Join us for one or all of these inspiring events!
Learn to design for abundant homes & resilient communities in our weekend series program.
Visit numerous demonstration sites & practice ecological design alongside professional designers.
Apply the skills gathered from this program to your home landscapes & communities!
For More Info! >> www.PermacultureSeries.org
2026 Permaculture Design Certification Course Registration ~ Deposit towards Tuition!
Secure your seat at the upcoming Weekend Series Permaculture Design Certification Course!
2026 Spring Program, Three Weekends in All: March 27-30, April 24-26, and May 29-June 1
At The Permaculture Place, The Mill in Shelburne Falls, MA
~ We will send you the Detailed Information Packet and Accommodation Reservation Info
Saturday April 4th, 10-4: Orchard Care & Pruning Fruit Trees with Alan Surprenant
Learn from expert orchardist and tree care advisor, Alan Surprenant of Brook Farm Orchard!
Join us for a fun day with the trees ~
Location: The Permaculture Place at The Mill
& Brook Farm Orchard in Apple Valley
A class in the morning to learn about root stocks and variety choices, and then an afternoon to learn how to prune your selected orchard trees.
Alan has been growing apples since 1982. He planted his own orchard of 100 fruit trees in 1990. Alan grafted most of the trees himself choosing varieties that lend themselves to organic orcharding practices. He is passionate about
growing healthy fruit and teaching others.
(please contact us for sliding scale options :)
Thursday Eve February 5th, 6pm: These Apples Have Soul ~ Biodynamic Orchard Care with Alan Surprenant!
Biodynamic Orchard Care with Alan Surprenant of Brook Farm Orchard!
Learn from expert orchardist and tree care advisor.
Alan has been growing apples since 1982. He planted his own orchard of 100 fruit trees in 1990. Alan grafted most of the trees himself choosing varieties that lend themselves to organic orcharding practices. He is passionate about
growing healthy fruit and teaching others.
Thurs Feb 12, 6pm: Place Based Resilience in Our Local Communities with Chuck Collins
Thursday Feb 12th, at 6pm at The Permaculture Place in downtown Shelburne Falls: Join us for a cozy evening to hear all about weaving a strong fabric in our local communities ~ through actions such as coffee klatches, worknets, and more with Chuck Collins!
Place-Based Resilience in a Small Vermont Town
How do our communities prepare for a disrupted future? How do we strengthen our civic and mutual aid muscles to enable our communities to survive and thrive in the face of climate disruption?
Over the last two decades, community leaders have looked at ways to strengthen community resilience in the face of future climate change and social disruption. In the small southern Vermont town of Guilford, there are several experiments in building community connections, mutual aid, and community preparedness. None of these are unique to Guilford, but worthy of review for their ease in replicability. Each of the place-based activities has different levels of intentionality and commitment.
At this program, Chuck Collins will report on experiments in “place-based resilience” with the aim of offering ideas, inspiration, and practical tips for those interested in replicating and adapting such efforts in their localities.
Chuck Collins is the author of nine books on inequality and social change including Born on Third Base, as well as his first fictional book. Altar to an Erupting Sun is described: "Collins weaves a riveting near-future story about the power of organized people to build resilient communities and thrive in harmony with the earth." Events at Montague Farm in the 1970s and the Seabrook Occupation are part of telling the tale of a community's response to climate disruption.
Chuck is the senior scholar at the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, DC, where he directs the Program on Inequality and the Common Good. He is also co-founder of Wealth for Common Good. His most recent book is titled 'Burned by Billionaires' just recently in print as of October 2025.
Sunday Workshop Feb 22, 1-4pm: Planting Plans and Garden Designs for Native Pollinator Habitat
Join us at The Permaculture Place, at The Mill, Non Profit Center & Gift Shop in Shelburne Falls, MA for a special afternoon WORKSHOP!
