I just recieved the email from geoff lawton, that contained his latest video about the rust belt, as well as a download about his upcoming PDC course. Couple questions to those who took last years. Was it worth the money? I'm sure it would be, but opinions based on previous experience would be appriciated. Trying to get my mate more involved in establishing our homestead. Right now he's all about "whatever makes you happy" mode, which frustrates the hell out of me, Honest opinion, would the vidoes help him see the light? If yes, that alone would be worth the price. Third, any word from any "Permies in charge", as Pauls on Vay-kay or something, as to weather or not Paul's gonna get a kickback from this years sign-up? Would love to help "world domination", if I do decide to enroll. Thanks so much for any feed back. Ray

I have not taken the pdc but this past week my wife and I were gifted two tickets to the permaculture voices conference and I can say that it dramatically changed my wifes view of permaculture. She had the same "whatever makes you happy" idea to permaculture and always was encouraging and interested in what I did, but with a new baby, and her own hobbies she kind of just let me do my thing with the land and was happy i was out there enjoying myself. After seeing Geoff Lawton speak and hearing about the pdc she wants us both to take it! It's a little pricy for us both to do it but i think in the near future one of us will. I think Geoff Lawton is a really inspirational speaker and if anyone was going to inspire your mate it would be him. I would also love to hear the opinions of people past that took it, but from what I could gather from the at least 100 people at PV1 it seemed that took the online pdc it was great, he answered a lot of questions, and had a ton of extra info, and has now said that the past participants will get all the new stuff for free and should really reach out to help answer questions. Seems like a good deal all in all.
It is definitely better now having a mate who is really interested in learning everything about permaculture. We can now walk the land together and make decisions TOGETHER. It has made us both really excited to watch the land transform and she has come at it with new ideas and really made me question some of the plans that i had...and it's just a lot more fun to do this together.

Have you seen this thread ?

http://www.permies.com/t/24555/videos/Geoff-Lawton-online-PDC

Lots of info and reviews from the last class.

I took the PDC last year and thought that it was well worth the price. Geoff covers A LOT of material and you go well beyond the normal 72 hours. He also answers questions that have been raised by the students on the topics. You also get a lot of student to student interaction, which is helpful. He does provide a set of DVD's of the videos covered in the course for you to reference back to. Trust me, there is so much information, you will not absorb it all the first go around. I would, and have, recommended that anyone even slightly interested should take it. I wouldn't wait too long to decide because I think that the class will fill quicker this time since there is great feedback from those that have taken the previous course. I think that what I appreciated most is that Geoff is a wealth of knowledge, full of passion, willing to share his successes and his failures and is humble beyond belief. It isn't about him peacocking or showing off his knowledge (he isn't that type of guy), but it is all about helping people. He willingly and openly shares as much of that knowledge as he can so that others can succeed.

Does your mate have an interest in things? If they have not desire at all, certain aspects of the course might help, but you would have to get them to watch along with you first. You need to find out what one thing seems to picque their interest and focus on that to start with then build, little by little, with them from there. Don't totally shove it down their throat or you might turn them off permanently. Put the permaculture principle of observation to good use with them. Remember, it isn't about getting it all done at once, it is about observing and doing what is right for the situation. Permaculture extends beyond the yard, the solar panels, etc. It can be applied to every aspect of your life.

Thank you Joseph, Your experience with your wife's new interest, gives me hope. He did agree to watch the course with me, and try to learn what he could.
Miles and Cj, I read that thread, before I posted my inquiry. Most of the posts were encouraging, but the last couple, where people talked about selling thier DVDs were alittle unsettling. I couldn't imagine selling something I considered as valuable as those lessons. I tried to read the manual on my own (library didn't get the copy in untill way after they were reading the manual here). I'm really looking forward to understanding everything so much better. The fact that some would sell them (thier dvd's) made me wonder if I'm assuming too much from them. I was hoping to hear from past students, and get a better feel for whether, as the time has past, they feel it was worth it. To which end...
I say thank you, to you also, Jen. Your response, did just that. As to how he'll respond, I'm really not sure. I bought and showed him the Sepp Holtzer dvd, and he thought it was cool. But I also bought the Ernie and Erica RMH dvd, which he watched, and now has no interest in building one. Granted thiers' was a more what not to do, than do type thing, but I also bought the Evanko(sp?) book and he won't look at it because he thinks all he needed to know was in the video. Like I said before, he can be alittle frustrating to deal with. Thanks everyone for answering my post. Can't wait to start the course. Ray

Ray Star wrote: ... but the last couple, where people talked about selling thier DVDs were alittle unsettling. I couldn't imagine selling something I considered as valuable as those lessons.

As to how he'll respond, I'm really not sure. ...But I also bought the Ernie and Erica RMH dvd, which he watched, and now has no interest in building one. Granted thiers' was a more what not to do, than do type thing, but I also bought the Evanko(sp?) book and he won't look at it because he thinks all he needed to know was in the video. Like I said before, he can be alittle frustrating to deal with. Thanks everyone for answering my post. Can't wait to start the course. Ray

I was shocked that people sold their DVDs too!

As for your partner... this can get tricky and there was a bit in the course about permaculture marriages and divorces! My husband has been hot and cold on this stuff. He hated the RMH dvds, mainly he didn't like the fact that Ernie had his foot in our faces most of the time, and he has a point. Also, there was a fair amount of talking stove pipe, disembodied voice type of thing.

It took me 14 years to convince him to let me have chickens, and then I addressed his concerns and got them.

Now I have chickens, turkeys, sheep, cows, and a pig. He gave an inch and I took 10 miles - eventually.

PS. TAKE THE COURSE

I'm certainly signing up this time around. Actually my wife is pretty excited to learn along with us. Oh... My kids are Geoff Lawton super fans. They love everything thing he says and does. They imitate him all the time. It's hilarious to watch them do a commentary about making swales in their bowls of oatmeal at breakfast. We're doing this all together now but it took about 3 years for my wife to really start seeing the value in my "crazy talk". I wasn't ever pushy about it. I just took on small projects that I could handle on my own and that didn't cost much. There were times when she was looking at me like "Why the hell are you walking across the field with a giant wooden A?" But when the basement stopped flooding, she understood what I was up to. As I started doing things that saved us money and improved our life together, I slowly turned her into one of us... one of us... one of us....
I could see how somebody diving in head first could lose a partner who doesn't share their enthusiasm right off the bat. If you're in a position where your partner is neutral about it, just don't push them off the other side of the fence. Last year I wanted to take the PDC but decided to wait for a lot of reasons. Now I'm glad I waited. We'll certainly get more out of it this year as a family than we would have last year.

The videos were a huge part of getting my wife and kids interested. When you can see the results of permaculture thinking right in your face, it's hard to deny that it works. Here's a thread I started about Progress over three years

I signed up the first day for Geoff's online PDC and I am super excited!
Geoff is a great resource and a wealth of knowledge and what he has done so far is inspiring.

I just discovered Permaculture in November. Altho I barely had enough money to pay upfront (he does offer a 3 payment plan) I have no doubt it will be worth it for ME.

I have started the Introduction and after reading the syllabus I am impressed with what he has put into the course. And I really like the layout & design of the site.

And he is adding his Earthworks course and he has added his 'Reading The Landscape' course too which I look forward too.

If I do well with this course I think I'm going to make a career change for the better, and since I'm already self-employed that should be a help for me.