An installation of garden beds on contour for an orchard layout during a field trip to a local land association
A session in our classroom at The Mill in Shelburne Falls
Touring The Mill and seeing local artisan's and maker's spaces
A fermentation class at the Sowing Solutions Community Permaculture Hub in Shelburne Falls
Retreat Center Lounge Area for Overnight Guests
Enjoying a delicious picnic lunch at our field trip to Wing and a Prayer Pollinator Nursery and Alice's Kitchen
Still had a blast together for the program, even when we had to meet online sometimes, a few years back....
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✨ABOUT THIS PERMACULTURE DESIGN COURSE (PDC):
The permaculture certification 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, while contributing to a beneficial legacy for the future. During this course we share extensive resources about design to support ecological landscapes and habitats that grow food, medicine, building products, etc, while also sequestering carbon back to our soil from the atmosphere and into our living earth systems where carbon belongs. 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+, forming a learning group of diverse perspectives and skills during our course weekends, and beyond. 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 all act on behalf of this ecosystem and home that we call Earth. ✨ WEEKEND SERIES FORMAT: The Permaculture Design Certification Course is offered seasonally as a weekend series program with Sowing Solutions Permaculture Design & Education in Western MA, USA. Choose either the spring/ early summer program, or the late summer/ autumn option. Our AUTUMN 2025 COURSE DATES : Sept 19-22, Oct 11-13, Nov 7-10 (A Total of Three Weekends) Attend all days to complete your certification. It is possible to miss one day and still graduate, or make up classes if you miss additional sessions. Our 2026 SPRING/ SUMMER /OR FALL COURSE DATES TBA Soon..... Spring: April through June, one weekend a month Fall: September through November, one weekend a month A Possible New Format in 2026: One Saturday a Month, March through December The Permaculture Design Certification Course is also offered as a year-long Saturday series program for 10 months with Sowing Solutions Permaculture Design & Education in Western MA, USA. Attend for a Saturday each month. Send us an email for the 2026 dates. ✨ DESIGN PRACTICE & TRAINING: This Permaculture Design Course is 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. ✨ DESIGN CERTIFICATION: This internationally recognized Permaculture Design Certificate signifies that one has completed a 72 hour design course, a study of the ethics, principles, and design practice of Permaculture. Each graduate will hold applied permaculture experience and will carry a profound toolbox of permaculture techniques, strategies, solutions, resources, and skills. Our permaculture program offers 100 hours of study and guided practice. ✨ LEARN FROM VISITS TO REGIONAL 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 visit, observe, & evaluate numerous well-established permaculture systems, and learn from them. ✨ OUR COURSE LOCATION: 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, with an emphasis on ‘learning by doing’. 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. ✨ 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 Program will be offered at a sliding scale of $1290-$1490. If you are able to pay a higher tuition fee, the surplus funds will support another student in the course. BIPOC Scholarships, Work Trade Discounts, and Fundraising Support is available when needed. ✨ ACCOMMODATIONS: We have reserved a local retreat house that is spacious, safely distanced (with options for private rooms or a shared room) for students who wish to stay in the area for the long weekends. Commuting is also an option. Send us an email to request an information packet for accommodation detail. We often host evenings events and garden tours at this house during the program. ✨ MEALS: Local organic lunches and dinners are prepared for our participants who sign up. |
✨Watch this introductory video about our course This brief video was made at one of our old locations years ago ~ and it was made by Emmett Brennan, one of our course graduates. We are proud to say that Emmett is one of the filmmakers and creators of the film 'Inhabit, A Permaculture Perspective’!