About my work
This site presents some design highlights from my 3 year permaculture journey, working towards the diploma. Most of these designs reflect my paid work as a community gardener, being lucky enough to be able to squeeze lots of permaculture into these projects. What was fun about the diploma was having the opportunity to playfully translate of some of the classic land-based permaculture concepts into reality --- e.g. Hugelkulture, biodiversity, using edges, green manures, grafting, irrigation, creating structures and so on.
Of the 10 designs- 7 are in London (mostly Camden) and 3 are set within a very large community forest project in Sussex.
Throughout the diploma I experienced a growing connection to the design web. Because of the complex nature of community
gardening I started to notice that even on a land-project it was probably best to centre the design on the people. I first 'discovered' the design web at a mid-point on the diploma journey- on the Cecil Sharp Design. From this point on I used the design web on every design and have become very familiar and deeply respectful of it.
Doing the FiT Training in Oct 15 at Ragman's Lane really clarified the difference between people-centred and land-based design and design tools- sometimes the difference is very subtle and like most tools it can make an enormous difference if you use the right one for the job at hand. There is a clear progression along the 10 designs into using people centred design and the Design Web, culminating in assisting Looby Macnamarra on a people centred design course at the European Permaculture Convergence in Italy and leading a session on 'the Design Web'.
Diploma reports are so long-winded and some of my projects so large and complicated, that I decided to produce more of an 'installation' of my designs to share, stripped down to the essence or the 'bones' of the designs. Where appropriate I have included a 'product' of the design- some meta learning to share. The diploma represents a lot of really hard work. It is certainly set up in a way that teaches you through your own experiences and enables you to 'practice' the art of permaculture- here are some of my highlights!
Of the 10 designs- 7 are in London (mostly Camden) and 3 are set within a very large community forest project in Sussex.
Throughout the diploma I experienced a growing connection to the design web. Because of the complex nature of community
gardening I started to notice that even on a land-project it was probably best to centre the design on the people. I first 'discovered' the design web at a mid-point on the diploma journey- on the Cecil Sharp Design. From this point on I used the design web on every design and have become very familiar and deeply respectful of it.
Doing the FiT Training in Oct 15 at Ragman's Lane really clarified the difference between people-centred and land-based design and design tools- sometimes the difference is very subtle and like most tools it can make an enormous difference if you use the right one for the job at hand. There is a clear progression along the 10 designs into using people centred design and the Design Web, culminating in assisting Looby Macnamarra on a people centred design course at the European Permaculture Convergence in Italy and leading a session on 'the Design Web'.
Diploma reports are so long-winded and some of my projects so large and complicated, that I decided to produce more of an 'installation' of my designs to share, stripped down to the essence or the 'bones' of the designs. Where appropriate I have included a 'product' of the design- some meta learning to share. The diploma represents a lot of really hard work. It is certainly set up in a way that teaches you through your own experiences and enables you to 'practice' the art of permaculture- here are some of my highlights!
Design by ktshepherdpermaculture.com