permaculture PROGRAM
Learn to design a sustainable lifestyle + eat healthy + immerse yourself with hands-on experience in a tropical food forest.
From $1,850
THE PERMACULTURE DESIGN COURSE day by day
ARRIVE /
EARTHING /
FARM-TO-TABLE
Check-in after 2PM Relax with new friends in the Jungle. Enjoy dinner at 7pm.
HUMAN /
PHILOSOPHY /
EARTHCARE
Holistic Design / Sustainable Outcomes Tour infrastructure (Energy, cooking, waste, processing, heating & cooling) and Kitchen garden
ENERGY /
DIVERSITY /
ENTROPY
Concepts & Themes in Design Tour: Main crop production and food forest
ELEMENTS /
METHODS /
MAPS
Patterning of Landscape / Analysis in Design / Species Assembly. Activity: Sharpening tools and food forest maintenance.
LANDSCAPES /
GRPOWTH /
TRADITIONS
Understanding & Applying Patterns in Productive Design. Ecosystems as Climate Moderators Activity: Plant identification, clearing and planting.
LIGHT /
FUNGI /
FOOD FORESTS
Water harvesting earthworks. Trees & their energy transactions. Strategies. Activity: Food Forest, Planting support species & wild foraging
FREE DAY
Experience paradise! Beautiful crystal clear, emerald and turquoise waters. Green fresh jungle. Go get some cold coconut drinks!
FREE DAY
Our town offers a variety of activities like surfing, kayaking, snorkeling, diving, hiking the jungle and horse riding. Calypso in the beach bars all night!
FEILD TRIP
Visit to a Cabecar medicine man and learn about natural lifestyle and ethnobotanicals.
SOIL /
COLLAPSE /
FERTILITY
Cycles of hummus creation. Mineralizing soil. Weeds as a defence mechanism. Biochar. Activity: Composting, biofertilizer, pH test & plant propagation
EARTH /
RESOURCES /
ETHICS
Earthworks and terraforming. Landscape restitution. Slope measurements and levels. Activity: Leveling, Keypoints and examine benches at the farm
CLIMATES /
DESIGN /
GARDENS
Comparison across climates (temperate, tropical and arid). Seasonal timing. Main crops. Mulch and Forage production. House design. Activity: Design exercise.
AQUACULTURE /
SPECIES /
PONDS
The chain of life in water. Species selection of plants and animals. Pond siting and sizing. Micro to macro applications.
ALTERNATIVE /
GLOBAL /
NATION
Nature and bioregions, ecovillages, alternative economics. The ethics and new policies for Earth repair. Activity: Design presentation. Certification.
BREAKFAST /
GOOD BYES /
CHECK OUT
Leave inspired with a new vision for a sustainable future! Enjoy the freshest breakfast with your classmates and farm crew. Checkout is Sunday at 11am.
PERMACULTURE DESIGN COURSE 2024 COURSE DATES
Spring 2024 Permaculture Design Course: Sunday, March 10 – Sunday, March 24, 2024
Fall A 2024 Permaculture Design Course: Sunday, September 8 – Sunday, September 22, 2024
Fall B 2024 Permaculture Design Course: Sunday, November 3 – Sunday, November 17, 2024
If you are interested in being notified as soon as upcoming course dates are posted, sign up for our mailing list.
Permaculture Design Course
The Fundamentals of Ecological Design
Permaculture is a conscious, integrated design system based on ecological principles. It provides a framework for creating landscapes that mimic the patterns found in nature, which delivers diversity, stability, and resilience. Permaculture creates an abundance of shelter, water, energy, and food, to address local needs in efficient, cost-effective and productive human environments; while reducing our 'footprints' on Earth.
Course Description
Finca Tierra offers the international standard curriculum of 72-hour permaculture certificate course. The course covers the fundamentals of ecological design with a particular emphasis on perennial woody polyculture food systems or food forests. This course goes beyond the theoretical and focuses of real-world situations in this food forest and has a strong emphasis on hands-on application and practical skills. It offers the experience of learning in an immersive setting from mature systems with which students have daily interactions. The methods and techniques will transfer directly to any climate. The accommodation is in natural buildings, and the food is from our farm and other local organic farmers. With the completion of the course, Finca Tierra will issue a Permaculture Design Certificate. While the information serves as a general education in permaculture, this course offers an in-depth examination of the function of the homestead and farm and is designed to inform students who will gain the skills and design thinking to implement and manage a system. This is a very hands-on course. Mornings are usually devoted to practical applications and afternoons are dedicated to course lectures.
Course Topics
Principles and ethics of permaculture design
Site analysis and design, from the tropics to temperate regions
Landscape master planning and microclimate design
Reading the landscape and pattern recognition
Design for climate change
Regenerative land management and stewardship
Water catchment, storage, filtration, and distribution
Biologically based treatment of greywater and blackwater
Using greywater in the landscape
Natural building techniques and vernacular architecture
Plant propagation and grafting
Organic horticulture
Medicinal plant propagation, usage, and preparations
Biointensive gardening and seed saving
Soil rehabilitation and fertility approaches
Orchard design and maintenance
Renewable energies
Local and regenerative economics
Urban and suburban permaculture tactics
Ecovillage design and community building procedures
Strategies for creating an alternative nation
Practical Permaculture Skills
Mornings are dedicated to the hands-on application of useful skills.
