PDC with Starhawk on Vancouver Island April 28-March14

2017 Permaculture Design Certificate with Earth Activist Training by Starhawk!
Register at: http://ourecovillage.org/events/2017-permaculture-design-certificate-with-earth-activist-training-by-starhawk/

O.U.R. Permaculture Design Certificate with Earth Activist Training by Starhawk!

April 28th to May 14th, 2017

*arrive for dinner before 5 pm on Friday, April 28th!

Taught by: Starhawk and many other fantastic guest teachers!

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OUR Ecovillage is proud to host this two-week permaculture design certificate course with a focus on organizing and activism, and a grounding in earth based spirituality. Learn how to heal soil and cleanse water, how to design human systems that mimic natural systems using a minimum of energy and resources, and how to create real abundance and social justice. Explore the strategies and organizing tools we need to make our visions real, as well as the daily practice, magic, and rituals that can sustain our spirits. Participatory, hands-on teaching with lots of rituals, games, projects, songs, and laughs along with an intensive curriculum in ecological design.

About Starhawk:

Starhawk is an author, activist, permaculture designer, and one of the foremost voices in earth-based spirituality. She has lived and worked in collectives for thirty years. Her twelve books include The Spiral Dance, The Fifth Sacred Thing, The Earth Path, and her first picture book for children, The Last Wild Witch. Her book on group dynamics, The Empowerment Manual: A Guide for Collaborative Groups, is available from New Society. She often directs and teaches Earth Activist Trainings, which combine a permaculture design certificate course with a grounding in spirit and a focus on organizing and activism.

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About OUR Permaculture Design Certificate:

72-hour PDC over 16 days & evenings packed with learning from various instructors who are specialists in their fields.

“What permaculturists are doing is the most important activity that any group is doing on the planet. We don’t know what details of a truly sustainable future are going to be like, but we need options, we need people experimenting in all kinds of ways and permaculturists are one of the critical gangs that are doing that.” – David Suzuki, International Environmental Advocate

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The Permaculture Design Course Package is  $1,950.00 plus tax

This package includes
Program cost
Meals plan (three chefed meals per day plus snacks)
Accommodation: includes an indoor shared dorm space or outdoor camping: – bring your own shelter
Indoor Upgrades: please inquire with OUR accommodation staff by either email or phone
For locals who do not need onsite accommodation please contact us
*our booking software will show the price beginning at $1230.00 which is the price of the program.

Course Description and Content:

The Permaculture Design Course is an information packed 72-hour intensive course combining theory with practical hands-on learning. Completion of the course earns participants a Permaculture Design Certificate – the foundation for further permaculture work and study and a prerequisite for the Diploma in Permaculture Design, offered through The Permaculture Institute in Australia.. Participants will learn Permaculture design principles & techniques. The course includes lectures, discussions, hands-on, slide shows, field trips and design projects. We will examine the underlying assumptions of the current culture of consumerism and economic globalization, and encourage exploration of ways to contribute to the emergence of a culture of sustainability, compassion and equity. The Permaculture Design Certificate course covers a broad range of subjects to provide a holistic overview of Permaculture systems and sustainable living. Some of the topics / themes to be covered are:

– Evidence for change & the ethics of sustainability
– Principles of Permaculture
– Observation & landscape analysis
– Ecological planning & design methods
– Organic food production and food security
– Climatic factors in design
– Soils: natural soil improvement
– Integrated animal systems
– Water: harvesting, conservation, and management
– Agroforestry & forest gardening
– Appropriate technologies & renewable energy systems
– Mapping & design exercises
– Techniques and design strategies for both urban & rural applications
– Ecovillages & sustainable human settlements

What is the Permaculture Design Certificate?

“Permaculture” is a copyrighted word. Only upon satisfactory completion of this course is an internationally recognized “Certificate of Permaculture Design” issued. Graduates are then eligible to use Permaculture in the promotion of designs, teaching and landscaping. Following at least two years of applied work, you are eligible to apply for a Diploma of Permaculture Design through the International Permaculture Institute.

Students who complete this course will be able to assess human landscapes and dwellings and then provide design solutions towards living sustainably. With practice and mentorship students will develop design skills that may lead to a meaningful livelihood. All students who complete this certification course leave with a much deeper understanding of their impact on the planet and each other, and with the critical thinking skills to lessen or improve that impact.

Participants from over 60 countries in all regions of the world and from all walks of life have called the Permaculture Design Course “ life-changing, transformative, and enormously affirming.” In the lively company of a diverse group of engaged and motivated women and men with a common interest in the future of humanity, learning is rapid, multidimensional, and long lasting.

Where can I go after this course?

– Embark on new farming practices
– Find ways of dramatically reducing energy consumption
– Begin land-based ventures & small businesses such as: nurseries, landscape design consultancies, etc.
– Realize goals towards self-sufficiency

City dwellers have found that even with little or no land, Permaculture shows them how to work with their home to produce food, reduce energy needs, live more ecologically and in closer connection with their communities. Educators, farm advisers, international development workers, garden directors, builders, master gardeners, and landscape architects have all reported that what they’ve learned in this course has become a foundation for their work. Farmers, nursery owners, foresters and livestock farmers have all found that Permaculture design has multiplied their incomes, reduced their work, and improved the health of their stock.

