2024-2025 NOW ENROLLING!
spaces are limited
Learn the Foundational Knowledge for Sustainability and Resilience
FROM LOCAL PERMACULTURE PRACTITIONERS AND LEADERS
CPI’s Year-Long Permaculture Design Certification
CPI’s Year Long Permaculture Design Certification (PDC) is a 96-hour immersion in ethical mindsets and ecological skill-sets to create positive change. Students learn not just the hard skills of permaculture, such as soil science and natural building, but more importantly the underlying design thinking process that makes a permaculture system so unique, prolific, and resilient.
“Permaculture Through The Seasons” is an internationally recognized PDC in Cincinnati, Ohio, that meets 11 Saturdays & 2 Sundays over 12 months, giving you the opportunity to absorb and apply permaculture learnings at urban and rural contexts throughout the course of a full year. Unlike other permaculture design courses that require you to travel to other states or countries, take time off work, and fit everything into a few short weeks, our PDC is entirely localized to within an hour’s drive of Cincinnati and focused on the permaculture practices that are most applicable in our growing region.
Join and learn:
Discover your niche in permaculture! Home gardeners, homesteaders, farmers, community planners and leaders, educators, engineers — everyone has something to learn and apply from permaculture. Our course could introduce you to your new passion!
Among the sites that our students visit is a custom built off-grid Earthship in northern Kentucky, the home of one of our graduates.
Permaculture Ethics and Principles
Processes, Tools, and Methods for Design
Foundations of Soil Science and Ecological Systems
Holistic Management of Animals and Plants for Food Production and Ecological Restoration
Renewable Energy and Waste Management
Water Catchment, Earthworks and Keyline Design
Climates and Microclimates
Natural Building
Food Forestry
Ecovillages and Social Governance
Plus you’ll get hands-on exercises in things like companion planting, food preservation, earthworks, composting, and other unique offerings from our site hosts.
Why this course?
Proven Curriculum- 15 Years Running with more than 350 Graduates, many of whom are now leading their own organizations and initiatives
Teachers with Over a Combined 100 years of Permaculture in Practice in our Region- Our teachers and guest teachers are some of the longest practicing permaculturists in the Midwest, and combined they share with you experience that amounts to over 100 years of applying permaculture in our region.
Community Connection- introducing you to dozens of leaders in the Tri-State’s Permaculture Network, including site visits and guest speakers - not to mention the people you’ll meet in class!
Variety of Guest Teachers- with a variety of core competencies, from herbalism and forest gardening, to design thinking and broad acre permaculture design
Great Value- 72 Hours of Base Instruction + 24 Hours of Topical and Advanced Permaculture Education for less than the cost of an international flight
Learn Permaculture FROM YOUR Community
There is no shortage of Permaculture learning materials out there - so this course focuses on the skills that are specific to applying permaculture to the Midwest and the Tristate region. As an introduction to Permaculture Design, as developed by Bill Mollison and David Holmgren, this course connects you to the local community for further practice, work, and advanced education. We see, smell, listen, and get our hands dirty throughout the seasons, learning the different aspects of our climate and the types of work required to live locally on all fronts, from building, to energy, to feeding communities. Our hope is to empower our graduates to take what they’ve learned here back into their own neighborhoods, organizations, employers, faith groups and more, in service to our vision of a holistic and resilient permanent culture around Cincinnati.
What to Expect:
This Year Long PDC takes place once a month in a variety of locations around the Cincinnati Area- from urban homesteads and green businesses to rural homesteads and farms. Each class session is about 9 hours and typically consists of a site visit and tour, instruction on permaculture principles and design technique from our lead teachers, lessons on specific topics from our guest teachers, and small group activities. Some meals are provided or available on-site. In between classes, students may be asked to read articles or watch videos and be prepared to discuss in class.
The course culminates with a group design project, where you and a small group of classmates are assigned to a real, local site and go through the design process together, from initial visit and ideation through analysis, planning, mapping, researching, and finally, presenting a plan for developing the site using permaculture. Some groups design for small suburban backyards, while others design for rural family farms or local parks, exposing students to the variety of possible applications of permaculture practices. This final design is then presented to the class and a panel of community experts to provide feedback for the future.