Blade and knife sharpening.
Land clearing with scythe or machete.
Plant identification.
Food forest fundamentals.
Clearing and planting new disturbance in agroforestry systems.
Techniques in small-scale vegetable gardening.
Tree planting fundamentals, support species, and broad-scale fertility management.
Plant propagation fundamentals, including propagation and planting of seeds, rhizomes, cuttings as well as various forms of grafting.
The construction of thermal compost and its use in hot water heating.
Nursery management including making an in-house potting soil.
Soil pH testing and techniques to balance pH.
Leveling for application of swales, hedgerows, and techniques for finding key points and key lines.
Food processing skills including lactoferments of vegetables and fermenting honey to make mead.
Off Site Visits
MEET DON JONI, crossing the river and into the jungle, he will teach us about Cabecar indigenous cosmovision, traditional land use management, and how he interacts with the land to produce his building material, food, and medicine.
Also, prepare for a good swim in the river!
*Because of weather conditions and other factors we can't guarantee the off-site trips.
Off Grid Tropical Permaculture Homestead
Finca Tierra is a 9-acre permaculture homestead and a food forest located in the lush jungle of the Costa Rican Caribbean Coast. Finca Tierra has become an important demonstration center for permaculture education and sustainable development. Our infrastructure includes natural buildings constructed from local materials (bamboo, leaf thatch and onsite timber), renewable energy systems, biological flush toilets, rainwater catchment, organic vegetable gardens, a plant nursery, a seed bank, medicinal plants, food forest, bamboo woodlots, and native trees.
What began as an off-grid homestead on degraded cattle pasture, has been developing for the past decade into a productive agroforestry system consisting of hundreds of varieties of fruit trees, staple crops and integrated animal systems. Due to the local and global interest, Finca Tierra started offering education courses and internships for ecological design, the good food movement, and sustainable living.
Hand Harvested And Built Bamboo Accommodation
Eight bamboo cabinas were built in a mix of indigenous and local Afro-Caribbean style up in the air on stilts. The materials were harvested from our farm and surrounding forest, then cured and constructed with hand tools. Four private cabins offer queen beds and four shared cabins offer two single beds. They all have great views, it's like camping under a roof above the forest. The walls and floors are bamboo, and we supply large mosquito nets.
The bathrooms are located near the accommodations and have biological flush toilets. The showers are supplied with warm rainwater by a biothermal heating system.
We supply sheets, pillows, towels and biodegradable organic shampoo and body wash.
* Accommodations are provided on a first come, first serve bases. The first students to pay the totality of the payment are accommodated in the cabinas, then shared cabinas.
Tropical Farm-to-Table
We love to cook! Food abundance is what we want everyone to experience at our farm kitchen. We promote the good food movement, and therefore most of our fruits, veggies, greens, roots, and spices are fresh from our permaculture farm. We process many of our foods like plantain and yuca flours, coconut and cashew milk, coconut oil, banana vinegar, fermented foods, mead, kefir and more. We have a plant-based diet, but we also have free range chicken eggs, and the aquaculture system provides fish and river prawns. Some other products, like oils, raw honey, cheeses, yogurts, and other fruits we buy at the local organic market.
Finca Tierra carters all meals during the course.
Plates are typically vegetarian, we can also cater to vegan and gluten-free diets, please let us know when you register.
Course Includes
72-hour Permaculture Design Course (PDC)
Certificate as a Permaculture Designer
Lodging: Private or shared bamboo cabins
Sheets, pillows, blankets
Biodegradable soap, shampoo, and laundry detergent
Three organic meals daily
Field trips
Internet access (see Logistics and Planning info for more info)
Why do your PDC at Finca Tierra
We Live What We Teach
Permaculture is Ian and Ana's life. Finca Tierra started as an off-grid homestead, and due to local and international interest, they created the Finca Tierra permaculture education center, to be able to share with you the knowledge of a resilient, peaceful and sustainable future that integrates human life with Earth.
The Farm
Finca Tierra is a vibrant permaculture farm where you will gain hands-on practical experience, directly from mature onsite systems and immerses in a completely off the grid self-sufficient space and productive small farm. Eating delicious organic farm-to-table meals. Surrounded by food forest and jungle, close to fabulous beaches and rivers. Half of all class time is outside in systems on the farm looking at the function of mature systems to understand the strengths and weakness of systems and how they have evolved as well as seeing the strategies and techniques used in production. We are not just studying concept. We are looking at observations and interaction over the past decade.
Passion To Action
We seek students that are inspired to learn about the practical application of permaculture. The course is designed to provide you with the confidence to apply permaculture from the homestead to a profitable small farm scale.