Teaching Assistants on this course: TBA (if this is you please let us know!).

Ian Ralston has been the main BC Wastewater Reclamation approving officer for British Columbia and has been the lead approval for most of the innovative ‘green’ greywater reuse allowances in the province. With full regulatory authority he has vast engineering knowledge for systems design and installation. Years of practical experience and now teaching has helped to have him become one of the BC Code writers for legal Composting Toilets etc as of 2015.

Gord Baird was raised the youngest of five children, where he spent many hours playing in a semi-rural area of Victoria. As a teenager he was introduced to canoeing and kayaking and became hooked on exploring his spectacular West Coast surroundings. Originally drawn to a business degree, Gord changed his course and instead graduated Simon Fraser University with a Bachelor’s degree in experimental psychology. Rather than continue with a Master’s degree Gord fell into the family auto body repair business. It was here that he practiced valuing and balancing ethics and the environment with profit.

Today Gord uses his hands creatively in building everything from homes, gardens, and jewelry. He maintains that his greatest challenge is to live and lead by example, to teach his children that it is OK to step away from a culture marketing self-importance and consumerism.

Brandon Bauer has been studying Permaculture for 16 years and is actively applying Permaculture on various sites on Salt Spring Island and abroad. Over the last 8 years he has participated in teaching Permaculture Design courses at O.U.R. Ecovillage, The Bullock Brother’s Permaculture Homestead, UBC and at The Blue Raven Farm. He is a naturalist, organic farmer, biodiversity specialist, seed saver, herbalist, and soil scientist. He is the co-creator of The Blue Raven Permaculture Farm on Salt Spring Island. He is currently working with Salt Spring Seeds and Anderson Greenplan. Like Bill Mollison, Brandon believes “we are only limited by information and our imagination”. Brandon sees permaculture as one of the most inspiring and action focused ways to live. He continues to practice what he teaches farming on Salt Spring Island, supporting local food and enjoying the many lakes of the island with his family.

Brandy Gallagher has a deep compassion for people and place, and is naturally drawn and adept to working with and within communities. She is dedicated to furthering the regulatory and legal development of legitimate models of land use, alternative building, socially responsible financing, food security practices, ownership, and governance, while aiding others in finding their way through such challenging areas. As one of the main proponents behind the Canadian precedent-setting rezoning, and with her work in sustainable land management planning and ecological design, Brandy has helped manifest multi-use allowances for ecovillages and shared land projects that encompass a framework of legal, political, and community integration.

Brandy is OUR Ecovillage Co-founder and Developer, was OUR Community Association Executive Director for 17 years, OUR Community Association Executive Director, OUR Ecovillage Cooperative Founding Member, Sustainable Communities Teacher and Consultant, Mother, Resident, and TOPIA: The Sustainable Learning Community Institute Developer.

About OUR Ecovillage:

OUR Ecovillage is a great place to stay. OUR land offers plenty of space to camp, there are diverse natural buildings to see, and we have space for gatherings of different flavours: a large Yurt (great for circles and dancing), a large Community Classroom (for presentations), the Healing Sanctuary (for quiet conversation and meditation) and the Chillage (a casual covered outdoor space). There are solar showers, composting toilets, and a few guest rooms as well. For some quiet time you can walk the labyrinth, sit by the pond, or take a walk in the woods.

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Testimonial:

I completed a two week permaculture course at OUR Ecovillage in August, 2009, and I found it to be both an enlightening and a grounding experience. I am currently studying to become a doctor of naturopathic medicine, and it struck me how the principles of permaculture could equally well me applied to our bodies as to our Earth. Taking the course helped me to expand my understanding of that “health” actually means by widening my horizons outside of just the health of the individual or the household to encompass all the living aspects of the land on which we live. It struck me that we are so willing to spend thousands of dollars on our health, but what about our environment? We can only be as healthy as the land on which we live and the food which builds our cells, so we need to tread tenderly. This course helped me to form a concrete understanding of how to do that. I came away feeling both inspired and empowered to change the world, one plot of land at a time!

The immersed learning environment of OUR Ecovillage had a profound effect on the success of this course, whereby all the students ate, drank, showered, slept, rested, played, studied and worked on-site in a community setting. The Ecovillage is such a serene and delicious place to spend your time, and it illustrates a living example of the principles of permaculture from composting toilets, to expansive gardens, to solar showers to cob structures. My experience at OUR Ecovillage this summer enriched and expanded my horizons and I would take another course or just spend some time at the Ecovillage again in a heartbeat. I highly recommend this course and this site to any person of any age or race without hesitation or conditions. – Sarah Berrett, BSc, ND (Cand) 2009

Sounds great! How do I register?

Register early online by filling out the and clicking the big orange button below as this course fills up quickly.

If you have already completed OUR PDC/EAT Certificate Program consider joining the EDE Program click here!

If you have any questions about the booking process or wish to confirm your booking, please call us at 250.743.3067.