Permaculture Design Course @ OAEC – Sonoma County, CA
Fall Session
Online Learning: October 21 and 28, 2025
The online learning component consists of two 2.5-hour online meetings.
Online sessions on Tuesdays from 6-8:30 pm PT
1. October 21, 2025
2. October 28, 2025
In these sessions, students will gain a foundational understanding of the principles of permaculture and Just Transition. This material will lay the conceptual groundwork needed for the hands-on design training.
Hands-on Training at OAEC: November 6-14, 2025
9 days: Thursday, November 6th at 2:30 pm through Friday, November 14th at 12 pm. Includes organic meals and shared accommodations.
The in-person portion of the course has two goals: to practice hands-on permaculture skills and to undertake a design project. We will use the OAEC site to learn some of the practical applications of permaculture, such as conservation hydrology, earthworks, food forests, composting, and more. The design project will be at a local community or homeowner’s residential scale. There may be an opportunity to help implement the design project over the year.
Why attend Permaculture Design Certification in November – There’s a lot going on in November at OAEC. The beginning of the rainy season is a great time to watch water moving in our demonstration site. We can do some impactful fire-friendly forest limbing and thinning because there are no breeding birds at that time. And we can practice the techniques detailed in our Gully Stuffing video with Brock Dolman himself!
Cost, Discounts, and Cancellation Policy
$2,500 is the base cost for individuals, due at the time of registration. Includes lodging and organic meals during the on-site training.
Early-bird discount – $100 off if you register at least 30 days before the start of the online portion of the course.
Group discounts – $50 off for each person in your team of two or more. Sign up at the group rate and add your teammates’ names to your registration form. And yes, you may combine the early bird with the group discount for a total of $150 off each for up to 4 people.
Registration closes before the first online course on October 21, 2025.
Subsidies for Social-Ecological Justice Movement Groups – We partner with a network of organizations to offer courses for groups (not individuals) working on land-based projects centered around social, racial, gender, and ecological justice, especially by BIPOC-led organizations. Our funding support allows for these long-term collaborations. Unfortunately, we don’t have funding to offer additional PDC scholarships at this time. If you belong to one of our existing partner community groups, please contact the OAEC staff person you are working with directly to enroll in the course.
We regret that we cannot accept Americorps Education Awards and are unable to offer individual scholarships or work trades at this time.
Giving this course as a gift? Email us oaec@oaec.org.
Cancellation and Refund Policy
| % Course Fee to be Refunded | Terms for Refund |
| 100% refund minus cc processing fee | At least 90 days’ notice before the start date of the online portion of the course |
| 50% refund minus cc processing fee | At least 60 days’ notice before the start date of the online portion of the course |
| 25% refund minus cc processing fee | At least 45 days’ notice before the start date of the online portion of the course |
| 12.5% refund minus cc processing fee | Between 45-30 days’ notice before the start date of the online portion of the course |
| No Refund | Less than 30 days’ notice before the start date of the online portion of the course |
*Upon registering, you will receive a registration confirmation via email from oaec@oaec.org. Please check your spam folder if you don’t receive it.