Our 2027 Modular Permaculture Course is here…
This course will meet monthly over 10-weekends for a deep-dive into Permaculture, and over 126 hours of teaching time. Taught in an integrated and hands-on way, and hosted at a range of unique and exemplary teaching venues, you will gain the skills & knowledge to develop your own land-use design project which integrates aspects of social permaculture. We culminate in a weekend of presentations of your work, and a well-earned community celebration where you will be awarded your Permaculture Design Certificate.
Not only will this course give you a deep understanding, a new way of thinking and real design skills; you will also receive an internationally recognised Permaculture Design Certificate, opening the doors to our rich and diverse global community.
Our Modules
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In this first module we will get to know each other deeper and establish our personal aspirations for the course. We will then begin our learning journey with sessions on Ecological Principles, Biomes & Bioregions, Observation Skills & Mapping. We will learn more about Permaculture Ethics & Principles, Design Modelling (inc. site, sector, microclimate surveys & analysis).
Tutors: Robina McCurdy, Charley Bradley, Rosie Wren
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Delve into the bio-physical environment of the Moutere area (e.g. soils, water, vegetation, microclimates) and applying kaitiakitanga at a bioregional scale. This weekend will include a tour of local environmental restoration projects. We will also look at a smaller Rural Property Scale, including learning about ecological succession, riparian zones restoration, waterbodies regeneration, effective shelter systems &. building soil fertility. The second day will include a tour of ecological restoration projects on a Moutere farm.
Tutors: Robina McCurdy, Charley Bradley, Mel McColgan, Che Vincent
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Discover the mystery and science of soils, soil-food web, soil testing, vegetable crop rotation systems. We will have a tour of two long-standing market garden projects. On Sunday we delve into the complexities of Water Harvesting: looking at properties of water, design principles, smaller scale appropriate technical strategies, & irrigation systems. We will have a tour of a Pōhara ‘lifestyle’ property which features six water harvesting and distribution systems.
Tutors: Sol Morgan, Rosie Wren, Peter Bromley
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This weekend will be all about farm management & animal needs: exploring taking a ‘Closed loop’ approach, on-site recycling, regenerative agriculture, site appropriate animals and fodder species. Saturday will include a tour of integrated small-farm ‘lifestyle’ property. Sunday we will look at rural design principles and practice integrated animal design as a small group activity.
Tutors: Robina McCurdy, Charley Bradley & Ingrid Wagner
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We will look at the concept of “City as a Bioregional Heart”: viewing Whakatū as an integrated ‘food basket’, examining urban-rural link, neighbourhood food and energy resilience. We will conduct a neighbourhood survey and look at permaculture design for its capacity to retrofit. On Sunday we will learn about Suburban Permaculture Design, both principles and examples, inc. reducing energy consumption and small-scale intensive food production. We will enjoy a tour of two exceptional nearby Nelson permaculture properties.
Tutors: Robina McCurdy, Yuri Aristarco & Ami Kennedy
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With two dedicated orchardists we will look at the complexities of orchard design and management, inc. species selection, food forest design activity. We wil visit an established permaculture designed oasis; and have a session on Syntropic Agroforestry. On Sunday we will delve deeply into the principles of shelter and forestry design; the best species to incorporate for high value and sustainable harvesting for our region. We will visit a successful timber forest and milling operation and subtropical orchard.
Tutors: Robina McCurdy, Chris Rowse, Sol Morgan & Reinhold Joechle
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This weekend looks at a very different way of applying permaculture, by applying it to people. We will learn all about Sustainable Social Systems & ‘Invisible Structures’ (e.g. governance, legal, financial) that can create healthy organisations. On Sunday we will look at Ecovillage & Intentional Community concepts and design, Ecovillage Maps of Regeneration. After this we will turn towards ourselves and look at designing for personal Quality of Life.
Tutors: Robina McCurdy, Charley Bradley & Rosie Wren
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This weekend will be all about ecological building design theory & history, with excellent examples that creatively navigate regulations. We will have a simple hands-on earth building practical. There will be a tour of a range of owner-designer-builder homes in Wainui Bay. On Sunday we will look at systems needed in housing design: household water & waste; low impact technologies & renewable energy systems. We will have some practical design exercises to utilise this information.
Tutors: Robina McCurdy, Charley Bradley
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We will hone our technical skills including draughting, measuring, drawing, using computer programmes to inform our mapping. This will lead us to looking at the Full Design Process, which covers Design Thinking, Review, Amalgamation, Report-writing, and Presentation Skills. We shall be inspired by stories of designers from around the world. On Sunday we will look into scenario planning; including looking at resilience at a household & neighbourhood scale and planning for disasters/catastrophes.
Tutors: Robina McCurdy & Charley Bradley
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Part of the design process is presenting and celebrating: Invite your family & friends to watch you and your cohort present your Personal Designs. We will give feedback, talk about future support and what nexts... And of course, celebrate our time together and all that we have learnt.
Our Tutors
We have a team of 13 amazing tutors teaching on our 2027 course, please click on our team page for more information about them all.
