A fun filled Practical Permaculture Immersion Weekend. We will illustrate practical ways to design an integrated thriving living system that that partners with nature. Designed to be self regulating, diverse, abundant and resilient. Whether you are on an urban lot or a farm homestead, energy, water, soil building, animal systems, food production and preservation systems, with diverse income streams. Join us if these are important to you.
An extended site tour of the established systems at Inspiration Farm will augment this experiential weekend. A detailed presentation over viewing Permaculture ethics, principals and strategies will be covered on the first day. On the second day an in depth dive into systems relationships and design mapping process and strategies will be covered.
Class format includes lectures, discussions, extensive tours of an established site and hands-on activities.
Presentations and discussion in the AM, site tour, hands on projects with plant guilds, soil creation, Nursery establishment and other integrated systems in the PM.
Installing a guild
one of the designs
Discounts for couples, $250- Pot luck lunch for both days. Camping is available. Limited to 15 Participants.
Feel free to call if you have any questions. 360-319-2029
There are a lot of exciting events this year. Meet ups, Plant and Seed swaps and some excellent classes. Hopefully you see something that interests you or a friend.
Permaculture Meet-Up at Inspiration Farm February 23 @ 4:00 pm – 7:00 pm
A Free gathering time for People interested in Permaculture from Whatcom county to come together and discuss ideas. Come bring your idea to share! Please RSVP here.
The Whatcom Permaculture events bring together like-minded individuals who are interested in sustainability, agriculture, and community building. It’s a chance to meet others with similar interests, share knowledge, and collaborate on projects.
From permaculture meet-ups to grafting workshops, there are a wealth of learning experiences available. Events like the grafting workshop offer hands-on experience that goes beyond theoretical knowledge. The International Permaculture Day event not only celebrates the global impact of permaculture but also facilitates people from various backgrounds come together to share their unique approaches and experiences.
For those looking to start or get involved in permaculture projects, these events are a perfect place to find potential collaborators or mentors. Networking can lead to new opportunities and initiatives. Seeing permaculture principles in action and hearing from those who have successfully implemented them can serve as a powerful source of inspiration and creativity.
Overall, the excitement surrounding the Whatcom Permaculture events stems from the dynamic combination of education, practical application, and community development centered around a sustainable and ecologically mindful way of living.
Join us for an Information Packed Zoom Circle. February 28 @ 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm
A space to share an overview of what a PDC is and how we have organized one here in whatcom county. We will answer your questions about what a Permaculture Design Certificate course is all about.
Why is the Whatcom Hands on PDC unique
What you can hope to get out of it
How it can influence your life and career for the better
How it can help build a better relationship with yourself, your food, community and the environment.
We look forward to sharing with you during this session. Please RSVP here. We will send you a Zoom link.
Permaculture Meet-up at Queen Mountain Homestead March 29 @ 4:00 pm – 7:00 pm
Queen Mountain Homestead (QHM) is an 8-acre intergenerational family home and educational demonstration site nestled on the western flank of Bellingham’s Queen Mountain. In the spring of 2016, after a decade+ of designing, building and maintaining permaculture landscapes across Washington (and internationally), we became the designer-stewards of our forever home. Please RSVP here
Grafting and Plant Propagation
March 10 th 11am – 2:00 pm
Learn to Create your own Fruit Nursery Stock. Fruit Tree Grafting and Plant Propagation from Cuttings Read more
Scythes the Cutting Edge! April 28th 10am – 3pm
Sell the Weed Eater and use a Scythe! Maintain your body, not your machines. Learn the sharper points of this elegant tool. Thought to be old school, but better blades and an ergonomic set up makes them one of the most efficient tools out there. Learn what makes a good scythe, how to select a scythe for your needs and … Read more
International Permaculture Day Tour & Plant Swap May 4th, 2-5pm – Free! –
We will celebrate International Permaculture Day May 4th 2024! A day to showcase permaculture around the world. Throughout the year we have a variety of permaculture Events, Tours and Workshops at Inspiration farm. This year we will have a tour and Plant Swap for International Permaculture Day on Saturday May 4th, 2-5pm. An opportunity to experience permaculture and meet its practitioners. Visitors can see … Read more
Keep scrolling for pricing, format, and more details.
Course Format:
The course will be a mix of in-person weekend sessions, a week-long intensive, and some on-line presentations, plus optional mid-week extracurricular work sessions for those hungry for more.
We will learn through lectures, small and large group discussions, reflection/observation exercises and lots of hands-on skills practice. We will also provide suggested reading material, videos and zoom sessions to be viewed on your own time as primers for our in person sessions. Expect some homework toward the end of the course.
