There will be a full 80 hour Permaculture Design Certification course this December in Treasure Beach.

http://treeyopermaculture.com/future-courses/caribbean-jamaica/

For every 10 participants there will be one local scholarship for a resident to attend the course at no cost!

If you are interested in signing up for the course or applying for a scholarship, please email vijon@mail.com

www.vimeo.com/61394206 is a very short very general explanation of permaculture

Water is always a crisis in most of TB and water is one of the most important parts of good permaculture design.

Look up Geoff Lawton Greening the Desert...this shows what good permaculture design can do in a climate much harsher than ours.

For all those people owning undeveloped land in the area learning permaculture design skills would enable you to develop a place over time that produces all of your housing, water, energy and food needs from your land.

From apartment dwellers to big landholders there are aspects of permaculture that can be applied everywhere.

These are skills needed for the future and hopefully alot of people will be able to participate, learn and pass on some of the strategies.

http://tv.naturalnews.com/v.asp?v=C8103CF932330F50C3517F90AD81CBAB

Greening The Desert Geoff Lawton Permaculture video...

We have heard from some interested residents and since most of them have the same questions regarding participation wanted to put the info here for all who may want to come.

If you are a Treasure Beach resident and want to attend the class but stay at your house each night instead of with the group (camping or in limited dorm space) you will save the $5US per day housing charge as well as the airport transfer charge. This means the course for you would be $875, not $1000.

The hours will roughly be 8am Breakfast/start time with class most of the day except when we break for the included lunch/siesta mid-day and will wrap up around the conclusion of 6pm dinner.

There will be one day off during the course which starts December 1st and ends at lunchtime on December 14.

Upon completion of the course you will be a certified permaculture designer and the world needs more of them!

Is there no pre-requisite qualification for this course and if there is, what is it? Secondly what are the opportunities available to people with this certificate?

There is no pre-requisite qualification.

To become certified you must attend all 80 hours of instruction.

The opportunities from PDC certification include
-hire yourself out to do property designs (on existing developments or raw land)
-the ability to teach the course or mini versions
(if we had a good amount of residents with this knowledge these courses could be done several times a year and would be of great benefit to the community in knowledge spreading and bringing in guests from abroad or other parts of Jamaica that want to attend)
-a huge foundation of skills that can benefit you, your friends, family and community in everything from home and landscape design, village design and economics and so much more.

I think this man Bill Wilson, sums it up well...
"The Opportunity Before Us…
Because permaculture is a relatively new field, there are few ‘job’ opportunities listed in the employment ads for permaculture designers. Please do not take a PDC course thinking there will be an automatic job for you at the other end.

The opportunity however is that permaculture design course graduates may start a business of their own whether it be in consulting, designing, implementation or teaching.

The only limiting factors to one starting their own business is their own personal knowledge-base, experience, or skills and each of these are available to everyone if we will but seek them out.

Permaculture is a life-long journey and a way of relating to life from one’s core. There is no end to the depth of experience and service we might render to ourselves, our communities and the world, especially given the current state of things. We need people who are able to think and design for long-term sustainable solutions. For those who can do this, there appears to be great opportunity, ultimate security and the satisfaction of doing work that really does matter in the world.

This work is real. This work is lasting. This work is needed.

Bill Wilson – Jan. 2013" (this was taken from site linked here)

http://midwestpermaculture.com/about/certification/

I can do $1000JMD - how bout dat.

[edited by TB.Net]
This is a 14 day course that includes 3 meals a day including most lunches @ Frenchman's Reef.

The lead teaching team is going to provide a local scholarship for every 10 participants.

The last permaculture course in Jamaica was $2000 US for 10 days, the other one held in St.Thomas was $1400 US for 8 days so very sorry that you think it is "outrayjus" to offer a course that will only break even in order to bring this information and additional visitors to the area.

Stephanie Genus
VIJON

Big up VIJON. Big up! This is a fabulous opportunity and educational enterprise. It is also the way forward, the future for many generations.
I wish you every success with the endeavour.

Yes, Kazie give thanks. We hope many in Treasure Beach are able to benefit.

We have so much untapped wealth in the community and sometimes it is hard to see. Permaculture helps us see how to maximize our resources.

Read an interesting article today on the subject of money that ties to permaculture view on wealth...

for sure worth a read for those interested

http://permaculturevisions.com/what-is-money/

On the subject of true wealth discussed in the piece above, just stumbled on a short video illustrating this point.

In Treasure Beach we are blessed with so many wonderful resources including our blazing sun and sometime unrelenting breeze. We have a strong foundation for great wealth in those elements alone.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=v0laEr6-C2c