Earthworks Grading Program - Georgi Pavlov

Welcome to the most comprehensive earthworks grading program in the world! In this program, we will go through the process of grading each of the most common earthworks those involved in landscape design and management are likely to encounter in their career.

This program is not focused on earthwork design per se but on the technicalities of grading earthworks in CAD. This is an important distinction to make as the design is context-specific but the principles behind grading apply in most cases. As such, this program aims to equip you with the understanding needed to tackle virtually any grading job out there, no matter the design specifications or job context. We will convey a process that you can use in any situation to grade just about any kind of earthen structure imaginable, regardless of whether you're working off of plans sketched on a napkin, concepts drawn in Google Earth Pro, or schematics drawn by a professional.

Among many other things, we will also show how to:

• read grading plans or design concepts and distill them down to the essentials elements of information that you need for your work
• optimize, import and work with GIS data for grading purposes
• manage complex grading environments
• analyse gradings to determine their volumetrics, costs, and other facets
• prepare data for export towards precision equipment for implementation
• create your own grading schematics that you can hand over to a contractor or government agencies or use yourself

Pre-Order Discount

Input the coupon code GRADING during checkout (scroll to bottom) to claim your pre-order discount. The discount percentage begins at 30% and lasts until July 31, 2022. Afterward, it will be progressively reduced until the program is released.

Highlights

• Scripted, pre-recorded, and streamed. Information is presented in a concise and clear format. You can learn at your own leisure, from any device and place that has an active internet connection.
• Meticulously edited to remove any 'ahh', 'hmm', 'uhh' kind of noise and deliver content that is straightforward and to the point. Once you open a section, you are presented straight away with what you need to know and not a second is wasted in fruitless side-tracking of any kind. Callouts and other visual aids are used throughout to highlight any important information and eliminate the opportunity for ambiguity. 
• Value appreciation. We are expanding or improving the content over time so the value of your purchase grows with time . 
• Project files (downloadable) are included for most sessions so that you can follow along.
• Technical support within the Workplace for issues related to the content is included. 
• Access content as it becomes available. New videos are released constantly and progressively as we expand the program over time. You can also give feedback and make requests for changes and additions. In this way, you can dictate the direction you'd like the program to go in.
• Free to our Planner subscribers for life! Past, present and future Planner members will get access to this program regardless of whether their subscription is active or not. If you'd like to become a Planner member, please visit this page.

Contest List

Modules

The program can be bought either in its entirety or in separate modules. We hope this will enable people to save on cost and access just that content that most interests them. There are six (6) modules to choose from, seen below.

 

Frequently Asked Questions

I am a beginner. Is this program suitable for me?

The program is thorough and will lead students every step of the way in detail. Even if you have never done grading before or used civil engineering software, you'll be able to follow along as you learn a working process that you will be able to apply on any site and for any given earthwork. That being said, this program assumes that students have a technical mind, can think in 3D, and feel comfortable navigating complex software.

How do I get access?

There are two options:

• (1) Buy the program or any individual module of it from this page — This option grants you lifetime access to the content, including any updates. Technical support is limited to just the first 12 months after your purchase.
• (2) Become a Planner member — This option will grant lifetime access to the program, including any updates. Once your 12 months of subscription run out, you will continue to have access even if you don't renew it beyond the 12 months. The Planner membership also gives you access to all of our other programs and content as well as additional perks like mapping support.
  • Subscriptions are open-ended, meaning if you don't manually cancel it after 12 installments then it will renew automatically. It is your responsibility to cancel your subscription after 12 installments have been paid.
  • The minimum subscription duration is 12 months.
  • Technical support will be limited to the duration of an active subscription.

How long do I have to wait before I can watch the program?

ETA for the full release is ~August 2023 but we expect to begin releasing videos from January/February 2023. You will be able to watch videos as they become available. 

How will I receive the program? Do I need to sign up somewhere? 

Once you have bought the program or become a Planner member, you will receive an invitation to the Workplace within 2 business days. You will be able to access the content from within the platform as soon as it becomes available. Should you encounter any issues, contact us and we'll help resolve them!

I don't have the required software, where should I get it from?

