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Urban Hands-On Permaculture Design Course 2021

Now with a short video showing what students say about our courses.
 
We hope you will join us at our six month in-depth Hands-on Urban Permaculture Design Course. It runs the first weekend of each month, from Feb 6 to June 5 with the last class ending on w/e Sun Jun 27, 2021. The class will start in St Petersburg, FL, and usually ends on our farm in Brooksville. (Students can give input on the location.)
 
This is Grow Permaculture’s 28th internationally recognized Permaculture Design Course, based on Bill Mollison’s work. This course will be held at our farm in Brooksville and in Lakewood United Church in St Petersburg, FL, giving people an opportunity to see permaculture in action on the farm, and also studying in an urban environment.
 
The course is designed to offer multiple opportunities including career mentoring and pathways, community building opportunities, resource networking, and skill building. It is extended over six months to give students maximum time to absorb the information and put it into practice. This also allows people with busy schedules to take the course. It is possible to make up classes if one cannot make every weekend, we work with students to get you through the materials. The course will meet the first weekend of every month.
 
There are volumes of material on permaculture on the internet. Our course offers focused and relevant written material, hands on practice, and interactive learning that will aid students to master and apply key concepts. Materials are designed to guide students in continuing their education after the course, and we also offer apprenticeship opportunities. Instructors are veteran, professional designers and educators who have a wide range of on-the-ground design experience; this experience can help you shorten your learning curve, time, and expense significantly.
 
By cooperating with nature and her energies, we are able to design our lives, from backyard gardens and food forests to neighborhoods, farms or even cities to be more abundant, more sustainable, healthier, and more enjoyable. It is a cutting edge approach to living that helps both people and the environment. This course is life changing for many people.
 
We incorporate multiple learning styles including hands on, visual aids, immersion, lecture, interaction, and more. Our choice of materials, videos, expert speakers, when feasible - field trips, focused hands on activities (that give you step by step useful skill sets), Florida-specific information, written materials, networking and career opportunities, and design tools are the result of this feedback. We live in this community and care about its future and we continue to work with graduates in the community to create something better, together. We also offer assistance in coordinating carpooling and housing during the class between student and graduates who live locally. 
 
Homes, work places, gardens, farms, ranches, communities, businesses, local economies, or cities that are designed with permaculture principles and techniques are more resilient; they use resources in a regenerative way, ensuring that we, our children and our grandchildren will have access to all the resources we need. By incorporating people care into the equation, this process becomes deeply enjoyable too.
 
This course attracts students from all over Florida and beyond. Students meet others who think like they do, and often make life long friendships during the course; some find new career or lifestyle opportunities. Be the change you would like to see, and be effective at it, by designing that change!
 
St Petersburg is one of the most active cities in Florida on the sustainability front, hosting many great regenerative projects. Our farm is located in a unique sandhill pine-oak ecosystem in Florida. We have many beautiful oak and pine trees on the site, native wildlife including protected species, and wild edibles such as pawpaws, wild cherry, and dewberries. In addition we have chickens and bees. We have many beautiful parks nearby including springs that manatees visit regularly, rivers, bike trails, and the Gulf of Mexico.
 
Instructors: Koreen Brennan, Steve Szmidt, Diane Willis, Laura Oldanie, others to be announced.
 
We continue to refine and expand our curriculum based on feedback from dozens of students regarding what helps them learn best. We incorporate multiple learning styles including hands on, visual aids, immersion, lecture, interaction, and more. Our choice of materials, videos, expert speakers, when feasible - field trips, focused hands on activities (that give you step by step useful skill sets), Florida-specific information, written materials, networking and career opportunities, and design tools are the result of this feedback. We live in this community and care about its future and we continue to work with graduates in the community to create something better, together.

 

Some of the subjects covered include:

  • Permaculture design ethics and principles.
  • Creating abundance with natural patterns.
  • Nutrient dense "beyond organic" gardening and farming.
  • Grow more food with less work by working with nature.
  • Edible landscaping, food in small spaces.
  • Building rich, live soils.
  • Designing sustainable water use.
  • Greywater and rainwater catchment.
  • Building food forests.
  • Agroforestry and ecoagriculture, regenerative farming.
  • Aquaculture.
  • Composting and vermicomposting.
  • Alternative pest management.
  • Natural building, regenerative building technology.
  • Reducing energy costs in your home.
  • Best forms of sustainable energy.
  • Appropriate technology.
  • Boosting your career with permaculture.
  • Sustainable economics.
  • Increasing quality of life through “placemaking” design.
  • Community revitalization and rebuilding.
  • Successful intentional communities, ecovillages and cohousing, urban and rural.

 

Take advantage of the early bird rate of $1,095 until Dec 31. The full rate is $1,295. This cost covers course materials, field trips, snacks and when visiting the farm - lunch, mentoring and all classes. Our courses are an investment in yourself and your future - you will make and save far more than the course cost, to the degree you use the information in the course. A non refundable deposit of $300 will hold your spot. (Please note payment must be made in full by Jan 1, 2021. No refunds after Jan 1, 2021.)

Payment plans, work study and scholarships may be available, please ask.

SUAC members receive an additional $100 off the price, including any Early bird discount.

This course exceeds the requirements laid out by permaculture founder Bill Mollison for the internationally recognized 72 hour Permaculture Design Course. The training provides a deep and wide overview of permaculture design, focusing on skill sets you can apply immediately. It is a thorough introduction to a subject that has many levels and areas of expertise and professional practice. Further study is available through our apprenticeship programs and advanced study. 

