Midwest Permaculture

Midwest Permaculture's PDC
Permaculture Design Certificate Courses

       "This was a life-changing, educational, permaculture vacation." Student

Typically, an 8-Day On-Site Training (see specific courses at left)
Or a 3-Stage Process (break it up over time)
Both Include:
        - 'Foundations of Permaculture' Webinar Series (required pre-training)
        - The full 72-Hour PDC Curriculum
        - Both Hands-on and Classroom Experience
        - Actual Permaculture Design Projects
        - Loads of Post-Training Study Resources

Madison, WI, Permaculture Design Certification (PDC) Course
Location - WI Youth Company: Swale and mini-garden project designed and installed by students.

Instructors
Each of our Permaculture Certificate Courses is lead by either, or both, of of our experienced, certifying Instructors. See our individually posted trainings to see who the instructor(s) will be. But in either case, experience suggests that our students will be in good hands.
           Student Comments About Instructors Bill Wilson and Wayne Weiseman

Permaculture Design Course "Certificate of Completion"
Students who complete one of our trainings receive a signed and dated certificate of completion from Midwest Permaculture.

With a PDC Certificate one may use the copyrighted word "permaculture" in the promotion of their work, craft or knowledge base.

One may provide permaculture design services such as consulting, advising, or actual design plans, as well as offer educational services in the form of workshops or seminars.

Click here for more on Certification

Webinars and Self-Study Make the Course More Feasible for Many --
Permaculture Design Certificate Training (PDC) requires a minimum of 72-hours of actual instruction, exercises and design work experience. Because of this, many or most PDC courses run over a 12 or 14 day schedule. With the pre-training materials and webinars given to our students before a training, we are able to complete the balance of the curriculum in about 8 days.

This means that our students are able to receive a full-certification training with only a week away from home.

All students receive The Foundations of Permaculture Webinars Series (16-Recorded Hours) lead by permaculture instructors Bill Wilson, Wayne Weiseman, and other fascinating permaculture oriented teachers. These webinars complement the course text and give students a great foundational understanding of permaculture in preparation for their on-site training.

Each PDC Course in 2011 will also include 2-live Webinars. See the webpage regarding each PDC Course for additional details and dates.

Who Are Our Students?

We have students come to our design courses with a wide spectrum of experience and knowledge. Some have been working with the land & plants and in different climates, others are alternative energy or green building experts, or others are active community organizers.

However, many, if not most of our students, come to our courses with little of this practical experience, if at all. What they do come with is a strong desire and willingness to learn and a passion to create something lasting. beautiful and beneficial to themselves and to others.

Our PDC courses are designed to accommodate as many different people as possible without holding anyone back or pushing anyone too hard. What makes this possible is the self-study features of our trainings, the on-site flexibility of our teaching, and the wealth of resources that we connect student to.

Course Text For the beginning or modestly experienced permaculturist, the course text Earth User's Guide to Permaculture - by Rosemary Morrow is the perfect introductory and design detail book. For the experienced permaculture student this text is a great step-by-step review of the design process.

150 Permaculture Questions - A Self-Study Guide
How does one know if they have an understanding of the fundamentals of permaculture and of the design process? Each registered student receives a self-study guidance tool of 150 permaculture questions created by Wayne and Bill. As you go through your reading assignments and webinars these 150 questions will help guide you toward the most important things you should know and remember about permaculture. If you can answer these 150 questions, you can be confident that you have the foundational understanding that comes with a PDC certification training.

On-Site Design Work
In design certification courses, it would be easy to spend the entire time in a classroom on lectures. Because the information is so compelling it is likely a student would return home feeling enriched by their PDC experience but still not feeling confident in designing their own projects.

Because we will have covered so much ground before the on-site portion of a course with the webinars and the guided self-study, we have set aside the equivalent of three days of each course for permaculture design exercises and actual design work. Final Design Projects All students will be involved in a group design project (or projects) as part of the training, but we also give students a bit of time to work on a personal design project. Students are invited to bring any diagrams, sketches, plant lists or photographs that will be useful. One might as well go home with an initial design for their own purposes.

