Permaculture course promises beautiful, restorative gardens

CHESTER — Orange Environment is offering a permaculture design certification training program starting in January.
Two free meetings are being held this month to explain what permaculture is about:

Saturday, Sept. 15, 2 to 4 p.m. at 14 West Ave. in Chester, at the home of Joe and Nancy Seller
Saturday, Sept. 22, 10 a.m. to noon at the Albert Wisner Public Library, McFarland Drive, Warwick

Permaculture is an innovative practice that creates productive gardens, builds healthy soils, harvests water, restores damaged environments, reduces fossil fuel consumption, and saves energy.
Instructor Wanda Knapik, co-founder of the Permaculture Network of New Jersey, will teach the course along with several local permaculture design educators. Classes will meet at Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farms in Chester and Warwick to provide hands-on experience and on-site study.
Classes will meet one Saturdays a month from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., starting in late January and ending in mid-November, with no classes in July and August, for a total of 11 class days.
Course topics include: permaculture design principles and concepts, climate, soil, water, composting, garden design, and aquaculture. Participants who attend all sessions and fulfill the requirements of the course will receive certification.
Tuition is $790. If you bring another registrant to the course you will both receive a 10 percent discount. Tuition must be received by Jan. 15.
For more information ontact Peter Lai, program coordinator, at 313-4246, or by email at peterl@frontiernet.net. To register for the course go to the Orange Environment Web site: www.orangeenvironment.org
Orange Environment is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting sustainability and protecting ecological integrity in local communities.