2024-25’ Locations TO BE DETERMINED. PAST LOCATIONS HAVE INCLUDED:
Earthship in Kentucky
Civic Garden Center
Harmony Hillside, landforms, animals and living off the land
Wake the Farm Up Homestead, Milan, Indiana
Woodenshoe Hollow
2024-2025 Tuition and Dates
BASE PRICE: $1,200
Minimum deposit of $300 will confirm your registration. Balance due by first class on November 16. Payment plans and financial assistance available.
REGISTRATION DEADLINE: Sunday, November 10
LIMIT 20 Participants (waitlist may be available)
CLASS DATES:
November 16 & 17 2024 - Kickoff
January 4, 2025
February 8, 2025
March 1, 2025
April 5, 2025
May 3, 2025
June 7, 2025
July 12, 2025
August 2, 2025
September 6, 2025
October 18 & 19, 2025 - Final Presentations & Graduation
Meals and Lodging:
Meals will be provided at some sites with as much local / vegetarian friendly fare as is possible appropriate to the time of year, but most likely will need to be supplemented with beyond bio-region produce. Students will be encouraged to brown-bag their own meals at other sites depending on facilities.
We welcome students from outside the immediate Cincinnati area to enroll. If you are traveling, lodging can be worked out for overnight stays through a network of friendly homes.
About the Cost and Scholarships:
We try desperately to keep the cost down in order to make this expertise accessible to as many as possible. 90+ hours of instruction and countless hours of preparation require some level of fair compensation for our teachers, leaders and hosts. These are valuable skill sets, crafted by skilled practitioners, and designed to save you years of mistakes by sharing our failings and triumphs in a time-maximized educational setting. Once we have met our minimum enrollment in order to fund the course, scholarships will become available for those in need.
Meet OUR TEACHERS & LEADERS
Susan VonderHaar
LEAD TEACHER
Susan VonderHaar is Director of the Cincinnati Permaculture Institute. She has been a community advocate of Nature Education for all ages since her Master Gardening training days in 1996 when she was first introduced to Permaculture. After a career in environmental research and development she came to the design certification course. She was taught by Doug Crouch and Braden Trauth in 2011 and joined the CPI teaching team. She received teacher training in 2014 from Peter Bane and Sandy Cruz. The practice of Permaculture continues to unfold and inform her in new ways as she grows with the community.
Doug Crouch
CONTRIBUTING TEACHER
Trained as both a Permaculture Designer and Fish and Wildlife Manager, Doug has extensive knowledge surrounding landscape planning and food production systems. His regenerative design and implementation work spans the globe ranging in contexts and climates including tropical agro-forestry, Mediterranean organic gardening, and temperate suburban edible landscaping.
Braden Trauth
CONTRIBUTING TEACHER
A student of the originators of Permaculture, Bill Mollison and David Holmgren, Braden has gone on to study with many other leaders in the field. He has been teaching and consulting with this knowledge since 2007 and has taught at places as varied as Universities, the Earthship Academy, Haitian Farmers and the Haitian Ministry of Agriculture on behalf of USAID.
Andy Schewe
CONTRIBUTING TEACHER
Certified in 2001 at Lost Valley Education Center in Oregon by Toby Hemenway, Judd Hobbs and Rick Valley Ande went on to study with many of the leaders in the field. He has taught with us since 2008 and continues to consult with farms, homes, businesses communities, schools and more. He has been published multiple times.
“This course provides a practical and affordable option for students who desire a solid understanding of the theory and application of permaculture, without taking weeks off, or traveling to a foreign country.”
Pre-register for the Year Long PDC
Congratulations on making this big decision!
After pre-registering, we will contact you directly to confirm and provide next steps.
Payment Plans Available: We offer an extended payment plan to a limited number of students each year. To apply, please explain your situation in the “Additional Info” blank below.
Design for Resilience
Co-Originator of Permaculture, David Holmgren, next to his private homestead, Melliodora