Permaculture Design Certification Course

11/06/10 to 11/13/10

Swami Sitaramananda • Mike Kluk and Sharada Devi (Susan Nelson-Kluk) • Wayne Weiseman • Bill Wilson • Vidya Chaitanya •

Course Details

Many of us are concerned today about the big challenges facing ourselves, our families, our culture and our country -- the uncertainty of the economy and our energy supplies, the changing climate, food safety, healthcare, living costs and more.Permaculturetakes a deep look at how systems work and how they fail. More importantly it embraces the kind of ideas and thinking that can turn these challenges into opportunities.

In a good permaculture design, work is minimized, yields (food, energy, income) are increased, wastes are eliminated and the environment is restored. Once all the essential needs of a family or neighborhood are met, there are resources remaining to care for the greater community. This is the basis for a truly permanent-culture or perma-culture.

This course includes 8 days of pre-course webinar sessions.

Click Here for Full Details Design training, including text, self-study questions, pre-training handouts, live and recorded webinars and 8-days on site.

Curriculum

The emphasis of this course is:

1. Making our homes, lots and lands economically productive
2. Increasing their natural health and vitality
3. Designing long-term, productive food systems
4. Minimizing our fossil fuel (energy) requirements
5. Creating long term security for ourselves, our homes, our neighborhoods and communities.

Daily Schedule

Our schedule will coincide with the Ashrams daily routines. Incorporating yoga into one's day It is a wonderful way to become acquainted with the experience and benefits of this ancient practice.

These will be very full days. This will be necessary to be able to deliver the full Design Certification Course curriculum. Students should come ready to learn and to work. Wayne & Bill keep the days interesting but one's focused energy is important.

6-8am Satsang: Meditation, chanting and lecture
8-9am Yoga, stretching and breathing
9-10am Design Course
10am Brunch
11-2:30pm Design Course
2:30pm Refreshments
3-5:15pm Design Course
5:15-7:15pm Dinner Break
7:15-9pm Design Course
10:30pm Lights Out

All of our meals are fresh, organic and vegetarian. Absent from the menu are garlic, onion, meat, fish and eggs.

There will be 2 delicious vegetarian buffet style meals per day, and substantial refreshments at 7:30am and 2:30pm.

Arrival & Departure Times
The week-long training begins at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 6, and ends following brunch about noon on Saturday, Nov.13.

View the video "A Permaculture Design Course for Busy People," from Peak Moment Television, featuring Bill Wilson, Wayne Weiseman and Vidya Chaitanya.

Certification

Graduates become certified and may use the name Permaculture in the promotion of their work, craft or knowledge base.

Click here to learn more about certification.

Tuition Discounts

Early Registration Discount: $100 off by Sept. 7th, 2009.

Registration

Registration is done through MidWest Permaculture directly. Please click here to register.

For a full description of the Permaculture design course, please click here.

About Swami Sitaramananda
Swami Sitaramananda is a Yoga and Meditation teacher for more than 25 years. She is presently the main teacher of the Yoga Teachers Training Courses offered at the Sivananda Ashram Yoga Farm, Grass Valley, CA where she is serving as the director. She also teaches at other Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Ashrams & Centers in India and Nassau, Bahamas, Asia, as well as Centers along the West Coast USA, including her birth country, Vietnam. She is a direct disciple of Swami Vishnu-devananda. She was nominated by her teacher as Goraknath acharya (spiritual teacher, one of the holders of the lineage) in 1989. Her lectures are based on the four classical paths of yoga as well as the 5 points of Health.

About Mike Kluk and Sharada Devi (Susan Nelson-Kluk)
Michael Kluk and Susan Nelson-Kluk are homesteaders and recent refugees from 8-5 jobs. Susan has her master's degree in plant physiology but currently focuses on teaching yoga and practicing a simple life style. Mike is a former civil rights attorney who is an avid gardener and was recently certified as a permaculture designer. Guest instructors with expertise in recycling and permaculture will participate in this course as well.

About Wayne Weiseman
Wayne Weiseman has been certified by Bill Mollison and The Permaculture Institute of Australia to teach the Permaculture Design Certification Course. Raised partly in the country as well as New York City, Wayne learned at a young age how to find solace in nature. Wayne has been working with plants for as long as he can remember. He currently resides in Carbondale, IL, with his wife Frannie and their 5 year old daughter. He has worked as a builder and contractor, herbalist, renewable energy expert, and farmer for the past twenty-five years. He currently focuses his energy at Dayempur Farm in Southern Illinois, a land-based, self-reliant community project, combining organic crop/food production, ecologically-built shelter, renewable energy, appropriate technologies and educational programs. He is also the Director of The Permaculture Project, a full-service, international consulting business promoting the ideas of eco-agriculture, renewable-energy resources and eco-construction methods. His skills in this area led him to leading a full permaculture design course for the staff and friends of the Findhorn Community in Scotland in the summer of 2005 Wayne has spent several years as a school teacher but more recently as a consultant to educators and administrators in curriculum and professional development. As a primitive wilderness instructor he relies on observation techniques and a thorough understanding of the natural world to assist his students. He has worked extensively with corporate executives in the arts of team building, nature study and the application of ideas in business and life, developed through the observation of the cycles and connections found in the natural world. www.midwestpermaculture.com

About Bill Wilson
Bill Wilson is a teacher, communitarian and permaculturist, holding three Permaculture Design Certifications. He has been interviewed on National Public Radio, Peak Moment Television and other public programs. Bill has taught in a wide variety of locations, including the agricultural halls at Purdue. He is a 32-year resident of the sustainably oriented community of Stelle, IL, which hosts its own community cooperatives including tool, garden, dinner and chicken co-ops. Bill and his wife/partner Rebecca are creating a permaculture oasis surrounding their traditional suburban home, pictures of which may be found on their website at www.MidwestPermaculture.com.

About Vidya Chaitanya
Vidya is a graduate of our fall-2007 course and is the person responsible for bringing our training to the Yoga Farm. She was one of the administrators and teachers at this farm for several years, and is currently Director of the Los Angeles Sivananda Yoga Center. She will be returning to the farm to support the course and to help with instruction and teaching. Vidya is a native of Australia spending many of her adult years in the UK. It was her love and devotion to Yoga that brought her to the US 7 years ago.