If Surviving 2020 Has Stretched You To Your Limits...
….Learn to Create Sanity, Security, Abundance and Community No Matter What.
From global pandemic to failed supply lines, political upheavals to massive unemployment, the unthinkable became reality in 2020. And let’s be real – the conditions that set up these disasters didn’t pop out of nowhere onto a Bingo card. And they won’t vanish when the clock strikes the New Year.
So what do you do? Not panic. Not fall into helpless hopelessness….
Connect with a Positive, Proactive Community and
Create a Future of Healthy, Safe Food, Water, and Land
With Training, Tools, and Support
from Verge’s Annual Online (Live & Interactive)
Permaculture Design Certification Course
We offered our internationally-recognized Permaculture Design Certification course online for the first time this spring to give positive, strategic solutions in response to the COVID-19 quarantine – and were astounded by the need it tapped! People around the world had been hungry for a PDC like this, fiercely seeking the answers it offered. We doubled, then tripled our capacity, and the registrations kept coming……
So…..we are opening registration for our second online PDC on October 30 with the course starting November 24!
Like our first online PDC, this course offers content specially targeted to the challenges people are facing at this time, when access to food and economic security have been threatened as never before.
In addition to internationally-recognized permaculture instructors, we are also offering a stellar lineup of coaches and guides to guide you in moving past fear and uncertainty, toward finding a new, sustainable calling for your own career.
And to make it all as accessible as we possibly could, we’re offering it at 50% the cost of our In-Person PDCs! That includes live webinars combined with access to our student dashboard including all recordings, bonus materials, ability to post questions, and more!
But this year is the only time we will offer this course twice. The next online PDC will be in November 2021.
Can you wait that long to learn these skills?
$699 CAD + tax, if applicable
(or 3 payments of $267 CAD + tax)
Registration for Fall 2021 will begin in the late summer.
How Are You Coping With 2020’s Lock Down?
If you’re wondering how you’ll feed your family if (when) grocery shelves go bare again – how you’ll heat your home or keep the lights on for the long term – if you’ll be able to find a job or restart your business when ( if! ) things settle down – Verge Permaculture’s online, live & interactive Permaculture Design Certification course is the solution you’re looking for, starting November 24th, wherever you are!
- Discover how to create food and water security, lower electrical and fuel bills with renewable energy, gain the keys to a new, sustainable livelihood, and so much more.
- Learn practical preparedness from a team of urban and rural permaculture designer/consultants, ecological engineers, business and marketing mentors – all successful entrepreneurs.
- With a special focus on cold-climate permaculture, this PDC starts with an international standard curriculum and adds fresh expert content designed to help you position yourself for facing a changed future with confidence.
If you’re looking to move through the rest of 2020 and beyond with the skills, knowledge, tools and network to create a secure future for yourself, your loved ones, and your community, you need this course!
$699 CAD + tax, if applicable
(or 3 payments of $267 CAD + tax)
Verge’s Permaculture Design Certification Course | Live Online
Hope, Knowledge and a Plan to Thrive!
Starts November 24th, 2020
You’ll….
And the groundbreaking content doesn’t stop with the live webinars!
You’ll receive…
And then there’s the BONUS material…
…and much, much more!
DETAILED SCHEDULE FOR FALL 2021 COURSE
Live webinars hosted on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays from 3 – 5 pm Mountain Time with a one hour Q&A from 5 – 6pm. (Convert to your time zone here).
All webinars are recorded and posted to the student dashboard where you can watch or (re-watch) at your own pace.
