Eduardo and I had the pleasure of teaching a 72-hour Permaculture Design Course, where students learned at their own pace online over several months. A key aspect of the course was the flexibility, with students only required to participate in the final two Zoom sessions to showcase their completed projects.

The course involved multiple video calls tailored to specific subjects, such as agroforestry, water management, and syntropic farming. We also delved into our particular areas of expertise: Microgreens and Mushrooms.

A key part of this course was the optional in-person practical training week. This was made available to students enrolled in the online course, and also opened to others who were keen on hands-on learning. We've always felt this was a great way to see the theory of permaculture come alive, especially for those of us who learn best by getting our hands dirty!

I personally taught at two of these courses, both online and on-site in Aljezur, Portugal. During these practical sessions, we had the opportunity to teach a wide range of subjects across multiple farms. We found that this approach provided students with a thorough experience, ensuring they left the course loaded with the knowledge to establish their own permaculture gardens.

When selecting locations for our practical weeks, our criteria were always to partner with quality projects that had already begun implementing permaculture principles or were eager to do so.

Our goal is to continue as we have so far with great feedback from the students, and to teach with this model around the world!