The Food Forest

Dates: April 23-27 and May 9-11 & 24-25, 2025
Ten days spread out over 3 teaching blocks.

Principal Tutors

David Holmgren, co-originator of the concept of permaculture, will be presenting during the first part of the course, providing a unique opportunity to revisit your values and techniques or start your permaculture career at the cutting edge.  In 2003 David published “Permaculture: Principles & Pathways Beyond Sustainability”, a book which was the first significant development on the permaculture concept since Bill Mollison’s “Permaculture Designers’ Manual” (1988). David continues to refine permaculture in his writings and research. His book, ‘RetroSuburbia’ was launched in 2018 and is a key reference for practical urban design. Late 2020 he and Beck Lowe launched “Our Street” based on “Aussie St in Retrosurbia” aimed at kids.

To find out more about David and permaculture, see www.holmgren.com.au.

Annemarie Brookman is co-owner of The Food Forest and runs its organic market garden and busy office. She organises the educational program, The Food Forest’s stall at the Adelaide Farmers Market and coordinates volunteers and staff at the property. She has observed societies, crafts and cuisines in many countries. Her passion for local, wholesome, delicious and visually beautiful food and her skills as a designer are expressed in a direct and practical manner. She is expert in the integration of poultry and vegetable production and is a keen observer & photographer of insect ecosystems. Time management, small scale marketing, engaging children in gardening, mentoring to empower people to get involved with the future of their food and sustainable home-building are included in her talents. She is qualified in permaculture design & training, art and craft.

Graham Brookman has experienced land use all over the world and his search for ecologically sustainable farming systems led him to the permaculture model devised by Mollison and Holmgren. Graham has put the model to the test and teaches his findings in an energetic, interactive and practical style. Discovering how to build with strawbales has given Graham free rein with the construction of a series of beautiful and environmentally responsible structures. He has taught hundreds of others how simple it is to use straw bales in building anything from a garden bench to a house.

He is a qualified horticulturalist, teacher and permaculture designer and was founding chairman of the Adelaide Showground Farmers Market and the Gawler Environment Centre. Though first a farmer and horticulturalist, he has been involved in town planning and has made numerous educational films. He is passionate about water and sunshine, their capture and efficient use. He has created a new breed of mini sheep for use in orchards, vineyards and farms.

Guest Tutors and Field Visits

A wide range of guest tutors, selected for skills and qualifications in their particular field and their commitment to sustainable living and permaculture, will also teach in the course. Extensive notes are provided. Tours will visit a wide variety of outstanding examples of permaculture and the people who are making it work, in & near Adelaide.

COVID

All events will be run according to SA Gov COVID guidelines in place at the time of the course and as such can change any time depending on the COVID situation in SA and may affect the way we can operate.

Venue

The Food Forest is a remarkable 20 hectare, certified organic permaculture farm and learning centre that is the result of the passion and vision of owners Graham & Annemarie. From its buzzing biodiversity come over 150 varieties of organically grown fruit and nuts, cereal and vegetables, honey and carob beans, as well as free range eggs, livestock, nursery plants and timber. Most of The Food Forest’s produce is sold at the Adelaide Farmers Market. We’ll be harvesting and eating some of the products during the PDC!

Broadband Wi-Fi access is available in the teaching area.

Teaching and research

The farm conducts research into organic growing and climate change adaptation and hosts collections of tree crop varieties representing a unique genetic resource, willingly shared with others wishing to establish sustainable plantings. Valuable information about the hydrogeology of the Adelaide Plain has come from the farm’s scheme to draw water from the Gawler River and recharge the aquifer underlying the locality, to offset declining water levels and quality. The Food Forest has drawn upon inventive technologies for water harvesting and underground water storage in India, to capture and transform stormwater into a valuable input.

The Food Forest also has an extensive short courses program which complements the PDC. The property operates as one big teaching area and course participants will be involved in a hands-on permaculture project such as revegetation or garden construction.

