Curriculum Vitae

Benjamin Murray
106 Birmingham Road,
Lichfield, Staffordshire,
England,
WS149BW
Tel: 01543 253574
Mob: 0066 806970812
Email: [email protected]


EDUCATION:
Rodbaston College:
May 1998
NVQ level 2 in Horticulture

King Edwards VI School Staffordshire:
June 1996
GCSE’s grades C/D

Others:
Panya Project: (permaculture/natural building education centre Chiang Mai, Thailand)
May 2007
Permaculture design certificate,


EMPLOYMENT:

Panya Project (permaculture education centre/intentional community):
Chiang Mai, Thailand
November 2010 – ongoing
Garden Manager.

Establishing new and revamping old garden bed systems; Re-modelling of BD Garden beds, design and implementation of contour garden, crop rotation, alley cropping and garden log documentation.

Day to day duties include; Seed-sowing, vegatative propagation, composting, weeding, mulching, pruning, fertilising, maintaining irrigation systems, grass cutting, transplanting, tillage, observing, evaluating and refining systems, etc.

Other regular duties include; leading work sessions with short-term volunteers, Building with adobe, wood, bamboo and wattle & cob, earthen plastering, running and assisting with workshops and courses, and general site maintenance.




Fern Verrow; Biodynamic Farm, Hereforshire, England;
June 2010 – October 2010
General farm operative,

Main duties included seed-sowing, transplanting, tillage/hoeing, weeding,

animal husbandry (looking after pigs, sheep, cows, hens, ducks, geese and turkeys, producing and spraying biodynamic preperations, composting, making potting mix, crop husbandry, harvesting and quality control.


Self Employed:
Loei, Thailand
July 2008 – May 2010
Organic/biodynamic market gardening / managing organic tropical fruit polyculture.

My main duties involved establishing and maintaining tree/vegetable nursery, construction of polytunnel/cloche-tunnel, raised beds, production of compost and compost teas.

Initial cultivation and tillage before converting to no dig method. Implementation of permaculture design; food forest polyculture.

Seed-sowing, potting, transplanting, cuttings, air layering, pruning, harvesting, weeding, mulching, tree planting, installing and maintaining drip irrigation system, seed saving, natural building (wattle & cob and adobe).




Atcha Hut; eco village/ organic restaurant
Koh Lanta, Thailand
June 2007 – June 2008
Consultant / garden manager

My main duties involved consultation with the landowners regarding sound environmental land-use based on permaculture principles, helping to design earthworks for water catchment, storage and infiltration into the landscape as well as access and structures. Establishing a tree/vegetable nursery and instructing employees about organic cultivation practices, composting, seed saving, use of rhizobium bacteria, intercropping/alley cropping leguminous trees/shrubs, mycorrhizal fungi. Creation of raised bed vegetable garden to supply the organic restaurant. General nursery/market gardening work; Seed-sowing, potting, transplanting, cuttings, composting, tillage, harvesting, weeding, mulching.



Traveling in South-east Asia; Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia.
November 2006 – April 2007


Pacific Nurseries

Shenstone, Staffordshire
November 1997 – October 1999

My main duties Involved potting, making potting mixes, pricking out, transplanting, cuttings, pruning, weeding, maintaining drip irrigation systems and construction of barns and polytunnels during the winter months. During part of this time I went to Rodbaston College once a week and completed an NVQ level 2 in horticulture.

PD Nurseries
Kings Bromley, Staffordshire
August 1996 – November 1997

My main duties Involved potting, making potting mixes, pricking out, transplanting, cuttings, pruning, weeding, maintaining drip irrigation systems and construction of barns, polytunnels and under-soil heating during the winter months. During part of this time I went to Rodbaston College once a week and completed an NVQ level 2 in horticulture.

Appendix

Time resources:

  Life Review; Approx. 6 hours

Action Learning Pathway ; Approx. 5 hours.

