Transform Your Life with Tropical Permaculture - Online Course
Become Self-Reliant: Create a Regenerative Homestead with Our Tropical Permaculture Course
Become self-reliant
Permaculture in the tropics
Learn to become self-reliant by designing an ecosystem that produces for all your needs and provides space for wildlife to thrive. Inefficient land management and the loss of practical skills and culture have led to large-scale problems and left us without a connection with nature that brings us both purpose and health. There has never been a time in history when we have had access to such a large diversity of healthy plants that are easy to grow. In this course, you will learn how to design and build your land to produce a balanced diet with little effort. With a smart approach and technical skills, it doesn't need to be complicated, and when it is done well, it's incredibly productive, cost-effective, and rewarding!
Here´s whats inside
Design - Strategies - Techniques
Our Story
Meet Ana & Ian
In 2008 we bought an abandoned cattle pasture and got busy bringing the fertility back to the soil.
Our goal was to create an ecosystem that produces all of our needs, builds soil, and provides shelter for the rest of nature.
We started analyzing our diet and decided to try to produce all of our calories, proteins, fats, carbs, vitamins, and minerals. We experimented with the different edible plants that grow well in the tropics. Then identified the plants that produce lots of nutrition with little effort and learned how to master preparing them. We went all out selecting the best varieties, learning the processes, and acquiring the tools to make this a realistic cost-effective lifestyle.
As of today, we have been living off-grid and producing our own food, energy, medicine, and building materials for more than a decade. We became community consultants in sustainability and bioregionalism (sustainable administration of natural resources in a region to satisfy human needs while allowing nature to thrive) and have trained hundreds of people from every continent in on-site courses and internships at our Education Center, Finca Tierra Permaculture.
This online course is an extended master version that puts together all of our research in nutrient-dense tropical foods, sustainable practices, and low-cost technologies in a simple and practical way. Our intention with this course is to make you confident in creating a resilient lifestyle + succeed in developing, maintaining, and eating from your regenerative food system - so that we can all heal ourselves and the planet!
What You Will Get From This Course
This course is focused on practical design, implementation and maintenance
Diet Design
Here we look in-depth at how we design our diet focused on easy-to-grow tropical perennial staples. First, we have to define what part of the diet we want to grow regarding our time commitment and space - from a small area growing large quantities of nutrient-dense vegetables, fruits, and spices, to a complete system growing calories, protein, fats, vitamins, and minerals. Then we look at what crops fulfill these needs and how much space they require.
Example Garden with Crop Area and Nutrient charts
Let's look at how to grow our diet! We look at an example garden of a complete diet for a couple. We see how much space is needed for our mini farm & food forest. Our Crop Area and Nutrient Charts allow us to see the yield of the system and calculate how much of our diet they provide. This template is based on our diet and yields. It shows how we can grow a complete diet for a couple in just 2000m². Then you can modify it to fit your diet, scale it down for a smaller area or scale it up - as we do to feed on-site students and local restaurants. This makes it simple to grow lots of nutritious food!
Permaculture Design
Once we have realistic goals defined, we go through a site analysis. We learn to read the landscape by looking at environmental factors such as rainfall, soil, zoning, sun exposure, and existing trees. Now we can apply our design to the site and create a master plan to use during implementation. This allows us to close nutrient cycles and build soil from on-site fertility.
Homestead Infrastructure
We look at the infrastructure necessary to provide for our energy, along with reducing energy and water needs and how to cycle nutrients back through the system. Using domestic solar power, solar hot water, cooking on fire, rainwater harvesting, kitchen waste recycling, and wastewater nutrient capture. Moreover, we will address the essential food processing equipment like solar dehydrators, oil presses, grain mills, and pressure cookers.
Mini Farm
The mini farm consists of standardized beds that grow grains, beans, tubers, and vegetables — many of which are perennial and low maintenance. We analyze the soil to determine any nutrient deficiencies and learn to layout, build, fertilize and maintain beds. As well as grow mulch, make compost and biochar, and manage pests. It is powered by on-site fertility, and it is designed to regenerate the soil. It takes little work and little to no weeding and watering.
