Permaculture Design Course

Like a mighty tree, permaculture design offers a strong framework for creating abundance and resilience in harmony with nature, and has roots that go deep and wide. 

The system can be applied to all aspects of living including housing, money, health, community, buildings, technology and food.  It has a proven track record in delivering genuine 'ecologically sustainable developments', ranging from households to entire regions. Practitioners tap into the power of nature and are inspired by traditional cultures of place, indigenous people and the great thinkers of our times.

Course outcomes

By the end of our course, held over 12 Saturdays, you will:

• Have the tools for living with more ease, in harmony with the planet
• Understand how permaculture applies to growing your own food, money, technology, buildings and more
• Be able to apply the permaculture regenerative design framework to any place
• Deepen your understanding about how nature works
• Join an alumnus of millions of permaculture practitioners around the world.

What will you learn and do?

Our PDC balances practical techniques with foundational 'systems thinking' knowledge and eco-literacy. Some of the things you will do on our course include:

• practice observational skills for understanding natural patterns
• site measurement, inventory and mapping
  
• create site designs, including a project of your choosing
  
• calculate water harvesting volumes and requirements
• learn about earth works to capture and store storm water
  
• practice food growing techniques such as no-dig gardening and cover cropping
• exploring food growing systems such as food forests and aquaculture
• undertake soil testing and devising soil rebuilding strategies
• research the growing and cooking perennial vegetables for the subtropics
• selecting animal breeds suitable in permaculture systems
• practice group decision making techniques
• explore community financial systems
• observe passive solar building design, insulation and glazing systems
• cooking with a solar oven or rocket stove.

Click here for more details about the course content and learning outcomes.

We have lots of fun along the way - it's a great way to learn - and you'll get time to relax in our peaceful gardens.


Who is this course for?

This course is for:

• Householders - both renters and homeowners - wanting to live more sustainably
• Career changers wanting to align their livelihood with planetary and personal health and wellbeing
• Professional designers, architects and engineers looking to incorporate genuine sustainability into their practice
• Community development workers, and school teachers and administrators
• Farmers and food producers
• Social entrepreneurs and green business owners looking for the edge
• Students of horticulture, agriculture, the sciences and the built environment researching alternative frameworks
• Anyone who cares deeply about planet Earth and our future in it.

Global qualification

The PDC is a globally recognized qualification that has been taught since 1982 and is the 'gold standard' in permaculture education.  Practitioners in Australia and abroad are working in education, design consulting, community development, niche food processing, sustainable agriculture, international aid and ecosystem repair. The PDC content and processes differ throughout the world in response to local needs and context but all are based on the original 72-hour course. Our course gives you the knowledge and skills to observe and apply nature's patterns of abundance to create ecologically sustainable and regenerative lifestyles for yourself, your family, your community and the wider world. 

On completion of the course requirements you will receive a certificate of completion.

Permaculture is the way we were meant to live!  

(in our humble opinion!!)

What's our course like? 

Northey Street City Farm is a major urban permaculture demonstration site where students get the opportunity to learn every day from 30 years of practice. Our 2.5 Hectare site includes intensive vegetable gardens and agroforestry systems, one of the region's most ecologically sustainable buildings, workshops and tool sheds, a plant nursery and composting setups. We have over 150 fruit trees on site and a riparian ecosystem repair area.  Our team has extensive experience in social permaculture including running social enterprises.  

Every day of the course we do hands-on experiential learning in the gardens and other areas. Students get to work on an individual design project of their choosing starting from week one and have access to our unique member's library with over 400 titles.  

Our skilled educators will give you the attention you need with more time for questions and conversations. We will dive deep into our subjects and have time to discuss your personal projects. We've been running the PDC for over 25 years at Northey Street and had over 800 graduates since 2007. 

"I have found so many topics within this realm that greatly ignite passion with amazing educators willing to go the extra mile to support learning." 

- Courtney, 2024 Northey PDC graduate.

Course Format and Flow

This course runs on Saturdays, 8.30am to 4.30pm, from 1st March until 31 May 2025. There are two Saturdays off (19 April and 24 May), with the latter one being for students to work on their final design project. It is recommended that students allow up to two-hours per week to work on their projects and review the course content. Two optional mid-week online design seminars of 1.5 hours are also offered (dates to be confirmed).

Our PDC progresses through these stages:

1. Foundations - ecology, ethics and principles.
2. Patterns in nature
3. Design processes and methods
4. Ecological literacy - soils, water, animals, cultivated ecology and trees
5. A day-long group design exercise
6. Social and economic permaculture
7. Appropriate technology
8. Sustainable buildings
9. Project presentations and where to from here?

The one day a week format allows plenty of time to absorb and apply the teachings gradually as the course progresses.

Included in your course fees

• Extensive resources and handouts to complement course outcomes
• Design from day one and all through the course rather than just an end exercise
• Teachers whose conceptual understanding of the permaculture design process complements their broad range of knowledge and experience to create an immersive learning environment.
• Hands on experience at a 30-year-old permaculture site in Brisbane
• Three months devoted to studying and living permaculture. We like to take our time going over the course material, with plenty of time for hands-on activities, group process and design, creating community and fun.
• Access to our unique members' library with over 400 permaculture-related publications
• 10% off all items for sale in our nursery.

Fees

• Full Price - $1,500
• Concession - $1,100
• Earlybird Full Price - $1,350 (closes 1st January 2025)
• Earlybird Concession - $950 (closes 1st January 2025)

Payment
To book, you can either pay the full amount up front through Humanitix, or pay a $300 deposit, and pay the rest later. If paying just the deposit, the remaining funds must be directly deposited to Northey Street City Farm 30 days before the course begins for Early Bird tickets, and 7 days before for General tickets. For bank details or any questions about booking and payments, contact info@nscf.org.au

Payment plans
A limited number of Payment Plans are available to people on low incomes. Three payments are made - firstly, before the course starts, a second installment before Day 4 and a final payment before Day 7. If this option interests you please contact the Adult Education Coordinator on adultedn@nscf.org.au.

Member discount
Current members of the Northey Street City Farm Association are eligible for a 5% discount on course fees. Please email us at info@nscf.org.au for the discount code, (which is entered AFTER selecting your preferred ticket type).

First Nations Scholarships
All of our PDC's have two part-scholarship positions available at half price  for a First Nations (Aboriginal / Torres Strait Islander) person. If you are interested in this opportunity, please contact Emma Brindal on edufarm.mgr@nscf.org.au or call the office on 3857 8775.To apply for a First Nations part-scholarship, complete the application form HERE.