| WEEK | Dates & times | High-Level Topics Covered |
|---|---|---|
| Welcome | Tuesday Nov. 24 3pm – 5 pm MT, Extra Q&A from 5 pm – 6pm MT. |
Welcome |
| Week #1 (Lectures 1,2,3) |
Tuesday Nov. 24, Thursday Nov 26, Sunday Nov 29, Tuesday Dec 1, Lectures from 3pm – 5 pm MT, Extra Q&A from 5 pm – 6pm MT. |
Introduction to Permaculture |
| Week #2 (Lectures 4,5,6) |
Thursday Dec 3, Sunday Dec 6, Tuesday Dec 8 Lectures from 3pm – 5 pm MT, Extra Q&A from 5 pm – 6pm MT. |
Methods of Design |
| Week #3 (Lectures 7,8,9) |
Thursday Dec 10, Sunday Dec 13, Tuesday Dec 15, Lectures from 3pm – 5 pm MT, Extra Q&A from 5 pm – 6pm MT. |
Climatic Factors |
| Week #4 (Lectures 10,11) |
Thursday Dec 17, Sunday Dec 20 Lectures from 3pm – 5 pm MT, Extra Q&A from 5 pm – 6pm MT. |
Water |
| Week #5 (Lectures 12,13,14) |
Thursday Jan 7, Sunday Jan 10, Tuesday Jan 12 Lectures from 3pm – 5 pm MT, Extra Q&A from 5 pm – 6pm MT. |
Waste Water, Farm-scale Water and Soil Part 1 |
| Week #6 (Lectures 15,16,17) |
Thursday Jan 14, Sunday Jan 17, Tuesday Jan 19 Lectures from 3pm – 5 pm MT, Extra Q&A from 5 pm – 6pm MT. |
Soil, Trees and Food Forests |
| Week #7 (Lectures 18,19,20) |
Thursday Jan 21, Sunday Jan 24, Tuesday Jan 26 Lectures from 3pm – 5 pm MT, Extra Q&A from 5 pm – 6pm MT. |
Food Forests, Farm-scale Trees and Livestock Part 1 |
| Week #8 (Lectures 21,22,23) |
Thursday Jan 28, Sunday Jan 31, Tuesday Feb 2 Lectures from 3pm – 5 pm MT, Extra Q&A from 5 pm – 6pm MT. |
Livestock, Greenhouses, Cold Climate Gardens |
| Week #9 (Lectures 24,25,26) |
Thursday Feb 4, Sunday Feb 7, Tuesday Feb 9 Lectures from 3pm – 5 pm MT, Extra Q&A from 5 pm – 6pm MT. |
Renewable Energy, Community Organizing and Visions & Values |
| Week #10 (Lectures 27,28,29) |
Thursday Feb 11, Sunday Feb 14, Tuesday Feb 16 Lectures from 3pm – 5 pm MT, Extra Q&A from 5 pm – 6pm MT. |
Eco-villages and Strategies for Communities & Society |
| Week #11 (Lecture 30,31,32) |
Thursday Feb 18, Sunday Feb 21, Tuesday Feb 23 Lectures from 3pm – 5 pm MT, Extra Q&A from 5 pm – 6pm MT. |
Design Project & Course Close-out |
| Office Hours (Throughout March) |
Mondays OR Tuesdays OR Wednesdays, OR Thursdays (depending on which instructor you have been assigned to) throughout the month of March, from 4pm – 5 pm MT | Office Hours with PDC Instructors regarding questions for your Final Design Project. |
| Final Project Due | Wednesday, March 31st, 2021, at midnight. |
$699 CAD + tax, if applicable
(or 3 payments of $267 CAD + tax)
Verge’s Online PDC Teaching Team …
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Carmen Lamoureux PDC Lead InstructorThe lead instructor for the Verge PDC, Carmen has had a varied career, working for the Alberta government in the fields of sustainable resource management, forestry and privately in silviculture, soils and horticulture. As founder and owner of Calgary’s URBAN FARM SCHOOL, as well as the Urban Farm Permaculture Project, she is dedicated to helping emerging gardeners and permaculture enthusiasts gain the freedom, confidence and skills they need to live more abundant, sustainable and resilient lives. Having grown food organically for over 4 decades, Carmen gets excited about helping others cultivate great food, and in turn, great selves. (Verge PDC Grad 2013)
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Rob Avis Owner / Lead Instructor / Engineer
After pursuing international training and certifications in renewable energy and regenerative design I, along with my wife and business partner Michelle, began Verge Permaculture, now a globally-recognized and award-winning design, consulting, and education company. Since then, we’ve helped more than 1000 students and a growing number of clients to design and/or create integrated systems for shelter, energy, water, waste and food, all while supporting local economy and regenerating the land.
Our consulting firm, Adaptive Habitat is a property design & project management firm that creates resilient homes, acreages and farms for landowners, preserving tangible and enduring wealth by integrating innovative technology, engineered solutions and ecological design.
