Tag Archives: PDC

Gettin’ Certified (permaculture-style)

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So, Chris M. and I have some very exciting news…starting next week, we’ll be taking a Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) course! We’ve both taken a couple of Introduction to Permaculture classes, but so far, Chris K. is the only farm member who is certified in permaculture design (he has his PDC as well as his Permaculture Advanced Teacher Training certification). 

Chris M. and I have each been interested in permaculture for awhile and have done our own individual research about it (him way more than me), but ever since taking our Intro courses, we’ve been curious about furthering our education on the topic. There are a lot of great sounding PDC programs in the Vancouver area and in the Pacific Northwest, but we recently made the decision to get certified through Gaiacraft (based in Roberts Creek on the Sunshine Coast).

We have a few reasons for choosing to get our PDC through Gaiacraft: 1) it’s very affordable which, for both of us at the moment, is a neccessary consideration, 2) it stretches over a 14 month period with classes taking place once a month (also helpful since it would be tough for either of us to take a two-week period off all at once, and 3) we are really drawn to Gaiacraft instructor Delvin’s teaching style. We recently attended a free one-day Intro to Permaculture class taught by Delvin and loved it. It was that experience that convinced us to sign up for his upcoming PDC course. 

So, in addition to voicing our excitement about this on the blog, I also wanted to promote it in case anyone else is curious about doing this right now. Chris and I have signed up for the class that meets on Tuesdays and will be driving out to the variety of class locations so if anyone else from Maple Ridge or the surrounding area are interested in signing up too, you’ll have car-pool buddies. As far as I know, there is still some room in Delvin’s classes. Email him for more info at delvin@crystalandspore.com or directly through his website.

A visit from a PDC class

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This week we had a visit from a Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) class. The PDC is a course that was developed by Bill Mollison, the ‘father of permaculture’, to teach principles and foundations of sustainable design. 

The class that came to our farm is being taught by Delvin Solkinson of Gaiacraft. It’s the second time Delvin has brought a class to our farm to check out some of our projects and discuss methods of permaculture design and we love it when he and his students come (extra fun to see some familiar faces in this class!).

Hosting groups of people who are interested in this stuff encourages us in our own work here on the farm and we always learn a lot from our visitors. With Delvin’s class, we spent some time examining our soggy, buttercup-filled back meadow and discussed methods of gardening within that kind of space and environment. Definitely helpful!

For any other groups out there who are interested in coming by for a visit, either to observe and learn from some of the stuff we’ve done, to give suggestions or to get your hands dirty helping us on a project, please let us know. We’d love to have you! Email us at thefarmforlifeproject@gmail.com.

And check out Delvin’s newest class, starting this March, the All Seasons Advance Permaculture Diploma Program. Cheers!