The NEXT PDC is taking place in the Spring of 2025 on 10 weekend days:

• • 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

Breaks include a minimum half-hour for lunch; brown bagging is recommended.

Attendance in all 10 days are required to graduate from the course.
Class starts at 9 am and typically runs until 5:30 pm, although we may break early on occasion.

The course is $1495 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 if registered by Dec 31st.
    • Stage 2 – $100 discount 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.
    (See next section).

SPRING deadlines and dates:

• • Stage 1 registration ends: Dec 31st of the year prior to course.
  • Stage 2 registration ends: January 31st of the course year.
  • Stage 3 registration ends: February 15th of the course year.
  • Full balance for Stage 1 and 2 registrants due by: February 1st.
  • Security deposits accepted thru: January 9th – only if spots available
  • Course cancellation announcement (in unlikely event not enough participants): by January 28th
• Spring 2025 Specific: 
  • Course starts: February 22, 2025
  • Course completed: May 4, 2025

    There are three ways to pay and register for the course…

1. 1. By Zelle transfer – Send deposit or payment to PDC@UrbanFarm.org
   2. By Mail – Checks and money orders can be made out to GrowPHX. Please mail only checks and money orders (no cash) to: Urban Farm, PO Box 10072 Glendale, AZ 85318. Include your return address, e-mail address, and phone number, and you will be sent an e-receipt confirming your registration.
   3. By Credit Card – credit card payments go through our secure online shopping cart.  We will send you an invoice for this upon request. 
   4. In Person – You can track down Janis at any of our events and give her check, money order, or cash.

• NOTE: If the name on the credit card or check is NOT the participant, then an email to PDC@UrbanFarm.org is needed to give us contact information on the student. A confirmation email from us will ensure the proper student is registered.
• Payment plans are available for small fee per payment.

In the unlikely event the course is cancelled by us, you will receive a full refund of your paid tuition including any deposit within two weeks of the announced course cancellation. 

Cancelling the entire course by the participant requires a written communication to us at PDC@UrbanFarm.org.  We will apply refunds as listed here based on when the written or emailed request for refund is received:

• If you cancel and another full-tuition student can be found to fill your spot and filling course occupancy before the first day of class a refund will be process of the tuition minus the deposit if applicable. In the event the class has not been fully filled by the first day of class, your spot will not be considered replaced.
  • 30 or more days before the course begins: Any paid funds will be refunded minus the deposit and any incurred processing fees*.
  • 10 to 29 business days before the course begins: We will refund 75% of what you have paid, minus the deposit and any incurred processing fees*.
  • Less than 10 days before course begins or after the course has started: We will refund 50% of what you have paid, minus the deposit and any incurred processing fees*.
    • *Processing fees include credit card fees and other bank related charges.
  • The deposit is non-refundable – except in these conditions:
    • The course is cancelled by us,
    • Your spot is fill by January 30th.

Not showing up to the first day of class will count as a “no-show”. Refunds for no-shows are considered on a case-by-case basis and are only after receipt of a written request for refund cancellation. Verbal requests are not accepted.

In the unlikely event that the entire course is cancelled by us, you will receive a full refund for any deposit and other registration funds you have paid.

Our budget is limited and many of our expenses are planned and committed to well in advance of the course start date.  In order to remain sustainable we cannot promise a refund. However, we do understand that life can be complicated. We decide refunds or credit on a case-by-case basis.

We expect each participant to attend ALL TEN of the scheduled classes, as this is what is required to completed the 72 hours of the course. The design project and final presentation of this course depends on group participation and having a group member fail to pull their weight puts an undue burden on the rest of the group. 

We understand unexpected events come up. Missing class time and student exercises will need to be made up in order to secure a successful completion of the course. Missing more than two days of classes will result in the need to retake the course later date. Missing a group design project exercise or the final presentation will result an incomplete for this course and will require the participant to retake another course in full.

It is up to you to request any make-up work and you may have to schedule time to meet with the instructor who was teaching during the missed period if he or she is willing to go over the material. In some cases scheduling make up one-on-one tutoring is not feasible and you may have to wait until next year’s course to make up the material and get your certificate.

