Permaculture Design Certification Course

Join our experienced team of permaculture practitioners led by the Rancho Mastatal team for this annual life-changing 2-week experience. The course covers the core Permaculture Design curriculum (developed by Bill Mollison and David Holmgren) and emphasizes creating diverse multi-functional human landscapes based on ecological patterns.

Utilizing Rancho Mastatal as a living classroom, the class will mix lectures (60%) and hands-on work (40%), exploring design solutions for both temperate and tropical regions.  Putting permaculture design into practice, the course concludes with a permaculture site design for a clients property.

Who should take this course?

• People who have their own land (small suburban plot all the way through to a large farm). This class will give you the tool kit to plan and implement your dreams.

• People who dream of owning land or are actively looking. The class will provide you with the skills to asses and analyze different pieces of land to make sure you get exactly what you want.

• People who are interested in living a more regenerative lifestyle.

• Professionals (eg, architects, designers, farmers, educators, community development workers, social workers etc…) who wish to deepen their knowledge in Permaculture to apply it at work or in their own projects.

This course is applicable to anyone with an interest in designing resilient and regenerative futures. The whole-systems design thinking outlined in the course will give participants the tools to re-design and improve their surroundings; from gardens, farms and homes, to livelihoods, relationships and communities. Get inspired by some of our past alumni!

What is permaculture?

Permaculture is something you use, not something you do. It is not a course on gardening, but rather on how to design a garden. While practical skills and applications of design principals are incorporated into the course, the learning outcomes revolve around understanding and applying the ethics, principals, and methodologies of design. So while you will have a hands on practical session in natural building you will not come away with the technical skills to build your own house but you will better understand the design considerations, patterns and principals that guide our decision to build a natural home and experience the wonder of working with simple, locally available materials. Read more about what Permaculture is and why it is important.

What will I learn?

More in-depth information can be found in our downloadable brochure but some of the highlights include:

• Permaculture, history, ethics & principles – Why is Permaculture important and how we use it.

• Mapping and design – simple mapping techniques, understanding mapping and principles and how to present it.

• Water – its role in ecology, techniques and watershed management strategies

• Soils – understanding the types of soil, how to asses them, how to build topsoil & techniques eg vermicompost

• Growing food – Strategies including: intensive gardening, food forests, orchard design, syntropic agroforestry and more

• Farm to table – How to harvest and prepare your food, including, fermentation, cooking with local ingredients and more.

• Natural building – Passive design, cob building and earth building techniques, natural building design and more

• Building community – organization, decision making process, NVC (non-violent communication) & regenerative livelihoods

• Design projects – Bring all of what you have learnt to develop a design for a local client!