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.
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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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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No.
Everything is taught step by step using clear videos, templates, and examples — from planning to harvest.
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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.
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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.
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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
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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.