Permaculture Design Certification Course @ UBC Farm

Tickets and information available here: permacultureubcfarm2019.eventbrite.com 

What we will learn:

• How to read the landscape and consider the needs of a client and the environment.
• How to manage a market garden (planting, seed saving, vegetative propagation, pruning, weeding, crop planning, harvesting, preparing food and eating in community). 
• Why and how to apply Permaculture in rural, suburban and urban landscapes.
• How to teach or work with community in the garden.
• How to consider planning options that benefits the environment and our economy.
• How to plan carbon-neutral landscapes and lifestyles.
• Why and how to design with  and adapt to a changing climate.
• And many more ...

How we will learn:

The learning will be inherently experiential and involve engaging students' head, heart and of course, hands - the primary mediums through which we learn.

Where will we learn:

The course is centred around UBC Farm and UBC Main campus, but utilizes Vancouver City and OUR Ecovillage on Vancouver Island as living examples of Permaculture at work.

What students will leave with:

Students will leave with the essential skills for reading the landscape, developing a conceptual and detailed design plan, and implementing that design plan through soft (plants) and hard (structures) landscaping.

The work spans small (garden) through large (city/regional) scale planning and integrates human systems - water, food, energy, housing and community into a development plan that seeks to support non-human wilderness systems as well.

In short, we explore the design and management of sustainable food, housing, energy and community systems.

Who should take the course?  

Everyone!  Permaculture is becoming a standard stepping stone to support the transformative shift humanity needs to become sustainable and even regenerative.  

In our course we've hosted students and professionals in farming, business, teaching, architecture, fine arts, culinary arts, planning, construction as well as retirees who are seeking a new way of life or a new direction in their career.  Indeed, some businesses such as LUSH now treat the Permaculture Design Certificate Course as a prerequisite for many of their employees.  

If you are looking for change?  We want you!

About the lead presenter (James Richardson):

James Richardson is a teacher, designer, builder, farmer and cultivator of social change.  His research in sustainable food system planning explored some fundamental questions such as what it would take to feed the city of Vancouver and his PhD in resilient regional planning utilized Ecological Footprinting to redesign Wellington, NZ.  He brings an experiential flare to his teachings following a dynamic teaching career in Canada, New Zealand, Guyana, and the United States.  James is a student of Permaculture, natural building, biodynamic farming and brings to the space a deep understanding of the art and science of sustainability.