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Permaculture Design Certification Course

Course Location: The Permaculture Place at The Mill in Shelburne Falls, Western Massachusetts

✨ 2022 Autumn Series, Starts October ✨

• Weekends:  October – December
  

  October 8-10 ONSITE,
  October 29 Online,
  November 11-13 ONSITE, December 4 Online,
  ​and December 17-18 ONSITE 

Join us for an inspirational and informative program over a weekend series with Sowing Solutions Permaculture Design & Education in Western MA!

This course is offered as a hybrid of safely distanced, in-person days at The Mill combined with dynamic, interactive online days from home.  Email us to learn about our safely distanced program.

Contact PermacultureSeries@gmail.com to request the detailed info packet, daily schedule, recent adaptations and protocols for health and safety, and to register!

www.PermacultureSeries.org

​This one-of-a-kind Permaculture Design Course (PDC), is a unique opportunity to gain hands-on ecological design experience while studying with leading permaculture designers from the northeast. You will learn how to:

• Design for Abundance    
• Sow Seeds for the Future
• Practice Land Stewardship Skills
• Create Resilience in Your Communities 

​This Sowing Solutions Permaculture Design Certification Course in Western Massachusetts is celebrating over 15 years of Permaculture Education. This course provides an opportunity for you to gain direct permaculture design experience.  Participants conduct a guided design practice alongside leading permaculturists from the northeast. We study numerous well-established permaculture demonstration sites to study thriving ecosystems, water harvesting, community structures, natural buildings, energy efficiency, and more.

Gaining your internationally-recognized certification with Sowing Solutions is an experience of empowerment, support, inspiration and skill building. All techniques, skills, and resources that you learn and gather in this course can be directly applied at your home.

​This course is offered as a weekend course format over a total of five weekends, you can attend either the spring/early summer or autumn/winter series. Learn all about this permaculture design course and register today!

​The Permaculture Design Certification Course is offered twice a year with Sowing Solutions Permaculture Design & Education in Western MA, USA.  We meet for a series of weekends in total to complete your PDC. Choose either weekend series course:  Spring or Fall

Study Western MA Permaculture Demonstration Sites During Our Course ​ 

Studying permaculture while learning from permaculture homes, homesteads, a world-renowned ecovillage, and local farm sites offers you a chance to witness existing and proven permaculture strategies and techniques. You’ll learn first hand about: four-season greenhouses, naturally built homes, forest gardens, annual & perennial raised bed vegetable gardens, community decision making, conflict resolution practices, food storage, renewable energy systems, soil improvement, compost strategies, waste recycling, and more! Our permaculture course offers you an opportunity to observe & evaluate numerous well-established permaculture systems, and learn from them.

Course Topics Covered in our Permaculture Design Course

• ​Mapmaking 
• Site Analysis of:
  • Sunlight
  • Water
  • Access
  • Soil
  • Microclimate
  • Experience of Place
  • And more
• Ecological Design Process
• Permaculture Ethics and Principles
• Rainwater Harvesting
• Soil Improvement Techniques and Strategies
• Deep Ecology
• Agroforestry Systems
• Forest Gardening with:
  • Perennial Foods
  • Medicines
  • Fuel
  • Habitat
  • And more
• Fungi Inoculation
• EcoVillage and Community Life
• Seeding and Greenhouse Tasks
• Natural Building
• Carbon Sequestration
• New Garden Creation
• Practical Skills for Permaculture in Your Home
• Nature Connection
• And Much More!

The Certification:

A Permaculture Design Course Certificate signifies that one has completed a 72 hour design course, a study of the ethics, principles, and design practice of Permaculture. It means the holder of the certificate holds applied permaculture experience and a profound toolbox of permaculture techniques, strategies, solutions, resources, and skills.

Our Course Location:

We are thrilled to be offering our course at the local and inspiring Permaculture Place, a new new non profit center in downtown Shelburne Falls — our new classroom and meeting space at the Mill!

To learn more about this non-profit center, the location of our program, please visit: www.ThePermaculturePlace.org

It’s the home of Sowing Solutions Design & Education, and will be the design studio where students conduct their work for clients during the guided permaculture design process. Shelburne Falls is famous for the Bridge of Flowers and is home to many avid gardeners, artists, farmers, and craftspeople. There are a number of community and residential sites where our Permaculture Design Course students will have an opportunity to design and install permaculture projects!

​This permaculture design course is eligible for 3 optional college credits with UMASS Amherst for anyone enrolled in the 5 College Consortium. Learn more about our curriculum now.  

​Our permaculture design course is led by a stellar team of professional designers and educators from Sowing Solutions Permaculture Design, Regenerative Design Group, Smith College gardens, and more. Discover more on the experience and expertise of our team of instructors now. 

​Learn more on tuition details, fundraising support, and to register: 

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We Also Offer Garden Design, Installation, Maintenance, & Site Planning Services:

Bring your visions for a sustainable, abundant, beautiful, healthy, ecological, low-maintenance landscape into reality! We design, install, and maintain a landscape to suit your lifestyle, and to enhance the unique natural settings around your home. We specialize in edible landscapes, ornamentals, shade gardens, forest gardens, while working with a whole systems design approach. Contact us today to schedule an initial site visit.  

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Recent Community Events (Due to covid19, Evening Events will resume when it is safe again)

 Movie Night!!    ‘Inhabit, A Permaculture Perspective’
​This film was made by Emmett Brennan, one of our Permaculture Design Course Graduates, and it is the best contemporary film about the permaculture movement!

Introduction to Plant Spirit Medicine and Healing Meditation  Join us for an afternoon with Clare Pearson, healer, herbalist, farmer, to share about her training and abilities to work and heal with plant spirits.

 Five Elements & Healing Plants with Herbalist Tom Matherly of Fox Tracks Healing

Additional Topics have included: Rainwater Harvesting, Plant Spirit  Medicine, Forest Gardening with Perennial Foods and Medicines, Mushroom Cultivation, Native Pollinator Plants, Agroforestry, etc…

~$10 Donation Requested~ You are invited!  Please reserve your space by RSVP’ing to PermacultureSeries@gmail.com

~ Email us at PermacultureSeries@gmail.com to request the updated schedule of events ~