Tropical Permaculture Online Course

Grow Food That Actually Produces in the Tropics — Without Years of Trial & Error

Stop replanting failed crops. Start building a system that improves each season.

Normally $599 — $299

Lifetime access • 7-day guarantee

A proven tropical design framework built from 15+ years of hands-on implementation in Costa Rica.

featured in

A practical, step-by-step system for growing food that actually produces in tropical climates - even if you’ve failed before.

Start with a vegetable garden or food forest.
Expand into a full system only if and when you want.

What this really is

This is not an academic permaculture course.

It’s:

  • a decision-making system

  • a way to know what matters and what doesn’t

  • a shortcut around years of trial and error

  • the exact framework we use on our own tropical homestead

You’re not just learning techniques - you’re learning how to think clearly about tropical food systems.

This is a tool you use when you need clarity, not a course you rush to finish.

If growing food in the tropics feels confusing, it’s not because you lack effort, it’s because tropical systems are different.

Too much rain.
Too many plants.
Too many opinions.

Most people don’t fail because they lack discipline.
They fail because they don’t know:

  • What to plant first

  • What to ignore

  • What order to design the system in

  • How crops, soil, water, and spacing actually interact

This course gives you that clarity.

Not just techniques, a decision-making framework.

This system replaces guesswork.

It replaces:

  • Years of trial-and-error planting

  • Trees and inputs that fail in humid climates

  • Advice designed for temperate zones

  • Systems that collapse after the first rainy season

Instead of experimenting blindly, you begin with a tested tropical model and adapt it to your land.

What you’ll achieve in your first 30 days

You do not need to master everything at once.

Within your first month, you will:

  • Know exactly what to plant first in your climate

  • Stop wasting money on low-performing crops

  • Understand how soil, water, spacing, and species interact

  • Design a realistic plan tailored to your land

  • Begin producing food with intention not guesswork

Clear structure.
Practical implementation.
Real-world application.

You don’t have to build everything at once

Most students enter this system with one primary goal:

  • A productive vegetable garden

  • A resilient food forest

  • Staple crops for calories and food security

  • A complete, integrated homestead plan

The framework connects everything, but you choose where to begin.

Choose your starting point

  • 🌱 Vegetable Garden - Fast harvests, small spaces

  • 🌳 Food Forest - Perennial abundance, low maintenance

  • 🍠 Staple Crops - Calories, resilience, food security

  • 🧩 Complete System - Diet design, gardens, infrastructure

All paths are included.
You choose how far you go.

Who this course is for

This course is for you if:

  • You live (or plan to live) in the tropics

  • You want a productive, climate-appropriate system

  • You’re tired of contradictory advice

  • You want clarity instead of endless experimentation

You do not need:

  • Prior permaculture training

  • Perfect soil

  • Large land

  • Expensive infrastructure

This works whether you’re growing in a backyard or managing multiple hectares.

How it’s structured

You move at your own pace.

You begin with:

  • Understanding your specific tropical climate and site

  • Selecting crops based on yield, resilience, and nutrition

  • Designing for calories, protein, fats, and long-term stability

As you expand, you’ll build:

  • Food forests and perennial systems

  • Diet design and staple crop planning

  • Processing, storage, and preservation systems

  • Water, soil, and nutrient cycles

  • Long-term homestead infrastructure

You take what you need, when you need it.

What’s included

✔ Structured, step-by-step video curriculum
✔ Advanced tropical crop and yield data
✔ Real homestead case studies
✔ Design templates and planning tools
✔ Crop Area & Nutrition Charts
✔ Private community access
✔ Lifetime access with future updates

This is not a short-term course.
It is a reference system you return to as your land evolves.

What Our Students Say

We started with degraded land, and built a living system

When we began in 2008, the land was a compacted clay pasture.

No fertility.
No shade.
No system.

Over 15+ years, we designed, tested, redesigned, and documented.

Today, that same land produces:

  • A complete, nutrient-dense diet

  • Year-round vegetables, roots, fruits, and perennials

  • Functional soil, water, and energy systems

This course is the distilled framework behind that transformation.

Investment

Normally $599 — Currently $299

One failed planting season often costs more than this.

This is not a short gardening course.
It is a comprehensive tropical design system built from 15+ years of real-world implementation.

Lifetime access.
7-day money-back guarantee.

If it’s not aligned with your needs, you don’t carry the risk.

Get Instant Access → and start growing food that actually works in your climate

No account required

Inside the System

Most students begin with one clear objective.

Some expand into a fully integrated tropical homestead.

The entire framework is available from day one.

Shared farm-to-table meal made with tropical vegetables, roots, and homemade dishes at Finca Tierra in Costa Rica

Design a Complete, Nutrient-Dense Tropical Diet

This is not just gardening; it is food system design.

You’ll learn to:

  • Design a balanced, climate-appropriate diet using perennial staples

  • Decide which parts of your food supply to grow (based on space and lifestyle)

  • Maximize small areas with high-yield vegetables, roots, herbs, and spices

  • Select crops based on climate performance, nutrition, yield, and labor efficiency

This section connects food production directly to nutrition and resilience.

Aerial view of a tropical garden and food forest with labeled crop areas, showing an example 2,000 m² (½-acre) layout used for diet and yield planning

2,000m² Example Garden & Crop Planning Framework

Based on real yield data from our homestead.

You’ll gain access to:

  • A complete 2,000m² (½ acre) production model

  • Crop Area Charts for calories, protein, and fats

  • Nutrition Charts for yield and dietary coverage

  • A scalable framework adaptable to backyard gardens or multi-hectare projects

This is not theory.
It is documented production planning.

