This course is delivered via our Online Learning System and of Zoom for video meetings.
This course exceeds the requirements laid out by permaculture founder Bill Mollison for the internationally recognized 72 hour Permaculture Design Course. The training provides a deep and wide overview of permaculture design, focusing on skill sets you can apply immediately. It is a thorough introduction to a subject that has many levels and areas of expertise and professional practice and consists of about 200 lessons. Further study is available through our apprenticeship programs and advanced study.
Table of Contents
Top Description Course features Subjects Online address Course schedule Course fees Course layout
Description of course
The online PDC course was created in response to students whose schedules don’t match up with our in-person courses or who prefer to study online. The course can be studied at your own pace, with a focus on your own site design.
Creating the opportunity for a participatory and hands-on experience is important to us, so we include practical exercises that you perform on your own site. In addition, we have live Q and A sessions and personal mentoring with instructors, and the option to share your experience with instructors and other students via photos, essays or videos.
The course addresses strategies for drylands, temperate, tropical and other climates based on the significant knowledge and experience of instructors working in those climates. It contains a bonus section focused specifically on Florida/subtropical climate because of the state’s unique ecosystem.
Students will have an opportunity to self-test their knowledge, to join discussion groups with other students, to participate in question and answer sessions on Zoom with instructors, and to get feedback from a personal mentor. There are additional in-person modules available, and special sessions that are exclusive to online training.
There are additional in-depth materials offered for each section of the course as well as a resource list where you can find more information and explore areas of interest more deeply.
Each student will complete a permaculture design of the site of his or her choice, working through it step-by-step to ensure the student has an understanding of each step of the process. Upon successful completion of the course requirements, the student is awarded an internationally recognized certificate for the course.
Online course features
- Mentoring with veteran designers.
- Hands-on exercises.
- Videos of a variety of systems and how they work.
- Written step-by-step instructions and other material.
- Extensive subtropical plant lists and data, lists of recommended temperate, tropical and drylands plants.
- Top resources for further study.
- Test your knowledge with self-testing.
- Exercises to increase your ability to apply the knowledge you gained.
- Discussion groups and on-line community building opportunities.
- Q and A with mentors.
- Data and resources on permaculture careers.
- Links to and data about quality permaculture networks that will continue to support you.
- Internationally recognized Permaculture Design Course certificate upon completion.
Subjects covered in the course
• Permaculture design ethics, principles and tools
• Creating abundance with natural patterns
• Grow more food with less work by working with nature
• Edible landscaping, food in small spaces
• Building food forests
• Nutrient dense “beyond organic” gardening and farming
• Agroforestry and ecoagriculture, regenerative farming
• Aquaculture
• Building rich, live soils
• Composting and vermicomposting
• Alternative pest management
• Designing sustainable water use
• Greywater and rainwater catchment
• Natural building and regenerative building technology
• Reducing energy costs in your home
• Best forms of sustainable energy
• Appropriate technology
• Boosting your career with permaculture
• Sustainable economics
• Increasing quality of life through “placemaking” design
• Designing for climate change
• Community revitalization and rebuilding
• Successful intentional communities, ecovillages and
cohousing, urban and rural
Online address
Follow the Enroll Button below or go to https://courses.growpermaculture.com. Once enrollment is complete you can access the course via Student Login on the top menu.
Course schedule
The course is self paced. However, we have live Zoom meetings with different presentations and Q & A, and instructor mentoring via email for six months.
The 2025 course starts on October 14, which continues through April 28, 2026, skipping December. Each class is on the first and third Tuesday of each month, at 7pm EST. The duration is usually 1 1/2 hours.
NOTE: You can and are expected to study on your own in between the Zoom meetings. During the meetings your instructor will walk through the subject for that class and answer questions. During the second monthly meeting you may have a guest speaker, or cover a closely related subject. See timeline below.
Of course, at any time you can reach out and ask questions. (Full course details are in the syllabus sent to you after enrolling.)
Course fee
Full price is $595 for this comprehensive online course.
Paying over time is often available, see the cart if available.
The online course material will remain accessible to you after you graduate.
The text book for the course is:
Introduction to Permaculture by Bill Mollison and Reny Mia Slay. Order the book here.
Our courses are an investment in yourself and your future - you will make and save far more than the course cost, to the degree you apply the information in the course.
Alternatively you can take the Monitor course which contains the same material, but comes without the certificate and there is no assistance available. This means you can also start and finish it at any time you want. The monitor price is $195.
Course layout
This is a listing of the main topics. Over all there are about 200 lessons. We also try to format the content to try to accommodate each student’s interests.
Section 1 - Introduction to Permaculture Design Course
1.1.1 .WELCOME TO PERMACULTURE
1.1.2. THE AIM OF PERMACULTURE
1.1.3. WHY PERMACULTURE?
1.1.4. SOIL
1.1.5. WATER
1.1.6. PESTS
1.1.7. DESERTIFICATION
1.1.8. WHAT IS PERMACULTURE
1.1.9. THE PERMACULTURE FLOWER
1.1.10. LAND AND NATURE STEWARDSHIP
1.1.11. BUILT ENVIRONMENT
1.1.12. INVISIBLE STRUCTURE
1.1.13. FINANCE AND ECONOMICS
1.1.14. GOVERNANCE AND LAND TENURE
Section 2 - Permaculture Design Tools
2.1. ETHICS
2.2. CLASS ASSIGNMENTS
2.3. PRINCIPLES OF PERMACULTURE
2.4. ADDITIONAL DESIGN TOOLS
2.5. PATTERN LANGUAGE
2.6. SCALE OF PERMANENCE
2.7. DESIGN TOOL APPENDIX
Section 3 - Land and Nature Stewardship
3.1. INTRODUCTION
3.2. CLIMATE
3.3. WATER
3.4. SOILS
3.5. FOOD SYSTEMS
Section 4 - Built Environment
4.1. BUILT ENVIRONMENT
4.2. NATURAL BUILDING
4.3. APPROPRIATE TECHNOLOGY
Section 5 - Education and Culture
5.1. INVISIBLE STRUCTURES
Section 6 - Finance and Economics
6.1. WHAT IS ECONOMICS?
Section 7 - Community Governance & Land Tenure
7.1. STRATEGIES FOR REGENERATIVE CULTURE
7.2. FOOD IN THE COMMONS
7.3. LAND TENURE
7.4. SHARING ECONOMY
7.5. INTENTIONAL COMMUNITIES
7.6. COMMUNITY FOOD PRODUCTION (OPTIONAL)
Section 8 - After the PDC
8.1. WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?
Section 9 - Feedback
9.1. FEEDBACK
Section 10 - Glossary
10.1.1. GLOSSARY
For graduation, each student will submit a permaculture design and receive feedback from a mentor. You can then update your design as needed, and resubmit. (This is a valuable part of the class as you'll get design mentoring from a professional designer.)
Once approved your certificate will become available for download.