PDC – Permaculture Design Certificate UPGRADE
This course is for permaculture design certification graduates who are looking to refresh their knowledge and apply their skills in an immersive on-land and in-person environment. This unique upgrade course is 59% off of regular pricing for the full Permaculture Design Certification course with all the same lessons, instructors, and hands-on learning. This is an amazing offering!
Earth Activist Training’s Permaculture Design Upgrade course is a most needed and ethical choice for learning in these certainly uncertain times of change. Refresh your knowledge on how to design human systems that mimic natural systems, explore climate change adaptation strategies (and the new IPCC Report for 2022), use a minimum of energy and resources to create real abundance and social justice. This is an ‘upgrade’ course for those who have been working within online PDC programs in particular and are hoping to immerse themselves in OUR “Lawful Permaculture” Demonstration/Research and Learning Centre.
O.U.R. Ecovillage has been teaching this course for decades and is privileged to team up with the Earth Activist teaching team and international learning community for the last 10 years. It is our shared commitment to bring together:
- The knowledge and resources of regenerative ecological design to communities with the greatest needs and fewest resources
- Visionary and practical solutions and personal sustainability to social change activists, and to teach practical skills, organizing, and activism to visionaries
- The political, environmental, and spiritual movements that seek peace, justice, and resilience.
CERTIFICATION
Participants who complete this course will receive a Permaculture Design Certificate, accredited by P.I.N.A. and globally recognized as the entry portal to the world of permaculture design.
O.U.R. Ecovillage is part of the wider weave of Permaculture Design teachings in the world and are accredited through the Permaculture Institute of North America – P.I.N.A. By completing certification through P.I.N.A. you are joining a global movement which:
- Elevates the status and impact of Permaculture by influencing public policy and private development to improve the quality of life for all
- Brings permaculture solutions to bear on the challenges of social justice, land regeneration, and climate cooling
- Promotes permaculture pathways to professional development
- Grants diplomas recognizing excellence and achievement
- Preserves the integrity and quality of the Permaculture Design Course
- Facilitates networking among permaculturists
This course is for you if:
- you completed your Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) online and are keen to get hands-on experience and apply your knowledge to the real world
- you completed your PDC a while ago and you are looking to refresh your knowledge and skills in an immersive environment
- you hunger for face to face connection with a community of people who share your values and vision for a world of permaculture
- you are looking for examples of permaculture in action in one of the Canada’s most renowned legal permaculture demonstration sites and an ecovillages that have been successfully operating for over 20 years
This course is for you if you are ready to:
- Embark on new environmental design practices
- Find ways of dramatically reducing energy consumption and changing your lifestyle
- Begin land-based ventures & small businesses
- Realize goals towards self-sufficiency, homesteading, and a next level of DYI
- Learn Climate Change Adaptation Strategies and carbon accounting
- Find your way into ‘Resilient Community/Lifestyle Design’
- Understand that we each have an important role to play in co-creating the future
In this introductory workshop OUR Ecovillage will focus on organizing, activating, and educating through on the ground permaculture projects. Learn how we design human systems that mimic natural systems using a minimum of energy and resources and how to create real abundance and social/environmental justice. Explore the strategies and organizing tools we need to make our visions real, as well as the daily practice, magic, and processes that sustain our spirits.
This course is unique from almost all others in North America as you are stepping into O.U.R. Ecovillage – a 25 acre Sustainable Living Demonstration, Research and Education Centre.
Through partnering with all levels of government, corporate sponsors, academia, and the grassroots of the wider community projects & organizations, O.U.R. Ecovillage has managed to bring together a range of professionals, permaculture teachers, regulatory folks, and technical stakeholders ready to train others in the next stages of how permaculture projects can become fully legal.
Topics covered in this course:
- Evidence for change & the ethics of sustainability
- Principles of Permaculture
- Observation & landscape analysis
- Ecological planning & design methods
- Organic food production and food security
- Climatic factors in design
- Soils: natural soil improvement
- Integrated animal systems
- Water: harvesting, conservation, and management
- Agroforestry & forest gardening
- Appropriate technologies & renewable energy systems
- Mapping & design exercises
- Techniques and design strategies for both urban & rural applications
- Ecovillages & sustainable human settlements
Investment
Course Cost: $1,555 CAD
(Approximately $1,200 USD)
Fees include the full program, basic accommodations*, meals, and snacks.
