Media

Media Release 18 March - email peas012345@gmail.com for copy and photos

John’s excitement for the PDC

Designing the PDC

Lizzy and Sam presented at the Permaculture Education Institute. August 2024

Reflection from PEAS PDC Graduate, X - “The PDC run by PEAS opened
my eyes to the value of permaculture beyond growing food and caring
for land. It broadened my understanding about permaculture's role in
our futures by demonstrating how the values and principles can
underpin all aspects of life. The tools and shared sense of purpose have
influenced everyday and life-changing decisions I have made since the
course. It has also helped challenge and empower me to see positive
change inextricably linked to community. The diversity of teachers, field
trips and lived experiences that made up the PDC were invaluable. “

Another graduate was so inspired by
the PDC days, they are now
composing an exciting musical
theatre piece about the environment.

Reflections and Impact

Dean talking about Tree and Sea PDC (youtube)

Dean inviting you to the Crossing Land (youtube)

Media Release 8 February 2025 -contact PEAS for copy and photos

Faculty

Meet John Champagne, a seasoned
permaculture enthusiast with over three

decades of hands-on experience. Embarking on
his permaculture journey in 1992 with a
Permaculture Design Course in Chiltern,
Victoria, taught by Vries and Hugh Gravestein ,
who were students of the legendary Bill
Mollison, John’s passion for sustainable living
soon evolved into both a life path and a
thriving career. His teaching journey began in
2004 alongside David Holmgren, shaping the
minds of eager learners.Having conducted more
than 50 Permaculture Design Courses across
diverse landscapes in Australia, the United
Kingdom, Indonesia, Thailand, and India, John’s
commitment to spreading permaculture wisdom
is endless. Together with his wife Sharon, John
founded Brogo Permaculture Gardens in the
picturesque Bega Valley, (New South Wales,
Australia), 30 years ago. This 11-acre haven,
situated in a temperate climate, serves as both
a family home and a thriving permaculture
demonstration site. It’s a hub of abundance
where excess produce, certified organic, finds
its way to local outlets.

As a permaculture design consultant, John’s
expertise extends to private properties,

eco-villages, and community and school
gardens.

His influence reaches beyond borders, where he
has been instrumental in shaping permaculture
education. Today, his students, inspired by his
teachings, Conduct courses in Thailand,
Indonesia, and India, ensuring the permaculture
flame Continues to burn brightly.

A dedicated advocate for sustainable living,
John plays a vital role in his local community.
For over 15 years, he served as the President of
SCPA (South Coast Producers Association), a
non-profit community group focused on
nurturing a local food economy. Together with
his PDC tutor Hugh ravestein, John pioneered
the South Coast Field Days in 1995, Australias
first event spotlighting ‘Sustainable Living &
Landuse’.

Acknowledged as an elder in the Australian
Permaculture Movement, John Champagne
remains a dynamic force. A former board member
of PermacultuRe Australia for three years, he
currently spearheads Permafund, a charitable
group channeling funds to permaculture projects
worldwide. In 2018, John’s passion for
community and sustainable living culminated in
organizing the Australasian Permaculture
Convergence (APC14) held in Canberra. Get
ready to be inspired by John Champagne’s
journey, where permaculture isn’t just a
philosophy but a way of life.

Lizzy Smith WorkSmith Permaculture.

LIzzy is a localisation and bioregioning enthusiast, Designer, Permaculture
practitionerand educator. Lizzy is certified in Human Factors and Ergonomics
(CHFEP); User Experience and Complex Systems (Cynefin practitioner and
trainer). Lizzy works preferentially in values aligned organisations such as
charities, co-operatives, NFP and social enterprises - start-ups and
established.

On a life quest for regenerative living and keeping relationships real.

In addition to consulting, Lizzy manages the Permaculture. app, a free app for

everything about Permaculture and homesteading.

Lizzy’s portfolio: https://www.portfolio.worksmith.com.au/

Apple Store

Permaculture.

Sam is the passionate human driving Garden Kitchen Witch*n. In her life and
work, she weaves in many modalities and practices – permaculture, women’s
work, deep ecology, grief work, embodiment, indigenous wisdom, activism,
the art of hosting, radical homemaking, the work that reconnects, emergent
strategy, holistic management, cyclical living and even more …

​

The integrity of her ethics is always evident in cooking, teaching, holding
space, and living life. Sam draws upon nearly a decade spent deeply
embedded in one place and now is on new adventures, spreading roots
throughout the region and bringing her passion for change to many
communities. https://gardenkitchenwitch.wixsite.com/home

Dr Cally Brennan has a PhD from Melbourne
University and has been practising
permaculture for over 12 years. Cally runs
Canberra Permaculture Design and
Education, a small business that services
Canberra and the surrounding region. The
business provides permaculture advice,
designs for urban and nearby rural
properties, and workshops on fruit and
vegetable growing, wicking beds, gardening
in a changing climate, and passive water
harvesting. Cally will be leading the design
component of our PDC.

Cally is particularly passionate about
devising effective ways to slow and capture
water runoff to increase drought resilience,
reduce bushfire risk, and even reduce
flooding. Her passive water harvesting
techniques in her permaculture garden are
featured in a popular YouTube video titled
The Self-Watering Garden.

Cally believes that permaculture land
design can be implemented at any scale
and has experience from courtyard gardens
up to large rural properties

Her recent design work includes a passive
water harvesting plan and edible garden
design for part of a 50-acre property in
Googong, a design for a small acreage in
Tarago, and designs for several suburban
blocks.

From 2018 to 2020, Cally was a Director of
the Board of Permaculture Australia,
Australia’s national permaculture body,
and Treasurer for the organisation in 2019-
20. Before this, Cally was one of the
organisers of the 14th Australasian
Permaculture Convergence, held just
outside Canberra in early 2018. Cally has
studied permaculture and advanced
permaculture design with John
Champagne, Graham Bell, Geoff Lawton,
and Dr Ross Mars.

Gürkan Yeniçeri, a permaculture teacher and
practitioner, strives to grow enormous
produce in small spaces. He cultivates a
variety of produce, raises trout, and tends to
bees in his suburban backyard. He enjoys
consuming fermented foods, except for
natto.

He possesses a sourdough culture passed
down in his family for 200 years. His yogurt
culture is also 15 years old. He has written
articles on the PRI website and runs his site
at havatopraksu.org.

He has written books on aquaponics,
cheesemaking, and beekeeping, and he is
working on a natural cheesemaking book,
all in Turkish. He enjoys browsing the
Green Shed store and selecting broken
guitars and basses to repair.

He recently repurposed a piece of wood he
had saved since 2008. He is married, has
three children, and resides in Canberra.