On June 17-19, Pine Hills Ranch and the South Cariboo Sustainability Society (SCSS) are holding a Permaculture Workshop at Jane and Peter Murray’s ranch on Sheridan Lake West Road.
The Murrays, students of permaculture for 16 years, each hold two PDC (permaculture design certificates). For many years they have been reworking their land to conform to permaculture principles and turn their ranch into a permaculture centre.
Permaculture addresses the way folks live on this planet, in a graceful and healthy way, respecting the plants and animals around us, and leaving the biosphere in a more productive and healthy state than we found it, says Jane Murray.
The weekend will give a sampling of how permaculturists arrange their surroundings to live in harmony with nature, conserve energy, and share the bounties of the earth. Their hope is to undo as much of the damage mankind has done to this Earth.
On Friday evening, the Murrays will introduce themselves and permaculture to discuss its many benefits, as well as show a short film.
On Saturday morning, they will complete some class work before setting out for a tour of Pine Hills Ranch’s current projects and perform some practical exercises.
During this weekend course, folks will learn a little about how to design a property in order to conserve energy, reduce our winter time snow control and over its lifetime return more energy than was used to build it. They will also learn how to build and use a simple tool for surveying contours on the land to layout swales, dams and ponds for energy and water conservation.
There will be discussion about building a food forest, which is self-watering and fertilizing in perpetuity.
For more information, contact either Peter and Jane Murray at 250-593-0087 or SCSS at 250-791-7284.