*Basic Accommodations include either bunk-bed in our gender-inclusive dorm room or a camping site. Specifics of your choice & space assignment will be coordinated after registration and before arrival.
Get in touch if you are interested in semi-private or private accommodations options. events@ourecovillage.org
About OUR Ecovillage
OUR land offers plenty of space to camp, dorms, private rooms, and interesting suites. There are diverse natural buildings to see and we have spaces for gatherings of different flavors: a large Yurt (great for circles and dancing), a large Community Classroom (for presentations), the Healing Sanctuary (for quiet conversation and meditation), many various natural buildings, the 150 person Zero Mile Eatery, and the Chillage (casual covered outdoor space). There are multiple types of indoor and outdoor showers, composting toilets. For some quiet time you can walk the labyrinth, sit by the pond or take a walk in the woods. You will likely see chickens, ducks, sheep, cows, deer, and much more.
If you have any questions about the booking process, or to confirm your booking, please call us at 250-812-8782 or email events@ourecovillage.org
Related courses:
- Introduction to Permaculture ( 2.5 days) on-land or online
- Permaculture Teaching Assistant Training (for certified permaculture graduates only)
- 2025 PDC Permaculture Certificate Program
Starhawk
Starhawk is a permaculture designer, teacher, and founder of Earth Activist Training, which teaches regenerative design with a grounding in spirit and a focus on organizing and activism. She is the author of thirteen books on earth based spirituality and activism, including The Spiral Dance, The Earth Path, and The Empowerment Manual: A Guide for Collaborative Groups, The Fifth Sacred Thing and City of Refuge. Together with director Donna Read Cooper, she has worked on five major documentaries, including the Goddess Trilogy for the National Film Board of Canada and Permaculture: The Growing Edge.
Starhawk directs and teaches Earth Activist Training and has been recognized by the Permaculture Institute of North America as a leading figure in the permaculture field and has been awarded PINA’s dual diplomas for excellence in education and permaculture site design.
Brandy Gallagher
Brandy Gallagher is a founder and developer of O.U.R. Ecovillage. Her life work has been focused around the development of the ‘Decolonizing of Sustainable Community.’ A designer and educator, she has worked with local and international community builders to create the 25 acres Sustainable Living Demonstration Site and Education Centre.
From ‘Comprehensive Development’ land use re-zoning to incorporating holistic new ownership structures, from governance to building codes, from wastewater to closed-loop systems approval – her commitment has been to ‘Lawful Permaculture’ within the Ecovillage and “re-village” movement.
Charles Williams (Guest Teacher online)
Charles, a certified permaculture designer, comes to EAT through a love of the wild, faith that healthy communities can solve complex problems, and a belief that working with one’s hands is sacred work.
Over the past two decades he has stewarded many pieces of land throughout the United States. His approach simultaneously promotes both preservation of wild spaces and conservation of the domestic. His deep respect for and relationship with the divine in nature informs all he does, integrating spiritual practices with land management.
Mark Lakeman (Guest Teacher)
Mark is a national leader in the development of sustainable public places. In the last decade he has directed, facilitated, or inspired designs for more than three hundred new community-generated public places in Portland, Oregon alone.
Through his leadership in Communitecture, Inc., and it’s various affiliates such as the The City Repair Project, The Village Building Convergence, and the Planet Repair Institute, he has also been instrumental in the development of dozens of participatory organizations and urban permaculture design projects across the United States and Canada. Mark works with governmental leaders, community organizations, and educational institutions in many diverse communities.
O.U.R. Commitment to Decolonizing Permaculture and Truth and Reconciliation
Healing of the people MUST include healing of the land.
What is a land acknowledgment and why do we start each circle doing one? We begin our gatherings by recognizing the longstanding history of the land where we each reside. We name the Indigenous Peoples who belong to the land and to whom the land belongs, and draw attention to the ongoing reality of occupation and settler colonialism.
As we begin any process towards healing the land, we must know the history of the land, and who is part of the land we want to heal. We do this to aim our efforts and intentions towards supporting Indigenous communities, and to inspire others to do the same.
Learn more about Indigenous Peoples of the land you occupy here.
