The Advanced Permaculture Design Certificate (APDC) is an 80-hour course that is open to graduates of the Permaculture Design Course (PDC). The APDC provides a bridge between theory and professional practice, offering constructive feedback and close supervision to navigate the complexities of designing for a live client.
Prerequisite: Successful completion of our in-person Permaculture Design Course or another certified program. Preference is given to graduates of a PDC who demonstrate a facility in creating basemaps.
Goals
Through this course, we aim to:
- Hone Professional Skills: Develop concrete map-making and design communication skills to a professional standard. Whether your goal is a homestead, nursery, farm, or business, we provide the coaching and rubrics necessary to build your systems with confidence.
- Provide Holistic Support: Participants are supported by facilitators and peers through in-person sessions, online coursework, email, and live Zoom calls.
- Foster Community & Activism: Beyond individual designs, we work to strengthen the permaculture network in Maine and beyond—creating community resources and empowered activists.
- Re-awaken Connection: At its heart, this work is about re-awakening the ancestral dream of living in place as Earthlings, in respectful relationship with the elements and life forms around us.
Course Overview
This 80-hour, low-residency course is designed to guide you through a professional permaculture design workflow developed and honed in Maine over more than a decade of practice. Working closely with instructors, you will complete a landscape design for a client of your choosing.
While the PDC taught you “where to start,” the APDC provides a roadmap for where to go next, tailored to your unique skills and interests. Our sessions blend technical precision with higher-level systems thinking:
- Professional Workflow: Master client intake, communications, cost estimating, and construction sequencing.
- Technical Design: Utilize concepts and templates for professional-grade maps, reports, and plant lists.
- Methodology: Refine your ecosystem observation skills and goal articulation using the Scales of Permanence.
- Beyond the Landscape: Integrate business design basics with philosophical concepts of culture design and community organizing.