Midwest Permaculture

Full Design Certification Course
Land Stewardship Center, Columbiaville, Michigan
                           (30-Min. NE of Flint / 1-Hr. NW of Detroit)

Saturday Aug. 14  -  Saturday, Aug.21, 2010
8-Day Design Certification Course with Pre-course Study

Graduating Class of the 2009 Training

Key Site Explorations During This Course:

Willows Earth Education Center Charter school, strawbale building with earthen plaster and passive solar, green roof, cob oven,more...	Land Stewardship Center Our camping host with a solar greenhouse, composting toilet, gardens, woods, pond with Trumpeter Swans, more...
And a 4th Site Visit To Be Determined	Three Roods Farm Organic CSA, vegetables, herbs, berries, sheep, chickens & eggs, ducks, bees, more...

The emphasis of this course is:
   1. Making our small lots and lands economically productive
      2. Increasing their natural health and vitality
         3. Designing long-term, productive systems
            4. Minimizing work and fossil fuel requirements
                5. Creating long term security for ourselves, our                              neighbors and for those who come after us.

As always, the full-design course curriculum will be covered to provide students with their permaculture PDC certificate.

Course Instructors Bill Wilson Co-Founder of Midwest Permaculture with his wife Rebecca, Bill has hosted and taught at over 16 permaculture design courses, holds two PDC Certifications and has completed Advanced Permaculture Training and Permaculture Teacher Training. He is also one of the US-trainers for the permaculture inspired Transition Town Initiative. Read more... Bill resides in Stelle, Illinois   Wayne Weiseman Permaculturist Wayne Weiseman brings his years of design and teaching experience to this certification course. Wayne is a registered PDC teacher of Bill Mollison's Permaculture Institute of Australia.     Read more...   Wayne resides in Carbondale, Illinois Contact Wayne via Email

Further Details About the Course Site - Columbiaville, MI

This small midwestern town, located on a lovely lake (man made reservoir), is a carbon copy of almost 'any town' USA. As an early established community it has tree-lined streets, a modest downtown district and many small churches and parks. What a student learns at this course can be applied to 10,000 other small communities, farmettes and suburban lots across the northern states.

Our classroom space is being generously provided by the Columbiaville United Methodist Church which is only a mile from our camping host, the Land Stewardship Center. Bring your walking shoe and/or bicycles. We should all feel 'at home' for the entire week.

Our host location: The Land Stewardship Center & Tibbits Nature Sanctuary

Additional Details About the Course

Begin The Training Now with Pre-Course Studies
This 8-day permaculture course actually begins with registration when the student receives (within 24 hours) a welcome email that contains

• access to our Foundations of Permaculture webinar series,
• links to over 3-dozen selected handouts
• and the 150-Question Study Guide.

Within a week or so students receive the course textbook,via US Mail.

Course Textbook    Included with Registration 'Earth User's Guide to Permaculture' by Rosemary Morrow This gem of a text, shipped to students upon registration, is written by Rosemary Morrow, an Australian, that has taught permaculture around the world for decades. The book is straightforward and loaded with illustrations, depth and substance. It covers theory and also focuses on the practical aspects of how to implement permaculture design. This book is a must read for the serious permaculturist and is a requirement for students of our design certification courses.

Two Live Webinars:
Besides the Foundation of Permaculture recorded webinars, included with this course will be two-live webinars, both of which will be recorded for students who might need to miss one or both. Here are the dates and times:

Webinar 1: Tuesday July 20th - 6:30 - 8:30 Central Time Zone
A smorgasbord of suburban/urban permaculture applications with Bill Wilson.
Webinar 2: Tuesday Aug. 10th - 6:30 - 8:30 Central Time Zone
A 2-hour Q&A session with Wayne Weiseman and Bill Wilson. Save up all of your questions while going through the pre-training materials for this session.

After registration, students receive full instructions on how to access the webinar classroom. Click here to learn more about how the webinars work.

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/

On-Site Portion of Course:

Daily Schedule
The on-site portion of the course begins on Saturday the 14th at 1:00pm and runs until noon the following Saturday, August 21st. We will have class most days from 8:30 a.m. through 9 p.m. with good breaks for lunch and dinner (you'll want them) and we will schedule an evening off in the middle of the week. As we have shared, this is an intensive training so we ask students to come ready to study, work and learn. There will be plenty of fun too.

