Five Weekends in 2012: February 4-5, 11-12, 25-26; March 10-11, 17-18
Cost $695, or $650 for early registration before December 1st. There is also a class book fee of $39 for a copy of Introduction to Permaculture by Bill Mollison. Also highly recommended is Brad Lancaster’s Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond series (Volumes 1 and 2). Partial scholarships are available and registration is open now!
For the last sixteen years this course has been full with a waiting list, so early registration is encouraged. To give a high quality educational experience, we limit the size of the class to eighteen participants. Contact Dan, the course registrar, at dorsey@dakotacom.net or 520-624-8030 to register or receive more information.
This Permaculture certification course covers all aspects of sustainable design with a  Southwest dry lands flavor, including a balance of hands on experience, classroom time, and design practicum. Dynamic exercises encourage pattern recognition, noticing the links between plants and animals, climate, and landforms that make up natural ecosystems. Our course closely follows the standard 72 hour format developed by Bill Mollison and others.  The course focuses on dry land 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.
Course topics include agroforestry, appropriate technology, building design, 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, and many other topics.  The classroom site is in the Central Tucson area and at other Permaculture sites in the Tucson area. Much of the class is held outdoors. This course is taught and facilitated by Dan Dorsey, Brad Lancaster, and Barbara Rose, each with two decades of Permaculture experience, as well as other SPG associate teachers.
For more information on courses and teacher profiles see the Courses & Workshops and Teaching-Team Members links on the website: www.sonoranpermaculture.org