Basics of Permaculture Design

Basics of Permaculture Design: Sustainable Living Made Simple provides a general outline to live off the land. This course presents many sustainable solutions based on real projects from around the world demonstrating how we can be responsible custodians of the earth. This is a crash course on nature. After watching this course, you will have a general idea of how to live off the land.

This course follows a book, The Permaville Handbook: Strategies of Permaculture Design and is based on a Permaculture Design Course (PDC).

In this course, you may learn how to:

• Build with natural materials

• Filter water

• Make compost

• Grow plants

• Raise fish, insects, and animals

• Quick steps to start a farm

Learn how to live off the land with strategies of permaculture design.

Who is the target audience for this course?

• This course is for people interested in learning the basics of sustainable living. No experience is required.

Does the Permaville Course count as a Permaculture Design Course certificate?

• This course meets the requirements for a certified Permaculture Design Course (PDC) and may help prepare for an in-person workshop.

Timeline of course updates: 

• 2016 uploaded original course

• 2018 added videos about hydroponics, compost tea, greenhouses, and seasonal planting

• 2019 added BONUS section, a summary of the course

This course has been viewed by people from 136 countries and translated into 35 languages.

What people are saying about this course

"Very simple and non-threatening... The content is superb, relevant, usable and jam-packed!" -Clarence Garay

"I have Permaculture One, this is a better discussion point stimulator." -Joseph Van Wyck

"The information is mostly general and thus suitable for a starting point." -Svetoslav Vasilev

"Einfach gut geklärt" (Simply well clarified) -Petra Panglisch-Breuer

"I really enjoy your outlook - I don't find it as utopian as I was expecting (sorry about that) Rather I feel it to actually be a realistic outlook." -Peter Stuart Turner

"Brian is great in explaining information that is simple and directly to the point and awesome simple drawings!" -Rita Falsetto

"Overall I feel that the course is well worth the time and money investment and that he does a good job of explaining many different types of sustainable systems that we can implement." -Michael Taylor

"Really nice course explaining the basics of permaculture with the added bonus of real-life applications. Lovely chap and very inspiring." -Carrie Marshall

Syllabus

Overview

• What is permaculture

• Story of permaculture

• Story of humans

• The cloud 

• General goals

• Principles and Ethics     

Strategies

• Site analysis

• Site maps

• Zones and sectors

• Climates and microclimates

• Patterns in nature

• Urban design

Earth and structures

• Earthworks

• Paths and access

Water and soil

• Water 

• Soil

• Compost

• Microorganisms fungi and worms

Plants and creatures

• Nursery

• Garden

• Trees

• Fish

• Insects and animals

Home 

• Natural building

• Kitchen

• Sanitation

• Appropriate technology

• Economics

Field

• Greenhouse

• Compost tea

• Hydroponics

• Field prep

• Field map and field log

Crops

• Spring and summer crops

• Fall and winter crops

• Seed log

Farm

• Post-harvest

• Sales and harvest log