• AutoCAD Civil 3D can be purchased from Autodesk. There is a 30 day free trial. Students of an official academic institution can also apply for a 3 year free access.
• Adobe Photoshop (or an equivalent 2D graphics application) can be purchased from Adobe.
• Google Earth Pro is free and can be downloaded from this page.
• QGIS is free and available for Windows, iOS and Linux. You can download it from the official website.

What version of Civil 3D should I use?

Any version from 2015 and above will work. We will be utilizing only features that are available in all these versions.

What operating system is the program based on?

In the case of Civil 3D, you will need a Windows operating system. The software can possibly run on Mac/Linux but you'll need to use a virtual machine to simulate a Windows OS environment. See this video for a tutorial on that for Mac.

Any of the other software listed will run on Mac.

When will the program be released?

ETA August 2023 for full the release.

How long will this program be?

We don't know yet exactly, but it is likely to be in the vicinity of 20+ hours. Note that this length is after the videos have been edited.

How much time do I need to dedicate?

It is entirely up to you. However, since grading is a fairly advanced practice, if you have no prior experience then you can expect a rather steep learning curve. It may take a considerable amount of time and effort to understand the workflow and get used to it.

Is the content going to change?

Probably but not by much. During the course of recording the program, we may restructure it slightly so it fits better. That said, the current curriculum is more or less decided on.

I have already bought a module but now I'd like to access the entire program. Can the cost of my purchase of the individual module(s) be deducted if I buy the entire program?

Yes! If you have bought some module(s) already, we can deduct their cost from that of the whole program. We process these requests on a case by case basis, however, so please write to us.

Are subtitles going to be available?

Not at this time. The program is narrated in English with an international accent. In the future, automatically generated subtitles may be included but those are not necessarily perfect.

Can my team/project/family members have access to the program? 

• If you join as a Planner subscriber, you can invite your project/family members to the Workplace. They will have the same account permissions as your account. So, in effect, they will have access to all of our programs as well, including this one.
• If you buy the program separately from a Planner membership, only you will have access to it.

Are project files included?

The videos will be accompanied by the project files that you need to follow along with if you choose. 

Is the program downloadable?

The videos are not downloadable, but any project files will be downloadable.  Project files will be delivered via the cloud. This allows us to easily edit the program should the need arise and keep the program and files updated.  

Is the program refundable?

Prior to the release of the program (ETA August 2023) refunds are available for 30 days from the date of purchase. Once the program has been fully released, we will not accept refunds since this is a digital product. Absolutely no refund claims will be honoured once access has been granted to the program. Therefore, we encourage you to consider your decision carefully. Please read through this FAQ and consider if this program is suitable for you or not. If you need more information, feel free to write to us as we will be happy to answer all of your questions.

Do you offer support?

For the first 12 months of your purchase, or for the duration of your Planner subscription, we offer technical support with issues that are related to the content. That said, we cannot necessarily assist you with your personal/commercial projects since our time is very limited. Support is offered only via the dedicated course group in the Workplace or through the Chat.

I have other questions, how should I contact you?

If you are a Regrarians Workplace member, write to us directly in the Workplace via the chat. Otherwise, drop us an email!

Purchase the Entire Program

Add your affiliate program link here: https://balkep--regrarians.thrivecart.com/earthworks-grading-program

Purchase Individual Modules

Add your affiliate module link here: https://balkep--regrarians.thrivecart.com/earthworks-grading-program-modules/ 

Regenerative Landscape Design - Online Interactive Course 

Want to learn how to design, build and manage regenerative landscapes?  Join us for our Regenerative Landscape Design - Online Interactive Course from May 1st to Sep 13th, 2023. 

We're super excited about running the course and look forward to providing you with the confidence, inspiration, and opportunity to design, build and manage regenerative landscapes, gardens, and farms that produce food and other resources for humans while enhancing biodiversity.

Regenerative Landscape Design Online Course

You can find out all about the course here and right now we have a 20% discount on the full enrollment fees. Just use the promo code RLD2023 in the section of the registration form to receive your discount. 

We are looking forward to providing you with this unique online learning experience - as far as we know, the very first of its kind. If you are thinking of reasons why you should do this course and whether this course is suitable for you, take a look here where we lay it all out. Looking forward to it!