The first three weekend sessions will be hosted at Queen Mountain Homestead. Course time will run from Saturday mornings to Sunday evenings. Overnight camping is available onsite and encouraged. Saturday evening we will share potluck feasts (significant others welcome). Bring your own lunches and Sunday morning breakfast . An outdoor kitchenette will be available for simple food prep. Coffee, tea and water will be provided throughout.
Student Design Sessions: July 21st
This is scheduled time for students to gather with their design teams to socialize and dig into their capstone design projects.
Inspiration Farm : July 13th & 14th ; July 29th – Aug. 2nd (5 day Intensive )
We will dive deeper into content during the week-long campout, while giving you an immersive taste of Permaculture living at Inspiration Farm. In addition to more hands-on practice, you will work with a team of fellow students on a capstone design project. Your team will present your project to the whole learning community at the end of the week. The final day will also include: a certification and closing ceremony; a celebratory feast (loved ones welcome); and, a talent show of epic proportions.
Fresh meals will be prepared on-site by a local chef for lunch and dinner all week. Breakfast will be DIY with seasonal ingredients provided by us. Coffee, tea, water and fruit will be available throughout. Let us know your dietary restrictions on your registration form. We are happy to accommodate.
We acknowledge that Whatcom (Xwotʼqom) County is the ancestral and current home of the Lhaq’temish (Lummi) & Nooksack people. As the descendants of displaced settlers, we acknowledge how much we have to relearn about place-based living. Actively, we seek ways to honor and uplift how the Lhaq’temish & Nooksack nations live out resilience, resist displacement and embody regenerative culture. We acknowledge that the permaculture movement was inspired by, and in part built on the appropriation of, indigenous knowledge. We take it as our ongoing responsibility to watch for and address the harmful pattern of appropriation. We believe that, despite past and present harms, permaculture can be used as a tool for healing the deep wounds of disconnection inflicted by colonialism on indigenous and settler communities, and, the more-than-human world we share.
PDC Course Pricing
Secure your spot with a $500 deposit
Course fee: $2,000
Benefactor price: $2,200 (extra payment helps provide scholarships to other students; enquire for more info)
Payments cover all course materials, camping, field trips and a week of amazing local meals.
Some Partial Scholarships are available, for more details fill this application out.
Donations to the Scholarship fund are welcome. Help those who need it.
Click the register button to fill out the form and the click to pay
April 22, 2023
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10:00 am
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April 23, 2023
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5:00 pm
A fun filled Practical Permaculture Immersion Weekend. We will illustrate practical ways to design an integrated thriving living system that that partners with nature. Designed to be self regulating, diverse, abundant and resilient. Whether you are on an urban lot or a farm homestead, energy, water, soil building, animal systems, food production and preservation systems, with diverse income streams. Join us if these are important to you.
An extended site tour of the established systems at Inspiration Farm will augment this experiential weekend. A detailed presentation over viewing Permaculture ethics, principals and strategies will be covered on the first day. On the second day an in depth dive into systems relationships and design mapping process and strategies will be covered.
Class format includes lectures, discussions, extensive tours of an established site and hands-on activities.
Presentations and discussion in the AM, site tour, hands on projects with plant guilds, soil creation, Nursery establishment and other integrated systems in the PM.
Discounts for couples, Pot luck lunch for both days. Camping is available. Limited to 15 Participants. Feel free to call if you have any questions. 360-319-2029
Grow Abundance
Put together a design
Make it so, let it GROW!
Meet others who share your passion!
To Pay BY Check: Please make it payable to Inspiration Farmand mail, or drop it by 619 E Laurel Rd Bellingham Wa. 98226. This saves us from having to pay the transaction fee, thank you!
Hi Everyone! Just wanted to take a moment to let you all know some of what we have planned for this year. Other events may pop up to fill in some gaps but here are the events we have on the books at this point.
Ongoing- Permaculture Meet-ups will continue to happen the last Friday of each month. Stay tuned for locations and details at www.whatcompermaculture.com
Salish Seed Swap Saturday Feb. 18th, 12:00 pm – 3:00 pm At the – Bellingham Unitarian Fellowship Downstairs, 12 noon to 3pm – Masks Requested
$10 suggested donation, at the door. No one turned away for lack of funds Early entrance (11:30 am) for members of the Salish Seed Guild and people bringing seeds to share. Find out more.
Please Bring your own Envelops to package bulk seeds being offered.
Hope you can make it to the Salish Seed Swap happening in person for the first time in three years!
