Why Do A Permaculture Design Course?
Firstly, our Permaculture Design Course comes to you from a place of experience. We believe in walking the talk. We live a lifestyle that we help others to develop. We restore things, we refuse stuff (plastics and new clothing to name a few) and we support living systems. We are serving you from an office based in a 30 year old food forest. We acknowledge and support the first people of this beautiful, unceded land. And we honour the Tharawal people in Wollongong, Australia. As part of our commitment to them we grow, share and promote native foods in the forest. Thank you to the late Terry Rankmore for supporting and encouraging our work.
The most important reason to do a Permaculture Design Course (PDC) is to build your design skills. A Permaculture system is a habitat. It is a place to grow and support life. Whereas everyday actions are habits that help us maintain this habitat. A course empowers you to design a more efficient, co-operative and eco-friendly lifestyle.
And, this course enables students to keep on developing, adjusting and responding to your environment. Our graduates have gone on to develop specialist fields, teach others permaculture, set up helpful projects in the community and run a business related to Permaculture.
Beyond the Traditional Permaculture Design Course
In the 1970s a traditional PDC course ran over 72 hours. The hours will still be the same, But, when you study permaculture online with us you choose how to schedule these hours, e.g. over 3 weeks or 3 months or more. Our students choose their hours, homework tasks and set their timetable.
In addition, we offer very flexible interaction to bring out the uniqueness of student real-life situations and build wealth of shared of knowledge in Permaculture. Some students are isolated (hospitalised or on a remote property) some are living in a busy city. Each student is different and we aim to cater for this diversity to make permaculture assessable to a wide range of people.
What is Permaculture Anyhow?
Permaculture is a way of designing your life so that very little of your effort is wasted. By designing your lifestyle, you become healthier, less wasteful, more connected, and productive. It is the design that makes Permaculture different way to sustain humanity. By using permaculture design we can make more efficient societies, workplaces and preserve the beautiful natural resources we have left.
How will a Permaculture design course (PDC) help me ?
If your planning to run a business related to permaculture a PDC can help you be more professional. In general, a Permaculture design course will help you design a better lifestyle for yourself and family.
One of our fundamental principles is to start small and build on this success. By living a better lifestyle we can then implement the basic permaculture principles, ethics and understanding of natural systems in bigger and more complex projects.
Topics in our Permaculture Design Course
Our framework follows the original guidelines set by the Permaculture Australia way back when we started in 1993. The curriculumn was assessed and approved by the late Bill Mollison. It follows the curriculum in the Permaculture Designers Handbook. But it also provides additional material as developed by David Holmgren and others. And the course has evolved in keeping with technological developments of our times. We regular update course material.
Our permaculture course is different from a TAFE qualification as it is closer to the original concepts and framework for developed for permaculture training.
Topics in our Permaculture Design Course.
1st Module – Introduction To Permaculture
- Quick Intro to Permaculture
- Permaculture Ethics
- Recycling and Environmental Waste Disposal
- Natural Systems as models for Design
- Cultivated Ecology (Zoning, Plants and animals of different scales)
2nd Module – Practicalities of Design
- Soils
- Water
- Forests and Trees
- Aquaculture and Mariculture
- Wildlife Management and Biological Pest Control
- Buildings and Structures
3rd Module –
Applied Permaculture Design
- Permaculture Village Design and Development
- Patterns in Design
- Design for Catastrophe
- Appropriate Energy Conserving Technology
- Supplies – Ethical and environmental sourcing
- Recycling (Community and Industrial)
- Classical Landscape Profiles
- Community
- How Permaculture Trainees Operate
- Final Design – how to make your design.
When do our permaculture courses start?
Because our tuition is one-to-one you can start on any day and pace the learning to meet your needs. You have up to 2 years to complete the course. Participants with special needs are able to apply for extensions. Some participants have completed the course in as little as 2 weeks, most take 3 months part-time.
Our Permaculture Graduate Standard:
We have very high standard of graduates and are proud of them. Many graduates are active practicing permaculture in their lives, writing, manufacturing, or teaching and implementing new projects in permaculture. Student focused learning is core to our teaching method. The course includes a variety of student responses. This is a unique and successful feature of our teaching. This has served to reduce isolation, enhance interaction and build a support network.
We now have students in more than 60 countries. See Our Student Profile.
How our Permaculture Trainees pathway can help you grow
Graduates often start small business using the term ‘Permaculture’. Some graduates teach. Most become active in their community. Many are developing programs to encourage others.
Learn how to write and design permaculture systems professionally for your clients. Also, how to avoid common errors in design for clients, and creating work.
Most importantly, we welcome your feedback.