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Golden Bay Sustainable Living Course
LIVE AND LEARN THE FUTURE
There has never been a more critical time
to build our skills for a genuinely sustainable future.
The one-of-a-kind 11 week Golden Bay Sustainable Living Course will change how you think and live forever. Are you ready to design your sustainable life? If so, click on apply & we'll see you on the course.
Course Overview
Our 11 week ‘Sustainable Living Course’ offers a compelling menu of hands-on, experiential learning modules covering seven core areas plus your personal research project. Course participants will enjoy super healthy organic lunches, lots of fun, some of the best learning needed to survive and thrive in the 21st Century and the support you need personally in getting your best visitor experience in beautiful magical Golden Bay.
We also offer individual modules for participants interested in a particular area of the course, click here for more info.
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The course covers:
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Personal Sustainability
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Permaculture Design
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Organic Food Growing
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Sustainable Eating:
Food Harvesting, Preparation and Preserving -
Natural Building
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Community Resilience
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Project Management & Conscious Business
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Personal Project
How You Learn
Learn in paradise with some of the world's leading experts through interactive tutorials, hands on practical work and field trips.
You will visit some of the wealth of living examples of sustainable practices within Golden Bay like a 30 year old intentional community and a famous local music & restaurant venue that embodies sustainable practices. You will hear the stories of conscious, local businesses and experience first hand how they work, be a part of our Harvest Festival & Living Wood Fair (in Autumn only).
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There are two projects: our main design project and your personal project. For your Permaculture Design Certificate. You will work in a group with a real client to complete a full design for their property.
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In addition you will complete a personal project allowing you to synthesise the relevant learning from all the course modules. This project is deliberately open-ended allowing your to tailor it into a meaningful, productive exercise for your life.
Student Testimonials September 2020
Course Modules
Personal Sustainability
The Personal Sustainability module explores the inner world aspect of Permaculture; of emotions, thoughts, energies and your physical body.
The results we create in the outer world turn out to exactly reflect the 'shape' of our inner world; so for a regenerative, rich, diverse, mature culture that is capable of living sustainably on Earth to exist, it must grow from the fertile soil of the inner world of individuals and communities who are willing to walk the path of Adult, High and Radical levels of Responsibility.
This module incorporates Mindfulness and Meditation practices, Nature Connection and Possibility Management to build foundations and offer seeds of a Radically Responsible culture.
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Permaculture Design
Robina McCurdy is a leading light in world permaculture. In her expert hands, you will learn this whole systems approach and application of the smartest design system available for land and neighbourhood based sustainability.
Highlights:
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the principles of permaculture design and how to implement them
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the economics of looking after the house/place/Earth
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climate & how to work in different microclimates or how to affect them
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relevant principles of geology & topography
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how to design a property taking into consideration the needs of the clients & care of the Earth
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where to site different major elements ex. house, sheds, driveway
Organic Growing
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Following the principles of healthy soil, healthy plants and healthy animals you’ll learn how to grow food that not only nurtures your Being but also helps heal the earth we live on.
The organic growing module is brought to you by Sol Morgan, an experienced gardener and educator, husband and father, and Course cofounder.
Over approximately nine weeks you will have a blend of theory, observation and practical experience. Theory will be covered using power points and demonstrations in an interact fun way. During the many field trips we do in the module you’ll get an opportunity to see many different ways the core principles of organics are displayed as well as hone your observational skills. On several of these field trips you’ll get a chance to get your hands dirty and lend a hand.
Over the duration of the programme you’ll also help grow the produce the Centre provides to feed the future volunteers, students and visitors who choose to get involved.
Topics covered include principles & garden design, soil health and soil assessment, bed preparation and planting, plant knowledge, propagation and seed saving, pests and diseases and beneficial insects, fruit growing and propagation, tree planting and commercial horticulture.
By the end you will have deepened your awareness of how to work with natural ecosystems to create diverse, productive, healthy ecosystems.
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From the garden to the table you will learn why food is our sustenance, our medicine and our fuel and how best we can work with the good food nature gives us.
Tutor, Kerryn Easterbrook will lead you on an exploration of how we can take the steps to becoming conscious consumers of what we are eating.
You will get to know what is available from local growers & producers as well as wild food harvesting. We will visit local cafes to see what they are doing from a sustainability angle.
Kerryn will share practical skills on fermenting foods, sproutings foods, & how to preserve all the abundance you will grow in your own gardens so you can enjoy them throughout the year.
You will also learn about wholefoods, nutrient dense foods, superfoods, use of herbs in cooking, make your own plant based milks, smoothies & pestos.
Kerryn would like you to take away a desire to start experimenting with making your own food as well as becoming more aware where all of your food comes from, so you can make conscious food choices.
Natural Building
Go on a journey with tutor, Rita Scholten as she expertly guides you through the whole process of using natural materials for building structures.
She will explain techniques and information followed by immediate application as you build a new space on her property within walking distance of the Centre.