Skill Flex Map: 2 Hours

CV: 1 Hour

Articulation: 45 Minutes

Weebly: 7 Hours

Appendix: 45 mins

Information Resources:

  Life Review: Open office
ALP: Vue
Skillflex map: Freemind
Appendix: open office
CV: Open Office
Website: Weebly
Kodak camera
Acer Laptop
Google; Queries/answers

Project 1 Feedback; Tutor

  PROJECT REPORT 1

LIFE REVIEW AND ACTION LEARNING PATHWAY
FEEDBACK FROM TUTOR RICHARD PERKINS 24/10/2011
Ben Murray

Presentation & Organization of Output Packet

Editing, shape, size

Great work Ben, well presented with great mindmaps and resource/ time review. Thanks
Flows and reads well and is of appropriate size for this output. Some links
between different threads of the PR would be useful, so when you reach the bottom of the page you can click back and forth to other elements. This will be important later to cross pollinate between Prs and link up different themes/ threads throughout your pathway.

Mix of media, genres and styles
Great, you are obviously rapidly learning different elements of digital
presentation, and design strategies. This shows through and no doubt you will findenlightened ways to mesh all you are doing in the holistic way you are striving for.

Would be great to back up your previous experiences with slideshows, examples, etc. Think about building a Portfolio of Supporting evidence for your Appendix, even select photos from amazing times, etc....

Management of Output Packet Creation

Submitted on time, thanks. I thought you had lost a lot of your work for a while, do make sure to keep it all backed up in case! Seems like it flowed well, the time inputted certainly seemed like a balanced approach.
You have brought some nice elements of design and goal setting into your

pathway which is good, along with longer term/ wider vision/ intentions, nice.
With the ALP it is useful to get into as much detail as possible with Who? When? Where?- really getting deep into designing the details. A brief synopsis letting readers know what might be involved in each potential project is very useful. This allows you to link it all into a useful and cohesive flow and map out development, say on Wilbers quadrants. This is the actual meat of the design of this PR. Would be worth revisiting and getting more detail in to create a tangible strategy and framework to help bring ideas into reality.

Design Skills

Great mindmaps, with photos to paint a little flavour in- very nice. Liked the way you have woven interconnections into it.
Skill flex very well done, perhaps this should come before the ALP on the website?
A Process Review looking at how the PR went for you would be useful, theres a template on the drop box I think.
Great work jumping to the challenge of creating a fully functional and carefully
crafted website.
Again some way to keep your work fully accessible through links between PR elements would be useful.

Action learning skills (for Project and Output)
Nice reflections and flow to LR. Have you demonstrated how this influences how you are designing your ALP? Can you pull out anymore juicy threads?
Seems like you have organised a flow through your projects which will not distract too much from your Action based pathway- well done, this should make it fairly easeful to get PRs in on time on. Nice. It is worth documenting, documenting, documenting!




Another element that is useful to keep up with inner processes, learning patterns, etc is a Learning Journal. Consider starting/ including relevant extracts in you r Appendix for each PR.




A blog is another easy way to document what you are doing informally on a day to day basis, etc.




Outcomes




A really well thought through piece of work. Nice visions and cohesive flow through your proposed ALP.




A great start, particularly for someone new to some areas of digital skillflexes. Great stuff.




Could be useful to map out Learning Outcomes for each PR, short lists that allow you to collate new skills/ knowledge learnt later on your pathway. This will also help with checking in and seeing how your pathway has been for redesigning/ tweeking later on.




Great work Ben, speak soon!

Project 1 Feedback; Peer

  Project Report 1

Life Review and Action Learning Pathway
Ben Murray
Feedback from Peer Peter Hill 24/10/2011

Presentation & Organization of Output Packet

Editing, shape, size
Is the main body direct and clear of unnecessary technical clutter?
Yes.
Is the project report easy to navigate?
Yes, very.
Is the project report of appropriate size? Too much, too little?
Ben`s Goals articulation is clear, comprehensive and inspiring. The Life review is open, honest and reflective. The reader of this PR is left wanting to know more. I feel that it would work even better for Ben if the PR was further supported with more volume.

Does the report flow well?

The report is easily navigable with a natural flow

Mix of media, genres and styles 
What do you think about choices regarding media, genre and style to enhance and support the meaning and the message of the project report?

(Media mix = (for example) video, slide presentation, written report, animations etc. Genres = story, documentary report, game, talk show etc.  Styles = fonts, images, colour, graphical look and feel etc.)

Coming to terms with technology is a subject that I am personally all too familiar with! Perhaps the inclusion of a few images, explanatory diagrams, links to supporting evidence and videos would enhance Ben`s story.

