This information is additional to what you can see on the Sustainable Land Use main page.

The Sustainable Land Use course has become famous over the years for its unique mix of subject matter and the high quality of its teaching. It has been particularly popular as a foundation course for people who intend to work with the land in a sustainable and ecological way. It has also been a great help to people already doing so, whether as gardeners, smallholders, farmers, foresters, landscapers or in other land based occupations.

No previous knowledge is required, but students with previous training or experience have found the course offers many new insights and perspectives which are not obtainable from more conventional courses. The emphasis is on how we can work in harmony with natural cycles.

The course gives the theoretical knowledge which complements those skills which can be learnt while actually working on the land. We hold it in winter because that is the quiet time of year on the land and thus the best season to take time out from land work for indoor learning.

A wide range of teaching methods is used, including: talks, slide shows, desktop exercises, discussions, small-group work, and observation and design exercises on the land. There is an outdoor session every day. These include the observation and design exercises, and there is a practical learning session once a week. But most of the teaching is indoors.

The course is modular, with three one-week modules - Ecology, Organic Horticulture and Woodland - and one of two weeks - Permaculture Design. The best way to take the course is all in one go, but if you are unable to do this you are welcome to take one or more modules this year and others in the future. There’s a summary of the modules here and for more detail of the subjects covered see the timetable below.

Dates & Times

Five days a week, Monday to Friday, 21st January – 1st March 2013.  Half term break, week beginning 11th February.

Each module starts at 9am on the Monday morning, so you should arrive on Sunday afternoon or evening. They end at 5pm on the Friday. You are welcome to stay on the farm over weekends but everyone is asked to leave for the half-term break.

Timetable

Note. This timetable is for illustration purposes only as we vary it slightly from time to time according to circumstances.

Week 1, Ecology         21st-25th Jan

	Mon	Tue	Wed		Thurs	Fri
9.00   10.30	Introductions	Abiotic Interactions	Plants & Animals	Ecological Principles I		Visit to Crooked End   Farm
11.00   12.30	Intro to Ecology Module	Microclimate	Biotic Interactions	Ecological Principles II
1.30   3.00	Introduction to Ragmans Lane	Exercise: Abiotic Interactions	Exercise: Biotic Interactions		Exercise: Ecological Principles	Exercise: Ecological   Evaluation
3.30   5.00		Report Back ____________ Crow’s Bridge I	Report Back _____________ Crow’s Bridge II		Report Back _____________ The Ecological Perspective

Week 2, Organic Horticulture      28th Jan - 1st Feb

	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thurs	Fri
9.00   10.30	Introduction to Organic Horticulture	Cultivations	Harvest & Storage ________________ Protected Cropping	Fruits _____________ Site Conditions	Fruit Varieties _____________ Nuts
11.00   12.30	Soil Fertility	Weeds, Pests & Diseases	Marketing _______________ Biodynamics	Fruit Growing Styles	Apples, Diversity & Heritage
1.30   3.00	Practical: Propagation	Practical: Soft Fruit	Practical: Top Fruit I	Practical: Top Fruit II	Visit to Grange Village
3.30   5.00	Composting	Rotations	Gardening through the Year	Genetic Diversity & Seed Saving

 
Week 3, Woodland     4th-8th Feb

	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thurs	Fri
9.00   10.30	New Woodland	Woodland Systems	Outputs Making a Living	Agroforestry I	Willow
11.00   12.30	Tree Planting	Woodland Assessment	Management Plan	Forest Garden	Agroforestry II
1.30   3.00	Case Study: Thatcher’s End	Tree Identification	Exercise: Management Plan	Practical: Willow Harvesting	Agroforestry Design Exercise
3.30   5.00	Urban Woodland	Exercise: Assessment	Report Back

Half Term          11th-15th Feb
 

Weeks 4-5 Permaculture          18th Feb - 1st March

	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thurs	Fri
9.00   10.30	Ethics	Principles of Permaculture II	Energy	Permaculture Gardening	Perennial Veg _____________ Placement Exercise
11.00   12.30	Principles of Permaculture I	Permaculture in Action	Buildings	Transition Towns	Peoplecare
1.30   3.00	Short Design Exercise	Surveying Skills	Exercise: Base Map	Practical	Exercise: Site Survey
3.30   5.00		Mapping		Open Space	An Urban Garden

 

	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thurs	Fri
9.00   10.30	Land Access _____________ Listening Skills	Visit to	Biodiversity	Communities	Main Design Exercise  Contd.
11.00   12.30	Urban Permaculture		Water	Design Methods
1.30   3.00	Exercise: Design Questionnaire	Bristol Permaculture	Design Process Report Back	Main Design  Exercise	Design Presentations
3.30   5.00	Bicropping		Windbreaks		Endings

Advance Reading

It’s not necessary to do any reading in preparation for the course. But we do occasionally get requests for guidance on this, and some advanced reading will naturally help you get more from the course. References below are to Patrick’s book, The Earth Care Manual, unless stated otherwise.

