About the course

The Guided Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) at Aanandaa Permaculture Academy is a comprehensive, structured, and deeply supported 8-week online program. It gives you the flexibility of self-paced learning combined with the clarity, accountability and personalised feedback of guided mentorship.

You learn through asynchronous self-recorded video lectures while receiving weekly guidance, task lists and personal feedback from our instructors. 

This is the perfect program for anyone who wants to learn permaculture seriously and apply it practically—without the pressure of fixed class timings or live sessions. It does require fluency in English and computer literacy.

In this GUided PDC you don’t just learn concepts—you apply them. Every module includes workbook pages and assignments that help you:

• read your landscape
• analyse climate, sectors and microclimates
• test and understand your soil
• map contours and water pathways
• plan earthworks to manage rainwater
• design plant systems and food forests
• organise zones, access, and built areas
• integrate water, energy, animals, and people

By the end, you complete a full Permaculture Design for your site.

Week 1 — Foundations of Permaculture Design

Ethics, principles, patterns, systems thinking, reading climate and landscape, understanding ecological relationships.

Week 2 — Land Mapping & Site Analysis

Contours, sectors, microclimates, sun/wind analysis, access planning, mapping tools and techniques.

Week 3 — Soil: The Foundation of All Life

Soil food web, soil testing, building fertility, composting, mulching, SOM, CEC, pH, soil restoration.

Week 4 — Water: Harvesting & Managing the Most Precious Resource

Swales, bunds, ponds, earthworks, runoff management, infiltration, soil sponge building, water-efficient design.

Week 5 — Plant Systems, Trees & Food Forests

Forest layers, species selection, guilds, succession planting, orchards, windbreaks, agroforestry.

Week 6 — Zones, Layout & Built Systems

Designing zones, access, buildings, waste cycles, natural building concepts, kitchen gardens, energy flows.

Week 7 — Animals, Integrations & Human Systems

Chickens, ducks, bees, multi-benefit systems, invisible structures, community economies, right livelihood.

Week 8 — Your Final Design

Bringing it all together into a clear, implementable, phased permaculture design for your land.