What's Included in the Course?
Welcome to our 20 Week online learning experience, built from 20 years of our experience designing, implementing and managing polyculture gardens, farms, and landscapes across a variety of locations in Temperate, Mediterranean and Subtropical climates.
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Weekly Video Content
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PDFs - Audio Files and Planting Schemes
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Weekly Live Q&A with Paul - OverviewAfter completing the weekly lessons you can join a 2 hour live session with Paul to address any questions you may have. If you miss a week, the sessions are recorded and will be made available to you, and you'll have catch up sessions each month to address your questions |
Private Group ForumShare your thoughts and observations with the group, work on exercises together and ask questions and seek feedback in a dedicated forum on the platform for course participants
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Weekly Design Sheets
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Access to our Polyculture Design ProfilesYou will receive over 20 Polyculture Profiles including 100's of diagrams and tables, detailed planting schemes and implementation and management plans of polycultures we are growing at our site.
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Weekly ExercisesWeekly tasks/exercises for you to complete (optional but recommended) |
CertificationCertificate of participation highlighting the core competencies earned upon completion of the course. |
You will have full access to the lessons, videos, audio, spreadsheets and all other material provided to you when the course is complete. They will be yours to keep indefinitely.
How the Course Works
Before the course starts we will get you set up on our workplace platform and orientate you with how it works to make sure you are completely comfortable with the platform for when the course begins.
At the beginning of the week you will be provided with the weekly lesson along with additional material related to the weekly content including; video, spreadsheets, design illustrations and PDFs that go into more detail on related topics. A weekly exercise is recommended that will help you digest and process the information. You are encouraged to share your thoughts and work on the exercises in the forum with the group to facilitate discussion and further your understanding of the material. At the end of the week we will meet online to discuss the lesson and address any questions that you may have and next weeks material will be released to you on Monday.
The course is designed for you to work through week by week. We estimate that you need around 6-8 hrs per week for the course. We understand that you may not always be able to attend live sessions and keep up with the pace of the course so will provide recordings of all of the sessions and allow time for you to ask questions in monthly live catch up sessions.
A course calendar will be provided to you upon registration to help you keep track of when sessions are starting and when the next live catch up sessions will occur.
The course builds towards a final project that can be based on your property, the completion of which will embody the knowledge you have obtained during the course. The final project is submitted at the end of the 20 week period and assessed by Paul. With your consent we will share your project in our social networks in order to put you in touch with the broader community and we look forward to staying in contact with you as you develop your plans.
At the beginning of the week you will be provided with the weekly lesson along with additional material related to the weekly content including; video, spreadsheets, design illustrations and PDFs that go into more detail on related topics. A weekly exercise is recommended that will help you digest and process the information. You are encouraged to share your thoughts and work on the exercises in the forum with the group to facilitate discussion and further your understanding of the material. At the end of the week we will meet online to discuss the lesson and address any questions that you may have and next weeks material will be released to you on Monday.
The course is designed for you to work through week by week. We estimate that you need around 6-8 hrs per week for the course. We understand that you may not always be able to attend live sessions and keep up with the pace of the course so will provide recordings of all of the sessions and allow time for you to ask questions in monthly live catch up sessions.
A course calendar will be provided to you upon registration to help you keep track of when sessions are starting and when the next live catch up sessions will occur.
The course builds towards a final project that can be based on your property, the completion of which will embody the knowledge you have obtained during the course. The final project is submitted at the end of the 20 week period and assessed by Paul. With your consent we will share your project in our social networks in order to put you in touch with the broader community and we look forward to staying in contact with you as you develop your plans.
Your Course Tutor - Paul Alfrey
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Paul Alfrey, founder of Balkan Ecology Project and The Polyculture Project will be your tutor for this course. Born in London, England he now lives at the project center in Shipka, Bulgaria, South East Europe. Paul and his family, Sophie and their two boys Dylan and Archie, run the project. You can find more info about the project's activities here.
Paul has worked with plants for over 20 years, first as an arborist in the UK where he ran a local Tree Surgery business and following that 15 years of growing plants at the project. He has studied horticulture with the RHS , completed a number of PDC’s (that were hosted at the centre) and has read plant physiology, botany and pedology extensively. It is the years of experience working with plants both wild and domesticated that has provided him with a unique perspective on how to work with polyculture to build regenerative landscapes , garden and farms that can provide food and other resources for humans while enhancing biodiversity, and it is this experience Paul would like to share with you during this course. |
Paul writes regularly on the project blog and is a regular contributor to the main news outlets in the space i.e. Permaculture Magazine and Permaculture Research Institute. He has consulted and designed for landowners and farmers across Europe and Asia and has worked and designed in multiple countries with a focus on Mediterranean and Temperate Climate with some experience in the Sub tropics. You can find a small sample of Paul Alfrey's Regenerative Landscape, Forest Garden and Polyculture design here.
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