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Final Call for Signup!

On-Site PDC in, Stelle, IL Jun. 17-24, 2023

Final Call for Signup!

On-Site PDC in in Stelle, IL Jun.17-24, 2023

Our PDC Courses
Live/Online

The Full Certificate Course - Taught live over a 31-day period

LIMIT 24 STUDENTS/CLASS

The PDC Course
Live Online

The Full Certificate Course - Taught live over a 31-day period

LIMIT 24 STUDENTS/CLASS

What is included?

#1

The Internationally Recognized 72-Hour PDC Curriculum

#2

Our Foundations of Permaculture Webinar Series (Required Listening ‘Beforehand’)

#3

Live Instruction from Bill and the experienced MWP Teaching Team

#5

Hands-on Exercises for you to do at Home and then Share Results Online

#6

Open Discussions between Students and Teachers

#7

Design Exercises to Gain Experience and Confidence

#8

A Registered, PDC Certificate upon Completion

#9

Post-Training Study Resources for Continued Learning

Pumpkin party harvest, both pumpkins and harvesters.
Permaculture Pumpkin Party Harvest
Learn how to grow abundance and community.
Bill Wilson
Bill Wilson – Leading the Teaching Team for Each Online PDC

What are the Advantages to this Online Training vs. our In-Person PDC Courses?

They are both excellent trainings but a few bonuses to taking our online PDC are likely:

4.9 Student Rating
4.8/5

Why are Midwest Permaculture’s Courses rated so highly over 16 years?

We can only assume it has to do with our determination to make the subject of permaculture come alive so that it is immediately understandable and useful to our students. We put the same kind of effort into this online course as we always have to our in-person PDCs. We are dedicated teachers, designers and people. If someone is going to trust us with their training, we are going to give them the best that we have.

Come Away with a Design for Your Own Property — Or Not.

If you already own a piece of land you are invited to use it for your final design project. One of  the greatest advantages of designing your property during the course is that you will have access to one or more of the MWP teaching staff and other students to brainstorm your design with you — if this is what you want.

About Half of our students have no property

No Land? No Problem!

Why? This course is a must for anyone who thinks they might buy or develop land in the future, as it gives the student greater insight into what is possible to accomplish on any given piece of land. The course will change the way you look at a property, and you will be able to see new advantages in land. Students are often able to find property that others (or the seller) think is less than ideal and are willing to sell for less when in actuality, it could be a perfect piece of property for a good permaculture design.

Also, we have plenty of students who do not plan on developing land but are more interested in the ‘culture’ aspect of ‘Perma-culture.’ In order to create ‘permanent cultures, ’ we also need to improve our understanding of how things really work in a world where everyone and everything is cared for and appreciated. How we run our businesses, establish our community organizations, set up and run our institutions, and work with others on a personal level, are all essential aspects of permaculture that we will also look at during the PDC.

What is Online Learning Like?

Probably the better question is what CAN it be like?  Online learning varies widely out there but from our recent experience, and with the energy of our students, we have been able to make our courses feel like we are in a room together while also keeping the learning experience at a high level.  Besides, the content of the course is so compelling that we have found that online technology became a real gift rather than a limiting factor.

Frequent questions

A laptop/computer with a camera, microphone and speakers is all that is needed, and of course, a decent internet connection. If you have a slow internet this could become an unpleasant experience for you as we will be sharing a fair amount of content. In that case, it may be best to find a back-up location where you can access a stronger internet connection.

If your laptop or desktop computer does not have a camera or microphone, they are inexpensive to purchase and are easy to plug in. They are combined into one device and typically run between $20 and $50. Please email or call us if you have any questions about this and we’ll be sure Milton or Will gets back to you with clear answers.

The PDC is not heavy on digital map making.

Yes, we will use the internet to gather data on our properties and use observation and some empirical data gathering to analyze and assess what is happening, and then look at what this data means in relation to our vision for the property. But after this, the traditional PDC pulls out paper and pencil to do some very basic designing and mapping.

This being said, few of us use paper and pencil anymore to do design work now that so many basic digital-tools are easily available and understood. So we show our students how to obtain and save information off of the internet and then translate that to simple design presentations using software as basic as Google Slides and Microsoft PowerPoint.

Creating a final design using digital tools is not an expectation or requirement, at all, but most students end up using a digital interface they are familiar with. For those that prefer pen and paper, that’s great. What we are really interested in is the thinking behind the design decisions that are made.

