Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) Denman Island Summer 2010

This is the intensive two week PDC format following the full 72 hour PDC curriculum as laid out in "Permaculture A Designers Manual,"(Mollison 1983), it will arm you with the skills needed to design for sustainability in any situation and climate.  The course runs from July 4th to July 17th, taught on a functioning Denman Island homestead.  Enjoy the beauty and quiet of a gulf Island summer, while receiving a top notch education in permaculture design.  Permaculture is not just a system of organic agriculture, it is a practical design approach that produces sustainable and positive solutions regardless of where we find ourselves...

Course format and Schedule

Dates: July 4th to 17th
Day off: Saturday July 10th and a half day on Saturday July 17th
Classes starts at 9:00am sharp on the morning of Sunday July 4th. You can arrive on the evening of Saturday July 3rd.  The course finishes at 12:30pm July 17th.

For more detailed information about this course please click here.

Great Value!

Registration for this course includes:

• Over 72 hrs of high quality and experienced instruction
• camping accommodation, please bring your own tent
• All your meals both omnivorous and vegetarian selections, much directly from the garden!
• A copy of the course text book "Permaculture A Designers Manual."
• 13 days in the natural beauty of British Columbia's West Coast

Please note that only breakfast will be provided on Saturday July 10th. Students are required to provide for themselves on the day off. There are two restaurants and a small market on Denman. Many students trip to Hornby Island for the day, which has many great amenities and beaches.

Location:

This course is being taught an a functioning Denman Island homestead with full garden systems, light animal systems and early stage permaculture design implementation. Offering the students great examples of real world design concepts and strategies in action.  The benefits of attending a PDC in this environment are multiple: living and breathing permaculture for the duration of the course; direct experience with agricultural system and permaculture principles in practice; meeting and connecting with like mind individuals from across Canada and abroad.  Come and join us on Denman island for an experience you will remember for a life time and gain the knowledge that is positively changing the world.

Denman Island is a part of British Columbia's Northern Gulf Islands, a world renowned area for its stunning natural beauty.  Be it gathering shellfish, swimming in the mild waters surrounding the Island or walking one of the trails on the Island, Denman offers a multitude of different wild spaces for relaxation and quiet reflection during out of class time. Come and learn permaculture design in the beautiful gulf Islands of British Columbia.

Getting There:

By Plane: There are regular flights in and out of Comox Airport. From there Comox Valley public transit will take you to the Buckley Bay ferry terminal. When you cross Banyes Sound to get to Denman Island we will be their to pick you up and take you the rest of the way.

By Car: Catch the ferry from Buckley Bay, 20km south of Courtenay on the old Island HWY 19A. Once you are there take the ferry across to Denman Island and follow the directions in this google map.

By Bus: There is an excellent bus service from the Naniamo ferry terminal to Buckley Bay. Please visit Island Link Bus for more info. Again when you arrive on the Denman Island side we can come and pick you up.

Car Pool: We will try to connect the car pool network for this course as best we can.

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 term "Permaculture" was gifted to the college of graduates of the PDC. Those who have completed the 72 PDC curriculum as laid out in "Permaculture a Designers Manual" may refer to themselves as permaculture designers and teachers.  Any work that falls within the permaculture ethic may be referred to as permaculture.  As graduates of the PDC permaculture teachers agree to adhere to the 14 chapter curriculum as laid out in "Permaculture A Designers Manual."

The instructor

Jesse Lemieux is motivated by a sincere and genuine concern for the long term survival of the human species. Recognizing that healthy ecosystems equal healthy humanity, Jesse is a committed 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 working experience covers 10 years, 3 continents and everything from small sub-urban backyard projects to large scale community development planning.  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:

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 labor intensive.

Using a combination of classroom, field observation and hands-on activities, your PDC with Pacific Permaculture will cover all of the following topic areas and more:

• 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
• Earthworks and moving
• disaster preparedness
• SOCIAL SYSTEMS
• LEGAL SYSTEMS
• BUSINESS MODELS ECT...

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 looking at 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. Many of our PDC graduates move on rapidly to initiate community groups and viable green business alternatives quickly building a strong resume of advanced practical experience.

"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,  PDC Graduate 2009

Interested?

The tuition for this course is $1400+GST  Camping accommodation, meals, and One course text book "Permaculture A Designers Manual" ($110 value) is included, at no extra cost, with every registration.

You do not need a paypal account to pay via paypal. We use paypal because it is the most widely used and secure internet payment option available.  After you have made your purchase we will contact you via e-mail to confirm your booking. Please be sure to take a look at our refund policy.

If you are not comfortable using paypal please contact us with your vitals (name, address, phone number, e-mail, and car pool status), and we will respond to you within a couple of days with other payment options. Any other inquires you may have about Pacific Permaculture, the work we do, or maybe you are interested to have a course in your area please contact us.