Permaculture Defined

Permaculture is about designing ecological human habitats and production systems. It is a land use and community building system which strives for the harmonious integration of human dwellings, microclimate, annual and perennial plants, animals, soils, and water into stable, productive communities.

The focus is not on these elements themselves, but rather on the relationships created among them by the way we place them in the landscape. This synergy is further enhanced by mimicking patterns found in nature.

It has been successfully used around the world to maximize food production, regenerate springs, cool homes without air conditioning, transform lives and reduce pollution, to name a few.

The essence of Permaculture is summed up by 3 ethics:

Care of the Earth
Care of the People
Share the Surplus

Urban Permaculture

We start with the standardized Permaculture curriculum and add onto it insights and strategies for applying Permaculture to the urban setting. This lengthens the course to a degree, we do not omit any of the standard materials.

Over 50% of the world's population now lives in urban centers and the number is growing. Adopting strategies to meet our needs in a sane and ethical way is critical. In this course, we will learn how to design those strategies.

Active Design Course

This is a design course and participants will be working in teams producing a design for an actual project here in San Francsico. Throughout the course, we will share with you the tools and strategies required to complete the design which all culminates in the final presentation at the completion of the course.

Costs and Considerations

The cost for the course is $750 and run approximately 88 hours over 16 sessions. The schedule is outlined below.

Keeping with Permaculture ethics, if you cannot afford the course, please contact Kevin or David (contact below) so we can work something out.

In addition, participants may reduce their payment to $600 by blogging and documenting their project on the San Francisco Permaculture Guild website. Approximately 10 hours. Contact us for more details.

Finally, inevitably one or more trainees misses a session due to unforseen circumstances or other plans.  We are able to make arrangemements for you to make up sessions missed by meeting with student teachers and participation with other community projects.  If you need to miss more than one or two sessions, please contact us.

Course Dates

More details, contact:

Kevin Bayuk - 415-999-5354

David Cody - 415-260-6570