South West Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC)
Join us on the farm for a two week, residential, fully catered permaculture experience
Upcoming PDC Course Dates
Permaculture Design Certificate January 12th -26th 2025
This 72 hour course balances permaculture theory with hands-on practical activities; Using interactive workshops, field studies, presentations and field trips,
our PDC gives you a globally recognised accreditation as a certified Permaculture Designer.
Facilitated by a range of highly experienced and dedicated permaculture practitioners, you will gain knowledge, experience and relationships that will last a lifetime.
The course includes;
- Three healthy and mouth-watering meals daily
- On-site camping at our farm, (using our compost shower). We are 5km from Margaret River town (or see our accommodation)
- Internationally recognised course led by professionals
- Field trips to local permaculture initiatives
- Hands-on design experience (Read the blog about learning design on a real life project)
- Practical permaculture field work
- Access to our library of permaculture resources.
Read all about our previous PDC’s here;
May 2012 May 2013 Jan 2014 May 2014 January 2015 January 2016 May 2016 January 2017 January 2019 Sept 2020
Don’t just hear about it from us, here are some comments from previous course attendees, asked if they can recommend the course and why …
“Yes, Packed with Information. Teachers are Mentors. Personal Growth. On-site appreciation of growing and living off your own food. True examples of people WALKING their TALK. New friendships with like minded people. Genuine CARING ENVIRONMENT.” Anne
“You acquire knowledge that will influence all parts of your life and make lifelong connections with beautiful people. Oh, and if the food here doesn’t convince you to grow your own I don’t know what will!” Marnie
“Yes! It was an incredible experience to camp for 2 weeks and be fully immersed in the world of permaculture, all the teachers were so knowledgeable and the range of topics and teaching styles worked so well together… I would love everybody who is even considering a PDC to have the same wonderful experience I have had a Fair Harvest” – Poppy
For More Testimonials
The Teaching Team
Fair Harvest’s South West PDC includes a fantastic selection of teachers, with many of the classes held at their property or work place. You can expect to be taught by a selection of the teachers below (please note that not every teacher will be available for every course).Teachers include Jeff Nugent, PB Foreman, Jodie Lane, Jema McCabe and more…
Jodie Lane
When Jodie was 15 she discovered John Seymour’s book Self Sufficiency in the school library and spent many lunch hours poring over his drawings and ideas. A few years later she found Bill Mollison’s Permaculture One and started to work in her small backyard.
She moved to Margaret River in 1990 and completed a Horticulture Certificate and a PDC, before long her life was permaculture in the most rounded sense, growing food, fighting for the forests and living communally. As a co-founder of the infamous Carters Rd Community, her beliefs and understanding of how we can live and work together were strongly shaped during its’ twelve year life.
In 2012 Jodie and her partner Dorothee Perez started Fair Harvest Permaculture and renovated the existing farm shed as an educational centre. The first PDC was run in May 2012 with a selection of teachers from the South West, since then over 200 people have completed their PDC at Fair Harvest. Jodie coordinates the two week course as well as sharing her love of healthy home grown food by catering for the students with amazing produce from the farm and garden.
Dorothee Perez
Dorothee is Jodie’s partner and co-manager of Fair Harvest. Do is usually found in the gardens, orchards, milking the goats or tending the poultry . While she refuses to take a formal role in teaching she is always happy for students to find her in action where she generously shares her wealth of knowledge. Her attention to detail, planning ahead and care of plants and animals shows in the health and abundance of the gardens.
Before arriving in Australia in 2009 Dorothee worked in London as a gardener, creating beauty in small spaces. Dorothee grew up in the south of France in a fertile farming region, she studied boring things until she had the life changing experience of permaculture, she completed her PDC in 2012 and has been growing food ever since.
Jeff Nugent
Jeff completed his Permaculture Design Course led by Bill Mollison in 1983. He has over thirty five years experience in teaching Permaculture Design and a longer history as a Permaculture Designer.
