Postnote to Readers: I responded to this inquiry through private messaging as I did not feel I could recommend the Open Permaculture School but did not want to cause liability issues through an open critique. However, one of the requirements was to read the full book by Bill Mollison, “Permaculture: A Designer’s Manual,” which is well worth the read, whether or not you sign up for a certificate program. (The link is through Abe Books; the book is a bit spendy; it comes from Australia and is the classic textbook for any PDC program.) There are now many more good permaculture resources available, too. Also, there were some good instructors as part of this particular program, most notably, Larry Korn, who had worked with Masanobu Fukuoka and wrote about it in his book, “One-Straw Revolutionary.” Larry passed away in 2019. He was a gentle human who generously shared his knowledge and reverence for the earth and all its living creatures. I am grateful for his inspiration. (full disclosure – both links are from Abe Books affiliate program)

Thank you so much for your kind words! That is EXACTLY why I put the whole thing up here on the web – to help others who might be struggling with their own projects or who just might want to see what someone else did. (I am still in the process of uploading some of the information on plant guilds and have to make a few corrections to some of the pages that lost formatting with the website changes I’ve been making). The project is basically an extension of what we have been doing since 2009 (and earlier, really) – but the actual *project* – as written up under the requirements of the PDC course – took a little over a year. I had to request a short extension. I could have done it in less, but you know how life has a way of creating diversions – plus, sketching out an idea from scratch is one thing – putting together a plan while you are in the middle of implementing it is quite another. I also confess to taking a huge amount of time in trying to figure out the best way to draw things out and upload them to the website and perhaps going a bit overboard on some of the details because I didn’t have a clear idea on what was required. After awhile, I realized it didn’t matter — the design was really for me, not for a certificate – and so then I was free to make it how I wanted it (even though some ideas were a bit optimistic). It will never be finished! Always evolving, as it should be. Thanks again for your comment. It made my evening!