Egypt - Winter Trip 2022 - Luxor - Nile Horticulture and a Sugar Cane Harvest

I've been sharing some observations I made during a winter trip to Eygpt on the blog and during this post, we'll cover, a visit to Luxor, horticulture along the Nile, and a Sugar Cane harvest.     

It's interesting to consider that the accumulation of sediment in the great lakes of Africa millions of years ago, would result in water overflowing the banks to form a river that would spawn the emergence of one of the most iconic and revered civilizations that humans have ever witnessed. 

Water is indeed life and nowhere exemplifies this better than the Nile. 

Luxor and Horticulture along the Nile

After spending three weeks in Cairo I took the train south to Luxor, a tourist hotspot on the Nile that features some of Egypt's most popular Ancient Egyptian temples and tombs. The view from both sides of the train was pretty much what you can see in the below photo. Lush green bands of agriculture with desert mountains in the background, punctuated by various towns and cities along the way. The agriculture appears to be mainly wheat and alfalfa this time of year( February). Date palms are often  planted along farm tracks and at seemingly random intervals within the fields 

Arriving in Luxor from Cairo it is immediately obvious the pace of life is more relaxed here. Arriving in the dark,  the lack of dust/smog in the air was striking, like cleaning off a smudged camera lens.  

There is a beautiful Nile-side promenade across the road from the Temple of Luxor which is itself very impressive.  As a tourist, in an area where tourists congregate, you will most likely get pitched some service or another 30 times a day, but get away from the tourist trail and people are friendly and going about their business.

 

Most of the city is established on the east side of the Nile but there are a lot of tourist accommodations on the west side and the west side is where the majority of tombs and temples are located.  Village life on the west bank of Luxor is extremely relaxed. Not only does it feel like you have stepped back into how life would have been a few 1000 years ago, it most probably is.  I had this feeling that no matter what tragedy humans may have to endure within the next 1000 or so years, this place will be just fine.  

There are various canals cut into the land, often planted with Date palms with swathes of Phragmites australis - Common Reed growing along the banks.

Mainly wheat and alfalfa grow in open fields this time of year. The Alfalfa is harvested daily and brought into the city for the horses that taxi the tourists around. 

Some of the gardens have a layer of fruit trees growing above the field crops, as seen in the below photo(Mango, citrus, and date palm). These are great examples of simple multi-layered polyculture gardens and are probably extremely productive.

Pretty much all of the restaurants on the West Bank of Luxor are family-run and will serve home-cooked Egyptian food harvested from their gardens. The restaurants will often serve 6 or 7 different dishes in small bowls and all of them are delicious. 

Another common garden fruit tree is Guava - Psidium guajava. Yet to try the fruit

A short walk away from the ferry station on the Westbank of Luxor, I chanced upon this Mango (Mangifera indica) orchard. Introduced from India in 1825,  Mango is commonly cultivated along the Nile valley. 

The whole orchard is flood irrigated from the Nile with bunds, crafted from the deep and fertile alluvial soil, to retain the water in certain areas. There must be a number of different cultivars planted in the orchard as the flowers were absent on some of the trees and in various stages of development on others.

There is a Banana grove next to the Mango orchard on one side. It would be interesting to study the row of Mango and Banana plants that converge to see if each respective crop has any difference in growth rate, yield, and health compared to the rows of the same plants within the monoculture rows.  

 

I've never visited anywhere on earth without eventually crossing paths with Chenopodium album - Lambs quarter.  An edible ruderal growing here on the post-irrigated Mango orchard floor

Walking further west away from the Nile, towards the desert mountains (Valley of Kings and Queens) this bizarre scene came into view.

Ever bought a jar of sundried tomatoes immersed in olive oil from the supermarket? The rustic aesetic on the label, emanating vibes of sunny Mediterranean farms with sweet old folk picking, slicing, and drying tomatoes on rooftops from plants they have lovingly tended.  Reality check, this is how it's done.

As you move further away from the Nile the greenery of the land gives way to cream-colored rock and sand and it is here you can find some of the greatest artifacts of the Ancient Egyptian civilization.  

