Permaculture Courses in Virginia

Posted on December 11, 2019 by Taylor in Beginning Farmers, Farming, Farming Resources, Gardening, Workshops // 0 Comments

Permaculture Courses in Virginia – Join the Shenandoah Permaculture Institute this Spring (2020) for 9 days of hands-on, real-world, practical Permaculture!

This Permaculture Design Certificate course by the Shenandoah Permaculture Institute is being offered in partnership with the University of Richmond. SPI focuses on demystifying deep concepts in Permaculture through a strong foundation of core concepts and design fundamentals paired with hands-on skill building sessions. In addition to hands-on sessions, we have plenty of traditional lecture-style classroom time for us to “start at the beginning” and get the whole group on the same page in terms of basic concepts and vocabulary, making this course accessible to those with a little experience or a lot. We also focus deeply on the human sector, teaching communication, self-awareness and presentation skills to aid students in success with future projects and client relationships. Dates are as follows:

2/21 – 2/23 (the only 3-day wknd)
3/7 – 3/8
3/21 – 3/22
4/4 – 4/5

The permaculture courses in Virginia will be based out of the University of Richmond Special Programs Building, but we will be taking local and regional field trips to unique farms, businesses and Permaculture sites to allow our students to see Permaculture in action, and to highlight the fact that this design science can be practiced in many diverse ways. In the past we’ve visited market gardens, farms that focus on pasture-based animal systems, organic mushroom operations, natural building sites, diversified orchards, community gardens, permaculture homesteads and more. Each course offering is a little different, but the core concepts remain the same.

Conceptually, our Permaculture courses are taught “from patterns to details”, which means that we begin with a broad focus, building foundations before spiraling back through our core concepts over and over again and learning more detailed methodology and content as we continue through the curriculum. All courses culminate with Design Presentations, in which students publicly present the Permaculture Designs that they have created with their fellow students. This work continues to be impressive – full of ingenuity and elegant thinking. It’s a great opportunity to get professional-level design and presentation experience.

The course fee is $1100 and includes 9 days of instruction, all field trips, basic design materials, light snacks on most course days (excluding some field trip days), an SPI t-shirt, a certificate of completion for students who complete the course, plant materials to take home, seed swap goodies and much more! As of 12/1, the course is nearly 2/3 full, so register soon to reserve your spot! A 6 month financing plan is available through a program called Climb Credit at the University of Richmond – details are on the registration page.

Visit our websiteShenandoahPermaculture.comfor registration links for the permaculture courses in Virginia, and for a great overview of what the course curriculum specifically entails. Reach out to us at ShenPermInstitute@gmail.comwith any questions.