Is learning by seeing and doing your thing? You can earn your Permaculture Design Course (PDC) certificate here at Bogata Šuma in our 6 weeks PDC program. In this time we will navigate you through "72 hours" (and more) of permaculture content in practice, with the necessary background information of all subjects.
"This PDC doesn’t just teach permaculture; it behaves like it"
This is obviously not a sit-and-listen course; it is hands on and interactive. It is 6 weeks community living in our chosen group culture, with Cultural Emergence, sociocracy and six thinking hats being practiced.
We will start with an overview of what permaculture is, how ethics and principles help you with decision making, reading the landscape, how to setup ecological food growing systems, including several ways to build healthy soil, make compost and fertilizers, companion planting. We will test various types of soil and find permaculture solutions for micro-local problems.
You will learn about water catchment, setting up a food forest, companion planting and tree guilds, animal care, natural building techniques, metal working, textiles, waste cycling, food preparation & preservation, wild foraging, how to take care of your health with herbs, how to make natural cleaning products and other ways to apply permaculture thinking in life.
Permaculture design will be explained and done with a growing-food-in-small-spaces design that we will also implement, on our patio. There will be a cooperative group design to work on, and you will work on an individual design of your choice. There will also be some quick design moments, to get your design-thinking in a flow.
When: Monday 7 September - 17 October (6 weeks)
Venue: permaculture farm Bogata Šuma, Vojnic, Croatia
Teacher: Barbara Scheltus - van den Berg
Costs: € 1973,- (bursary spots may be available: contact us)
Costs include all tuition, hand outs, certificate, a comfortable bed, breakfasts, lunches and dinners.
> Apply for a spot in this Permaculture Design Course
Experience permaculture where it’s lived and not just talked about, on our homestead Bogata Šuma in the heart of Croatia. Together we explore how permaculture offers grounded, hopeful responses to many of today’s challenges. Our farm is a living classroom!
For us, permaculture is a joyful design approach for both land and life. We grow lots of our own food, support our health with home-grown herbal remedies, and build using natural materials and old techniques. These practices aren’t add-ons; they shape how we think, decide, and live each day.
Guided by permaculture principles, we care for the earth and for people, while creating abundance rather than extraction. We love sharing what we’ve learned; practical skills, lived experience, and generous meals straight from the garden.
Barbara has been living with her family on permaculture farm Bogata Šuma in Croatia since 2009. They live more and more food-self sufficient, have hosted hundreds of volunteers since 2011, she and Peter have setup a Country Life Academy and now they are growing a village.
Barbara has been working with permaculture ethics and principles for over 20 years now. She designed for land and for life, teaches people how to bring permaculture into practice and how to design for personal and social issues. She got her Diploma from the Permaculture Association Brittain after being mentored by Looby Macnamara, Delvin Solkinson, Wilf Richards and others.
Barbara works with Looby Macnamara ("People and Permaculture"), Chris Evans, Tomas Remiarz and learned also from international teachers like Rosemary Morrow, Mark Shepard and others.
When: Monday 7 September - 17 October (6 weeks)
Venue: permaculture farm Bogata Šuma, Vojnic, Croatia
Teacher: Barbara Scheltus - van den Berg
Costs: € 1973,- (bursary spots may be available: contact us)
Costs include all tuition, hand outs, certificate, a comfortable bed, breakfasts, lunches and dinners.
> Apply for a spot in this Permaculture Design Course
More information: barbara@bogatasuma.com or call +385 (0)95 5555 677
