Do you want to take your permaculture education to the next level?

Join us for our 9th Permaculture Academy on beautiful Basalt Mountain! This 9-day, 2-course academy is one of the most in-depth Permaculture Programs currently offered anywhere, taught by leading professionals in the field. It’s designed to shorten the introductory learning curve and send you out with the working, practical knowledge you need to start putting permaculture into practice.

Whatever your level of interest – whether you want to reclaim an urban lot, turn your back 40 into a food forest, or take the first steps toward a career in design and consulting – this Academy will suit your needs!

Prepare to be fully immersed in the permaculture life at one of the finest demonstration sites in North America, experiencing the results of 30 years of organic cultivation and state of the art, low energy use greenhouses. You’ll eat delicious organic food from mature forest gardens, witness rainwater catchment, use and maintain composting toilets, enjoy light and warmth from passive and active solar technology, and participate in small animal husbandry as you camp in vigorous and healthy poly-culture systems at 7200′ elevation.

Module 1 - August 13-16: GREENHOUSE DESIGN & MANAGEMENT WITH JEROME OSENTOWSKI, MICHAEL THOMPSON, STEPHANIE SYSON AND CASEY PISCURA

If your idea of greenhouses is limited to the seasonal garden store variety – steaming in summer, freezing in winter – you’re about to see a world of new possibilities! Imagine harvesting tropical fruits in regions with short growing seasons…growing your own food year-round wherever you are…growing a perennial poly-culture (multiple crops in the same space) to increase your yield exponentially! This course, taught by greenhouse visionary Jerome Osentowski, encapsulates years of practical experience in just five days of hands-on instruction in all aspects of high-altitude greenhouse design, installation and maintenance. We’ll talk about:

- Designing greenhouses for residential and commercial use (featuring guest speaker – Architect Michael Thompson, Jerome’s partner in Ecosystem Designs LLC)
- Integrating the revolutionary, solar-powered Climate Battery technology
- Coordinating design, construction, and planting schedules
- Designing and installing water systems
- Setting up and maintaining your greenhouse as a contained ecosystem
- Stacking functions to make your greenhouse more efficient
- Incorporating vermiculture to fertilize the soil
- Harvesting and processing the food you’ve grown

Module 2 - August 18-21: CREATING FOREST GARDENS, TAUGHT BY JEROME OSENTOWSKI, PATRICK PADDEN AND STEPHANIE SYSON

Imagine designing and creating a virtual Garden of Eden – a natural, self-sustaining forest ecosystem of interdependent plants and animals – an environment specifically designed to support human and non-human life. That’s what we’ll be doing in this course! This is a unique opportunity to spend time in the 30-year- old, high-altitude forest garden at CRMPI during the spring season when many of the over 150 varieties of trees and shrubs will be fruiting. We’ll walk through a tour of CRMPI, then settle down to discussing topics like these:

- Designing a forest garden
- Implementing the infrastructure (rock wall construction and trellising)
- Developing the forest, from vines to overstory
- Maintaining soil with vermiculture
- Integrating plant/animal guilds
- Providing water
- Harvesting food
- Processing your harvest

This is a one-of-a-kind training, on a site that is unique in the world! CRMPI is one of the oldest permaculture demonstration sites in the United States, celebrating over 35 years on Basalt Mountain. Plus - you’ll be learning from an all-star faculty of veteran permaculturists and local practitioners!

Tuition for both modules costs $1400 (or $700 for one module) and includes all curriculum materials, camping in the fresh Rocky Mountain air (bring your own gear), and delicious, fresh-harvested, organic meals.

Learn more and register at https://crmpi.org/learn/courses/permaculture-academy/