learn skills
build community
about our Courses
Our courses bring in leading designers and teachers from around the Central California region and beyond, each experts in different areas of permaculture. Courses are held mostly outdoors with an emphasis on hands-on learning. Though each course has a home base local to the Santa Cruz area, many of our courses include field trips to sites in the surrounding area, allowing students a diverse range of experiences.
If you’re new to permaculture, almost any of our courses are a great place to start. Email or call us if you would like some advice on which course to take first.
Permaculture design course
6 weekends in 6 months: April – September & October – March
2-week intensive course every summer
Individual Weekend Attendance Available
Join leading designers & teachers from around the region to explore an ethically based whole-systems design approach that uses concepts, principles, and methods derived from ecosystems, nature connected communities, and other time-tested systems to create human settlements and institutions.
Permaculture food forests
6 weekends over 12 months – begins every August
Individual Weekend Attendance Available
Gain hands-on skills and build community around growing food. Learn best practices for orchard establishment and management, food forestry, designing year round productive vegetable farms and gardens, and preserving the harvest.
herbalism & medicine-making
6-weekends in 6 months
April – September & October – March
Individual Weekend Attendance Available
Within a supportive community of practice, build your home apothecary to promote vitality, immunity, and resilience to stress. All sessions include plant walks, plant sits and lots of hands-on making & crafting.
Permaculture skills course
6-weekends in 6 months
April – September & October – March
Individual Weekend Attendance Available
Gain skills and learn best practices to be able to successfully and confidently implement sustainable living projects! Our 6-weekend permaculture skills course focuses on developing practical skills through hands-on learning.
Regenerative Beekeeping
6-weekends between March and October
Join us for a beginning level beekeeping practicum grounded in a natural approach to apiculture, with a focus on sustainable hive management, honey production and pollinator health
advanced permaculture
design course
8-day intensive course – every summer
Join experienced instructors Dave Boehnlein & Dave Shaw to gain fluency with the design process and be able to hit the ground running for any permaculture design project. Hone a variety of skills useful for improving permaculture designs you’re doing for yourself, family and friends, or in a professional setting.
Planting Water
A Weekend Retreat with Jesse Trace
Every May & October
Join us this early spring to learn about designing food systems that mimic nature, manage stormwater, replenish aquifers, improve landscape fertility and restore aquatic ecosystems.