Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) Denman Island Spring 2010

This is the full length 72 hour PDC curriculum as laid out in "Permaculture A Designers Manual,"(Mollison 1983), and will arm you with the skills needed to design for sustainability in any situation and climate.  The course schedule is divided into three 24hr modules.  It is taught in this part time format to increase accessibility the time constrained urban dweller.  Permaculture is not just a system of organic agriculture, it is a practical design approach that brings sustainable and positive solutions regardless of where we find ourselves...

Part Time Format:

Week 1: March 6th to 11th
Week 2: March 27th to April 1st
Week 3: April 17th to 22nd

Each module runs from Saturday to Thursday:
Saturday and Sunday 9:00 am to 5:00pm
Monday through Thursday 6:00pm to 9:00 pm

Location:

All classroom sessions will be held in the Back Hall.
There will be some class time in the field. Dates and location of these sessions will be announced in class.

Permaculture Design Certificate:

Upon successfully completion of the PDC you will receive a certificate in Permaculture design. You MUST attend all class time and participate in the presentation of a completed design project exercise.  As a successful student of the Permaculture Design Certificate, you will be propelled into action by new insights and strategies for turning the problems of today into the solutions of tomorrow. The permaculture design certificate is taught to teach new teachers and designers.  The Permaculture Design Certificate is a the prerequisite for earning a Diploma in Permaculture through the Institute in Australia

The instructor, Jesse Lemieux, is a full time permaculture educator and designer.  Born on the west coast raised in western Canada, Jesse's work in the field has taken him to British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Australia and the Middle East.  The breadth of his experience covers small sub-urban backyard projects to large scale community development planning and everything in between.  He brings a comprehensive understanding of Permaculture design to the classroom and sound understanding of design for the three major climate zones on the planet: Arid, Cool Humid, and Tropical/Subtropical.

An inspiring teacher Jesse's style is a healthy mixture of theory and practice, which utilizes picture slides, schematic diagrams and hands on activities to demonstrate design concepts.  Design exercises are used often to help students integrate theory, and the classroom setting is open and comfortable to encourage discussion and exploration of permaculture design strategies and concepts.

On Course Content:

It has been brought to our attention by some of our past students that they where not expecting such a heavy load of in classroom time.  None of our students have ever been disappointed with the course content, just surprised.  Most imagined two weeks working with shovels out in the garden.  While this activity is helpful that this type of learning without proper context limits the student's understanding of critical permaculture concepts. Consider sheet mulching or double dig both great techniques for gardening. However, either applied in the wrong situation can prove inappropriate.

 Our permaculture design certificate gives students the tools to think outside the box so that they can deal with any design situation.  Permaculture design is a holistic system of decision making that can be applied to the development of any human system.  It is not a catalog of gardening and building techniques.  It is information intensive, not labour intensive.

Any real world design may included rain water catchment, organic gardening, soil biology, sustainable energy systems, solar passive house construction, renewable fuel production, waste water treatment systems, forestry, animal systems, transportation, SOCIAL SYSTEMS, LEGAL SYSTEMS, BUSINESS MODELS ect... All of the above mentioned fields will be covered and explored during a PDC.  It is not possible for anyone person to be an expert in more than one or two of these fields.

 The role of a permaculture designer is to understand how, why, when, and where any of the above mentioned elements fit together in an integrated and self managing system.  Permaculture is the connections between things, not the things themselves.  Once you have completed a PDC you will have a new way of framing the world around you.  Rather than taking a design problem at the first glance you will think laterally around the problem, this is where positive solutions are waiting to be found.  It is the responsibility of the student to seek meaningful practical experience after graduating from a PDC.  A high percentage of PDC graduates build a strong resume of practical experience with in a year or two.

"I had been reading about and tinkering with permaculture for over 10 years before taking the PDC with Jesse.  I expected most of the material to be familiar and the PDC to mainly be a good refresher.  I couldn't have been more wrong - the PDC completely blew me away!  It helped me to integrate everything I had been learning the last 10 years at a really deep level and gave me a great deal of confidence in applying the principles and practices of permaculture to every aspect of my life.  Jesse is an inspiring and very approachable teacher who has a real passion for permaculture and really lives by it's ethics and principles."
- Nickolas Grabovac, Vancouver, Pacific Permaculture  PDC Graduate 2009

Interested?

Please contact us. 
250-650-1424