When: February 17 - April 29, 2018

Time: 9 am - 5 pm

Cost: $575 - Early Bird Discount Price for Registration on or before Jan 1, 2018

$650 - Full Price for Registration after
Jan 1, 2018

Instructor: Adam Dusen

Recommended Ages: 18+ 

Course Details

The permaculture design course, or PDC, is an intensive 72-hour internationally recognized permaculture certification. It's designed to give participants the inspiration and knowledge they need to make a positive change in the world, needed now more than ever. It will give you the skills necessary to design your home/yard/landscape into an ecologically-resilient edible system, and for some, it could be the first stepping stone to a permaculture career in design, education, consulting, or regenerative farming.

This course will be offered as a weekend course designed for local residents who don't have time to take an intensive (and expensive) two-week PDC. This course will be mostly classroom-based but will also include hands-on components. It will go through the basics of permaculture design relating to different climates, energy, natural building, the global climate, social systems, and more. The course curriculum includes:

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• how permaculture started and what it means

• philosophies and ethics of permaculture

• permaculture design principles and how to apply them

• methods of design and how to apply design strategies

• how to mimic natural systems to create better design

• climatic factors and strategies, covering all major climates

• trees, forests, and forest gardening

• how to grow a wide range of easy to care for and disease-resistant fruits

• water: conserving, collecting, reusing in your design

• soil: learn the basics of soil chemistry and biology and how to work with the soil food web to build new soils and repair degraded land

• earthworks: shaping the land to maximize the benefits of your natural resources

• ecological sanitation systems: turing waste into a valuable resource

• aquaculture and aquaponics

• animal systems: the importance of animals in food systems and the symbiotic relationship between plants and animals

• natural building: how to build beautiful, inexpensive, resilient structures using available natural resources

• appriopriate technology: home-scale biogas, solar cookers, rocket stoves, etc.

• alternative systems: alternative economic systems, food sovereignty, community living

• permaculture as a tool for sustainable development: using permaculture where it's needed most in underdeveloped countries lacking basic sanitation and infrastructure

The final part of the course will focus on co-creating a viable real-world design for a site that could include gardens, fruit trees, greywater systems, rainwater catchment, food forests, natural building projects, and more. Participants will have the opportunity to design their own site or a site affiliated with a project they are involved in as part of this final design project.​

Course Format

Classes will be held on Saturday and Sunday on alternating weekends from 9 am - 5 pm over an 11 week period at Hundred Fruit Farm in Buckingham, PA, for a total of six weekends with classes. The course will take place on the following weekends: Feb 17 - 18, Mar 3 - 4, Mar 17 - 18, Mar 31 - April 1, April 14 - 15, and April 28 - 29.  Students are expected to eat breakfast and dinner before and after class. Lunches will be potluck style with each student bringing a dish and sharing with the group. Hundred Fruit Farm will also provide a farm-grown salad every lunch and provide tea, coffee, and snacks for breaks.

Cost 

The cost of the course is $650 per person, or $575 for early bird registrations on or before Jan 5. Most PDCs cost anywhere from $1000 to $2500. Why is ours cheaper? By keeping this as a course for commuters and local residents, we don't need to factor in the cost of housing and meals into the course, which keeps costs down significantly. Even with the relatively lower cost of the course, if you are still struggling to afford the tuition, you can try fundraising your tuition with our friends at WeTheTrees, a permaculture crowdsourcing website created specifically for this purpose.

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Who is this course for? 

​This course is aimed at anyone who wants to live a more sustainable lifestyle, bring more meaning into their lives, build a stronger community, and/or work towards an ecologically responsible future. This course is also ideal for backyard gardeners, homeowners, landscapers and landscape designers, teachers/educators, farmers, community organizers, nonprofit workers, orchardists, horticulturalists, students, etc.

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Course Instructors

The course will be taught by a number of professional permaculturists in the Delaware Valley area and surrounding regions - each with their own specialties and focuses. The main teacher and facilititaor is Adam Dusen, permaculture farmer, designer, educator, and founder of Hundred Fruit Farm. In addition to running Hundred Fruit Farm, Adam helps manage the Panya Project, a permaculture educator center in Thailand, where he still occasionally returns to teach courses. Adam has also served as the Permaculture Farm Manager and Teacher at The Island School in The Bahamas. Check out Adam's full bio here. Other teachers will be announced a couple months before the beginning of the course.

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Do I have to commute?

This course is designed for people who live close enough that they can travel to and from class each day. Some people who live a little further may find that it makes more sense for them to stay somewhere locally Saturday nights to cut down on travel time. We are happy to suggest nearby accommodation for students who wish to do this, but we do not yet have the facilities to host students ourselves on the farm.

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How far is the farm from Philadelphia?

​Depending on where you're coming from in Philly, our farm is about 45 minutes to 1 hour away. 

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How do I register?

​To register, you will need to pay a 10% deposit to secure your place in the course, which can be done at the eventbrite page for the course. Please also feel free to contact us if you have any questions about the course. Registrations made on or before January 1, 2018 qualify for a $75 Early Bird discount. Deposits are non-refundable unless the course is cancelled, in which case you will be fully refunded for any deposits made.