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Takota Coen PDC Lead Instructor
Takota is a 4th generation farmer who helps steward Coen Farm, a 250 acre award winning organic farm in Central Alberta that produces nutrient dense milk fed pork, grass fed beef, and forest garden fruits. In addition to farming, Takota works with famers, ranchers, and acreage owners across Canada to help them design for healthier land, healthier profits and the time to enjoy both. He holds a Permaculture Design Certificate from The Permaculture Research Institute, a Holistic Management Certificate from Holistic Management International, and a Red Seal Journeyman Certificate for Carpentry. (Verge PDC Grad 2016)
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Kalista Pruden PDC Teaching Assistant
Kalista has a diploma in Renewable Resource Management and has been working in the field as an environmental field technician, environmental educator and environmental program coordinator for more than a decade. She has taken a variety of courses and certificates in topics such as wetland and stream health and restoration, aquaponics, passive solar greenhouse design, sustainable building, beekeeping, fireSmart and more. Through Avalily Permaculture and The EarthSkills Institute she helps people create holistic human habitats that are regenerative for both people and nature, and aims to equip people with the knowledge and tools necessary to be self-sufficient, resilient and healthy. (Verge PDC Grad 2016)
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Ben Dunn PDC Teaching Assistant
Ben is a UBC graduate with a B.A. double major in Psychology and Anthropology. Ever curious about our cultural connection to natural environments, he took our online Permaculture Design Course this past summer and soon after made the trip out from his home in Toronto to volunteer with and continue learning from us at our new farm. Two months later we brought him on as our second Environmental Technology Intern because Rob liked having someone around who laughed at his mediocre dad jokes. (Verge PDC Grad 2020)
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Jen Nobel PDC Course Coordinator
Initially an architectural graduate, Jen first heard of permaculture on a trip to Sierra Leone with Earthship Biotecture in 2011, but wasn’t formally introduced to it until she took a few introductory workshops with Jardins sans Frontières in Montreal. Everything seemed new yet was so basic; permaculture struck such a chord with Jen that she felt like her brain was being rewired. After taking the Verge’s Professional Development PDC with 1-on-1 mentoring, Jen moved away from architecture and interior design to launch her own company so she can merge her love for design, technical skills, and health. (Verge PDC Grad 2017).
Confirmed Guest Instructors …
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Alla Guelber Guest Instructor
Alla is the founder/director of the Meaningful Work Project (MWP), offering a variety of programs, ranging from weekend retreats, to one-on-one coaching and group courses. Initially based on Alla’s graduate research, MWP offers inspiring learning programs that guide participants on the quest toward meaningful work of service to people and the planet. Alla is a facilitator, education and communications professional and leadership coach with 15 years of interdisciplinary experience in the nonprofit and public sectors. (Verge PDC Grad 2012)
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Tad Hargrave Guest Instructor
Tad is a hippy who developed a knack for marketing (and then learned how to be a hippy again.) For almost a decade, he has been touring his marketing workshops around Canada, bringing refreshing and unorthodox ideas to conscious entrepreneurs and green businesses that help them grow their organizations and businesses (without selling their souls). Learn more about Tad at Marketing For Hippies.
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Shauna Fidler Guest Instructor
Shauna is the owner, business consultant and creative designer at Design Farm. Not only is Shauna a foodie and grower, but she knows what it’s like to run a food business; she has pounded the pavement in the natural food sector across the country, crafted recipes by the hundreds, packaged dozens and dozens of unique products, spent many a day with my back to the sun tending to tender greens, raised farm animals from birth and has hunted for the queen bee in buzzing hives. (Verge PDC Grad 2013)
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Barb Hazenveld Guest Instructor
Barb completed a Horticulture diploma which started her food growing passion. She then moved to Australia to mentor under Bill Mollison (one of the founding fathers of Permaculture) and lived in an eco-village for 9 years. During that time, she taught, designed, implemented and co-created a video about Permaculture. She has practiced/taught Permaculture in Canada, Australia, Palestine, Spain, China and studied Permaculture systems in Nepal. Barb is currently a middle-school teacher with the Calgary Board of Education specializing in online learning.
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Mitch Rawlyk Environmental Technology Intern
Mitch comes to us with a BSc. in physical geography with a concentration in Earth Systems from the University of Victoria (BC, Canada), and an MSc. in physical geography (applied meteorology) from the University of Otago in New Zealand. (Verge PDC Grad 2021)
$699 + tax, if applicable
(or 3 payments of $267 + tax)
STARTS IN….
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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
You can pay online with your credit card.