University Credit
Many university students have received full or partial grants, and academic credits have often been available from their university. Meet with your academic advisor or professor about receiving internship or independent study credits. Four semester credit or equivalent. (see the below section UNIVERSITY CREDIT for more info)
Permaculture Design Course Reviews
“Learned more in those 6 weeks than I did in my entire degree. Hands down one of the best places to learn about Permaculture.
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“Wow. I’m not even sure where to begin. My time at Finca Tierra taking the January PDC training was absolutely life changing. Ian and Anna were both a joy to learn from, were incredibly accommodating, open to feedback, and both of them really know their stuff (not only theory, but also in application). I came to the course already knowing the fundamental principles and ethics of Permaculture (the “Why” and the “What”) but did not know HOW to apply those principles and ethics to actually implement a design on a property. Now, after taking the course, I feel confident that I would have the fundamental level of understanding needed to design a site anywhere in the world. The two week course will not teach you every little last detail of what you need to know about Permaculture to be a professional Permaculture designer, however, it provides a base map that will show you how to get started and where to find whatever information you still need. The PDC lays the foundation that will teach you how to teach yourself, and what techniques actually work. Once again, I had an amazing time and I highly recommend Finca Tierra to anyone looking to invest in an education/ certification in Permaculture.”
“Doing the PDC (Permaculture Design Course) at Finca Tierra was an experience of a lifetime! Ian’s breadth and depth of theoretical and practical knowledge, together with his passion and enthusiasm for permaculture leaves you inspired, and with a strong foundation for knowing how to live in harmony with Mother Earth. The biodiversity of flora and fauna on the farm was incredible! It was also really cool to be able to walk around the food forest and just pick something off of a tree or plant and snack on tropical and exotic fruits and veggies. On top of that, being able to experience applications of permaculture outside of the farm, at SEED (Society for Ecological Education and Development) and Finca Inti, was also really cool.
The warm, rustic hospitality is definitely something to note as well. Ana, Ruth (Ana’s sister), Ian, Linton (the farm manager) and Bruce (Ian and Ana’s dog) made our stay very homey, and we felt at ease as soon as we arrived. The food was something out of this world! Ruth and Ana’s ingenuity in the kitchen was exceptional, and with fresh ingredients from the farm; every meal was amazing! Three times a day we would plunge into a wholesome culinary journey over some really stimulating conversations.
Thank you for everything… you guys are awesome hosts! Pura vida!”
“Possibly the most incredible experience of my life. I couldn’t recommend it more to anyone and everyone.
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“This place has changed the way I see the world and the way we choose to live with the land. What I have learned at Finca Tierra I can basically apply anywhere. I’m really excited to be coming back here soon. Ian and Ana are amazing, inspiring, engaging, and really passionate about sharing what they have learned through their experience of rebuilding the land and basically learning to be fully sustainable. You should come here if you want to be blown away! So beautiful.”
“Ian and Ana are both incredible educators and gracious hosts and their permaculture farm at Finca Tierra is beautiful! After completing the 8-week permaculture design course and internship at Finca Tierra, I am very excited to design my own home site and edible landscape and feel confident that I could do so effectively in any climate zone. Ian and Ana are very knowledgeable, passionate, and inspiring, and made us all feel at home on their farm. I would highly recommend this program to anyone looking to develop a thorough understanding of permaculture design principles and gain practical hands-on experience applying those principles. As an added bonus, the food is amazing and the farm is only a half-hour walk from beautiful Caribbean beaches.”
“I could listen to permaculture lecture all day but Ian adds enough practical hands on stuff to keep everyone engaged, great mix of lecture and practical. The course instructor was very knowledgeable and engaging not to mention passionate. Always made time for the students and answered any questions we had. The location of the farm is just far enough from town to get peace and quiet but it’s close to some of the better beaches. ”
“The best food we ate on our year trip. We have had such great memories from the Finca Tierra course and will be back once we get our farm and need a refresh.”
More testimonials can be found here https://www.facebook.com/FincaTierra/reviews/ or on Goggle
Course Information, Fee & Enrollment
Tuition $2,000
Early Bird Tuition $1,850 ($150 discount when you complete your full payment 30 days before the course start date.)
Non-Refundable Deposit $400 - Reserve your space on selected dates with a $400 deposit & pay the balance of $1,450 30 days prior to the course start date or $1600 after 30 days prior to the course start date.
Please register early, as the course can fill quickly and space is limited, only 12 seats are available. Tuition does not include airfare or travel to/from Finca Tierra. The program is taught in English. Balance payments are due 2 weeks before course commencement.
The $400 USD deposit required to reserve your space on selected dates is non-refundable. Tuition, minus the $400 non-refundable deposit, and a 10% transfer fee of the balance is refundable until 30 days before the course start date.
* Private cabins are appointed to the first four students to make full payment. There is no additional fee.
Logistics and Planning info
For info about how to get here, what to bring and refund policy can be found here
Any Questions?
If you have questions about this design course please contact us at fincatierra@gmail.com