He has worked on four continents and has taught courses in Australia, North America and Africa. Jeff is co-author of the book Permaculture Plants – A Selection, and author of Permaculture Plants – Agaves and Cacti.
He is currently working on other permaculture plants books and a futuristic novel. He also contributed a chapter to the recently published Permaculture Pioneers. Jeff also enjoys working with sound and apart from several Bill Mollison audio sets; he has produced two music albums.
Ian Hackett
Ian, born in Perth Western Australia, grew up both in the city and on the family farm north of Perth developing a deep love for natural environments and landscapes as a child roaming 500 acres of uncleared bush on the block.
In the 1980s and 1990s Ian worked on WA wheatbelt properties, completed a Certificate in Agriculture before working on some of Australia’s first chemical free environmental weed management programs on Kimberley river systems. In 1994 Ian did his PDC and Wwoofing with Bill Mollison at Tagari, Tyalgum NSW, going on to design and implemented permaculture projects in Northern NSW. Ian also studied and worked in bushland regeneration in Queensland and NSW on Environmental training and employment programs.
In 1998 Ian moved home to WA establishing a wholesale organic vegetable seedling nursery, cropping, and permaculture farm near Donnybrook. He has a Diploma in conservation and land management specialising in bushland regeneration studies in Denmark. He has designed and managed various private landcare and bush regeneration projects in the Southwest.
Ian also has 14 years’ formal training in mindfulness and meditative practices which he weaves into his teaching approach which fully complement the PDC experience. Ian runs Ecodharma and Nature retreats here at Fair Harvest.
Brenna Quinlan
Brenna Quinlan is an illustrator and educator who strives to make the world a better place through her art and her actions. For the past four years she has lived a low-impact lifestyle at Melliodora, the permaculture demonstration site created by permaculture co-originator David Holmgren and his partner Su Dennett in Central Victoria, Australia. There they grow food, milk goats, build soil, engage with community and regenerate the land around them.
As an illustrator, Brenna has worked with the Australian Red Cross, the Stephanie Alexander Kitche
n Garden Program, Plan International, Milkwood Permaculture, the Bob Brown Foundation and the Australian Food Sovereignty Alliance, among others.
As an educator, Brenna has taught alongside the biggest names in permaculture, including Rosemary Morrow, David Holmgren, Dan Palmer, and Hannah Moloney. She is part of the Formidable Vegetable teaching team for the School Permaculture Tour program run in association with Resource Smart Schools Victoria, and she regularly teaches and collaborates with Milkwood Permaculture on their various projects.
Greta Carroll
Greta Carroll is a permaculture educator and small-scale organic farmer currently based on Wadawurrung Country. She has previously taught for Permaculture College Australia and is currently a course facilitator for Permaculture for Refugees and Goodlife Permaculture. Passionate about accessible, inclusive education, Greta has built curricula and learning experiences for diverse groups. She has worked with people in displacement settings for over a decade – in Australia as well as internationally – and is currently the Chair of Permaculture Australia.
Pippa Buchanan
Pippa Buchanan (MSc SA) is an Australian resilience and sustainability educator, facilitator and urban permaculturist currently based in Linz, Austria. Pippa draws on permaculture design, systems thinking, informal education approaches, future scenario development and facilitation approaches such as Art of Hosting in her work.
Pippa’s background is in adult education, language teaching, web and games development and in addition to completing two PDCs she studied Permaculture Teaching Matters with Rosemary Morrow. In 2017 she completed an MSc in Sustainability and Adaptation with the Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT) in Machynlleth, Wales. Her research project explored how permaculture teachers and practitioners consider hazards such as floods and bushfires in their design work.
Pippa is fascinated by transformational processes, whether they be the evolution of new social forms, fermented foods or the transformation of yarn into knitted items. She shares her projects and ideas at makingspecial.org.