Create your own Fruit Nursery Stock. Fruit Tree Grafting and Propagation from Cuttings. Pruning season is upon us! Remember to save scion wood for the Grafting Gathering! You can learn how to collect scion wood here. Bring Apple, Pear, Plum… Read more
A fun filled Practical Permaculture Immersion Weekend. We will illustrate practical ways to design an integrated thriving living system that that partners with nature. Designed to be self regulating, diverse, abundant and resilient. Whether you are on an urban lot… Read more
Sell the weed eater and use a scythe! Maintain your body, not your machines. Learn the sharper points of this elegant tool. Thought to be old school, but better blades and an ergonomic set up makes them one of the most efficient tools out there. Find out more
We will celebrate International Permaculture Day May 7th 2023! A day to showcase permaculture around the world. An opportunity to experience permaculture and meet its practitioners. Visitors can see first hand an established permaculture system and ask questions. See how… Read more
Plant a garden, eat for a year, plant a Food Forest Guild, eat for decades! This hands on workshop shares design elements necessary for a perennial food forest. Learn about fruit and nut trees as well as supper food berries… Read more
August 19 – August 20 … Exact details are still being worked out.
This workshop will cover reading the landscape for water retention and management. Diving into, Mapping, ponds, swales, reed-beds, terraces, key line design, implementation cover cropping and guild planting. This will be a hands-on workshop/installation, with earth moving equipment and lasers! Read more!
August 13, 2021
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5:00 am
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August 16, 2021
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10:00 am
Join us for a unique permaculture design earthworks experience! This workshop will give you firsthand insights into design considerations and principles based on clients objectives. We will explain stages of the design process, from observation, working with the client, through to the final design and real live implementation on the property over the weekend. This workshop will cover reading the landscape for water retention and management. Diving into, Mapping, ponds, swales, reed-beds, terraces, key line design, implementation cover cropping and guild planting. This will be a hands-on workshop/installation, with earth moving equipment and lasers!OUTLINE:
Day one will be introductions and an overview of the design considerations and the scope of the project. A site tour assessing information on, water, soils, access, structural positions, slope, orientation, zoning and sectors.
Day two, we will demonstrate how to work with earthworks machine operators to achieve desired permaculture design goals. Exercises in designing watersheds and a variety of strategies used.
Day three we will fine tune aspects of the project and install cover crop and some of the food forest guilds. This workshop is intended to help you to become a more confident earthwork installer. You will get familiar with the equipment and strategies used to efficiently get the job done.
WHAT YOU CAN LEARN: Site Observation Skills, Site Assessment Process, Design Evolution Process, Earthworks Process, Design and Work Methodology, Site Restoration with Cover Crops and Guild Planting considerations.
PROJECT BRIEF: This workshop will implement a permaculture master plan by converting old pasture with invasive grasses into a diversified food forest. The project will encompass 5 of 20 acres. Over time the property will be used to host an educational center for nature based early childhood education and multi-generational skill building workshops focused on sustainable methods of food production and preservation. The long-term goal is to provide opportunities for the local community and visitors to reconnect with each other and nature while cultivating more harmonious and resilient relationships.Lead Instruction by Brian Kerkvliet co-steward of Inspiration Farm and a 15 year Permaculture practitioner, designer, consultant. A Student of Geoff Lawton in design methodologies and earthworks for Permaculture projects. Brian has designed and installed numerous projects around the county.When: August Friday 13th 12pm through Sunday 15th 4pmWhere: Facilitated on location at the client’s property, between Sumas and Kendall Wa. — Saar Creek Farms— Camping available and Meals providedCost: $450 | Register before July 1st for the Early bird discount $375Space is limited. Payment due upon registration. Limited Work trade and discounts available.
There will be several workshops and presentations during the day. Honoring Larry Korn, Permaculture career pathways and others. Come and talk to us about your opportunities to attend the Permaculture Design course being held this year.
Saturday, 1/18/202012:00PM – 4:00PM $5 donation
Bellingham Unitarian Fellowship, 1207 Ellsworth St, Bellingham, WA
Seed tables set up from 2019
Bring your seeds to share and your home made, hand crafted, wild harvested, or home grown items to barter or sell. Meet amazing gardeners! Many local gardeners have unusual seeds adapted to our bioregion. You do not need to bring seeds to participate in the seed swap. Free classes on gardening, seed saving, greenhouse management, fermentation, cooking and homesteading skills. If you have a lot to barter, please contact info@cascadiaskillshare.org to reserve a table.
