Winter Wakeup! Permaculture Design Course

5 Weekend iNTENSIVE StaRTING FEBRUARY 22-23

NOW ENROLLING

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REGISTRATION DEADLINE FEB. 14

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NOW ENROLLING 〰️ REGISTRATION DEADLINE FEB. 14 〰️

New Location: Ande “the Elf” Schewe’s Indiana Homestead

THE COURSE

FORMAT & CONTENT

This weekend course features full-day in-person learning experiences at the personal permaculture homestead of Ande Schewe in Milan, Indiana, a little less than 1 hour west of downtown Cincinnati. Ande’s site features five acres of mature food forest and forage gardens with a diversity of edible and medicinal plantings, as well as an interior greenhouse and integrated animals.

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

  • Food Forests: Plant Selection, Horticulture, Mushrooms, Polyculture

  • Soils: Classification, Food Web, and Restoration

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

  • Natural Building: Earth as a Building Material

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

  • Immersive Tours and Hands-On Activities around the homestead

    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. Completing your first design project is a critical step to becoming a successful, effective, and certified Permaculture designer.

The design project process increases learner retention by allowing for immediate application and direct practice of learned skills while offering a means to evaluate students’ comprehension of the theory and lecture sections of the course. 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. Contingency plans for final project completion and presentation may be arranged with advanced notice for urgent circumstances.

DATES AND TIMES:

  • WEEKEND ONE: Saturday February 22nd – 9-6pm // Sunday February 23rd – 10-5pm

  • WEEKEND TWO: Saturday March 1st – 9-6pm // Sunday March 2nd – 10-5pm

  • WEEKEND THREE: Saturday March 8th – 9-6pm // Sunday March 9th – 10-5pm

  • WEEKEND FOUR: Saturday March 15th – 9-6pm // Sunday March 16th — 10-5 pm

  • WEEKEND FIVE: Saturday March 22nd – 9-6pm // Sunday March 23rd – 10-5pm

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. Registration deadline is 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).

LOGISTICS

Shared “hostel-style” accommodations in Ande’s home for up to 8 adults is available for Saturday nights for an additional fee of $20/night. Hotels or motels may be available in nearby Batesville or Lawrenceburg, Indiana. If overnight accommodations or travel arrangements are a concern for you, please reach out to us - we may be able to help you through our network of local permies! Local organic lunches will be served, and potluck or brown-bagging your own food is always welcome and encouraged. Carpooling is also encouraged!

LEAD TEACHERS

Ande Schewe

Ande “the Elf”Schewe has a background teaching, practicing and studying permaculture, as well as facilitating plantwalks for over 25 years. He is a part of the Great Rivers and Lakes Permaculture Institute, and has helped build Cincinnatis Permaculture Institute since its conception. Ande has 13 years of farmers market experience that contributed to the inspiration of the building of his conversational musically infused podcast hosting Wakethefarmup! Maintaining Ground Podcast since 2022. He says the show is serious Permaculture, yet seriously fun. Ande also offers consultations, and has experience with homesteads, farms, wetland projects, ecology studies, biodiversity studies, other ecology focused projects, arts and edutainment.

Susan VonderHaar

Susan VonderHaar is Executive 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.

Additional speakers and teachers from our extensive network of experienced local permaculture practitioners will also make appearances and presentations throughout the course.

Registration is Now Open for This Course

Send in your information using the form below to pre-register for the class. A deposit of $250 holds your spot. After pre-registering, we will contact you directly to confirm and provide next steps.

Payment Plans Available: We offer a payment plan to a limited number of students each year. To apply, please explain your situation in the “Additional Info” blank below.