Permaculture Design Certificate Course

Greenway Institute, Montpelier Vermont

August 10-21, 2026

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Sponsoring Organizations:

• Center for Sustainable Systems

• Ecological Planning Lab

• Bright Blue Ecomedia

• The Center for Bioregional Living

 

Summary:

This course presents the core permaculture design curriculum, with an emphasis on watershed-scale bioregional design. Students will learn the principles and methods of Permaculture design, and how they can be applied at various scales including backyard gardens, school curriculum, farm design and urban watershed-scale planning. This immersive program will show students an active high school farming project, an emerging program that links University of Vermont graduate students directly with communities to tackle watershed-scale challenges and emerging collaborative efforts to increase resiliency and reduce flooding in central Vermont. 

 

​Organizing Partners

Our team is a collaboration of award-winning educators, community organizers and media producers. The Center for Sustainable Systems, based at Montpelier High School, is an organization dedicated to bringing relevance and rigor to high school education in Central Vermont. The Ecological Planning Laboratory, a partnership between the University of Vermont’s Extension and Field Naturalist graduate program, helps communities tackle vital projects with an emphasis on social-ecological health at the watershed scale. Bright Blue Ecomedia is an Emmy award winning non-profit telling stories of transitional stories that enhance, enrich and sustain the ecological systems upon which humanity relies.

 

Educational Team

Lead instructor Andrew Faust is the Founder and Director of the Center for Bioregional Living in Ellenville, NY. He has been teaching Permaculture for several decades including courses in Ellenville and NYC for the past 20 years. Andrew released his first book Earth Is Our Home: a Bioregional Permaculture Design Book in 2024 and co-founded the Permaculture Land Trust in 2022. Andrew will be supported by guest lecturers and site-visits throughout the region. 

 

Location

We will be hosted at the Greenway Institute, an innovative college located at the former college of Fine Arts in Vermont’s capitol city of Montpelier. Lodging and meals will be on campus and much of the experience will happen at various sites throughout the Upper Winooski river watershed. 

 

The Permaculture Design Course

Permaculture is a system of design, developed by Bill Mollison and David Holmgren in the early 1970’s that considers the physics and biology of the living earth as the guidelines for appropriate design. When it was conceived there was no word in the English dictionary for PERMAnent AgriCULTURE, it’s initial emphasis has been on diversified, perennialized agricultural systems. As it’s application begin to include social and economic systems, the term has evolved to represent PERMAnent CULTURE. The 72-hour Permacutlure Design Course has been established as an effective way to provide a life-changing experience, promising students a change of perspective and practical ways to begin engaging in the solution. Upon completion, students will be awarded the Permaculture Design Certificate.

 

Course Format

This is a two-week residential intensive with an emphasis on design and practical application. The course consists of lectures, skill-building workshops & demonstrations, guest speakers, field trips and design exercises.  Field trips and guest lectures will all be framed in the emerging systems design of the central Vermont region. Students will participate in a group design as well as a personal design project. If students wish to focus on their own site design we encourage they bring as much site detail as possible (property maps or surveys: showing as service lines - gas, water, electric, phone, etc.; aerial photos, soil maps, photographs and some initial thoughts on your goals, challenges and opportunities).

 

Personal Project

We will have design opportunities that fit within the central Vermont system, but we also encourage students to come with their own project design. If students wish to focus on their own site design we encourage they bring as much site detail as possible (property maps or surveys: showing as service lines - gas, water, electric, phone, etc.; aerial photos, soil maps, photographs and some initial thoughts on your goals, challenges and opportunities).

 

Course Fee is $2,000.
 

How to Register
We require a $300 deposit to hold your space in the course.
Please make checks payable to Bright Blue, Inc. and send to:
Vic Guadagno
24 Marvin St.
Montpelier, VT 05602
 

Student Cancellations
All funds (less deposit) will be refunded if student cancels their enrollment three 
weeks prior to the start date of the course (May 29th). After this date
no refunds will be given.

Course Cancellation
We reserve the right to cancel the course based on low enrollment or other
circumstances. If we are required to cancel the course we will fully refund
all student payments.

 

Course Highlights
 

PERMACUTLURE CORE CURRICULUM

• Principles of Natural Systems

• Pattern Understanding

• Trees and Their Energy Transactions

• Soils / Compost

• Water Cycles and Management

• Classical Landscape Profiles

• Wildlife Management and Biological Pest Management

• Wild Plant ID, harvest, edible & medicinal

• Earth Resources / Ecosystem Services

• Forests / Agroecology / Perennial Plants

• Climate Factors and Adaptation

• Methods of Design

• Humid Tropics / Dryland Strategies / Humid Cool to Cold Climates

• Appropriate Energy Conserving Technology

REGENERATIVE FARM DESIGN

• Keyline Design & Agroforestry

• Grazing & soil building

• Multi-species intentional rotational grazing

• Infrastructure / Natural Building

• Greenhouses

• Aquaculture

• Waste Disposal and Recycling

• Ecological "Waste" Water Systems

• Site Design, Homestead & Skills

• Master Planning (Biology, Energy and Infrastructure)

FOODSHED DESIGN / ECONOMICS

• Regional Agricultural Economy

• Local Wealth/Worker Coop's

• Regional Currencies / Ecological Economics

• Public land plan policy, Investment models and Land Trust

CULTURAL NARRATIVE AND EDUCATION

• Storytelling & Relationship Building

• Educational Networks

• “EcoMedia”

 

Lead Instructor:

• Andrew Faust

 

Support Staff:

• Vic Guadagno

• Hans Estrin

• Walt Poleman

 

Guest Speakers (tentative):

• Sean Becket

• Joe Bossen

• Michele Braun

• Buzz Ferver

• Karl Hammer

• Nicko Rubin

• Tom Sabo

• Graham Unangst-Rufenacht

• Allison Waring

• Charlie Watt

 

Field Trips (tentative)​

• East Hill Tree Farm - Plainfield, VT

• Flytree Farm - Richmond, VT

• Homecoming Seeds - Northfield, VT

• The Intervale Center - Burlington, VT

• Montpelier High School - Montpelier, VT

• The North Branch Nature Center - Montpelier, VT

• Perfect Circle Farm – Berlin, VT

• Robinson Hill Beef – Plainfield, VT

• Vermont Compost -  Montpelier, VT

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Recommended Texts:

• Permaculture: A Designers’ Manual.  Mollison, Bill.

• Earth is Our Home, Bioregional Permaculture: A New Model for Economic Prosperity, Andrew Faust

• Introduction to Permaculture.  Mollison, Bill with Reny Mia Slay.

• The Permaculture City:, Tody Hemenway

• Principles and Pathways Beyond Sustainability.  Holmgren, David.

 

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