Food Forest
We mimic the natural patterns of the forest with edible plants and trees. This creates an ecosystem for wildlife while producing food for us! It is low maintenance as the main work required is organizing pruned materials. It absorbs as much sunlight as possible by ensuring any open areas are filled with mulch species. In tropical regions, the yield of starches and proteins per acre of staple crops matches or exceeds that of annual crops. This is one of the most energy-efficient food production systems!
Wellness Kitchen
You will learn about the nutrition and healing properties of your foods. We will look at different cooking techniques and how to process foods to stock your pantry with flours, sugar, oils, vinegars, sauces, spices, teas and more. Also, many delicious recipes on how to prepare your food from your mini-farm and food forest. Additionally, you can check the Nutrition Chart and the Sample Week Menu.
Crop Profiles
Finally we go in depth with our 30+ most important food crops and detail why each is one of our favorites, the varieties we chose and how many of each we grow for a couple, how we propagate, plant, fertilize, prune, and deal with pests and disease. Then we look at how we harvest, process and prepare them with dozens of recipes of our favorite ways to prepare each.
What's Included:
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Step-by-step guide with detailed practical online videos and lectures for each module. They are shot on-farm so you can see established design and the different ways to get there.
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Learn at your own pace and revisit videos, texts, resource links, and spreadsheets as needed.
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A design of the ideal garden for a complete diet, laying out the square meters needed for each plant, to use as a guide when applying to your area.
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Customizable Crop Nutrient Chart which shows you how much protein and how many carbs, vitamins and minerals are in 100 grams of each food.
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Customizable Crop Area Chart which shows how much land is needed for your garden to produce your yearly nutritional needs. Using our garden and our yield as an example, you can easily design your diet.
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Members discussion on topics and teachers' feedback so that you can have a say in future updates
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Access to content updates
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Many important links and resources.
The course is for you if:
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You want to grow some or all of your own food
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You want to improve your health and the health of your surroundings
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You are looking for a step-by-step guide with detailed practical videos to create a sustainable lifestyle
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You want to learn how to process your harvest into flours, oils, vinegars, medicinal tinctures, sugar, chocolate, coffee, and more
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You want to know about the nutritional value and medicinal properties of your food
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You want to learn how to use your space to produce a complete diet for you and your family
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You want to plant a food forest or/and a small farm
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You want to learn how to create a resilient homestead that is energy and water efficient + the tools and equipment to process foods.
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You want to know how to be part of the solution to help Earth's regeneration
Important note
For developing countries
This online course is FREE of charge for schools or civil organizations without budget or funding that are located in communities who are in a state of extreme exclusion (extreme poverty). If this is your case, please subscribe below to get notified when this course is available, and send us an email with your information. This is the reason we do what we do!
Hear from our on-site permaculture design course Students:
“Finca Tierra is one of the pinnacles of excellence in this world. Ian and Anna live one of the most inspiring and sustainable lives I have ever experienced. I am so very grateful to have been able to share a small slice of this existence with them. I did the Permaculture Design Course with them and can honestly say that it changed my life for ever, worth every penny of it! If you have the opportunity to visit Finca Tierra, I highly, highly recommend it. You will not regret it! ”
Ryan Koyzan
“Words can't describe how good the food is here. It will certainly fuel the mind, body and soul. Ian's quality of teaching is on par or better than any university and college instructor I have had. Ana's passion for solving social issues is truly inspirational. These two spirits are marvelous. If you're looking to learn about permaculture or simply want to experience sustainable living, look no further!”