Techniques covered include mudbrick, cob, light earth and cordwood. Also incorporated are learning grey water management & passive solar principles.
You will also learn the difference between a sick vs healthy home, how to choose materials for your climate and a introduction to simple off-grid systems.
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Community Resilience
The goal of this module is to show you the many aspects needed for a community to thrive whether it be a big city or a community of two.
With this end in mind, you will explore Golden Bay as a unique bioregion and determine the real meaning of resilience and how we can become more so from a permaculture design perspective. We will examine what is working already and what needs to change. You will experience our Community Board, local sustainable businesses including a local organic grocery, & study our crisis management plan.
A study of group dynamics and conflict resolution is included with many tools that you can apply to your personal lives and to any organisation you run or are a part of.
Project Management & Conscious Business
Conscious business is a deep dive beyond sustainability into the heart and soul of how we "do business' on Planet Earth. What motivates us? What is the role of buisness? What are the responsibilities of doing business? Can we change the behavior of business?
Being sustainable and conscious in our business practices is so important because moving forward it is vital that our work and life passions are aligned in such a way as to benefit ourselves, our clients, and our planet. We must love what we do and do what we love. That is the essence of a sustainable life.
Your tutor, Zahra Lightway, believes in learning by doing, so in this dynamic module you will be on a team learning to develop a real life project to the point of implementation - or not. Figuring out that an idea won't work is almost as valuable as figuring out how to make it work.
This module features dynamic group collaborative sessions and deep dive discussions. The tools and methods you learn can be immediately applied to guide you in developing your personal project
You will explore what is sustainable business and why does it matter, what is the purpose of profit, how can it be best used and many more important questions for the future of business and economics.
Content Highlights:
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How to make your passion your work.
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The role of alternative money systems: WEVE, HANDS, time bank, sharing, barter and how they can be applied to businesses and projects.
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How to take an idea and make it a business.
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How to craft a business plan.
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How to budget.
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How sustainable businesses in Golden Bay operate.
Personal Project
In many ways the personal project is the most important part of the course. Through your project, you will engage in depth in an aspect of sustainability you are passionate about.
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You will develop your project with the project management skills gained in this course and regular sessions with your mentor.
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We will assist you in setting goals at the beginning of the course and match you with a suitable mentor, so that you will have plenty of time.
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You may choose from any of the core areas of the course and related topics. For example: you may choose to focus on developing a sustainable business in every sense of the word: financially, ecologically and personally or deepen your knowledge of building a tiny home or running a community garden.
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At the completion of the course you will present your project to your fellow students, mentors, & tutors and potentially to our wider community.
Why We Are Offering The Golden Bay Sustainable Living Course
GBSLC students are of all ages, nationalities and backgrounds.
We want to help people who are tired of struggling in the system working without joy, wishing they knew how to live happier, healthier, more fulfilling, and more sustainable lives.
And people who have done well in life and are now ready for the next stage and want it to be sustainable for themselves, others and the planet.
In this age of climate change, rampant pollution and so many unsustainable practices, we humans need to learn to overcome, the Golden Bay Sustainable Living Centre team has expanded our commitment to land-based environmental education.
With this course we seek to share the huge knowledge and skill base contained within our beautiful community of Golden Bay on all things sustainable with students from across New Zealand and from around the world.
GBSLC vs A Traditional Permaculture Course
Designed for people who want the knowledge, skills & experience to make a difference as sustainability change agents, the main distinctions between a traditional permaculture design course and our sustainable living course are that no other PDC in the world offers the personal project, and the length and depth of learning. Over eleven weeks, participants work with the guidance of a mentor to develop a project or research an idea. Maybe you want to start a composting business, a market garden or community market? Maybe you have a building project, or have ideas around healthy food? Or perhaps you need a plan for your land or even forwho you are going to be and how you are going to live.
Students from the Spring 2019 Golden Bay Sustainable Living Course learning seed propagation.
Best Value Permaculture Design Course In New Zealand and the World.
GBSLC is the best value course of its kind that we have been able to find and we've had a good look around. We found six month courses that meet one weekend a month, two week intensives, and short 1- 4 day workshops that focus on one small piece of one of our core areas. These range in price from $600NZ to $3000NZ, the latter being for a two week permaculture design course. ($3000 did include food and accommodation but was less than 1/3 the length of ours.)
So we feel confident telling you that if you want in depth learning about sustainable practices and the knowledge to develop your own amazing project, there is nothing comparable to GBSLC. Developing your project alone makes this course a valuable investment in your future success.
Our goal is for all of you to leave with a renewed sense of hope and a focused direction for your lives.
​About Golden Bay
Golden Bay has been identified by our spokesperson for Primary Industries, Hon Damien O'Connor, as the perfect place to be THE sustainable region of New Zealand. In truth we have incredible people, resources, and projects already happening, but we are far from there yet. You will be part of and witness to an on-going adventure to make our region reach its full potential as an example to the country and the world. The Sustainable Living Course itself is part of that journey. Come and join us and be part of our history.