Well it has been a while since I have written to this blog, but hopefully this will be a kick start to get postings up and running again.

Just over a month ago I completed a two week Permaculture Design Course (PDC), and received my Permaculture Design Certificate. I have been aware of permaculture pretty much since Bill Mollison’s (one of the founders of permaculture) Permaculture: A Designers’ Manual came out around 1987, and indeed and read and followed the movement since then. However, life has taken me in different directions and the PDC has not played a part in it.

The founder of the Transition movement, Rob Hopkins, is a permaculture teacher and the Transition model is permaculture based - looking to bring permaculture design to our built environments and asking how can we develop them so that they are more resilient to the challenges and shocks of a world dealing with climate change, peak oil and economic instability. Permaculture might not be explicit in how Transition is presented, but it underlies the structure of the model.

So with my increased involvement with the Transition Initiative through Transition PDX, Transition US, and the Transition Trainers in the US - as well as increasing relevance that I believe permaculture has to the solutions for the challenges ahead - it felt like now or never for taking a PDC.

I took the PDC at Occidental Arts and Ecology Center (OAEC) under the guidance and tutelage of Brock Dolman and Kendall Dunningham, as well as many other instructors brought in to teach sections of the program. OAEC is an intentional community based in Sonoma County, CA. Situated on 80 acres of land, 10 for the community and growing gardens and 70 acres of back country, OAEC has been in existence for 15 years. The community feels good and strong and I couldn’t recommend OAEC highly enough for  taking a PDC, or any other courses that they offer.

Thank you to the community and staff of OAEC for making us feel so welcome to their land, and to Brock and Kendall and all the other instructors for a wonderful course. Below is a short video introducing PDCs at OAEC - be inspired!