Permaculture is much more than a gardening technique. It’s an ethical design science that assimilates land, resources, people, and nature in ways that supply human needs as well as benefit the environment. Unlike specific disciplines such as forestry, green construction, or aquaculture, permaculture melds and molds all of these practices and more into holistic designs. Permaculture instructs us how to build our homes, grow our gardens, foster our properties and arrange our lives such that they fit agreeably into whatever climate or landscape we’ve settled.
Geoff Lawton, a leading figure of the contemporary permaculture movement, is overseeing a full 72-hour Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) course over a two-week period at his world-renown Zaytuna Farm. From the 19th to the 30th of November, Geoff, his wife Nadia, and other topnotch staff will be living and teaching alongside students, providing face-to-face lectures and demonstrations. Three meals a day and campsites, for either tents or campers, will be provided in the tuition of $2,800. Even morning and afternoon tea is thrown in.
The course will delve deeply into each chapter of Bill Mollison’s Permaculture Designers’ Manual, the definitive text on the nuts-and-bolts of permaculture. The material covers the theoretical information on the basics of permaculture concepts, as well as new ways to look at the climate, water, soil, and trees. It also gets into the how-to of earthworks, aquaculture, and design. Then, the final exercise allows students to design their own projects with the guidance and feedback from professional designers and instructors. These folks have done this work many times over and speak with authority and from experience.
Learning to be a permaculture designer is an event, and no one walks away from the experience unchanged. The knowledge gained alters the way we see the world and where we see ourselves in the world. Former students of Geoff have gone on to develop amazing NGO programs around the world, some have developed renowned permaculture sites of their own, and many have gone on to teach courses and workshops themselves. Several of Geoff’s students have written books and become leaders in the field, not just living an ecological lifestyle but earning a living from it.
The permaculture way is an empowering and inspiring departure from the status quo that has been so destructive to the planet and so callous to our fellow humans. Geoff Lawton has lived it firsthand for over three decades (since he got his PDC in 1983) and, for much of that time, worked side-by-side with permaculture founder Bill Mollison. Permaculture is his life, and he has made a life of sharing it with others (over 15,000 students). Very few people in the world can offer such expertise and such an authentic experience of what the life entails.
Spaces are still available.