First hear from Amy Meltzer about Gardening for Biodiversity with Native Plants: Providing habitat for pollinators, birds and other essential wildlife
In this talk, Amy will focus on the current biodiversity crisis; the evolutionary history among native plants, insects, birds and fungi, and how these interdependent relationships among diverse species are necessary for their survival. She will show how growing native plants and using ecological landscape practices can simultaneously reverse biodiversity loss, increase resilience in our landscapes, and slow climate change - all while creating a beautiful garden!
Then learn about Guilds of Plants in the Permaculture Practice of Forest Gardening with the Use of Permaculture Principles for Design.
Kay Cafasso will guide us through a planting plan, with the use of rulers to draw your own plans to scale, and with extensive reference lists of plants to create your own design for a site at or near to your own home. We will dive into the nitty gritty of what supports your grouping of plants to be a thriving ecosystem.
About our instructors:
Amy Meltzer is an active member of Grow Native Massachusetts, is on the steering committee of the MA Pollinator Network, and belongs to the Research Team of Elders Climate Action. She has been researching and gardening with native plants for over twelve years.
Kay Cafasso is Director of Sowing Solutions Permaculture Design & Education, ecological garden designer and permaculture educator, as well as a co-founder of The Permaculture Place non profit exhibit and resource center in Shelburne Falls.
Permaculture Design Certification Course
Details Here: www.PermacultureSeries.org
A Total of Three Weekends
2026 Spring Program: Mar 27-30, Apr 24-26 & May 29-Jun 1
~ OR ~
2026 Summer Program: June 27-29, July 24-27 & August 21-24
Offsite Tour: Visit a Straw Bale House
Tour the home of a family of 5 in Shelburne Falls, where they constructed their natural home out of straw bales, and heat their home with a masonry stove.
Offsite Tour: Visit a Permaculture Homestead and Demonstration Forest Garden
Tour a home landscape created by Jono Neiger of Regenerative Design Group and witness efficient energy systems, fruit production, water catchment, nutrient cycling systems.
Farming for Biodiversity
Designing Pollination Systems to Sustain Native Wildlife
A Presentation by Evan Abramson, Pollination Systems Designer at Landscape Interactions
Local Textiles, Bringing Regenerative, Non-Toxic, and Ethical Textile Production Back to New England
Nur Tiven, founding member of Western Mass Fibershed, tells the story of producing the first local and sustainable wool apparel fabric to come out of Massachusetts in decades, and discusses the need for and inspiring possibilities of rebuilding regional fiber systems and textile economies.
Mushroom Cultivation Demystified! Low Tech and No Waste Methods of Growing Gourmet and Medicinal Fungi
Various strategies to bring valuable mushrooms close to home. We will learn the mushroom life cycle, how they are produced, and how you can grow these delicious treats without waste or a big investment.
Teaming Up with Soil Life, Intro to Soil Biology & Chemistry (in relation to the plants we want to grow!)
Kaat Vander Straeten is a certified permaculture designer and a graduate of Elaine Ingham's Life in the Soil classes. Learn all about the soil food web, bacterial versus fungal soils, how to cook up some good compost and compost tea, what earthworms like to eat, and the real definition of a weed.
Movie Night! A Viewing of: ‘Inhabit, A Permaculture Perspective’ See the best film about the permaculture movement,
created by our very own permaculture design course graduate!
Introduction to Healing with the Five Elements Join us for a guided movement meditation and an informative talk with Tom Matherly of Fox Tracks Healing.
Introduction to Plant Spirit Medicine Join us for a talk with Clare Pearson of Wilder Brook Botanicals, healer and educator, who will guide us in a meditation and share about the healing power of plants. “Plants have Spirit. And Spirit is the strongest medicine.” ~Eliot Cowan
Mushroom Cultivation in Permaculture Systems with The Mushroom Forager!
Learn to create a landscape that produces a bounty of gourmet mushrooms while nourishing soil fertility and boosting vegetable yields.
An Introduction to Orcharding and Grafting Fruit Trees with a Biodynamic Practitioner Alan Surprenant of Brook Farm Orchard