This full 72-hour certified Permaculture Design Course will be held at the site of a new and exciting permaculture project to the NE of Bangkok, in the province of Korat.  The project had a full integrated permaculture design drawn up, and will be almost one year in on the implementation of that design.  There will be fresh earthworks, recently planted food forest, and rice just coming out of the fields. This backdrops allows for an amazing place to host a PDC course as the work will be happening all around you during the course.  You will have the opportunity to participate in a number of aspects of that implementation, including the construction of zone one garden beds, building compost, planting the zone 1 area and mulching the food forest.

In the week following the course, students are invited to join a Permaculture in Practive at the Panya Project in Chiang Mai, get hands on experience in a six year old permaculture setting, and to ring in the Mayan New Year!

The course will consist of a broad range of topics applicable to life anywhere on this planet, yet will be tailored to the needs of the students present as well as the location at hand.  As part of the course, participants will help to co-create designs for real world projects that could include elements like tropical food forests, permaculture-style gardens, natural buildings, water catchment and irrigation systems.  All will have an opportunity to take part in permaculture activities on the hosting land.

The course will be conducted in the internationally accepted manner.  The 72 hours of course work required to receive a Permaculture Design Certificate, will be covered over a two week period, mixing hands-on with plenty of in classroom studies.  All students are required to be present for the full two weeks if they wish to receive the certificate.

Permaculture courses are fairly standardized as far as content.  We will cover every major topic in Bill Mollisons: Permaculture: a Designers Manual.  So quickly what that includes is the following:

1. Philosophies and Ethics underlying permaculture.

2. Basic permaculture principals.

3. Patterns in Nature and how to use that in design.

4. Methods of design.  How to go from a damaged piece of land to having an idea for how to move forward with it.

5. Climactic factors.  We will cover all the major climates and how to work with them.

6. Trees, forests and why we want to mimic their systems.

7. Water: catchment, usage, importance, and conservation.

8. Soil, minerals, microorganisms, building new soil and preventing erosion.

9. Earthworks: how to shape the land to help it achieve the goals we are aiming for.

10. Aquaculture

11. Natural Building

12. Alternative systems: community living and other ways of choosing to live differently that works well for people and the planet.

Each of these categories has subcategories and each teacher also has their own additions and certain topics that are stressed over others

We would like to  continue to offer half price for people working with NGO’s.  We appreciate what you do and this is just one way we can thank and support you. We are looking forward to expanding our own knowledge and depth of permaculture, creating an amazing example of it ourselves and sharing the bounty with the global sustainability community and beyond!

(The costs for courses at this new site are higher, because we believe that at this critical time in the projects life, it offers an amazing learning environment for the PDC student, but also there are two other reasons for the higher prices.  One is that it is a new site, so lots of money has to be spent on infrastructure to make it a very functional educational space, and that is being done.  The second is that the US$ is losing value.  The change in US$ price only reflects the fact that the dollar is dropping in value and thus we have to accept more of it for equal value.)

Permaculture In Practice

Following this PDC course, participants are invited to take a four day blast of permaculture in practice at our six year old site in the Chiang Mai region.  This course gives you the opportunity to experience a permaculture site after more years of implementation, as well as get experience with the hands on work that goes into running a permaculture farm, including prepping new garden beds for planting.  Making compost, a bit of natural building and plasters, as well as work in the food forest.

Also part of this course will be a pizza party and celebration of the end of the Mayan Calendar, December 21, 2012.  What better place to do it than in a sustainability education center!

Costs: The two week certified PDC course:

Regular course price: __________29,700Baht (US$990)

NGO special price*:_________14,700Baht (US$490)

4-day permaculture in practice at Panya Chiang Mai:

4-day P-i-P only:__________________6,000Baht ($200)

Full Package Price – PDC + PiP:___________ 32,700Baht (US$1090) – save $100

NGO package price* PDC + PiP:_______________ 20,700Baht (US$590) – save $100

These prices include all meals and a place to stay for the duration of the course.

We ask all registrants to make a deposit of US$200 to secure your spot.

*If you work for an NGO and believe that permaculture could help your organization achieve its goals, please contact us about the NGO discounted rate.The intention of the NGO discount is to give back to those folks who have given their life or some portion of their life to better the world or the lives of others.  Most NGO workers make very little money, but we would like them to still have the opportunity to learn and apply the skills of the PDC course.

If you simply volunteer for an NGO occasionally, we really appreciate your work as well, but this does not qualify you for the discount. Almost all PDC students volunteer a part of their time. That is just the kind of person who tends to take these courses.

Visit our Website at www.raktamachat.org