Venues & Dates
Sat 20 & Sun 21 FEB - Permaculture Foundations
Tui Outdoor Education Centre, GOLDEN BAY
Sat 20 & Sun 21 MARCH - Applying permaculture as Kaitiaki of Natural Ecosystems
Te Awhina Marae & Riverside Community, MOTUEKA
Sat 17 & Sun 18 APRIL -Water in the Landscape, Soil Fertility, Crop Rotation Gardens
The Sustainable Living Centre & The Sandcastle, GOLDEN BAY
Sat 22 & Sun 23 MAY - Rural ‘Lifestyle’ Property Design & Integrated Animal Systems
Family homestead, MARAHAU
Sat 19 & Sun 20 JUNE – Urban Design, Food Resilience, Suburban Household Gardens
Victory Community Centre & Broadgreen House, NELSON
Sat 24 & Sun 25 JULY – Trees, Orchards, Food Forests
The Sustainable Living Centre & Other Properties, GOLDEN BAY
Sat 21 & 22 AUG –Social Permaculture
Riverside Community, MOTUEKA
Sat 25 & Sun 26 SEPT - Ecological Building
Tui Outdoor Education Centre, GOLDEN BAY
Sat 23 & Sun 24 OCT – Fully Integrated Design
Hirschberg Institute, NGĀTIMOTI
Sat 27 & Sun 28 NOV - Our Design Presentations
Fairfield House, NELSON
Each of our venues is chosen for it being conducive for facilitating the weekend’s learning - a way of showing permaculture in action, or an opportunity for observation and design-practices. Please click the links to find out more about each venue.
Saturday:
Day sessions: 9-4:30pm
Optional communal dinner: 6pm
Evening session 7-8:30pm
Sunday:
Day sessions: 9-4:30pm
Course logistics
For modules happening beyond your home-base, we hope that many of you may have friends or whanau to be able to stay with (or you will gain some through this course!). Some of our venues have accommodation available on-site which can be booked for an extra fee, and we may have contacts to help with free accommodation.
Acccommodation
For simplicity, diversity and cost effectiveness, Saturday and Sunday lunches will be ‘Potlucks’, and we are arranging a local cook/chef to produce a delicious Sat eve meal at a cost of $35 or less. Tea and coffee will be provided.
Food
We, at Earthcare Education, love the richness of teaching in-person, and we also appreciate the value of keeping in touch with tutors during the design process. We will offer pre-arranged Q&As on Zoom to support your work-in-progress between weekend sessions.
Online Support
Investment
Early bird
Full course
Includes: in-person tuition, on-line mentoring, field trips, course materials, handouts & venues.
Weekend only
Join us for the foundational module in February, followed by selected individual modules that suit you.
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We have a small number of scholarships available:
We can offer one full scholarship available for Māori, Pacifica or Refugees, or anyone on a very low income.
We also have 3 partial scholarships (Course Cost $1450) offered to people on a lower income who are working within their community.
We ask for anyone receiving a scholarship to pay their knowledge forward and apply their permaculture design to a local organisation or community group; and to write a short report/video to let us share the impact of our collective work.
Scholarship Application Deadline: 30th November 2026.See more on our Sponsorship Application page.
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We understand that this course is a significant investment, and cash-flow is not always easy; please reach out to us at rosie.earthcare@proton.me to discuss payment plans if needed.
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There is a non-refundable deposit of NZ$350 to hold your space on the course.
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Payment must be received in full prior to the course beginning, unless a payment plan has been agreed.
No additional cancellation fee will be charged if cancelled more than 6 weeks before the course/workshop starts.
A 10% administration fee will be withheld on the full course/ workshop fee if cancelled between 2 & 4 weeks before the course/workshop commences.
No refund if cancelled within the last 2 weeks before the course/workshop starts.
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You will need to be at 8 out of 10 modules, and to complete the design process (with presentation) to receive the Permaculture Design Certificate. Some material missed will be available to study in the time between the next module, but the experiential nature of the course means that not all information will be accessible.
To do the "‘Weekend Only” option, we require you to attend the foundational module in February, or to have accepted background knowledge. We have a limited number of these “Weekend only” places for each weekend, to ensure enough focus remains on our full time participants. The following modules are not available for weekend standalone courses: Rural Design Integrated Farm Systems, Urban Design & Intensive Gardens & Fully Integrated Design. If these topics really capture your interest, please contact us on our workshops form for the potential of organising another stand-alone event.
Testimonials
“The most beautiful, thoughtful and inspiring course I’ve ever done, that has changed the way I view myself on this land.”
— Sarah, Melbourne“Having the opportunity to learn from a range of incredibly knowledgable permaculture leaders in a supportive and fun environment has been an invaluable experience.”
— Racheal, Golden Bay, Tui PDC 2021“I am now confident that I can look at a piece of land, connect with it and see the possibilities of successful permaculture. The course was beyond expectation.”
—Fran Auckland“I absolutely loved Robina’s unique style and her ability to keep us all connected and engaged.”
— Kate, Tui PDC 2021“A very transformative experience that didn’t only expand my knowledge base, but gifted me an opportunity to connect with like-minded souls, open up, and reconnect with a sense of purpose and direction.”
— Abha, Golden Bay, Tui PDC 2021“This PDC was a fully immersive, life-altering kind of experience. Robina and Charley were so committed to us throughout the course. We learnt SO much. The people care and sense of community was a big part of the experience.”
—Zoe, Tui PDC 2023Still have questions?
Take a look at the FAQ or reach out anytime.
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Simply fill in our online form and we will get back to you with the other details.
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We can offer payment plans depending on your situation. Simply email Rosie on rosie.earthcare@pm.me and she will be able to help.
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To get the most out of any individual module we recommend attending our first introductory module in February. However, if you have prior knowledge or have attended other Permaculture Design Courses we would recognise this instead. Please get in touch with Rosie on rosie.earthcare@pm.me if you are unsure.
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For flexibility we have decided not to include accommodation and food in this course. However, we will be able to help you find accommodation.
We will also organise food on the Saturday night, for $30pp. -
The last sign-up date is x January 2027.