Online Tropical Permaculture Course
Design a Complete Tropical Food System
Learn a step-by-step design process for growing calories, protein, greens, fruits, and medicines in the humid tropics — based on 15+ years of real-world implementation at Finca Tierra.
Lifetime Access — $499
$599 Save $100 for a limited time
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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 Course Really Is
This is not an academic permaculture course.
It is:
✔ A decision-making system for growing food in the tropics
✔ 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.
What You’ll Learn in the Tropical Permaculture Online Course
The Tropical Permaculture Online Course teaches the design principles used to build productive food systems in humid and seasonal tropical climates.
• Tropical vegetable garden design
• Food forest systems and perennial crops
• Soil regeneration, compost, and fertility cycles
• Staple crops for calories and food security
• Designing a complete tropical permaculture system
If growing food in the tropics feels confusing, it’s not because you lack effort. Tropical ecosystems simply work differently.
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 focus on first
What order to design the system in
How crops, soil, water, and spacing actually interact
What you’ll achieve in your first 30 days
Within your first month, you will:
Understand how soil, water, spacing, and species interact
Design a realistic plan tailored to your land
Begin producing food with intention
Start planting with a clear, climate-appropriate plan
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.
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
Good 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.
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.
What Our Students Say
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![Permaculture Design Course student building an off-grid food forest]()
“The on-site course was life-changing and the online course has been invaluable as I design and build my off-grid home and food forest. The community forum has been incredibly helpful. I highly recommend it.”
— Sky d’Almeida
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![Former permaculture student with harvested tropical produce at Finca Tierra]()
“I took the Permaculture Design Course with Ana and Ian in 2018, and it completely changed my life. I ended up moving to Costa Rica because of it. Their online course is the most comprehensive guide out there… this course really has it all.”
— Elizabeth Couse
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![Permaculture Design Course student using garden templates from planning to planting]()
“What stood out to me were the amazing garden templates and how the course goes from planning to planting - even to cooking delicious meals. You can feel Ana & Ian’s incredible knowledge throughout.”
— Lea Imboden
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![Person harvesting cacao pods in a tropical food forest at Finca Tierra, Costa Rica]()
“Finca Tierra’s course stands out as a practical, hands-on manual for growing food in the tropics. It offers a replicable model that can strengthen your economy, local food systems, and resilience.”
— Irene Burgues
What’s Inside the Course
A complete reference system for designing a productive tropical homestead.
✔ 25+ hours of structured lessons combining video, written modules, and applied design tools
✔ Crop Area & Nutrition Charts for planning calories, protein, and fats
✔ 60+ tropical crop profiles for staple crops, fruits, greens, medicines, and support species
✔ Kitchen & food processing lessons for using tropical staples in real meals — flours, oils, dehydrating, ferments, pantry planning, and recipes
✔ Garden & food forest design templates for planning your own land
✔ Real homestead case studies from 15+ years of implementation
✔ Private student community
✔ Lifetime access with ongoing updates
This is not a short-term course.
It is a reference system you return to as your land evolves.
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
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
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
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
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
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
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)
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
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.
Investment
Lifetime Access — $499
$599 Save $100 for a limited time
One unsuccessful planting season often costs more than this in time, effort, and inputs.
This is not a basic gardening tutorial.
It is a complete tropical design framework built from over 15 years of real-world field implementation.
✔ Lifetime access
✔ 7-day money-back guarantee
✔ Instant access after purchase
If you’re serious about growing food in the tropics, you can keep experimenting — or start with a proven system.
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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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.