Stuart Whitney
“I would not hesitate to recommend doing a Permaculture Design Course at Finca Tierra as it was one of the best decisions of my life. This course really delivered on content and the best part is that it is a living, breathing, off-the-grid sustainable farm with warm, knowledgeable and passionate people running it. The accommodation was excellent, the wildlife and ‘jungle’ experience sensational and the food totally delicious. I want to extend my heartfelt gratitude to Ian and Ana of Finca Tierra for a truly memorable experience last month in Costa Rica. I will never forget who I met, what I learnt and the incredible food I ate whilst there and hope to return to their paradise again one day soon. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. ”
Liesa Bissett
“Ian and Ana are some of the most knowledgeable people I’ve ever met, I learned so much from both that I can’t wait to implement now that the course is over. They’re such sweet, caring, fun people! Thank you, Finca Tierra, for an incredible experience!! Highly recommended for anyone looking to learn more about connecting with nature and creating simple systems to live in concert with it. This course and my time here is a springboard to permaculture greatness! ”
Chris Koelling
“The experience was amazing. I highly recommend to anyone who is interested in sustainability, permaculture, the environment, growth, community, incredibly tasty amazing food, and of course changing the world! Ian and Ana are inspiring the change this world so desperately needs, join them and help! ”
Ozzy Lusth
“Learned more in those 6 weeks than I did in my entire degree. Hands down one of the best places to learn about Permaculture. ”
Angus Dowell
“Possibly the most incredible experience of my life. I couldn't recommend it more to anyone and everyone. ”
Liam Spenser
“I am very excited to design my own home site and edible landscape and feel confident that I could do so effectively in any climate zone. Ian and Ana are very knowledgeable, passionate, and inspiring, and made us all feel at home on their farm. I would highly recommend this program to anyone looking to develop a thorough understanding of permaculture design principles and gain practical hands-on experience applying those principles. As an added bonus, the food is amazing! ”
J J Jhonson
“Couldn't have chosen a better place to complete my PDC. Ana and Ian are both amazing and super knowledgeable people, they have by far exceeded my expectation, and I could not recommend it to you all enough. The amount of knowledge learnt in those 2 weeks is extraordinary and the food, wooowwwww, every meal was just outstanding! ”
Freddy Sacredtree
“I highly recommend this course to anyone interested in incorporating the principles of permaculture into his/her daily life. Students in my course ranged from individuals just starting to dive into permaculture to those who already owned a plot of land. Although the course is based in a tropical climate, the material and field work are easily adaptable to other climates. Ian and Ana are living a very inspiring life, proving that living off the land can provide security, happiness and health. Living at Finca Tierra was an unforgettable experience that I will cherish for the rest of my life. ”
Mallory Dickinson
Meet your Instructors
Ana Gaspar
Ana is a native Costa Rican, and a human rights lawyer specializing in indigenous rights. She is an environmental political-activist, social entrepreneur, organic farmer, and off-grid pioneer. She has worked as a legal advisor for policymaking in the Costa Rican Congress. She is experienced as a community organizer in local development projects focusing on excluded communities, autonomous development, and social organization.
She founded the BioRegional Plan for the county of Talamanca and is a co-founder of the BioRegional Social Movement that promotes Earth Politics in the region which is focused on food sovereignty, regenerative design, the eco-legality of laws, alternative local economies, bioregional community organization, bio-development and the support of local culture identities.
She is certified as a trainer on Non-Violent Communication by the United Nations' University of Peace, and as well as a permaculture designer. Ana is passionate about sharing the knowledge of how to create a sustainable lifestyle on a family, regional and national scale.
Ian Macaulay
Ian holds a BFA Magna Cum Laude in visual arts. He is a social entrepreneur, a sustainability consultant, permaculture designer and teacher, off-grid pioneer, organic farmer and gardener. He is a native of Ohio in the United States. He has experience in geographic information systems (GIS), urban planning, sustainable community design and natural structures. He's also a consultant for ecological design, tropical food, organic farms and home gardens.
Ian is active in the local community and at a national level promoting practical and sustainable garden design solutions. He is a co-founder of SEED Eco-village - Society for Ecological Education and Development - for about 30 families with sustainable infrastructures, fruit forest, organic veggie gardens, conscious animal management, and sustainability research center.
Ian has taught PDC's (permaculture design courses) for 10 years and certified hundreds of students from North, Central and South America, Europe, Africa, Oceania, and Asia. He is most passionate about research and experimenting with the different methods for a sustainable global future, and also about exposing students from around the world to a design science approach, which integrates biological systems with human structure.
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