Ecology
pp414-416 and the suggested links at the top of p415. This is only a very brief summary and the subject is treated in much more fully in Patrick’s book The Living Landscape. This is a wide-ranging book and gives you far more than you need for this module, but if you do read it before the course you'll be well ahead of the game. If you want to choose the most relevant parts to the module, read Chapters 7&8, Niches and Succession, followed by Chapters 3&4, Soil and Climate & Microclimate, and thirdly Chapter 1.

Organic Horticulture
Ch 3, ‘The Soil’ & Ch 8, ‘Gardens’ - though the latter approaches gardening from a permaculture design point of view whereas the module focuses on the methods of organic growing. There are many good books on organic gardening. Geoff Hamilton's Pocket Encyclopaedia of Organic Gardening is a good beginners guide and is available second hand on Amazon.

Woodland
Ch11, Woodland, for the main part of the module; and for the agroforestry part of the module, pp275-284.

Permaculture
 Ch1, ‘What is Permaculture?’ and Ch 2, ‘Principles’ make a good introduction. Ch13, ‘The Design Process’ would also be worth reading in advance.

Venue

Ragmans Lane Farm is situated in beautiful countryside in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, on the banks of the River Wye.

The farm is presently in a state of transition. Formerly supporting a rich diversity of permaculture activity, in recent years this has been narrowed down to just two enterprises. One is mushroom log production - inoculating logs with the spawn of shii-take and oyster mushrooms and selling the logs as a source of fresh organic mushrooms. The other is organic apple juice production, and part of the farm has been planted up with orchards to supply the apples. There is a vegetable garden, presently run by a Community Supported Agriculture group, which also supplies vegetables to the courses. The rest of the farm is let out to neighbours for grazing.

The farm is also the home of the Willow Bank, which supplies a wide range of willow varieties and installs living willow structures. Many of these can be seen around the farm. In addition, there is an interesting range of ecological building styles on the farm, and there is both mature and newly planted woodland.

For more information on the farm, including a pictorial tour, see http:// www.ragmans.co.uk (Please note that you should use the booking form on this website, not the one on the Ragmans Lane site.)

Accommodation

This is in the bunkhouse, a converted stone barn with many ecological features. Accommodation is basic, in rooms with two, three, four and six people. There are no single rooms, but if you want privacy you are welcome to bring your own caravan or other winter-hardy accommodation. There is no reduction in charge for this as you have full access to all the bunkhouse facilities.

We have sleeping accommodation for 15 people but the teaching room can take up to 19 people. So if you can bring your own caravan etc it would be a great help as it would enable an extra person to attend the course.

You’re welcome to stay or go home for weekends as you choose. But everyone is asked to leave the farm for the half-term week.

Full vegetarian board is provided and the great majority of the food is organic. We get the food from as close to home as possible, our first choice being the garden at Ragmans Lane itself.

Fees and Funding

The full fee, including tuition, board and lodging is £1850.

If you’re only taking some modules, the fee per week is £400.

If you're unable to afford the full fees our first suggestion is that you consider taking part of the course in one year and the other part in the following year. The course divides naturally into two parts: the first three weeks and the last two, the permaculture module.

If you can pay the full fees but would find it easier to pay in monthly instalments we will be very happy to arrange this with you. Please contact us.

Another option is to look for funding for your course. Below is a list of some possible funders.

Prince’s Trust
www.princes-trust.org.uk
0800 842 842
Gives grants for training to young people up to 25 years. Although their normal maximum payment is £500, we have had someone who was fully funded for the SLU course.

UnLtd
www.unltd.org.uk
0845 850 1122
Provides funding for  “people with vision, drive, commitment and passion who want to change the world for the better.” This is interpreted quite widely.

BTCV (British Trust for Conservation Volunteers)
www.btcv.org
01302 572244
From time to time runs nation-wide grant schemes, and some local offices give grants for people in their area.

Job Centre Plus
If you're unemployed and claiming Job Seeker's Allowance it's worth asking at your Job Centre whether they can fund you. The Permaculture Association (Britain) is registered as a supplier on ProcServe, which is used by the Department for Work and Pensions, ie Job Centres, to buy things. Our courses are certified by the Permaculture Association, so if there is any funding for courses available it should be possible to access it. In Wales you should contact ReAct.

If none of the above are suitable for you we are able to offer some concessionary places. We don't have a regular concessionary rate but discuss it with each person as an individual. If you would like to apply for a concession please email us with a account of your circumstances.