How to Find a Good PM Designer for NSW 80 acres

[CountryRoads]

We have an 80 acre farm about 3 hours north of Sydney and are trying to find an experienced permaculture designer who we can pay to prepare a great (and implementable) plan. We're looking for someone who has vision AND experience, a really good designer with wide-ranging experience. Does anyone have a list of NSW-based designers between Sydney/Port Macquarie/Gloucester, or servicing this area? Or do you know anyone who you could recommend? Soooo appreciate your help! :)

[ho-hum]

Country Roads,

I cant recommend an individiual as I am based in the NT but I would really encourage you to do a Permaculture course yourself. It is a good idea to get an experienced designer in but ultimately you have to live with and 'work' the design and understand what and why the designer recommended certain things.

I say this because their are varying degrees of sustainability and self-sufficiency. I am plainning a self-sufficient lifestyle but understand that spark plugs and cd-rom[s] dont grow on trees. Neither will the council swap piglest for rates so I would be compromised before I started if that were my aim.

It is a matter of getting to a happy place in yourself how much you impact the planet is a matter set by your own standards and judgements.

Do you want/need an off-farm income? Do you want grid power and water?

Most of us would recommned you live on a place for a while before attemtping anything too grand unless it is an area you have grown up in etc.

Hope this helps somewhat.

cheers

mike

[CountryRoads]

Thanks for that, yes, you're right, we can't wait to do a course! But even with that in the bag, we know we're still going to need an experienced designer to get the best results (know our limitations both skills and timewise!)...I'm one of those people who has trouble reading a map let alone creating one! :lol: Very exciting though to be embarking on it...finally!

[Jez]

G'day CR, welcome to the forum.

If you do a PDC in your local area (Click here to go tothe Permaculture Institute recommended list of teachers) (http://www.tagari.com/index.php?page_id=19) then you will almost certainly come up with the best person for the job through their locally specific advice, or be able to workshop your own ideas into a finished design with their assistance - coming up with your own design is the last phase of gaining your PDC...if there is two of you then you can pool your ideas together and do something pretty fantastic design wise...you may well surprise yourself...you wouldn't be the first! :D

You may even meet people willing to help you implement the design through your course...labour in exchange for a place to get experience. As Floot wisely recommends, the course would be your best bet as a starting point - ahead of trying to find a designer.

Hope it all goes well - let us know how you're progressing from time to time. :)

[CountryRoads]

Thanks Jez, wise words. Am itching to do a course but getting that long away from kids and biz is a bit tricky especially as there's no courses near us that I can find. Maybe we'll try and get some other people in our area together to chip in for a trainer to come up/down! Or might have to settle for an online course until we can get our hands dirty! We went to the Heinberg + Holmgren talk in Sydney last night, discussion re: Peak Oil and Permaculture so did get a contact there regarding a recommendation on a designer. Yay! :D

[Jez]

G'day CR, yeah, it's hard if you have to travel to do your PDC when you have other commitments like kids and a business to run. If you can get a group together it may be possible to get someone to travel to you...contacting Tagari on the link from my last post would be a good place to start.

I'm not sure if April who does the approved online course lives fairly near where you are, but she may be willing to incorporate a visit to you or you visiting her place once ortwice through the course as a bit of a hands on experience and some direct teaching. Even if that weren't possible I'm sure you'd still get a lot out of it.

Hope you enjoyed David and Richard's talk and great news that you have a lead on a designer.

Good luck with it all. :)

[bazman]

Jade and Paul Woodhouse are in Dorrigo, NSW and are in the process of developing 100+ acres

http://www.simplynaturalorganic.com

They are both amazing people with a vast experience in organic farming and permaculture.

Baz

[CountryRoads]

Thanks Baz, someone else sent us a private message recommending them too! A while ago when we were thinking of moving to Dorrigo we came across their site but I'd forgotten about it! If we can't find anyone closer, we might get in touch. Many thanks again, do appreciate it. :)

[barely run]

I had my design done by Permaculture Patches...Margie Crowther. She is based between Orange and Cowra and does travel a bit. Not sure how far to you. Happy to pass on her contact details if you need them.
Doing a course is great but I opted to try and make fewer basic mistakes by starting with a design...and learning more stuff as I go.
Cathy

[CountryRoads]

Thanks Cathy. We're now well into the online course and hopefully April who runs the course will be coming up (hi April if you're reading!) to help us get the plan really together. It's so fun and full-on trying to pull all the pieces together to get a workable design that we can move forward with. Very exciting! :D

[Jez]

Good onya CR...great to hear you're getting the design together, excited about the process and enjoying it.