If you’d prefer to pay using another methods select that option during checkout and you’ll receive instructions on how to do so. Ntoe that we can can accept cash, bank-certified cheques, email money transfer (Canadians only) or credit card over the phone.
Your spot is not saved in the course until payment is received.
We can also accept payment plans for some of our courses. The payment plan option will be displayed at checkout if that is the case.
*Please note that registrations paid by email money transfer are processed manually. Because we are not in the office everyday, be prepared to wait 24 hours during weekdays before your registration being approved. If you are registering with short notice before an event, we recommend that you pay online using a credit card so that your registration is processed and approved automatically by our system.
We are not considered a designated educational institution (i.e. university or college) that qualifies for the purposes of the education tax credit claimed on the tax return. Therefore, our course cannot be claimed under tuition fees on your tax return and we cannot issue T2202A slips.
If you are working in a small business and would like to write off the course because it relates to your business, then yes, you may use our proof of enrolment / course receipt when filing your taxes.
A registered education savings plan (RESP) is a contract between an individual (the subscriber) and a person or organization (the promoter). Under the contract, the subscriber names one or more beneficiaries (the future student(s)) and agrees to make contributions for them, and the promoter agrees to pay educational assistance payments (EAPs) to the beneficiaries. For more information about RESPs visit the CRA website.
Our Permaculture Design Course can meet the requirements of “specified educational program” for the purpose of Educational Assistance Payments, as described on the CRA website. Note that a specified educational program is a program at post-secondary school level that lasts at least three consecutive weeks, and that requires a student to spend no less than 12 hours per-month on courses in the program.
However, before assuming that your promoter will provide Educational Assistance Payments we highly recommend that you contact them to find out if they have any additional requirements above those stated on the CRA website. The reason for this is that although we have had numerous students successful in requesting EAPs from the holder of their plan (i.e. the promoter), there has also been some students told by their promoter that we do not qualify.
Yes.
For more information about the Verge Permaculture Scholarship Fund, and how to apply, click here. Note that there are no scholarships for the online PDC.
Would you like to make a donation to our scholarship fund? 100% of donated amounts are directly handed out in the form of tuition reduction to deserving students. Learn more at the link above.
The PDC is a tested and proven standardized curriculum offered by permaculture institutes and educational centers around the world. Developed by visionary author/educator/naturalist Bill Mollison, it includes all of the topics in his pioneering work, Permaculture: A Designer’s Manual…which you will receive as a part of your course package.
Offered in either an intensive 13-day or 3 long-weekend format, our Permaculture Design Certificate, or PDC, is a course for people who want to make permaculture a way of life or create a livelihood doing earth repair. We’ve gone above and beyond the requirements of the standard 72 hour curriculum by incorporating our own expertise from sustainable design projects around the world, additional products and resources, and teaching our own special step-by-step design process.
No. All you need is the ability and desire to learn in a fast-paced classroom environment.
*Please note that registrations paid by EMT are processed manually. Because we are not in the office everyday, be prepared to wait 24 hours during weekdays before your registration being approved. If you are registering with short notice before an event, we recommend that you pay online using a credit card.
To send an email money transfer you need access to online banking through a participating financial institution (BMO, CIBC, RBC, Scotia Bank, or TD Canada Trust, among others).
Step by Step Instructions:
1. Login to your online banking.
2. Locate Interac Email Money Transfer, usually found in the Transfer/Payments menu.
3. Fill in the Interac Email Money Transfer information as follows:
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- Recipients email address: payments@vergepermaculture.ca .
- Payment Amount: the total amount of your invoice.
- Message: Include your name, the course name and if different, the name of the course registrant.
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No password is required for your EMT.
If you need more detailed instructions for completing an email money transfer, go to http://www.interac.ca/index.php/en/interac-etransfer/etransfer-faq .Please keep this invoice.
Yes, we have payments plans for our Permaculture Design Courses.
The payment plans is set up as an automatic charge against your credit card (usually 3 – 6 equal payments) spread out over one month intervals. There is an administrative surcharge of $100 for all payment plans.
Many of our students develop businesses or projects leveraging their permaculture training. We think the best way to get an idea of the wide range of possibilities is to peruse the 50+ alumni interviews, profiles and blogs, found here.
Our Permaculture Design Course follows Bill Mollison’s textbook, Permaculture: A Designers’ Manual, and a copy of this textbook is not included in the OPDC but is highly recommended.
