Nanaimo Part Time Permaculture Design Certificate 2012

 

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Once in a lifetime opportunity focusing on hands-on,

theory based learning in a permaculture site in

Nanaimo, Vancouver Island, BC.

 

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Hi, my name's Javan (that's my mug on the right, both of them) and I have a few questions for you...

 

Do you have the tools necessary to take care of yourself, family and community in our chaotic world?

Do you find mercury filled CFL light bulbs, only watering your lawn once a week and an emphasis on recycling as a primarily solution a little laughable in light of our current situation?

Do you want to learn what David Suzuki has called "the most important activity that any group is doing on the planet"?

If so, we may have something that might interest you, just a little.

 

A course like none other and an experience that will leave you inspired and armed with the tools for a happy, healthy and wealthy life in uncertain times. 

I want to tell you all about this course and why we think it will be an experience that will not only change your summer but (bold claim alert) just maybe your life.

 

Now we know that this course might not be for everyone. Take a moment and read below to see if the method of the course and content is what you're looking for.

 

This course might be a great fit if you . . .

• see the incredible issues with the way the world is now and know that “we have to and can do things differently.”

• feel drawn to learning permaculture (even if you don't know why).

• are open minded and excited to learn new things and have old ideas challenged.

• love the idea of getting your hands in the dirt.

• are passionate about sustainability and how to leave this world a little better than you found it.

• are ready for a change in your life.

• enjoy new ideas and being the cutting edge of a wildfire movement.

• are at a boring work function and hear someone talking: gardening, a fruit you've never heard of, the state of the world, financial instability and how we can begin to manage it, flooding and practical solutions or regerenative agriculture and you think "this might not be another boring work function after all..."
  

 

Never been a gardener before? Sustainability a new word? Forget about it (said in a bad italian accent). Permaculture is tailored to students who are brand new and those who've been working in related fields for years.

We know that most are A-type personalities when it comes to the "nuts and bolts" of the course so here they are in all their exposed glory.

 

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When:

Delivered over 6 weekends this course caters to urban students with time constrictions. This part time format provides time for students to digest and integrate the incredible amount of knowledge provided with two-week comprehension breaks between sessions spread over March, April and May:

 

Week 1: March 3-4                Fundamentals, Design & Patterns in Nature

Week 2: March 17-18            Climatic Factors & Trees

Week 3: March 31 - April 1    Water & Soil

Week 4: April 14-15               Earthworks & Regional Strategies

Week 5: April 28-29               Urban Community & Aquaculture

Week 6: May 12-13               Strategies for Implementation & Presentations

(celebration and party the evening of Saturday April 12^th)

 

Each weekend will follow this schedule:

Saturday 9am sharp – 5pm

Potluck Dinner, evening session 6-9pm

Sunday 9am sharp – 5pm

 

Prepare yourself for class with good rest, nutritious food, plenty of water and a desire to learn. Participants will need to bring lunch for both days and a potluck item for Saturday’s potluck dinner between the afternoon and evening sessions.

 

Where:

All in-class instruction will be hosted onsite at Pacific Gardens Co-Housing Community in Nanaimo, Vancouver Island, British Columbia.

 

Permaculture BC is excited to be partnering with Pacific Gardens. Experiencing the Permaculture Design Certificate within a community dedicated to food security, building social capital and now Permaculture brings the student into a working community model of Permaculture. Reinforcing just how applicable and practical Permaculture really is.

 

Visiting and analyzing examples in the field of Permaculture compliments the theoretical principles, concepts and design strategies outlined in-class. Field excursion locations and dates will be announced in class.

 

 

Cost:

$1099+HST

Course fees include all classroom instruction, design activities, hands on exercises and skill instruction and guest instructors.

 

8 of 25 Spots Available

 

Payment can be made in full using credit card. Click on the Add to Cart button below or contact us for alternative payment methods. A non-refundable $150 deposit will reserve your spot. Click here to learn more about our refund policy.

 

 

Students are expected to arrive at class or to field excursion locations by their own means. We encourage ride-sharing where possible.

 

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"This course changed my life."

Carmen Buckley - Head Gardener at Pacific Sands Resort, Tofino, BC

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That's a lot of money right?

Give us a moment and we'll explain why we think it's not only an incredible bargain but could well be the best investment of your life.

To understand why permaculture is an amazing investment in your life, happiness and wealth let's take a quick look at our current situation.

State of the World (The super short version):

• In December 2010 the UN Department of Food and Agriculture announced food prices are at their highest EVER (adjusted for inflation).

• The United States Department of Agriculture also in December 2010 announced the lowest food reserves in history.

• Our climate and weather are becoming more unpredictable (did you know that garlic not 10 years ago was dried in the sun but now it cooks and must be preserved in the shade?)

