Jupiter Farms, FL: 10-Day Permaculture Design Cert.

This intensive 72-hour in-person Permaculture Design Certification course, offered by Palm Beach Kitchen Gardens at Jupiter Farms, Florida, from August 17-26, 2026, provides hands-on training in regenerative landscape design for self-sufficient properties. Participants engage in practical fieldwork creating food forests through layered planting: canopy trees like mango and avocado, understory shrubs such as pigeon pea for nitrogen fixation, herbaceous layers with sweet potatoes, ground covers like sweet alyssum for pest control, vines including passionfruit, and root crops like yacon. Soil building techniques cover no-dig methods using sheet mulching with cardboard, green manures, and biochar amendments to boost microbial activity and water-holding capacity in sandy Florida soils. Water catchment systems are implemented via swales, ponds, and drip irrigation from rain barrels, with precise calculations for catchment sizing based on roof area and rainfall data to achieve 100% onsite retention. Plant guilds are designed with specific synergies, such as the classic 'three sisters' (corn, beans, squash) enhanced with nasturtiums for aphids and borage for pollinators around central fruit trees. Site mapping uses sector analysis for wind, sun, and fire patterns, combined with zone planning to prioritize high-maintenance areas near homes. The curriculum emphasizes ecological certification standards, including biodiversity metrics, carbon sequestration estimates, and yield projections for homestead-scale operations. Daily hands-on sessions include tool use for earthworks, propagation of 50+ species suited to subtropical climates, livestock integration like aquaponics with tilapia and greens, and business models for selling surplus produce. Instructors provide templates for design reports, observation sheets with transects and soil tests, and post-course support for implementation. Graduates receive internationally recognized PDC certification, equipping them with concrete skills to audit properties, draft base maps in software like Google Earth, and install systems yielding 2-4 kg/m² annually. Ideal for practitioners aiming to regenerate degraded lands into productive, resilient ecosystems with step-by-step guidance and real-site demonstrations.