Begin Immediately
A student's Design Certification Training begins when they register for a course. Within 24-hours, students receive a welcome email that gives them immediate access to the recorded webinars and links to over 2-dozen handouts from Bill and Wayne to enjoy while waiting for the course textbook to arrive via snail mail.

What Subjects are Covered in a
Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) Course?
There is a lot of ground to cover in a PDC. Permaculture is about looking at ways to integrate many different elements into a sustainable way of living. So even-though we might not go into minute detail in every subject (we would need three months) we do take a good look into many subjects.

Topics Covered:

Basic Permaculture Design Principles

Regardless of the subject area being explored, these fundamental permaculture design principles will be revisited regularly:

• Each function is supported by multiple elements.
• Catch, store & recycle energy and materials.
• Use biological and renewable resources.
• We can turn problems into solutions.
• Mistakes are tools for learning.
• Abundance is unlimited.
• Observe & connect.
• Accelerate succession.
• Use small scale, intensive systems.
• Use the edge effect to maximize yield.
• Each element performs multiple functions.
• Make the least change for the greatest effect.

A Focus on the Fundamentals
What is important to understand about a full-design-certification course is that all the basic principles and ideas behind a permaculture approach or design must be covered to meet Mollison’s requirements for a certificate of completion.  So, it doesn't really matter if you take a design course in Illinois, California, Arizona, Hawaii or Australia. You should be exposed to all the fundamentals which will allow you to begin to create a permaculture design for just about any piece of property or location on the planet.  The fundamentals and the principles don’t change.

Temperate Midwestern Climate
That being said, we still feel that it is nice to narrow down the focus for different courses.  For those folks that have a large piece of land, or those with an acre or two, or those who live in the suburbs or city —  if the course one takes uses permaculture examples that are specific to one of these areas, the student tends to get more out of the course.  It is also a bit of a challenge if there are big climate or bioregional differences between where one lives and where one takes their course.  Again, the principles don’t change but our courses will tend to emphasize examples and factors related to the temperate climate zone that most of the Midwest (and many other regions of the globe) have in common.  If you live in a area that freezes in the winter, our courses will tend to cater to those climate factors.

Certificate of Completion
Students who complete this Permaculture Design Certificate Course will receive a certificate of completion from Midwest Permaculture. Each certificate is numbered and is registered in a students name in our records. This certificate demonstrates the commitment one has made to the study of the subject of permaculture and earns you the right to use the word ‘permaculture’ in the promotion of your work, craft or knowledge base.

Click here for more on PDC Certificate.

Different Design-Course Features

Our courses will naturally vary somewhat by location but the high quality of the teaching will remain the same. The courses differ by:

Continuing Support Following Graduation
Students who have completed a Midwest Permaculture design course are then invited to become part of our growing network of graduates. We have a separate website where all our most recent and past students can connect, share ideas and look for some assistance. We also host occasional reunions for all of our PDC graduates . This is a wonderful way to network with fellow permaculturists who have been through a similar learning experience.

Our graduates are invited to audit any additional 72-hour certification courses at half price (provided that there is room). Our objective is to support our students for as long as they need it or want it, and to encourage them to support each other.

Already A Permaculture Design Course Graduate?
We do offer a 33% discount to students who have graduated from any other recognized PDC course (from anywhere in the world) who wish to take a Midwest Permaculture course as a refresher. The discount only applies if there are open slots in the intended course. Please email for details.

Purchase Foundations of Permaculture Webinar Series Separately $195 Price Applies Fully Towards a Future Design Certificate Course! If one is seriously interested in learning about permaculture but cannot commit at this time to a certification course, the webinars and self-study features of our design courses can be enjoyed now. Students will gain a solid foundation in permaculture from their own home. It includes the text book, the 150-Study Questions and links to over 3-dozen selected handouts. And the full $195 for this webinar series applies toward any of our design certificate courses for a period of up to three years. Click Here to Learn More I've LOVED these webinars. Thank you so much for offering the webinar-only option. I plan to take a certification class within the next couple of years, but these webinars allowed me to really bring together the self-study and in-the-dirt projects I've been working on. THANKS!" Leigh W. (5-13-09) Arkansas http://ozarksalive.org/larrapin/