Winter Weekend Permaculture Design Course

with doug crouch of tree-yo permaculture

Get the same regionally tailored permaculture design education of our yearlong course in this alternative, intensive format designed to prepare you for the upcoming growing season.

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DATES AND TIMES:

  • WEEKEND ONE: Saturday Feb 20th // Sunday Feb 21st, 10am-5pm

  • WEEKEND TWO: Saturday Feb 27th // Sunday Feb 28th, 10am-5pm

  • WEEKEND THREE: NO CLASS MARCH 6 // Sunday Mar 7th, 10am-5pm

  • WEEKEND FOUR: Saturday Mar 13th // Sunday Mar 14th, 10am-5pm

  • WEEKEND FIVE: Saturday Mar 20th // Sunday Mar 21st, 10am-5pm

Early bird registration closes January 8, 2027. Regular registration is open through February 14.

Hosted at Cincinnati Permaculture Institute with opportunities to visit sites such as Treasure Lake Regenerative Education Site, Permaculture Forest and Farm in Petersburg, KY. Tuition includes supplemental online content from the TreeYo EDU Online PDC handbook.

THE COURSE

FORMAT & CONTENT

Doug Crouch

With 40 plus PDC’s facilitated across the globe, TreeYo Permaculture facilitator Doug Crouch is the lead teacher of this weekend PDC. After years of permaculture teaching and project management across on five continents, Doug moved back to the tri-state over the last few years to develop his families land further. His formal background is in the ecology of the local forest type and has been practicing and teaching Permaculture since 2005. He holds a Diploma in Permaculture Education, which demonstrates his commitment to crafting his creative facilitation style. 

This weekend course features full-day in-person learning experiences from experienced Permaculture instructors and practitioners based in northern Kentucky, southwest Ohio and southeast Indiana. In-class discussions will be supplemented with an online book and prerecorded lectures to allow for more time touring the property and learning through working systems.  Between sessions, students are expected to prepare for the next week by watching the assigned content.  However, the vast majority of content, covering the full breadth of permaculture, will be covered in person.  We will dive deep into agro-ecology literacy, giving you confidence to grow with nature rather than against.  The information and ability to recognize patterns will be your first step into the world of Permaculture Design.  

We will cover the following topics throughout the course:

  • Ethics, Principles, and Methods of Permaculture Design

  • Pattern Understanding: Interpretation and Application

  • Climatic Factors: Broad Climatic Zones and Microclimate – Effects on Landscape and Design

  • Water: Harvesting, Conservation, and landscape hydration with Earthworks

  • Trees and their Energy Transactions: Tree Systems for landscapes and Tree Identification

  • Soils: Classification, Food Web, and Restoration

  • Aquaculture: Food Web, Aquatic Plants, Chinampas, Tyre Ponds, Water Quality Parameters

  • Animal Systems: Integrate worms, chickens, goats, and many other animals in your design

  • Strategies for Tropical, Dryland, and Temperate Climates: Influences on Vegetation, Housing, and Earthworks

  • Introduction to Natural Building: Earth as a Building Material

  • Fermentation and Nutrition: Sauerkraut, Kimchi, Sourdough Bread and Pickles

  • Social and Economic Permaculture: Bio-Regional Organization, Living in Communities, Transition Towns and Local Resiliency

  • And last but not least: A journey into the incredibly biodiverse local ecosystem, which is a unique food forest in its natural structure.

    The connections made here in this class will forward your environmental literacy and build community with other proactive stewards.  

FINAL DESIGN PROJECTS

The course will end with the required student design projects that will utilize an evolving process.  Contingency plans for final project completion and presentation may be arranged with advanced notice for urgent circumstances..

The design project process increases learner retention by allowing for immediate application and direct practice of learned skills while offering a means to evaluates students’ comprehension of the theory and lecture sections of the course. Completing your first design project is a critical step to becoming a successful, effective, and certified Permaculture designer.

The final design project is also considered to be a direct hands-on project because students will be engaged in a collaborative process that will yield a viable design proposal.

TUITION & FEES

Tuition for this course is $1,000, which includes all course materials and instruction as well as some meals. A deposit of $250 is required to register and secure your seat. EARLY BIRD REGISTRATION: Register before January 8, 2027 for the early bird rate of $850. All registration closes on February 14. Payment plans and limited tuition assistance may be available; please contact us to inquire. Accepted payment methods include check, cash, PayPal and credit card (additional processing fee applies).

Click on the following link to read more about Doug’s facilitation style and the resources we are happy to share.  Furthermore, to view some of the material you can expect during the course, please visit Doug’s TreeYo EDU site.

About Treasure Lake

Treasure Lake is local small business/homestead focused on agricultural production, research, and education. The property has been in the Crouch family since 1983, making Doug's efforts the third generation. It’s a wonderfully scenic place hidden in the hills of the northwestern corner of Northern Kentucky within Boone County. It is only two exits from the airport off I-275 and only 22 miles from downtown Cincinnati (2590 Lawrenceburg Ferry Rd).  We have been hard at work developing the broad acre forest for bio-diversity and wild food abundance for 20 plus years through active forest enhancement techniques pioneered by Doug. Furthermore, the following Permaculture Homestead elements and functions that can be experienced are:

  • Animal Husbandry including goats, sheep, and chickens to manage succession and build soil whilst providing foods and manures

  • Integrated Alley cropping orchard gardens for food production and plant stock

  • Extensive Native Food Forest complimented with Tree Crops and specific management techniques to enhance this

  • Hot & Cold Composting (Vermiculture) systems for boosting soil life, picking up on waste streams, and cycling nutrients

  • TreeYo Permaculture Edible Landscaping Business Headquarters and research site

  • Community Building through energy cycling and regenerative education

Visit the Treasure Lake Homestead website.

Pre-register Now for the 2027 Winter Class

Begin the registration process by telling us a little about yourself. Enrollment is confirmed once you have paid a deposit and returned your registration questionnaire. Thank you!