.
Meet the tutors
James Chapman completed his Permaculture Design Course in 2008 and his Diploma in Applied Permaculture in 2010. Since then he has managed woodlands, built a house and cabins, grown food, managed social enterprises, worked as a permaculture consultant and taught hundreds of people. James’s main focus is on practical skills, teaching and design. His main passion now is to inspire and train the next generation of permaculture practitioners.
Nenya Milne completed her PDC in 2012 and a Permaculture Educators’ course in 2014. She’s been practising permaculture since 2009 and teaching since 2015. Nenya has recently completed her Diploma in Applied Permaculture Design and has been busy converting her small suburban garden and allotment into an edible paradise.
Nenya has a passion for unusual edibles, perennial vegetables and ‘edimentals’. She teaches Forest Gardening and leads plant walks and foraging excursions. At other times she works as a gardener and permaculture designer, propagates plants and grows fruit and vegetables.
Other things you’ll need to provide: food (packed lunch and also drink for outdoor sessions); warm layers, sensible outdoor clothing and steel toe-caped footwear, waterproofs; pens, pencils and notebooks; working / gardening gloves, empty scrapbook. Tools and more specialised equipment will be provided by the organisers.
Training Dates
Jan 2024
Wed 10th and Thu 11th – Welcome, setting goals, Tour of WL (Willowburn Lea) and Nenya’s projects in Edinburgh
Weds 16th @ WL
Sat 20 and Sun 21 – PDC module 1, Penicuik
Wed 24th, Thurs 25th, Weds 31st. Venue TBC
Feb 2024
Thurs 1st – Venue TBC
Weds 7th – WL
Sat 10th and Sun 11th – PDC module 2, Penicuik
Weds 14th and Thurs 15th – no sessions
Weds 21st, Thurs 22nd, Weds 28th, – Venues TBC
March 2024
Sat 2nd and Sun 3rd – PDC module 3 – Penicuik
Weds 5th, Thurs 6th, Weds 13th, Thurs 14th, Weds 20th, – Venue TBC
Sat 23rd and Sun 24th – PDC module 4 in Penicuik
Weds 27th and Thurs 28th – venue TBC
April 2024 – There are weeks off in April around Easter
Weds 17th – Venue TBC
Sat 20th and Sun 21st – PDC module 5 in Penicuik
Weds 24th, Thurs 25th – venue TBC
May 2024
Weds 1st, Thurs 2nd, Weds 8th, – Venue TBC
Sat 11th and Sun 12th – PDC module 6 at WL
Weds 15th, Thurs 16th, Weds 22nd, Thurs 23rd, Weds 29th, Thurs 30th, – Venue TBC
June 2024
Mon 3rd – Fri 7th Roundwood framing course @ WL
Weds 12th – Venue TBC
Thurs 13th – Last day of PPT review and feadback session.
Permaculture Training and Regenerative Consultancy 