• Financial systems have shown their fallibility and ultimate unreliability. 

• The planet is losing viable top soil, the foundation of our food and thus our lives, at an astonishing rate, 5 600 000 hectarces this year alone.
  

If this is our predicament, then what is our response?

I’ll give you a hint, it starts with P and rhymes with wormy mulcher…

You got it - Permaculture.

 

What is Permaculture?

And what does it mean for a homeowner, renter, CEO, world traveler or average citizen?

It means creative solutions to our most pressing problems (and the problems down the road). It's an answer to the question "How do we live sustainability?"

To get a bit more technical - here's the condensed big word version (you might read it a few times to let it sink in):

"Permaculture is an ethical science-based whole system design methodology that creates regenerative sustainable human habitat."

It's a way to look at any problem and design positive, long term solutions that work. If we were still in the 1980's permaculture would be the MacGyver of Sustainability. Taking paperclips, some compost and a little elbow grease to create solutions, such as:

• easy and simple ways to retrofit your home to increase energy efficiency and save you money.

• how deserted urban lots and overgrazed pastures can be regenerated into fruitful gardens of Eden in less time then then you think.

• valuing and using forests and trees to deal with excess carbon in our atmosphere, generate fertility in our soils, energy for our homes, food, fibre and fuel to build our lives.
  

• turning waste into resource - we'll show you incredible examples in urban and rural settings of "waste" being used as a valuable resource.  

• find unused growing and productive spaces all around your home that can yield food,  fibre, energy and money that you can start using tomorrow. 

• apply permaculture principles to any aspect of life to create abundance (a Permaculture BC student applied Permaculture to his personal finances and saved over $3600 a year).

• create beautiful productive gardens that provide you food that require little to no "weeding" or "digging".
  

• And a lifetime of solutions and that work to make happier, healthier and wealthier people.

 

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"Mcgyver has nothing on permaculture.

The only thing I can say about this course is... DO IT!"

Leah Chesterman - University of Vancouver Island, BC

 

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Why isn't Sustainability enough?

There was a key word to flag in the definition of Permaculture: 'regenerative'.

Now you may ask yourself, "Self, why do we need it to be regenerative? Isn't sustainable enough?"

Excellent Question.

If I asked my friend if her marriage was "sustainable" and she said yes, I would be worried. While the world is concerned with being sustainable, think about everything that's happening right now (chemical contamination, nuclear fears, war). We've gone past the point of just needing skills to sustain the status quo. Instead, we find ourselves in need to repair, rejuvenate and regenerate them.

Permaculture can help us turn back the clock. Even on some of the most damaged areas in the world.

   Permaculture courses attract incredible people (this means you!). The courses are usually worth the time and investment just for the connections and people alone.

But we give a little bit more then just the opportunity to meet new people, although permaculture dating can be fun. :)

Top Nine Reasons this Workshop is going to

Kick-As(pen Trees)

(We’re really not going to kick any trees, that would just be rude)

 

REASON #1: Tool Box of the MUST HAVE sustainabie living resources

If you were going to fix your car you’d have the right tools, a wrench, a light, a few screwdriver, a rag or two. When we ask, “How can we create a regenerative sustainable future?” rarely is the thought of “What do we need to do that?” is answered. For the last 40 years Permaculture design and application has proven we can create sustainable regenerative communities that provide our own food, fuel and finances all while having a truck load of fun. It starts with having the right tools and Permaculture is the swiss army knife of regenerative sustainability - always useful and always at the ready. When you leave you'll have the tools and practical experience to start growing your own food.

Click here to read more about our curriculum.

 

REASON #2:  A-Team of BC's most accomplished Permaculture Instructors

We’ve assemble the A-Team of permaculturists that are working, actually making their livelihoods of not only teaching Permaculture but growing food, saving seeds, designing ecovillages, running farms, growing mushrooms, creating medicine and designing sites for clients. These people have the “right stuff” and deliver it to students time after time. Have a question about “how to grow purple spotted awesome fruit bearing plant in ridiculously bone-cold frigid arctic climate?” they’ll have the experience to either tell you about how they did it and more importantly the design concept behind their decisions.

Leaders in their fields our instructors have been teaching for years imparting their experience, failures and successes to students. Their teachings can literally take years off of your learning curve. Meaning you learn more and move further along your path of regenerative sustainability.  The instructors are bio-regionally experienced (Humid Tropics, Humid Cool, Cold Climate and Drylands) as well as working professionals in their fields. Demonstrating the business viability of permaculture.

Some have years, some decades and some even a quarter century of experience in making permaculture their livelihood. Permaculture is an interesting idea until it MUST work. Here the instructors have been using permaculture to feed themselves, their communities and their families as well as proving financially viable permaculture businesses.
 