Meals
Students receive 3-meals a day along with snacks, coffee, tea and water. Most of the food will be organic and as often as possible locally grown. There will be a vegetarian option at all meals with a meat option at most. Those with other food requirements may be asked to supply some of their own needs.

Camping
As part of the price of tuition, free camping space is available at the Land Stewardship Center, which has a composting toilet and available showers. Students bring their own tent. Remember, even though you are 'camping', your days will be long and you will likely only be spending time in your tent to sleep. No need for pots and pans and all the extra camping gear. Just a tent, sleeping bag and pad will mostly do it. Don't forget your flashlight and rain coat.

Other Accommodations
If you would prefer not to camp, there are local venues that would enjoy hosting our permaculture students. No reason to travel to a motel. One is the historic William Peter Mansion Bed & Breakfast which is just one-block from our classroom space and has shared-rooms (2 to a room) that run about $25-30 a night. If you wanted your own room would be about double this. These prices are without breakfast as we will be serving this as as part of the course.

Another location is a former local retreat center (about 6 miles from Columbiaville - a nice bike ride?) with shared rooms made available to our course participants on a donation basis. Our course host, Peggy, will assist with these arrangements.

Students looking for accommodations other than camping will make these arrangements on their own. We provide a common blog site so that students can communicate with each other regarding shared lodging, travel arrangements or any other such communication.

Group and Personal Design projects
For all PDC trainings, students work on one or more designs in small groups. This is a requirement of certification and the project selected will be determined by the instructors.

Personal Invitation:  If one of the reasons you as a student might be taking this training is to learn the skills necessary to create a permaculture design for your own home or property, we invite you to bring information about your site to the training.  For example, bring a sketch of your property in fairly accurate proportions and/or an aerial view photo or map, a plant list of what is on your property now (does not have to be exhaustive – what are the dominant species – place them on the sketch), note the sunny and shady parts of the property and what direction is south. You should also be as clear as you can be about what your current dreams or visions are for the property.  There will be some time in the latter part of the course where individual's projects can be explored.  

What to Pack & Other Details
About 4 weeks before the on-site training begins, students will receive more information concerning the webinars, what to pack, when and where to arrive and other details.

Certification
Students who complete this design course will receive a 'Certificate of Completion' which permits them to use the copyrighted word 'permaculture' in the promotion of their work or business. Graduates may offer workshops, lectures and design services. Click here for more on certification.

Course Fee & Registration
$1,195 Before June 30, 2010
$1,295 After  

Early Registration Discount - Save $100 before June 30th
We appreciate knowing ahead of time what sort of attendance we might expect at a design course. For those who can register 60-days before the on-site portion of the course begins, they will receive a $100 discount on their course tuition.

Group Registrations - Save another $100
2 or more may register as a group and receive a additional $100 discount each. We've had friends, family members or couples register together and in the weeks before the course, ended up bringing in several more friends, each saving $100.

Call Becky for either more information or to set up a group (815-256-2215).

	Option 1 Click here to register on-line. We take MasterCard, Discover and Visa.        Option 2 Call Becky to register over the phone at 815-256-2215 with credit card or personal check.

Down-Payment / Course Reservation
Our simple e-commerce page is not set-up to handle partial or down-payments. If making a partial payment is an important factor to your ability to participate, please call Becky at 815-256-2215 to work out these arrangements.

Low Risk Cancellation and Refund Policy
Should a student have to cancel their enrollment in the course up to 30-days before the on-site portion of the course begins, there is a full refund less $250. Student retains access to webinars, keeps the course handouts and text book, and receives a full $195 credit towards any future Midwest Permaculture design certification course.

If a student cancels within the 30-day period before the course there will be a full refund less $350 and the student still receives a $195 credit towards our design courses. The credit is good for up to three years.

There are no refunds for cancellations or for withdrawals once the course begins. However, in certain circumstances, we may extend partial credit towards a future design course.

Already A Permaculture Design Course Graduate?
We offer a 33% discount to students who have already received their PDC Certification from another recognized course (from anywhere in the world) who wish to take one of our courses as a refresher. Please email for details.

Still Have Questions?
You are welcome to email Becky or call 815-256-2215.