History

The heritage-listed, pioneer homestead and much of the history of the farm have been retained. When the Brookmans bought the property in 1986, it was not much more than a bare barley paddock; only a few towering River Red Gums remained along the Gawler River from the time when the Kaurna Aboriginal people lived in their shade and gathered food from the land. The riparian understorey had become a mass of boxthorn, prickly pear and sour sob and the soil was degraded from years of continuous cropping. The indigenous riparian ecosystem has now largely been restored, and the revegetation systems developed have been adopted by other groups.

A movie made about the river repair is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_r62zvWKhk

Sustainable building technology

An old stone barn has been transformed into a Learning Centre for the presentation of courses and workshops. Nearby is the government-approved ‘loo with a view’, a Clivus Multrum composting toilet & reedbed system which transforms human by-products into reeds for mulching, rich compost for fertiliser and saves many thousands of litres of water every year.

Environmentally responsible building technologies are also demonstrated in ‘The Studio’, Cellar-door, an Eco-gazebo, the tiny ‘Cosy Cottage’ and a cool room, all of which are constructed with straw bales.

The Cob Oven shows the ancient craft of building with special mud mixtures.

The extension to the heritage-listed homestead is an exemplar of passive solar design using a fusion of straw bale, stone and well-insulated corrugated iron.

You are able to view a segment about the extension, that was part of the National Sustainable House Day in Sept 2020 which was a virtual event due to COVID: https://sustainablehouseday.com/listing/the-food-forest-homestead-extension/

Rainwater is collected for use in the house; grey and black water is treated by a reedbed system and used in orchard irrigation. Solar panels heat the water and photovoltaic cells provide the house with almost 7kW of green electricity; surplus power is fed into the grid. A 26kW PV system sits on the food processing shed to supply electricity for food storage & processing and water pumping.

Awards & ABC TV

• 2020 Craig Walsh, ‘Monuments’ at WOMADelaide
• 2016 Permaculture Elders Award for Contribution to Permaculture
• 2013 Winner, Barossa Regional Food Awards
• Finalist Premier’s Natural Resources Management Award: Service to NRM
• 2012 Honourable mention in The (En)Rich list: Post Growth Institute
• 2011 Adelaide Showground Farmers Market: Chef’s Inspiration Award
• 2009 Australia Day Corporate Citizen Award, Town of Gawler
• 2007 Winner SA Premier’s Food Awards: Environmental Sustainability
• 2006 Finalist National Banksia Environmental Awards, Education category
• 2005 Winner Nature Foundation SA, Good Business Environment Award for Environmental Responsibility & Leadership
• 2004 Winner Premier’s Food Awards Leadership in Sustainable Industry
• Finalist Year of the Built Environment, Exemplars Program 
• 2003 Winner Organic Federation of Australia National Award Best Organic Producer. Runner up for the Best Organic Education Project.
• 2005, 2001 State finalist National Landcare Awards
• ABC Gardening Australia: Episode 10: A farming special on June 2, 2012. See the 7 minute, permaculture focussed segment on: http://www.abc.net.au/gardening/factsheets/food-glorious-food/9433756

YouTube - Food Forest TV Channel

The Food Forest has made 30 micro movies with experienced cinematographer/video editor Sam Collins, to create 'how to' videos, ranging from practical straw bale building techniques to controlling codling moth in your apple trees and restoring your watercourse.

See the films at http://www.youtube.com/user/TheFoodForest

Logistics

Accommodation

We are not able to offer any accommodation at The Food Forest. If local accommodation is required, there is a range of accommodation options available in and near Gawler to suit your needs.

Of course, if you don’t live far away, you may commute from home or a friend’s place.

Food

Lunch, morning & afternoon tea each day and a special dinner on the last Saturday of the course, are included in the registration and include vegetarian, vegan and omnivorous options. Delicious, healthy, local and seasonal is important to us! A lot of the food served at the course will be harvested from The Food Forest, including many varieties of fruit, nuts, vegetables and herbs. We have also preserved produce from the different seasons. We don’t produce everything; milk, cheese, bread and some grains, pulses & meat will be sourced locally, in many cases direct from the producers.

We do our best to cater for different needs but as we are cooking for a substantial number of people, please note that for very specialised dietary requirements you may need to bring some of your own supplies.

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