Just below the desert mountain and within the mountians, Archaeologists are still discovering new temples and structures and in some places, you can see the water on the floors of freshly dug excavation pits and older pits with semi-aquatic plants growing. I assume the river would have meandered this far west over centuries, resulting in the burial of these ancient sites.  

As you move uphill away from the Nile the landscape is void of plant life and it seems to be a fitting place to bury the dead. Animal tracks and insect and reptile borrows are pretty obvious as you walk around the landscape so it seems there is life around. 

The transition from fertile land to barren land is almost immediate with just a few species inhabiting the edges, the most prominent in this area being Ziziphus spinia-christi - Christ's thorn jujube a native of North Africa.

Sugar Cane - Saccharum officinarum

Sugar cane has a long history of use in Egypt although the plant most likely used in Ancient Egypt was Saccharum spontaneum which was being cultivated two millennia before its related species, the sugar cane - Saccharum officinarum came on the scene. Traveling around up the Nile generally on land a few km away from the river banks sugar cane is cultivated and this time of year(February) is the harvest season. 

A lot of the cultivation in the Luxor region is small family farms with groups of workers hired to cut, prune and pack the canes. A group of the harvesters invited me over to see what was going on and offered me some cane that can be stripped to the pith and chewed fresh. It tastes great.  

The canes are stacked into bundles and loaded onto trailers, the softer herbaceous growth at the tips is collected and used as fodder for cattle, horses, goats, and donkeys. Nothing is wasted.

Local stores stock some canes and make sugar cane juice for their customers but the bulk of the canes are taken to factories and turned into unrefined sugar.  

This time of year the roads that run adjacent to the Nile are busy with trucks towing trailers,  packed full of sugar cane, to the processing plants. As the trucks slow down in the traffic you'll often see children pulling out a cane or two, faces painted with mischievous delight :) 

That's all for now, during the next post, Dylan comes out to meet me and we head over to the Red Sea, and then into the Nubian desert in search of reptiles.   

Support Our Project 

If you appreciate the work we are doing you can show your support in several ways.

• Become a member of the Bloom Room. A $70 annual or $7 per month subscription to our Substack provides you with access to live sessions, design tutorials, a members forum and more, see details here.

• Make a purchase of plants or seeds from our Nursery or Online Store 

• Joining us for one of our Practical Courses or Online Courses

• Comment, like, and share our content on social media.

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Our Bio-Nursery - Permaculture/Polyculture/ Regenerative Landscape Plants 

Regenerative Landscape Design - Online Interactive Course 

Want to learn how to design, build and manage regenerative landscapes?  Join us on our Regenerative Landscape Design - Online Interactive Course. We look forward to providing you with the confidence, inspiration, and opportunity to design, build and manage regenerative landscapes, gardens, and farms that produce food and other resources for humans while enhancing biodiversity.

Regenerative Landscape Design Online Course

You can find the course details here and at the moment we have a $350 ( 20%) discount for full enrollment to the course. Just use RLD2024 in the promo code  section of the registration form to receive your discount. 

Want to learn more about Regenerative Landscape Design? Join The Bloom Room!

The Bloom Room is designed to create a space for more in-depth learning, for sharing projects and ideas, for seeking advice and discovering opportunities.

Ultimately, it aims to build a more intimate, interactive, and actionable relationship between members, a way for the Bloom Room community to support each other’s projects and learning journeys, and to encourage and facilitate the design, build, and management of more regenerative landscapes across our planet.

What you can expect as a member of the Bloom Room

As a member of the Bloom Room you can expect;

• Access to an interactive forum where you can ask questions,  direct what type of content you would like to see as well as share your own content and projects.

• Monthly live session featuring general Q&A and tutorials on design software for creating and presenting polycultures.

• Live session every month for members to showcase your projects, plans, designs, and gardens, with guest speakers from the community.

• Full Access to all of the content on Substack

• A 50% discounts on all of our online courses

• Future opportunities to join our Global Regenerative Landscape Design and Consultancy Service, with potential roles for those with the will and skill to join our design team.

• An opportunity to take part in the group ownership of a Regenerative Landscape. You will find more details on that here.

Become a paid subscriber to our Substack to join. The annual subscription is currently $70 and the monthly subscription is $7 (monthly subscription excludes discounts for products and services) . You can join here, we look forward to meeting you!