Courses

Our Drylands Permaculture Design Courses provide essential skills for understanding and implementation of good Permaculture design. An intensive course with additional focus on the arid landscape which combines theory and practical experience as a comprehensive introduction to Permaculture principles in the context of arid environments.

In a world out of balance, we are all looking for solutions. Solutions to effective ways of growing healthy, organic food in urban environments. Solutions to ways of farming that can both feed a family, earn an income and build soil fertility. Solutions to ways of retrofitting an existing house or property that results in lower energy costs and better health for its inhabitants. Solutions that use intelligent, thoughtful design principles to build sustainable lives, and sustainable communities in a world of Peak Everything.

Permaculture principles, like any really good design principles, can be applied across any biosphere, any property, any landscape, any city. Permaculture is a network of well-grounded theories and techniques that, over time, result in sustainable and productive systems. Systems for living, architecture, food production, land management and community. No chemicals and no excuses. Just good, thoughtful, innovative and effective design for the needs of our species.

All Australian Farmers, Land managers, any sort of primary producer and also indigenous land managers can all do this course for FREE through the FarmReady scheme. There's even an additional subsidy for travel and accomodation. See out FarmReady page for details.

"What Permaculturists are doing is the most important activity that any group is doing on the planet."
Dr. David Suzuki (venerated ecologist, geneticist, author + broadcaster)

What is a Permaculture Design Certificate Course?

The PDC is an efficient & cost effective means of gaining the knowledge of Permaculture Ethics & Principles together with amassing skills, techniques & a knowledge base for designing & developing sustainable human settlements - from a small suburban home to a broad acre farm.

A Milkwood Permaculture PDC involves daily workshops and active-learning exercises as well as classroom-style sessions, so that students can truly engage with the knowledge content of the course. This PDC delivers the curriculum from The Permaculture Institute of Australia (Bill Mollison). The curriculum is therefore based on Mollison's definitive text: Permaculture: A Designer's Manual.

Why take this Permaculture Design Certificate Course?

Milkwood Permaculture will be running this unique PDC in the centre of Australia's red heart, Alice Springs. In addition to the standard PDC curriculum, we have gathered many working examples of Permaculture in arid landscapes to share, discuss and demonstrate with students.

Although the PDC covers strategies for all biospheres, we will be working with local knowledge and examples that can be found in the Alice Springs area. We will also present Permaculture project work from other arid environments such as Palestine, Jordan, the wider Middle East, Mexico, Spain and Nevada.

About the course curriculum: 

Milkwood Permaculture's PDC course covers the basics of the following Permaculture principles, with additional workshops, practical on-farm sessions and films:

• Permaculture ethics
• Concepts and themes in Permaculture Design
• Methods of good design
• Pattern Understanding
• Climatic factors of design
• Trees, water and energy cycling
• Soils
• Earthworking + earth resources
• Aquaculture
• Design for different biospheres: tropics / drylands / cool climates
• Future scenarios + strategies

This PDC accreditation can lead to further training, teaching, international aid work, local design work or just implementation of Permaculture principles within your own life and surrounds, depending on your own personal trajectory.

About the teacher:

Nick Ritar is at the forefront of the new generation of Permaculture teachers working on the edge of what Permaculture can do to restore landscapes and create abundance in almost any environment on earth.

Nick works and teaches extensively with a wide range of bioregions, farms, watersheds and city environments, and is a leading educator and advocate on how Permaculture principles can provide food security through sustainable farming practices both in country and city environments.

Nick divides his time between Permaculture teaching, Permaculture Design projects, Permaculture consultancy for both the urban and rural sectors, and the ongoing establishment of Milkwood Permaculture Farm.

Included in your course fee:

The Milkwood Permaculture PDC course fee covers your learning experience and coffee + tea throughout the course. In order to keep this course as affordable as possible, students will need to bring their own lunch each day and arrange their own accommodation.

During the course:

Class starts on the morning of Sunday 4th April and concludes in the afternoon of Saturday 17th April, with a day off in the middle on Saturday 11th. Classes run in a rough 9am - 5pm format, depending on the material of the day. Outside class hours, there will be a range of optional workshops, site visits and other interesting excursions for those who chose to participate.

Booking into the course

To secure your spot in the Alice Springs Autumn PDC course pay the full course fee of $1200. Click the green button at right to pay via PayPal or your credit card.

Once you've booked into this course, we will contact you via email regarding what to bring along with you, and any further info you might need or request regarding accommodation and transport to/from Alice Springs.