If someone is familiar with Adobe Illustrator or other professional design map-making software they might prefer to use that, but creating a layered design map is not required for the PDC.

We do go into a lot more digital-mapping detail in the APDC and the Mini-PDC.

Because this training comes with the internationally recognized PDC Certificate, we as the host and teachers must guarantee that our students participated fully in the training. So, unless you don’t care about the certificate, everyone who takes this training will need to have their camera on so that we can all see each other while going through the training together.

Each online session will also be recorded and posted shortly thereafter so if a student misses a session, they can quickly catch up. However, if a student misses more than 9-hours of the live sessions in person, they will be required to take written notes from the recordings of all additional sessions they miss and email these to us for review. If the notes are missing key information a student may be requested to review the session again and resubmit their notes.

Make sense? There is no ‘requirement’ that you take tests and get passing grades to earn the certificate, but you do need to attend and participate.

Heck yes. If you have a partner, friends, family members or children, that are also interested in permaculture and want to look over your shoulder during this online training, and dig into the pre-training webinars and exercises, they are certainly welcome to do so. But while we are live, they are observers only.

There is only one person registered for the training and they are responsible to show up and participate in the exercises, discussions, and design work. This person earns the PDC Certificate. The onlookers should mostly be invisible, but we are delighted that they are there and hope they gain much knowledge, wisdom and wonder from the course too.

Onlooker or Registered Student?
If a potential onlooker is really interested in permaculture, and could see themselves becoming more deeply involved in design and permaculture implementation, then we would genuinely recommend that they fully enroll.

Full participants get more out of the training when having a ‘seat at the table’ — and when it is over they will then have the internationally recognized PDC certificate which could open other doors.

And if you are a couple/team, planning on designing your own permaculture property or homestead, we have found that it really makes a difference when both people are fully engaged in the training. A lot more goes on in a training than just the transfer of a few cool design concepts.

Taking the PDC fully, and sitting through each session, tends to create a mind and heart shift in most people that cannot be transferred by conversation later on.  Most students report that they experienced a foundational shift in understanding and awareness that left them more hopeful and certain about how to move forward on their design project (if they had one) and in life. This is an invaluable experience for couples designing a life together. There is almost no way one can describe this training to a partner afterwards and have them understand the full meaning, impact or understanding. We are just sharing this from what students have told us and from what we have observed. There is a substantial discount for the second and subsequent participants too.

Begin Now with the Webinars

Once you get registered for the course, the Foundations of Permaculture Webinar Series will be immediately accessible to you while your book and other handouts are snail-mailed to you. Enjoy the webinar series and handouts with the goal of having them done before the live-online portion of this PDC begins.

Schedule of Online PDC

  • Tuesday Evenings 6:00-9:00
  • Wednesday Evening 6:00-9:00
  • Thursday Evenings 6:00-9:00
  • Saturday Morning 8:00 to 1:00

(Central Time Zone)

Price: $995

$895 -- The Early Registration Price 60-days out

Pay in Full or Make a Deposit

If starting with a $250 deposit works best for you, choose that option. It will reserve your seat in the course, you’ll receive the Foundations of Permaculture webinar series right away, and you will be invoiced for the balance either before the early registration period ends (if you’ve registered well before this) or shortly before the course begins.

Course Options:

Limit: 24 Students/Course

Oct. 17 - Nov. 16 2023

-OR-

Early Registration Discount Ends Aug. 17th, 2023

Groups (Families, Couples, Friends)

$995 first person/$895 early registration

$695 for each additional person when registering as a group in the same course.

Registration for groups or couples.
Each member of a group registers separately with a $350 deposit. Note in the comment section the name of the person you are registering with. After we receive your deposit you will receive an invoice from us for the balance at the group rate divided equally among participants. The balance needs to be paid before your course begins. 

When you register separately, you will each receive your own access to the online course materials.

Low Risk Cancellation and Refund Policy

If a student cancels their registration 30-days before the online portion of a course begins they receive a full refund less $250.  The student retains full access to all of the webinars (a $195 value), keeps the course handouts and text book, and receives a $195 credit towards any future Midwest Permaculture design certification course (in person or online), good for up to 3-years.

If a student cancels their registration in the 30-days before the course begins there will be a full refund less $350 and the student still receives a $195 credit towards our design courses in the future.  The credit is good for up to three years.

There are no refunds for cancellations or withdrawals once the course begins.  However, in certain circumstances, we may extend partial credit towards a future design course.