Instructor explaining a tropical permaculture site design on a hand-drawn master plan, showing garden zones, paths, and water systems

Permaculture Design — Build a Functional Tropical Homestead

Learn how to design land systems that evolve and improve over time.

  • Map and assess your land using permaculture principles

  • Place gardens, ponds, and water systems with efficiency

  • Create nutrient cycles that reduce waste and external inputs

  • Develop a long-term master plan aligned with your goals

This is strategic design, not random planting.

Harvesting fruit from a mature tropical food forest with layered trees, shrubs, and perennial plants

Tropical Food Forest Systems

Design perennial systems that become more productive each year.

  • Select resilient, high-yield tropical species

  • Integrate support species for soil and fertility

  • Reduce long-term labor through intelligent plant layering

  • Design for abundance and stability

A food forest is not just planting trees — it is long-term system architecture.

Tropical vegetable garden with trellised beans, root crops, leafy greens, and mulched pathways in a productive homestead system

Tropical Vegetable Gardens & Staple Crops

Annual and semi-perennial systems for dependable food production.

  • Grains, beans, cassava, sweet potatoes, greens, and vegetables

  • Soil improvement using compost, mulch, biochar, and support crops

  • Integrated small livestock (chickens, bees) where appropriate

  • Harvest planning for year-round food availability

This bridges short-term productivity with long-term stability.

Off-grid bamboo homestead infrastructure with solar energy, rainwater collection, and outdoor kitchen systems in the tropics

Homestead Infrastructure Systems

Food production is only one layer.

You’ll also learn:

  • Solar energy and solar hot water basics

  • Rainwater capture, filtration, and storage

  • Wastewater recycling and compost systems

  • Food processing tools (dehydrators, oil presses, mills)

Infrastructure supports independence.

Tropical crop seeds prepared for planting, storage, and propagation in a permaculture system

Master 60+ Essential Tropical Crops

Comprehensive crop profiles including:

  • Best-performing varieties for humid climates

  • Propagation, planting, pruning, fertilization, and pest management

  • Harvest timing, storage, and preparation methods

This becomes a long-term reference library for your land.

Prepared tropical meals and preserved foods made from garden harvests in a wellness kitchen

Wellness Kitchen & Preservation

Production is incomplete without utilization.

You’ll learn to:

  • Cook effectively with tropical ingredients

  • Produce flours, oils, vinegars, teas, and sauces

  • Preserve harvests for year-round security

  • Use the Nutrition Chart and sample weekly menu

This closes the loop between garden and table.

Private Community Access

You are not working in isolation.

  • Connect with other tropical growers

  • Ask implementation questions

  • Share designs and results

  • Learn from real-world applications

Meet Your Instructors

Instructor harvesting vegetables in a tropical garden at Finca Tierra

Ana Gaspar A.

Co-Founder of Finca Tierra
Human rights lawyer and environmental advocate.
Founder of the BioRegional Plan for Talamanca.
Leads wellness kitchen, nutrition, and sustainable living systems.

Instructor managing compost and soil fertility in a tropical permaculture system

Ian Macaulay

Co-Founder of Finca Tierra
Designer and educator with 15+ years of hands-on tropical permaculture implementation.
Leads system research, land design, and production modeling.

Grounded in Real Tropical Systems

This course is based on systems we actively use and document on our farm in Costa Rica.
If you’d like to explore the thinking and design behind the course, you can read:

How Much Land to Feed a Family: A Complete Tropical Diet on 2,000 m²
Tropical Food Forest: How We Design Perennial Systems in the Humid Tropics
Tropical Vegetable Garden: How to Grow Abundantly in the Tropics

These articles show how the systems work in practice. The course brings them together into a complete, step-by-step framework.

FAQ

  • Yes.

    You’ll learn how to build fertile soil using biochar, compost, mulch, and support species — without buying soil.

    This is the same approach we used on degraded, compacted cattle pasture.

  • No.
    The system scales from backyard → homestead → eco-village.

    You can grow a complete diet on 2,000 m² (½ acre) and still apply the method on smaller spaces.

  • Yes.

    Designed specifically for tropical climates:

    • Humid tropics

    • Wet/dry (monsoon)

    • Tropical savanna

    (Caribbean, Central America, SE Asia, Hawaii, Brazil, Africa)

    If bananas, cassava, or papaya grow where you live, this course applies.

  • What’s the difference between a vegetable garden and a food forest?

    • Vegetable garden → fast harvests (greens, herbs, vegetables)

    • Food forest → long-term staples (roots, beans, fruits, fats)

    Together, they form a complete diet system.

  • No.

    Everything is taught step by step using clear videos, templates, and examples — from planning to harvest.

  • Within 4–12 weeks, most students are harvesting greens and vegetables.

    Staple crops (cassava, plantain, beans, taro) begin producing within a few months.

    Food forests increase productivity year after year.

  • No.

    This course does not grant a PDC.

    PDC certification requires an in-person, 72-hour course with hands-on assessment. Certification is available only through our on-site PDC at Finca Tierra.

  • This course is ideal for people living in or moving to the tropics.

    While a PDC teaches design principles, this course focuses on real-world implementation:

    • what to plant

    • how to manage harvests

    • how to turn food into meals

  • Yes.

    No prior training is required.

    The course is beginner-friendly, and especially valuable for people who want to move from theory to lived practice.

Grow your food. Regenerate your land.
Live from the tropics with confidence.