Phoenix Permaculture Design Course

A full 72-hour in-person PDC on permaculture & regenerative design with an emphasis on dry lands and southwest ecosystems.

Registration for the

Spring 2025 Permaculture Design Course. 
This in-person, 72-hour course will take place
over ten days on multiple weekends.

The dates in Feb, Mar, Apr, May of 2025 are listed below.

LIMITED CLASS SIZE.
You can save your seat in the next PDC with either a small deposit* now, or a full registration at discounted pricing.

*To secure your spot in the 2025 course, send a check payable to GrowPHX of at least $250 to  PO BOX 10072, Glendale, AZ 85318. Confirm this with an email to Janis@urbanfarm.org

Registration includes a copies of: 
Introduction to Permaculture by Bill Mollison &
Water Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond by Brad Lancaster.

 

The course is $1495 (see early registration discounts below) for the full 72-hour course and includes the Introduction to Permaculture Textbook by Bill Mollison and the student binder which is distributed on first day.

    • Hold your spot for $250.
      This deposit will hold your spot in the course if received by any early registration deadline. We will accept deposits only while spots available. Full payment required for new registrations received after January 10th.
    • Full balance due by February 1st.
    • Available Discounts:
      • Stage 1 – $300 discount to $1195 if registered by Dec 31st.
      • Stage 2 – $100 discount to $1395 if registered by Jan 31st.  
      • Couples registering at same time – $50 per person discount if registered by Jan 31st. – Only if spots are available.
        • Optional discount of $25 if sharing textbooks – applied to one registrant only and must be requested when registering.
    • Registering after January 10th requires full registration amount.

PDC Spring 2025

Course is 10 days, 9am to 5:30pm. Saturdays & Sundays only in February, March, April & May.

Key Presentation Dates:

Day 8: Workshop Day with Draft Presentations of Group Research, Site Maps & Evaluation, and Discussion of Proposed Ideas with Feedback from PDC team.
Day 10: Group Final Presentations of Completed Designs

*Deposits accepted before 1/15/25 will secure early registration pricing.

“What is a Permaculture Design Course (PDC)?  

It is a 72-hour deep dive introduction into permaculture.  This course is designed to give you a whole new perspective on sustainability and regenerative design.  
I like to call permaculture ‘the art and science of working with nature’.”   
— Greg Peterson.

2025 schedule:

Days 1-2:   Sat/Sun,  Feb 22 & 23 

Days 3-4: Sat/Sun, Mar 8 & 9

Days 5-6:  Sat/Sun, Mar 22 & 23

Days 7-8: Sat/Sun, Apr 12 & 13

Days 9-10: Sat/Sun, May 3 & 4

This Permaculture certification course covers many aspects of design with a Southwest dry-lands flavor, including a balance of classroom time, permaculture principles reinforcement, design practicum, and some hands-on experience. Dynamic exercises encourage pattern recognition, noticing the links between plants, animals, climate, and landforms that make up natural ecosystems. The course focuses on dryland communities with a strong urban and semi-rural emphasis, addressing individual site and neighborhood “problems” such as storm water flooding.

Students learn to read the landscape, to map and analyze energies flowing through a site, and to develop integrated designs for sustainable systems. The weekend format of the course makes it easier for people who hold a week-day job to attend and promotes better integration of the course material into daily life. By the end of the course students will have developed and presented a comprehensive permaculture design on a site of their choosing. Our course closely follows the standard 72-hour format developed by Bill Mollison and others.

Course topics include design principles and patterning, site analysis, drylands gardening principles, ecosystem restoration, philosophy and ethics of Permaculture, regenerative community economics, soils and erosion control, village and community design, water harvesting, invisible structures, agroforestry, appropriate technology, building design, and many other topics.

The classroom is a collection of multiple sites in the Greater Phoenix area. This course is taught and facilitated by Don Titmus & Janis Norton, with a team of permaculture-trained presenters to help round out the course.

Have Questions?

Check out our Frequently Asked Questions HERE, and then email us if you still need some clarification.