Location: Initially United Church of Christ, 2601 54th Ave S, St Petersburg, FL 33712.

Due to construction a new location had to be secured:
3736 23rd Ave N, St Pete, FL 33713

Some later classes will be on Our Permaculture Farm, 11251 Salina St, Brooksville, FL 34614, to be announced.

 

Sat & Sun Course Dates (2021):

First weekend of each month on Saturdays & Sundays 9am - 5pm, [Note change in first and last dates.]

  • Feb 6-7
  • Mar 6-7
  • April 10-11 [Changed]
  • May 1-2
  • June 5-6
  • June 26-27

There may be additional opportunities for field trips and apprenticeship actions, to be announced.

To register for the course, pay via our PayPal button on the right side of this web page. For questions or to register outside of PayPal, contact Steve at: 727-495-6145 or courseinfo at growpermaculture dot com.

 

Who Takes This Permaculture Design Course?

  • Artists.
  • Do it yourselfers.
  • Educators – homeschool, teachers, professors.
  • Gardeners.
  • Green architects/builders.
  • Green businesses.
  • Green consultants.
  • Homesteaders.
  • Landscapers.
  • Natural health practitioners.
  • Non-profit/community organizers.
  • People seeking a career change.
  • People who care about the earth and each other.
  • People who love healthy food.
  • Permaculturists.
  • Policy makers.
  • Professionals (of many types).
  • Recent college graduates.
  • Religious leaders.
  • Students.
  • Urban and rural farmers.
  • Vegan, raw food, slow food, and/or local food.
  • Yoga practitioners.

 
 

Here’s what our graduates say:

 "This course changed my life forever. It changed the way I look at everything, and gave me tools to address problems I thought had no solutions. It reinvigorated my connection to, respect for and love of the natural world and increased my understanding of it tremendously. It made me feel powerful and able to change things rather than helpless or apathetic. It gave me hope again, a renewed purpose for life and so many tools that I never dreamed existed! It brought back magic to my life, lightness, and fun! GH

 "This course is the most exciting one I’ve ever attended because it’s all about finding solutions and connecting people together. JJ

 "I’ve had my permaculture friends tell me this course changed their life. I never understood why, or what the fuss was about, until I did the course myself. It is a paradigm shift to a much nicer and better paradigm. Don’t hesitate to do this course! DM

 "I really enjoyed the whole PDC experience. I knew I would, but it was even better than I had thought. I loved the detailed theoretical classes in which I learned how to build soil, how to make it faster than it would happen naturally, how plants benefit each other. I also liked the hands on experiences a lot, it made many concepts so much clearer. I enjoyed the teacher’s methods, and the warmth of the teachers’ helpers. It was a learning experience in every single level not to mention a great opportunity to meet nice people and grow.  Thanks!!! MM 

 "I am so grateful for your instruction Koreen, truly a wonderful and transformational experience. I will treasure and put in practice the permaculture ethics & principles every day, integrating them in my immediate environment and eventually reach out to my community. Thanks again for the excellent course, honored to have your friendship and be a part of the Grow Permaculture tribe. MO 

 "After participating in Grow Permaculture’s PDC, I feel confident that I can accurately evaluate a variety of sites and come up with integrated, sustainable designs. LB 

 "The instructors have a wealth of knowledge and it’s clear they really want to share. I feel confident, after attending their PDC course, that I could make basic designs that would work well for any potential client. Knowing that they will review any plans encourages me to jump right in and design! MN 

 "The unity of the group was awesome. The shared knowledge very inspiring. Learning this way with the hands on demonstration, I could understand more of the school. And thank you so much for all your teachings and welcoming of my son in the class.  Very grateful, DM 

 "I would highly recommend this course, taught by Koreen and her associates to anyone who has great concern for the future of this planet and the destructive path it is on. Permaculture is the solution we have all been waiting for. As permaculturists, “We are the ones we have been waiting for” to save ourselves from ourselves. Koreen is incredibly knowledgeable and has experienced many areas of the world first hand. If you have been feeling at a loss and discouraged this is your last chance to educate yourself as if the earth herself were revealing her deepest secrets on how you can help her. This is what permaculture is. Grow Permaculture far exceeded my expectations, even after years of experience working with organic gardening methods already. This is just the tip of the iceberg on how much is available for you to learn as you will find out. The depth of how very differently agriculture and water managment and land useage really need to be can’t be stressed enough. SK 

 "Thank you very much for this amazing course. The setting was ideal. The fact of being able to practice on real ground was invaluable. The presentation was very lively and instructive and really opened my eyes on how good design takes care of both the earth, the people and creates a surplus without waste. I love permaculture principles and how thoroughly and thoughful they are and how caring. JB 

 "I am Graduate of Grow Permaculture’s Permaculture Design Course. I am very impressed with the quality and professionalism that I experienced during the course. I learned so much and thoroughly enjoyed every minute. It was a great balance of theory and practical training. I feel very prepared and confident going forward with the new knowledge I have. I have made some very big improvements in the way my company conducts business. Our business is all about tree preservation & creating a healthier planet. I acquired the knowledge and ability to create a “truly” regenerative company. I am very grateful for the expert knowledge, compassion and competence of my teacher & Mentor, Koreen. Thank you for creating a better planet one student at a time. NN 

 "The value of this course is worth far more than its cost. The knowledge gained is really priceless. There is so much information provided that is life changing and really valuable. I was told that I can save more than the cost of the course if I use only a portion of the information provided. This was true, but what wasn’t said is that I got something from it that is really hard to put a price on which is life long friends, and a new, creative view about life. CS