About This Course
A fermentation class at the Sowing Solutions Community Permaculture Hub in Shelburne Falls
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Watch Our Introductory Course Video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIc4O0-A2Qk This brief video is made by Emmett Brennan, one of our course graduates ~ He is one of the filmmakers who created the film 'Inhabit, A Permaculture Perspective'!!!! About This Educational Event: The permaculture course is a training for people of all ages who are interested in designing their own home and community landscapes so that they are abundant, healthy, diverse, and contribute to a beneficial legacy for the future. During the course we share extensive resources about creating landscapes and habitats that grow medicine, food, building products, etc, and that are also capable of sequestering carbon so that carbon returns back to our soil and our living earth systems where it belongs, rather than in the atmosphere. Our teaching staff is a team of leading professional designers and educators from the northeastern USA. The students who attend our program are typically between the ages of 17 and 80+, and the experience and background of each person contributes a unique perspective to the learning group that we form over the weekends together in class sessions. This permaculture course is an educational event full of information sharing, skill-sharing, hands-on learning, and empowerment. These skills of permaculture are one effective way that we can act on behalf of this ecosystem and home that we call Earth. Our Course Dates: The Permaculture Design Certification Course is offered seasonally as a weekend series program with Sowing Solutions Permaculture Design & Education in Western MA, USA. ✨Our Fall 2021/ Winter 2022 Course Dates are as follows: (Attend a total of five weekends over the spring and early summer seasons to complete the certification program. Some weekends are live, interactive, and online via the comfort of your home, other weekends include in-person days at The Permaculture Place at The Mill!) Schedule: ONSITE DAYS, 9:00-5:00 Day 1: Saturday October 16 Day 2: Choose Sunday Oct. 17 or Saturday Nov. 6 Day 3: Choose Sunday Nov. 7 or Sunday Nov. 14 Day 4: Choose Saturday Nov. 20 or Sunday Nov. 21 IN-PERSON DAYS, VIA ZOOM, 9:00-5:00: Day 5: Saturday Dec. 11 Day 6 : Sunday Dec. 12 Day 7: Saturday Jan. 8 Day 8: Sunday Jan. 9 Day 9: Saturday Jan. 29 Day 10: Sunday Jan. 30 The Fall/ WinterPermaculture Design Course will be a unique opportunity to practice design for a local site in the Village of Shelburne Falls. You will be guided by a team of professional designers to conduct a design from initial site visit to final presentation. All that we practice in the class for the design project can be mimicked at your home landscape. Learn from Western MA Permaculture Demonstration Sites: Studying permaculture homes, land associations, homesteads, a world-renowned ecovillage, and local farm sites offers you a chance to witness existing and proven permaculture strategies and techniques. You'll learn first hand about: four-season greenhouses, naturally built homes, forest gardens, annual & perennial raised bed vegetable gardens, community decision making, conflict resolution practices, food storage, renewable energy systems, soil improvement, compost strategies, waste recycling, and more! Our permaculture course offers you an opportunity to observe & evaluate numerous well-established permaculture systems, and learn from them. Course Topics: * Mapmaking *Site Analysis of Sunlight/ Water/ Access/ Soil/ Microclimate/ Experience of Place/ etc. *Ecological Design Process *Permaculture Ethics and Principles *Rainwater Harvesting *Soil Improvement Techniques and Strategies *Deep Ecology *Agroforestry Systems *Forest Gardening with Perennial Foods/ Medicines/ Fuel/ Habitat/ etc *Medicine Making *Fungi Inoculation *EcoVillage and Community Life *Seeding and Greenhouse Tasks *Natural Building *Carbon Farming *New Garden Creation *Practical Skills for Permaculture in Your Home *Fermentation and Food Preservation *Nature Connection, etc.... The Certification: A Permaculture Design Certificate signifies that one has completed a 72 hour design course, a study of the ethics, principles, and design practice of Permaculture. It means the holder of the certificate holds applied permaculture experience and a profound toolbox of permaculture techniques, strategies, solutions, resources, and skills. Our Course Locations: We are thrilled to be offering our course at the following local and inspiring location:
Learning Environment: We offer extensive design time and practice, as well as skill shares. In this course you may be: mapping, working with solar light reading tools, sheet mulching, preserving and fermenting food, mixing earth plaster, designing a forest garden guild, making oxygenated compost tea, preparing herbal medicine, tending to a masonry stove or cob oven, etc. During class time we will integrate the methods of storytelling, slide shows, films, discussions, hands-on design activities, etc. During breaks are yoga classes, meditations, dancing, hiking trails, permaculture films, etc. College Credit is Available: Our course qualifies for 3 or 4 college credits from UMASS Amherst, available to all students who are enrolled in the 5 College Consortium. Tuition: Our Fall / Winter Program will be offered at a sliding scale of $1025 - $1390. This is a special offer, discounted by $300 during the covid19 pandemic, so you can choose to pay $1025. If you are able to pay $1390, the surplus funds will support another student in the course. (Typically, the Tuition Cost totals $1325 which is the base amount for our sliding scale of $1325-$1600 to cover tuition and lunches.) |
Watch this introductory video about our course ~ This brief video is made by Emmett Brennan, one of our course graduates ~ He is one of the filmmakers who created the film 'Inhabit, A Permaculture Perspective'!!!!