StretchLearn Course

Design land that feeds you and needs less of you every year.

Apply the ethics and twelve principles, place elements by zones and sectors, harvest rainwater with swales, build soil, and plant a food forest.

Preview Curriculum Back to Catalog

Beginner9 hr 40 minSelf PacedRegistered

Course Overview

What this course is designed to develop

Learn to design a garden or property that works with nature instead of against it, using the permaculture method that turns observation into a concrete plan. You will apply the three ethics and David Holmgren's twelve design principles, complete a sectors-and-zones analysis of your own site, harvest rainwater with on-contour swales and rain gardens sized to real rainfall, build soil with sheet mulch and cover crops, and assemble plant guilds and a seven-layer food forest. By the end you can move through the full OBREDIMET design process and produce a base map, zone-and-sector overlay, and planting plan for your land.

Learning Outcomes

What the learner should be able to understand, build, or execute.

Apply the three permaculture ethics and Holmgren's twelve design principles to real design decisions

Map sectors and zones on your own site to place elements by energy and frequency of use

Size and set out on-contour swales and rain gardens using an A-frame level and local rainfall figures

Build living soil with sheet mulch, cover crops, and chop-and-drop without digging

Assemble a fruit-tree guild and stack a seven-layer food forest from canopy to root crops

Run the OBREDIMET design process to produce a base map, zone-sector overlay, and planting plan

Curriculum Preview

Inside the curriculum: a structured path from fundamentals to execution.

Preview the course structure, see how the modules build on one another, and understand the path this program is designed to take you through.

Module 1

Module 1: Ethics and the Twelve Principles

Understand what permaculture is, ground your work in the three ethics, and learn Holmgren's twelve design principles as practical decision tools rather than slogans.

3 lessons

What Permaculture Actually IsContent · 45 min

Preview Enabled

The Three EthicsContent · 45 min

LMS Access

Holmgren's Twelve Design PrinciplesContent · 50 min

LMS Access

Module 2

Module 2: Reading the Site: Sectors and Zones

Learn to observe a site systematically, map the wild energies that cross it as sectors, and organise it into zones by how often you visit each part.

3 lessons

Observation and Site AnalysisContent · 50 min

LMS Access

Sectors: Mapping the Wild EnergiesContent · 45 min

LMS Access

Zones: Designing by Frequency of UseContent · 45 min

LMS Access

Module 3

Module 3: Water and Soil: The Foundations

Capture and store rainwater high in the landscape with swales and rain gardens, and build deep living soil without digging.

3 lessons

Water Harvesting: Swales on ContourContent · 50 min

LMS Access

Rain Gardens and CatchmentContent · 45 min

LMS Access

Building Living SoilContent · 50 min

LMS Access

Module 4

Module 4: Guilds, Food Forests, and the Design Process

Assemble plants into mutually supporting guilds, stack them into a layered food forest, and run the full design process to produce a finished plan.

3 lessons

Plant Guilds and Companion PlantingContent · 50 min

LMS Access

Food Forests and Seven LayersContent · 50 min

LMS Access

The Design Process: From Survey to PlanContent · 55 min

LMS Access

Built for Application

A complete learning path, not a one-off inspiration hit.

This program is designed around progression: focused lessons, structured modules, applied resources, assessments, and a course rhythm that turns information into usable capability.

permaculturepermaculture designzones and sectorsfood forestplant guildsswalesrainwater harvestingsoil building