Our instructors for this course include (click to read their full bio and read student testimonials):

Brandon Bauer (Lead Instructor)
Javan Kerby Bernakevitch (Co-Instructor and Course Coordinator)

Gord Baird 
Dan Jason 
Geoff Johnson
Connie Kuramoto

And other guest instructors and field trip site hosts...

 

REASON #3: Permaculture Education in a Permaculture Site

Learning Permaculture, on a Permaculture site, Pacific Gardens Cohousing Community, employs many permaculture strategies. The class room has amazing natural light as well as the option to go outside (weather dependant). Learning a subject in an environment that epitomizes the content helps students to deeper their learning and come away inspired and ready for action.

 

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"Learning permaculture in a setting that exemplified the subject matter was incredible. I can't imagine learning in a more enjoyable atmosphere!"

Shelly Serebin - Teacher, Nanaimo, BC

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REASON #4:  The Part Time Difference.
 

Originally, Permaculture Design Certificates were 3 weeks long. Currently most PDC's are 2 week residential courses. There is a lot of information to put into those two weeks. One way we help increase retention and help students to apply what they learn is providing a part time format. This way students have two days of intense learning and then have time to digest that information explore further and potentially apply what they've learned. 

Using computer presentations, group facilitation activities, design exercises, flip-chart brainstorms, hands-on practice activities and visits to some of the best permaculture sites Vancouver Island and British Columbia has to offer, you'll experience a course that delivers exactly what we advertize. You'll have your hands in the dirt, raised to ask questions and on paper actually producing design.

REASON #5: Triple the Hands on Time then 3 other PDC's combined

As students, we retain 10% of what we Read, 50% of what we See & Hear and 90% of what we Do. We promoting hands on learning. Design games, group energizers, observation exercises, design activities, hands on activities and real life design projects. These experience will give you the tools and skills to feel confident about putting together your own design.

During the course you’ll have the opportunity to:

• help design and reclaim an aquculture system.

• sheet mulch and maintain a budding food forest.

• practice grafting.

• learn three easy soil tests you can do anywhere for under $5.

• real world permaculture design experience (see below)

 

Click here to read more about our curriculum.

REASON #6:  Real world design experience

Throughout the course you’ll have the opportunity to practice permaculture design. As students you’ll work in teams to analyze, evaluate and design using permaculture for a real site and client.

Pacific Gardens Cohousing Community will be the main client for students and designs will have a high likelihood of being implmented.

By the time the course is finished not only will you have learned the theory and design methodology but you’ll have actually practiced it in a real live scenario, none of these “client has a $1 million dollar and loves Permaculture” fantasies. We give students real life scenarios and clients to create real world designs. You'll leave with a certificate and a complete design.

 

REASON #7:  Course Curriculum that covers what you NEED to KNOW

You will learn the full curriculum as outlined by Bill Mollison. Our curriculum was vetted through the Bullock Brothers on Orcas Island. When asked whocontinually  demonstrated superb permaculture in North America, Bill Mollison has one answer "The Bullock Brothers". Click here for the in-depth course curriculum and specific topics covered.

Articles, videos, presentations and other course materials will be made available to students to continue to learn and implement Permaculture in their lives and communities.

Click here to read more about our curriculum.

REASON #8: Training Warranty - Your PRACTICE makes you BETTER

We warranty your training by giving you the opportunity to return at any time to a Permaculture BC Permaculture Design Certificate at no cost*. Come back at any time, next month or next century (yup we’re planning long term here) and re-enforce your learning and share what you’ve learned in the interim with our current students. Besides those progressive Albertans we haven’t found another company that offers this warranty, those Albertans are pretty agreeable folks.

*(Dependent on available space, fixed costs apply).

 

REASON #9: The FUN factor of LEARNING and PLAYING and EATING 

Creating community is a large part of permaculture. Connecting with other students helps increase learning and enjoyment of the process. On Saturday nights we'll host a class potluck, what students in our last course called "one of the most valuable elements of the course".

Towards to the end of the course we host an evening to celebrate our students and instructors' work over the three weeks of intensive learning, bonding and solution creating.
 

In other words, a permaculture party.... ahhhh yeahhhhhh....

 

We think we might just have put together the best course ever offered in Canada and we're excited that you'll have a small class size to share it with us!
 

 

Our space is limited in the class and we hope you'll be in it.

We've given you every reason we can think of to tell you something actually quite simple: the world is changing rapidly, and permaculture can help your community, family save money and time while increasing your health, happiness and wealth. 

Hands down the best experience and education in uncertain times.

 

We look forward to seeing you in class,

Sincerely,

 

Javan "Action Dispels Despair" Bernakevitch

8 of 25 Spots Available