PB Foreman
PB trained and qualified in Horticulture at Adelaide Botanic Gardens in 1977.He has been actively involved with horticulture ever since. He has run his own landscaping and garden maintenance business as well as commercial pruning and chipping, setting up a permaculture nursery and consultation service. He has always worked with an enthusiasm in organic methods of horticulture and embraced Permaculture in 1988 when he undertook a consultant design course. For the next 10 years he ran many Permaculture Design Courses in and around the Fremantle area including Murdoch Uni, Bentley TAFE, Apace and North Fremantle Permaculture Centre.
Since moving to Margaret River in 1997 he has extended his interests widely to include Bio Dynamic agriculture and practices. For 16 years he worked at Cape Mentelle Vineyard taking care of the grounds and biological waste water treatment which he instigated and set up. In 2015 he and his partner Swabodhi designed and completed their owner builder straw bale home which gained a 8.5 NATERS energy rating. They are now well on the way to food self sufficiency. In late 2015 he joined the team at Witchcliffe Eco Village as Permaculture Design Advisor. In 2018, PB was made a Permaculture Elder in recognition of his years of dedication and passion of permaculture.
Jamie McCall
Jamie, 52, worked as a mining field assistant, carpenter, sailor, journalist and furniture maker before moving to Margaret River in 1998 to develop a farming and permaculture property with his wife, Lara, and three children Max, Ned and Dan. He has a BA in English and Journalism, a Master Class 5, and completed a PDC with Bill Mollison and Geoff Lawton.
Jamie’s 37 acre property, Burnside Organic Farm, commercially produces avocados, wine, honey and capers. It also provides their family with all their vegetables, meat and fruit. Cows, pigs, sheep, geese, bees and chickens are used on the farm as an integral part of the farming systems.Part of the property is share farmed with Jema McCabe who runs a market garden.Jamie’s property is certified biodynamic with ACO and has utilised permaculture principles for water harvesting, soil building and nutrient cycling. New work on the farm is approached through permaculture principles with a view towards a future of energy descent.As a result of their self-sufficient lifestyle Jamie has developed a keen interest in nutrition, food preservation and storage, home butchery and meat curing, winemaking and Mediterranean climate appropriate gardening and foods.
Mark Tupman
Jema McCabe
Jema spends most days thinking about, planting, tending, harvesting or selling vegetables, a vocation that extends across her work and personal passions. She grew up on 5 acres on the east coast of Australia and learned a simple version of permaculture at her small primary school, where all the kids could have a garden of their own. Her early professional life turned out to be a self guided tour on organic farming, biodynamics, compost making, soil building, garden planning, seed saving and assorted outdoorsy-practical things. Completing a PDC at Fair Harvest Permaculture, teaching workshops herself and running her own micro-farm business have all been more recent explorations.Given that veggies take up a lot of her time, she really loves pondering ideas around how communication, community resilience, social structures, feminism, gender, sexuality, and domestic life intersect with permaculture.Outside of the garden, Jema aspires to always check for underwear sections in op-shops, finding lost hair ties on the pavement to replenish her supply, and perfecting the art of fixing broken thongs with Gaffa tape.
Trevor Paddenburg
Trev’s background is in writing for newspapers and magazines around Australia and as a globetrotting London-based travel writer. He worked at a remote animal rehabilitation centre in the jungles of Costa Rica and has visited more than his fair share of exotic surf locations as a surf-travel magazine correspondent. But he fell in love with the rugged coast and fertile fields of Margaret River in Western Australia, where he’s put down roots and works for the green group Nature Conservation Margaret River Region and as a hiking guide on the Cape to Cape Track. He’s also the organiser of the annual Edible Gardens Festival, has turned his quarter-acre block into a permaculture powerhouse with 80-plus fruit trees, and swaps homegrown fruit ’n veg barter boxes for all kinds of stuff! Trev’s been showing permaculture students around his garden and running hands-on classes since 2018, and as a keen surfer, diver and conservationist, also teaches our Caring for Oceans class.
