Permaculture Design Course Summer 2026
“The only ethical decision is to take responsibility for our own existence and that of our children.” – Bill Mollison
We will be hosting a 12 week Permaculture Design Course starting June 15, 2026!
Many of us are hungry for a deeper connection with the land we live on and a deeper understanding of the water, soil, plants, and animals that share that land with us. We’ve become disconnected from the wisdom of our ancestors and struggle to visualize an abundant future.
Permaculture is a web of the deep wisdom that humanity has accumulated over the millennia through a relationship of observation, symbiosis, reciprocity, and respect for the land. This course will help you reconnect and bring yourself and your life back into balance and abundance with the natural world.
Permaculture gives us a path to realign our lives with the cycles, patterns, and rhythms of the natural world, It is the re-weaving of broken relationships between plants, animals, Earth, and humans, it shows us we can all live in abundance and together heal the land.
Tracks to Learn Permaculture:
OPTION 1: Certified course, the 12-week lecture course plus 15 hours of free hands-on experiential learning in the Permaculture gardens and get your Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) for $1,000
OPTION 2: Non-certified course. Don’t need a certificate? Audit the 12-week lecture series for only $800, no final design project is required!
Land as Mother. Land as Teacher.
Our lectures will be focused on temperate climate permaculture in urban and rural environments. Some of the topics that will be discussed in the lecture series include:
Principles & ethics of permaculture
Sustainable regional food production
Small scale designs for yards & gardens
Earth & the soil food web
Water conservation & resiliency
Wind, weather & climate patterns
Fire & how to live on our daily sun
Life/death cycles & working with natural patterns
Designing integrated systems with the web of life
Social & structural community building
Classes will be held in the Weaver’s Hall Yurt weather permitting – we may also gather outdoors so come prepared to learn both inside and out. This consists of observation walks and interaction with the permaculture demonstration site.
The purpose of these classes is to spread the knowledge and joy of practicing permaculture, and to empower our community to create a resilient and healthy world.
Summer’s 12 Week PDC Schedule
Mondays, June 15th – august 31st, 2026
Daily Schedule:
9:30-10:00 Coffee and Greeting
10:00-12:00 Lecture
12:00-1:00 Lunch (Bring a sack lunch)
1:00-3:30 Lecture
3:30-4:00 Q&A
Where:
The Weaver’s Hall Yurt at Compass Rose Farms
1463 /1450 W Uncas Rd., Port Townsend, WA 98368
12 week Course Outline:
Day 1: INTRODUCTION
Teacher: Kateen Fitzgerald
Morning: Introduction to Permaculture
afternoon: ethics principals (holgren’s 12)
Day 2: CONCEPTS & THEMES OF DESIGN
Teacher: Kateen Fitzgerald
Morning: Concepts & Themes of Natural Systems
afternoon: Concepts & Themes of Design
Day 3: METHODS OF DESIGN
Teacher: Kateen Fitzgerald
Morning: Functional Analysis Zones, Sectors, Slope & Orientation Yeoman’s Scale of Permanence
afternoon: Building the Map
Day 4: PATTERN & CLIMATE
Teacher: Evelyn Cilley
Morning: Pattern Understandinge
afternoon: Nature & Climate Factors
Day 5: CLIMATE AND TREES
Teacher: Evelyn Cilley
Morning: Climate & it’s Effects on Design
afternoon: Succession/Establishment of Vegetation Trees Food Forests & Guilds
Day 6: SOIL & FOOD SYSTEMS
Teacher: Kateen Fitzgerald
Morning: Understanding & Working with Soils
afternoon:Garden Strategies Seed Saving
Day 7: water
Teacher: Simon Walter-Hanson or Kateen Fitzgerald
Morning: Water Cycles & Management – Keyline Design
afternoon:Water in Landscape Aquaculture & Mariculture
Day 8: animals
Teacher: Kateen Fitzgerald
Morning: Introduction to Mycology
afternoon:Domestic Animals Partnering with Wildlife
Day 9: APPROPRIATE TECHNOLOGY
Teacher: Simon Walter-Hanson
Morning: Buildings & Structures
afternoon:Appropriate Energy Conserving Technology, Waste Disposal & Recycling
Day 10: RESILIENT COMMUNITIES
Teacher: Kateen Fitzgerald
Morning: Designing for Catastrophe
afternoon:Settlement Design
Day 11: SOCIAL PERMACULTURE
Teacher: Evelyn Cilley
Morning: Vision & the Inner Landscape of You
afternoon:Cultivating Social Permaculture
Day 12: PRESENTATIONS
Morning: Present Final Projects
afternoon:Potluck, finish Presentations & Graduation!
Let Nature be your guide
What Our Students Say:
“Information Came to Life”
I met Kateen in the summer of 2019 when I interned at the Compass Rose Farm and completed the Permaculture Design Certificate course. As owner of the land and primary teacher of the PDC program, Kateen had the dual task of mentoring an eager group of permie students through all the necessary coursework of the PDC, while simultaneously managing and directing a living, breathing farm. In each PDC lesson, I sensed passion and urgency as Kateen’s lectures spilled over with history, scientific data and principles. This information came to life in our daily chores and frequent hands-on workshops — theory met practice on a daily basis at Compass Rose. In my time on the farm, Kateen often acknowledged the work of the cohorts that came before mine, fostering a sense of shared history in the farm and its infrastructure. Rome was not built in a day, and as it turns out, neither was Compass Rose!
Kateen was always available for questions outside of “school hours”. She found constant opportunities to relate pieces of her journey towards land-stewardship, sharing successes, challenges, and failures all with equal candor. In the years since my time as one of her students, Kateen continues to be available to answer my questions and offer encouragement. I have been regularly invited back to the farm as a guest – it feels like a second home.
~ Nadia L
“All Learning Types“
In all my years of education Kateen is by far one of my favorite teachers and mentors. With compassion and understanding, Kateen creates a safe learning environment for all learning types- ensuring each of her students feel supported and heard. She facilitates a classroom through the lens that we’re all each other’s teachers: we each have our own unique wisdom and knowledge that is valued and celebrated in her class. Kateen creates a curriculum as if it is a permaculture design, she understands that the learning environment is a living system : a dynamic relational space where the students and teacher alike are co-creating what is necessary to be taught/learned. Not only is Kateen a skilled educator, she also is a knowledgeable encyclopedia. She knows her stuff. She’s passionate about what she teaches. She curates an educational setting that is engaging. 10/10 would recommend her classes to everyone !
~ Maddie B