The goal of Cascadia Skillshare is to help maintain all kinds of useful, handy, and practical skills and showcase some new ones.
Event contact info: (510) 926-0468 or info@cascadiaskillshare.org
EXCITED TO ANNOUNCE BELLINGHAM’s PERMACULTURE DESIGN CERTIFICATION COURSE for 2022!
THE COURSE IS HOSTED AT QUEEN MOUNTAIN HOMESTEAD, AND A WEEK CAMP INTENSIVE AT ONE OF WHATCOM’S PREMIER PERMACULTURE SITES ‘INSPIRATION FARM’.
DATES FOR THE COURSE ARE:
4 weekends, May – July and a 5 day Design Intensive Campin July.
4 Weekends – May 21,22, June 4,5 & 18,19 July 9,10
Camp out Design Intensive – July 18,19,20,21,22
13 days total, 9am – 6pm Daily
PERMACULTURE COURSE OUTLINE:
Learn the skills to work with nature to create integrated Permaculture systems of abundance and productivity! Food, Soil, Shelter, Energy, Water and a lot more: Design strategies and methods for truly sustainable, regenerative human integration with that natural systems and our ecosystem.
Curriculum Includes: Permaculture Ethics and Design Principles, Pattern Recognition, Climate Factors and Weather, Water Management, Grey water, Soil, Trees, Earthworks, Bioremediation, Surveying and Mapping, Reading the Landscape. Class format includes lectures, discussions, hands-on activities and videos.
Permaculture Design Process camp out week:
Building on the foundation presented the first weekend sessions, knowledge and skills will be expanded and tied together. Leading to a final real life design exercise, mapping and placing elements within a holistic design. Including: Shelter Building, Solar Design, Climatic considerations, Community Structures, Urban Design, Animal Husbandry, Alternative Governance.
Design groups will present to the class for critique and comment. Optional on-site Camping with some meals will be available the last five days at Inspiration Farm. This will provide opportunities to immerse in the design process and partake in after hour activities. Amazing meals will be provided for the week long design intensive camp out. Prepared using locally sourced organic ingredients.
Locations: Local Bellingham permaculture models Queen Mountain Homestead and Inspiration Farm, one of the premier Northwest permaculture and biodynamic farms.
More outstanding guest presenters still to be announced
We will be Covid Safe.
Practicing all state protocols and guidelines for gatherings of our size.
This may be adjusted as situations change.
What Does PERMACULTURE DESIGN CERTIFICATION (PDC) Curriculum Cover?
The curriculum covers a wide variety of subjects. The weekends are stand-alone with the first 4 sessions being a broad overview of design principles and strategies and the last week focusing on their practical application. The two weeks constitute the 72-Hour Design Permaculture Certification Course as designed by Permaculture co-founder, Bill Mollison. Participants who complete the full two-week curriculum earn the internationally recognized Permaculture Design Consultant Certification. To date, thousands of permaculture designers worldwide have been certified through this course, and now comprise a global network of educators and ecological activists who influence major corporations, individuals creating new business alternatives, and groups of committed people working together to change the way we view and design into our landscapes.
The order of topics in a course may change due to the presence of guest instructors, and emphasis on certain subjects may shift due to the needs and focus of the participants, such as urban or rural residents, city planners, farmers, and so on. This course will not make you an expert in any of the individual subjects covered, although in many cases we go into considerable depth. The point of the course is to introduce you to the relationships and synergies among the disciplines that permaculture connects. In a sense, permaculture creates an ecology made up of the many tools and concepts used to design sustainable communities. You will learn what these tools are and how to decide which to use, and when. The course will show you how these subjects connect leaving you with a whole systems design strategy to work with.
More information can be found at these links. Some of this information is subject to change as we continue to organize everything.
Extended Early Bird price, Sign up before May 1st. just $1600!
Cost: Full price $1800, after May 1st
Includes all materials, Camping, field trips and some amazing local meals.
A few partial scholarships are available, contact us for more details.
Cancellation Policy
A refund will be issued less $100 administrative fee up to 60 days before course. After 60 days a full refund will be given if you fill your spot. If you do not fill your spot, 50% refund up to 30 days, no refunds after 30 days before course. Hardships like family emergencies, etc. will be considered on a case-by-case basis. We reserve the right to cancel class with full refund given less transaction fees.
Choose deposit or full price from the drop down menu above.
To Pay BY Check: Please make payable to Inspiration Farmand mail, or drop it by 619 E Laurel Rd Bellingham Wa. 98226. This saves us from having to pay the transaction fee, thank you!