Ellen Walker
Ellen has studied the soil food web and soil microscopy with Dr Elaine Ingham and Dr Mary Cole (pioneers in this field) and completed a PDC at Fair Harvest. Ellen is keen to share this information and teach practices that will assist in developing and nurturing healthy, nutrient rich soil. The EarthWhile Australia team works with home gardeners, orchardists, growers and farmers to develop knowledge of healthy soils to affordably grow high quality food in sustainable ways that assist in regenerating our environment. It is no surprise that Ellen has been actively involved in supporting local community groups and organisations such as the Serpentine Jarrahdale Food and Farm Alliance and the Byford Glades Community Garden. Ellen is a founding partner of EarthWhile Australia.
Rod Hughes
Rod has worked nearly three decades in environmental management, especially in river and catchment management. This included more than 10 years running the state government agency, the Swan River Trust.
Rod completed a life changing PDC at Fair Harvest, Margaret River… which genuinely did sow the seeds of a change in life.Rod followed up with an advanced permie design certificate, quit his job, completed a Diploma in Permaculture at Candlelight Farm and set up his permaculture design and teaching consultancy, Leafcutter Permaculture.
Rod now lives on 136-acres of a mostly bush Land for Wildlife property in the Chittering Valley, north-east of Perth and is involved in the Bullsbrook Community Garden.
Since mid-2018, he has been Farm Manager at Perth City Farm where he grows some fruit and veg, looks after a few chooks and ducks and talks lots about compost.
Byron Joel
“Growing up in Perth, Western Australia, working for his father’s landscaping and irrigation company, Byron’s love for plants became clear early in the piece, leading him to study Horticulture and Botany, refining his knowledge, skill and appreciation for the human/plant relationship, all the while working in a number of positions at numerous retail and propagation plant nurseries and re-vegetation, tree planting and land care services. Discovering Permaculture in the early 2000s Byron devoured all the information he could find and set to work connecting with like minds and putting ideas to practice, taking his first Permaculture Design Course in 2004 and second in 2009.
Byron has studied and integrated design and implementation techniques from numerous related systems including Holistic Management, Natural Sequence Farming, Bio-dynamics, Natural Farming, the Regrarian’s Platform, Restoration Agriculture and more.
Byron has worked internationally as both educator and consultant and has an ongoing working relationship with numerous projects in Morocco.“
Charlie McGee
Charlie Mgee is the front-muppet for the world-renowned permaculture funk/swing band, Formidable Vegetable. Growing up in a tin shed with a veggie garden, a composting toilet and one solar panel for power in the south-west of Western Australia, Charlie lived the low-impact lifestyle from a young age and realised early on that you don’t need a lot to be happy in life.
In 2011, Charlie went off to study permaculture and soon after, formed Formidable Vegetable – a new kind of band based entirely around principles of sustainable living with the hope of inspiring people everywhere to grow regenerative gardens/lives/communities and generally make the world a better place.
Guest teachers (when available)
Jeff Pow
Jeff is a first-generation farmer near Balingup and the co-founder of Western Australia’s only vertically integrated, beyond organic, pasture-raised chicken and duck operation. Since 2006, he has restored the historic Southampton Homestead property to perennial pasture twice – once from a pine plantation and again in 2013 following a devastating bushfire. Jeff and his wife Michelle grew 10,000 meat chickens and ducks a year, and manage all aspects of the supply chain on-farm – from hatching, growing and harvesting birds through to marketing and selling direct at farmers markets, retailers and restaurants. Southampton Homestead was recently a State Winner in the 2016 Delicious Produce Awards and a finalist in the National Landcare Awards for Innovation in Sustainable Farming Practices. Southampton Homestead is a member of an international communities of practice, the Regrarians, and is known for their pioneering work in using regenerative agriculture practices to restore eco-system services in farming. Our story: https://vimeo.com/136416154
Recent TEDx talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4wGIQ2Z7-E
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