Join us for one or all of these inspiring events!
2025 Permaculture Design Certification Course Registration ~ Deposit towards Tuition!
Secure your seat at the upcoming Weekend Series Permaculture Design Certification Course!
Choose:
Spring Program: April - June (Three Weekends Total)
OR
Summer Program: July - August (Two Longer Weekends Total)
At The Permaculture Place, The Mill in Shelburne Falls, MA
Sat. May 3rd at 2:00 with Amy Meltzer: Gardening w/ Native Plants
Saturday May 3rd, 2:00 Afternoon Talk: Gardening With Native Plants, Why and How: Providing habitat for pollinators, birds and other essential wildlife
Join Us Saturday May 3rd at 2pm at The Permaculture Place, Inc, Center and Gift Shop at The Mill in Shelburne Falls
Description:
In this talk, Amy Meltzer 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!
Amy Meltzer is an active member of Grow Native Massachusetts, and is on the steering committee of the MA Pollinator Network. She belongs to the Research Team and the Natural Solutions working group of Elders Climate Action. She has been researching and gardening with native plants for over ten years.
Suggested Donation $10 ( Sliding Scale Option)
Saturday MORNING May 3rd, 10:45-12:15, Site Tour to Humble Abode Nursery in Ashfield MA
May 3rd, UPDATED TIME DUE TO WEATHER: 10:45-12:15
in Ashfield, MA
Tour a new perennial nursery and learn about plant propagation!
From the Humble Abode Website: "Our nursery grows perennial food plants. We’re located in Ashfield, MA, zone 5a. We sell plants to home gardeners who want to grow their own food. Our plants will help you move your grocery store to right outside your kitchen door.We grow our plants without the use of poisons. We ship and offer local pick up of bare root plants twice per year, in the spring and the fall. We encourage you to propagate our plants. We want you to reap a bounty, so we share as much information about how to grow, propagate, and eat our plants as we can."
Permaculture Design Certification Course
Choose:
2025 SUMMER PROGRAM
A Total of Two Extended Weekends
July 10-14 & August 14-18
~ OR ~
2025 Autumn Program
A Total of Three Weekends
September 19-22, October 11-13, November 7-10
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