Partial scholarships may be available on a limited, case-by-case basis, and proposals must be submitted in writing  to PDC@UrbanFarm.org prior to 30 days before start of course. 

Pay It Forward Scholarship Committee

The Pay It Forward Scholarship Committee has been created to review applications and determine scholarship amounts. This committee will assess the need and worthiness of applicants, and then assign available scholarship funds. This committee is made up of past graduates who are committed to seeing future PDC Students have access to the course.

Any PDC Graduates willing to grant scholarship funds to future students can reach out to Janis for more details.

The 72-hour course follows a standard Permaculture Design Course outline with the added elements of Dryland topics.  A general day-by-day outline and syllabus is presented on Day 1.

We will be teaching in classrooms, residences, and a few outdoor settings in locations around the valley in Phoenix, Mesa, Scottsdale and North Peoria, and on one day we will be taking a field trip to see permaculture examples in the valley.

This course leads to a Design Course Certificate in Permaculture. While this certificate is not recognized directly by most universities and colleges, many of our students have been university or college students, and have worked with their departments at the University of Arizona, Prescott College, and Pima Community College to obtain independent study credit for taking this course. It is up to the individual student to work out arrangements with his/her college and his/her department. Prescott College students have often taken this course for credit.

This Permaculture Design Course is a standardized course (with additional emphasis here in the Southwest Drylands) given around the world since 1981, and there are currently over 300,000 graduates working in over 100 countries on sustainability issues. Our seasoned team of teachers have been giving this course for over fifteen years together; and as a whole, the teaching team has several decades of experience in core Permaculture topics, sustainable development, and other specialized areas of sustainability. It is up to you to determine with your educational institute if this would apply for credit.

For registration, payment, and timeline questions, send an email to PDC@UrbanFarm.org and be sure to use “PDC REGISTRATION”  or appropriate topic in the subject line.

For course content questions, send an email to permiedon@gmail.com and be sure to use “PDC CONTENT” or appropriate topic in the subject line.

The REQUIRED books would be

• Intro to Permaculture by Bill Mollison (included in the registration price)
• How Green am I by Don Lotter (included in the registration price)
• Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands Vol 1 by Brad Lancaster (We are working to get this included in the course supplies, however it is available at most libraries and HERE at Brad’s website)

Other suggested reading will be included in the syllabus and in class discussions.

Suggested videos and other forms of media will be discussed in class as there is plenty of good permaculture information out there.

YES. There will be group activities, as well as a group design project and presentation on the last day to showcase your design planning.

The class will be divided into groups by Day 2, as regionally located as possible. Group project planning and homework is expected. The more you meet with your group outside of class to study or work on your project, the more you will get out of this course. And the better your permaculture contacts and resources will be.

• Day 8: Group Mock Presentations of Research, Site Maps & Evaluation, and Discussion of Proposed Ideas with Feedback from PDC team.
  • You will present your group project multiple times that day in a small group setting and get feedback to help you as you work towards your final design.
  • This is the first time your project is evaluated for content and we have NO expectation of this being a complete or comprehensive project design, neither should you.
    
• Day 10: Group Final Presentation of Completed Designs. This is the culmination of all your study into a presentation as if the audience was your ‘client’. 

Regarding couples and group work: 

Most of our class time is spent in typical classroom settings with opportunities to learn and explore permaculture concepts together. We encourage class interaction and connection building.

However for the group projects, we strive to split couples into separate groups to allow for more individualized learning. We recognize this may pose a transportation difficulty if groups plan on meeting outside of class time; and hope that our couples can give a honest effort to evaluate their ability participate in these separate groups before asking to be placed in the same group.  Couples who have experienced the course in separate groups have told us they very much appreciated the format and brought home twice the ideas and inspiration.

Couples:

We will extend a $50 per person discount for couples who register at the same time if registered before January 31st.

We do offer an optional additional $40 discount to couples registering at the same time and are willing to share their Intro to Permaculture by Bill Mollison textbook. Each student will get their own course manual, and will be expected to do their own homework.