It is true that a lot of Bill’s examples in his textbook are from the tropics and sub tropic climatic zones, as he is from Australia.
What differentiates us is our emphasis on the process of design. We feel strongly that the process is what drives good design. Process is climate indifferent.
The specific techniques that you might employ in the tropics may differ from the techniques used in a cold climate. In addition the specific plants you may use would also be different. But the fundamental principles and processes are the same.
Lastly, our course has a slight focus on temperate climate given that is the climate here in Canada and the climate that a majority of our students are working in. However, we have students who have taken our Permaculture Design Course and are working in climates around the world.
If you’ve decided that this course (or this format) is not for you, know that we will provide a full refund, no questions asked, up until two weeks after the first live webinar. Reach out to Katlin: info@vergepermaculture.ca to request a refund.
The live webinars are definitely going to be a way for students to interact in real-time with the teaching team, and with each other. We highly recommend that you attend if you can.
However, we understand that it may not be possible for you to attend all webinars. And you may have conflicts (or time zone considerations) that prevent you from attending any of them.
As such, we will be recording and uploading all webinars to the student dashboard (please give us ~24 hours). We will timestamp the webinars so that they are easy to navigate and you’ll have access to these recordings indefinitely. We will also provide audio-only files for all webinars.
Our teaching assistants will be monitoring all questions submitted through the student dashboard. They will record your questions and summarize them for our instructors to cover in the live sessions. Getting your questions answered is a huge priority for us. You can help us stay organized by keeping your questions relevant to the topic and posting them under the correct lesson / webinar.
We feel quite confident that even if you are unable to catch the live session you will feel like you are able to participate in the program. There is a caveat though – we ask that you keep up with the content and get your questions to us in a timely fashion and know that we are only monitoring comments until the course ends.
You’ll get indefinite access to the course materials (your lifetime or ours). However the Teaching Team will only be monitoring and answering questions until the official course completion date.
Completion of the design project is a requirement to receive your Permaculture Designer’s Certificate. Our Teaching Team has set aside several months at the end of the course to review and provide feedback on student projects as part of your course tuition.
If you do not submit your project before the submission deadline you will have the option to pay a moderate additional fee (~$60 CAD) to have an instructor review your project, provide feedback, and then receive your certification at that time.
We’ve had lots of folks ask us: “Can I share this course with my partner / spouse?”… (or with someone else in your household).
When you register in our online PDC (or other online programs), we create one user account linked to your name and email address. This user account gives you access to our student dashboard and the ability to interact with the course content. We track your progress through the lessons. You can post comments and interact with our teachers and other students both in the lessons pages and in any live webinars.
And although we ask that you do not share your password and username with anyone (that’s just smart, and good practice in general), the reality is that we have no control over who is sitting beside you while you are participating behind your computer screen. And really, we actually really do want you to share this information with your spouse / partner, your children and the other stakeholders involved in making making your project happen! How else are you going to get everyone onboard?
Having said that – we think that there are a few very good reasons that each person might want to have their own unique registration in the course:
- We will issue only one Permaculture Design Certificate, in the name of the user who enrolled in the course. Same goes with any other online programs that come with certificates of completion.
- Your unique user account is your own personality and way to engage in the course material, and with the instructors, and with other students in the course. Sharing your user account in this way is similar to sharing your Facebook Account. So, ask yourself: Do you want your own profile?
- Our learning management system will track your progress throughout the course material (what you’ve watched, what you haven’t) as well record your results on Knowledge Checks (i.e. quizzes). This is a very useful tool to track your own individual completion and progress through the course.
Please also be aware that you can only log into the Student Dashboard from one IP address at a time. That means that if you login from home (and don’t log out) and you try and then login from another location you will be unable to do so. This will also cause problems for you if you share your login credentials with someone.
Rob Avis has been recognized as a Diplomate in Education from the Permaculture Institute of North America (PINA). As such, PINA recognizes and endorses Verge Permaculture’s courses and curriculum.
$699 + tax, if applicable
(or 3 payments of $267 + tax)
Hear from past students and/or get a tour of the student dashboard…
Verge 2020 Online PDC Alumni Experiences
Verge 2020 Online PDC Student Dashboard Tour
Course Content
$699 + tax, if applicable
(or 3 payments of $267 + tax)