Management of Output Packet Creation 
Was the project report submitted on time with sufficient time allowed for peer review?

Yes, on time

Do you consider the project report complete with 3 P’s, learning journal extracts and personal process review, appendices, etc?
After looking through the PR, I have no doubt of Ben`s commitment to Permaculture Design, and to that of being of true benefit in the world. I do feel however that the inclusion of learning journal extracts as well as a reflective process review of the PR would assist both;

A more extensive Appendix with links, images and videos demonstrating the impressive amount of skills that Ben has already accomplished would also serve him very well in my opinion.

Design Skills
Articulation of Approach 
Is it clear what design approaches/organizing frameworks and processes were considered for the design of the project?
Whilst Ben achieves good results, I feel that the design process needs to be more clearly demonstrated.

Project 
Has your peer evidenced good use of design skills to influence the quality of their project and their action learning pathway? 
My perception of Ben`s PR is that further evidence needs to be amassed in order to celebrate and do justice to the capable and proactive asset to the world that Ben`s CV tells me he is.
Critical Evaluation & Thinking 
Any evidence of attempts to validate original thinking and has your peer provided some third-party evidence to support your conclusions? Links, references, etc?

Links, references and evidence provided at present in the PR are minimal which is a shame as Ben has achieved so much and already has an impressive skill and knowledge base. I feel that he should not hold back, and that unashamed demonstration and celebration of how limitless he really is are necessary to inform the world of the valuable work that he is doing!

Action learning skills (for Project and Output) 

Concrete Experience (Awareness in action) 
Does the report indicate balance between action and thought – does your peer seem to be able to get to action and act?
Ben certainly appears to be a man of action which straight away scores points with me
Reflective Observation (Appraisal of action outcomes) 
Does your peer create the time, space for good quality reflection? Do the learning journal extracts seem useful?
Ben reflects openly and honestly in his well-constructed life review. I was not able to locate Learning Journal Extracts
Active Experimentation (Use of piloting and trials) 
Does the report show readiness and inventiveness around designing and operating pilots and trials (rapid prototypes)? Is your peer “having a go” or in need of less planning and more doing?

My overall impression gained from looking through the PR is that Ben is an articulate and proactive Permaculture Design Apprentice, already amassing a considerable and diverse level of experiential learning. Reading through the various tasks that Ben is currently regularly involved with at Panya, and perusing the impressive list of activities in Ben`s comprehensive CV leaves me in no doubt that Ben obviously engages in a substantial reflection process. However, I feel that Ben may have evidenced and demonstrated this more clearly throughout the fabric of the PR.

Outcomes 

Benefits to Field (Project) 
Describe the 'value' of this work to the world?
In my opinion, Ben appears to already be making a significant contribution, sharing his developing skill base on many levels. It looks to me as though he is doing good stuff of great value to the world!

Growth of Skillflexes (Professional) 
Can you reflect back professional skills you can see evolving?
Ben looks to be able to already grow a comprehensive and diverse package of food stuffs, as well as developing natural building and teaching skills directed to multi beneficiaries.
Internal Growth & Development (Personal) 
Any personal insights and gains you can reflect back to your peer? Any clear (un)learning?
Undoubtedly the process that I personally gained significant benefit from during the designing of my own PR was the application of the 80:20 rule; get something down, anything, and then improve and build upon it. It was an antidote to procrastination that I was certainly in need of! I would recommend it`s application to anyone. It works!
Contributes to knowledge commons 
Was there any movement towards disseminating the projects learnings? (eg, workshops, online tutorials, etc) Are their clear links available to the public/ peer group?

Ben is doing great work that he should be proud of. I would say that extended use of links and references throughout the PR would support his laying down a more clearly evidenced breadcrumb trail that would enable people to follow his example more easily. Having not met Ben myself, and not felt his energy personally, reading between the lines the overall impression that I gain is that he is a multi skilled and capable ally with a well-balanced and positive vision. I do feel that the PR does not fully demonstrate his prowess and does not completely do justice to his inner beauty, creativity and productivity.

Thank you for sharing and caring for each other’s growth, development and fulfillment. It is the desire and commitment to be of benefit that allows us to be of use!