![Happy polish and brahma chickens](http://craftthyme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/36762448_447189442413832_7242643449059475456_n-e1535851149435.jpg)
Because full time out of the house job, full garden, chickens, and four kids is not enough I finally did it! I signed up for a permaculture design course accredited by Permaculture Institute of North America. I have always wanted to take a permaculture design course (PDC) but lacked the resources to make it happen. Resources being time, location, and money. I was very excited to find an this online PDC (also sometimes called a permaculture design certificate) through Oregon State University. After hemming and hawing because it still costs a lot of money… and still costs a lot of time, but flexible time… I signed up with Adam’s encouragement. The online nature of the course will allow me to do it on the evenings and weekends when the kids are in bed. FYI- this is not an ad, I haven’t even taken the course yet!
![Happy polish and brahma chickens](https://i0.wp.com/craftthyme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/36762448_447189442413832_7242643449059475456_n-e1535851149435.jpg?resize=650%2C650)
Oregon State University has a free certificate program as an intro to permaculture I took this spring. From that course I was able to finish a first plan for our Urban Permaculture lot you can see here. I enjoyed the instructor and introduction to permaculture enough that I THINK I’ll get good value from the course. If nothing else finishing a permaculture design course is the first (in a lot of) steps to being certified as a designer or eventual permaculture instructor.
So why am I talking about my course? I rarely document personal stuffs on Craft Thyme, but I thought that a follow along as I go through this ten week course would probably be pretty interesting to those looking at potentially doing a permaculture design course. Especially, if you are looking at an online version. Plus 10 WEEEEEEKKKKSSSSS. I need something to keep me accountable for all the time it is going to take to work through the course material.
![Can anyone be sad when looking at a sunflower?](https://i0.wp.com/craftthyme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/38081142_2151356388467676_7247047508524793856_n-e1535851296915.jpg?resize=650%2C650)
Oregan State’s Online Permaculture Design Course
Let’s start with the course information:
- Course Dates: 9/24/2018 – 12/7/2018
- Time Needed: 9 to 10 hours a week. It is recommended you do not take a PDC less than 72 hours worth of instruction and time. So at 90-100 hours this more than meets the minimum.
- Weeks: 10 Weeks. A lot of permaculture design courses happen in intesive 2-3 week blocks. I am hoping the longer time witll give me more time to digest the topics and practice techniques since I will lose a bit on the personal instruction a face to face might cover.
- Instructor: Andrew Millison
- Topics Covered:
- Observation and analysis of the natural processes of a site
- Design principles and methods
- Dynamics of water systems, soils, gardens and trees
- Urban permaculture
- Apply an ethically based whole-systems design approach
- Use concepts, principles, and methods derived from ecosystems, indigenous peoples, and other time-tested practices
- Learn about regional planning, ecology, animal husbandry, appropriate technology, architecture, and international development
- Textbook (affiliate link): Practical Permaculture for Home Landscapes, Your Community, and the Whole Earth. Oddly enough Adam had purchased this book for me this spring. I took it as a sign ;)
For those of you following along
-
- Introduction to Online Permaculture Design Course at Oregon State University
- Overview of the Online Permaculture Design Course
- PDC Week 1
- PDC Week 2
- PDC Week 3
- PDC Week 4
- PDC Week 5
- PDC Week 6
- PDC Week 7
- PDC Week 8
- PDC Week 9
- PDC Week 10
- Final Permaculture Portfolio Project