This page is here to give you a quick tour of all the different elements that I have included in my Portfolio. I start with a Contents section so that any of the descriptions can be reached quickly from the top of the page. You can skip straight to any of the other pages by just clicking on the linked titles & return here by using the 'Back' button on your web browser. I have given a short description about the content of the pages under each heading, these just serve however as a taster for what lies within the full Portfolio & I recommend that you delve much deeper.

 
Contents

My Main Pages

• My Details
• Portfolio Navigation
• Action Learning
• My Activities Review

My Ten Designs

• My Life Path
• Irish Mountain Garden
• Cottage Garden
• Steep Garden
• School Garden
• Mobile Home Garden
• Aikido
• Making Music
• Recording Studio
• My Portfolio & Accreditation Process

My Supplementary Pages

• Aranya Gardens
• Council of Management
• Libraries
• 'The Next Step' Booklet
• Research
• Robert Hart
• Spain
• Teaching
• WorkNet Tutoring
• Yurt

And Finally...

• My Next Steps
• How I meet the Assessment Criteria
• My Designer's C.V.
• Last Extras

My Main Pages

My Details

  This is a page that tells you who I am, a few relevant dates during my process & who my tutors have been.

Portfolio Navigation

  I have included this page to give you plenty of hints about how to get the most out of viewing my Portfolio. If you haven't already visited here, I recommend that you do so soon.

Action Learning

  This page leads to three other pages detailing my Action Learning process; my draft Action Learning Pathway, my Action Learning Set meetings & my Design Support Tutorials.

My Activities Review

  This is an extensive piece describing where I have been & what I have done along my Diploma Action Learning Pathway; from my 72 hour Design Course to my Accreditation event.

My Ten Designs

  These are the ten Permaculture designs that I have included in my Portfolio, in chronological order. I have aimed to provide a balance of both land-based & process designs & I have used a selection of different design methods throughout.

My Life Path

  These pages show how I use Permaculture principles to make choices that enable my own life to become more sustainable. I also provide examples of changes that I have made in many different areas of my life in order to achieve this.

Irish Mountain Garden

  This is a garden that I designed & part-implemented on a mountainside whilst living for a year in the South west of Eire. The altitude & wind exposure were just two of the limiting factors that my design needed to overcome.

Cottage Garden

  This is a garden that I co-created with my partner at the time. We turned a large expanse of gravel that had previously been a car park, back into a beautiful garden again over two seasons.

Steep Garden

  This was a garden that I designed whilst staying with friends in the Somerset countryside. The site constituted a steep North facing slope, with little but rocks upon it & a marshy flat piece of ground at the bottom. This design was never implemented.

School Garden

  I designed a History & Permaculture Garden for a School & Field studies centre in rural Dorset. I learned a lot about several new areas, including educational resources & producing a funding document. This design too has not yet been implemented.

Mobile Home Garden

  This is my current garden, now in it's third season. I have created a Permaculture garden on what was previously just pasture, using many recycled materials. I have also experimented with different mulching techniques along the way.

Aikido

  Aikido has a lot in common with Permaculture. In these pages I demonstrate this close connection & also create a design that maximises the learning potentials of all those who are involved in my local club & the National School.

Making Music

  These pages deal with the way I am learning to make music. I use flow diagrams to design the most efficient process for me & to discover the tools that would best help me to do this.

Recording Studio

  Having decided to start making music, I needed to find somewhere to house the recording equipment that I bought. These pages look at the way I re-designed my office space to accommodate everything in a Tardis-like fashion!

My Portfolio & Accreditation Process

  This is my Best Design & you are looking at part of it now; the CDROM! I have chosen to re-design my portfolio & accreditation process to maximise the yields for all involved & this has spilled over to include extra potential yields that appeared as I went along. There is a great deal more detail here than in any of the other designs.

My Supplementary Pages

  These pages I have included to cover the details of elements of my pathway that do not fall under the usual Diploma Assessment Criteria.

Aranya Gardens

  I have been self-employed as a 'Natural' gardener for three years now. Being fed up with the standard kind of gardening that I was doing to earn a living I re-launched my business as 'Aranya Gardens' this Spring. Part of the process involved creating a website & these are the webpages I produced.

Council of Management

  I have been serving as a trustee on the Council of Management of the Permaculture Association for the last three years now. This page tells you a little more about that.

Libraries

  At one stage I arranged for a Permaculture display to tour a number of libraries in the South West. This page tells you how & why more of us should be doing this in our own locality.

'The Next Step' Booklet

  I wrote this booklet to encourages vegans in particular to eat more raw foods. Whilst there are plenty of books extolling the virtues of raw foods for health, there were none it seems discussing the ethical issues. This was my last big piece of dissemination before my writer's block. It is here as an example of what I have written in the past & because it was my first bit of permaculture dissemination; even though I hardly mention the word at all! A revised edition is long overdue.

Research

  Whilst setting up my self-employment I did a mailout to local schools & garden centres to gauge the potential for permaculture-orientated work. The results of my little bit of research were very encouraging.

Robert Hart

  I visited Robert shortly before he became ill & died. This page tells of my involvement in trying to ensure that the Forest garden remained safe & my frustrations at how unfair life can sometimes seem.

Spain

  This page describes a piece of land that I have a share in out in Southern Spain & my dilemmas about what to do with it. I look briefly at both the practical work that needs to be done upon the land & my own limitations that have so far prevented me from being able to carry out these tasks.

Teaching

  Whilst I haven't yet found myself teaching on any Permaculture courses, I have done plenty of background work to prepare me for it. This page describes the two Design courses that didn't run & the teacher training that I have been undergoing.

WorkNet Tutoring

  Now that the Diploma WorkNet is starting to blossom, I am potentially in a position to do some tutoring. I have attended two WorkNet tutor training courses & have signed up for the job. This page tells you more of the details.

Yurt

  I have always wanted to build my own home, but this is the closest I've got so far. I bought a frame for a yurt & proceeded to make a cover for it out of secondhand canvas. This is my tale of broken needles, procrastination & lungs full of dust!

And Finally...

My Next Steps

  This is where you will find out about what I am planning to do next....

How I meet the Assessment Criteria

  This page details how I have met the assessment criteria for the Diploma; which design processes I have used, how I am 'living' permaculture & also what I have been doing within the complimentary categories.

My Designer's C.V.

  This is a chronological list of the designs & courses that I have done during these last seven years.

Last Extras

  I have also included a Glossary & a Bibliography which are linked to from places within the text. I have included the Diploma WorkNet Criteria from the Academy's own web pages so that you can compare it if you wish with my Assessment Criteria page detailing how I have fulfilled it. I have included a quick & a longer questionnaire for you to give me some feedback & this is all part of My Portfolio design of course. Finally, I have included a page with details of how you can Contact Me if you wish with any queries or suggestions that you might have.

 Now you might like to proceed to the section on Action Learning, which includes details of my original Action Learning Pathway, my Action Learning Sets & Action Learning Tutorials.