Welcome!
The Finger Lakes Permaculture Institute provides affordable and experiential learning events in the Finger Lakes region of New York State. We offer Permaculture Design Certification courses and a variety of other programs for permaculture education.
Email [email protected] to join our e-mailing list for periodic updates on classes and events.
Email [email protected] to join our e-mailing list for periodic updates on classes and events.
Upcoming Events
2009 Summer ApprenticeshipMay 11 - August 9
The Finger Lakes Permaculture Institute offers an exciting opportunity to explore sustainable, regenerative design. In exchange, apprentices assist in organizing events and working on a permaculture project. Apprentices attend all Spring/Summer 2009 permaculture events without charge, including the Summer Intensive Permaculture Design Certification Course.
Apprentices begin their commitment by attending the Permaculture Fundamentals course in April. After these introductory classes, work shifts will be on regularly scheduled days from May 11 through July 26. The focus of this years apprentice work will be designing and creating classroom facilities for this years Design Certification Course at Cayuta Sun, a homestead about 15 miles southeast of Ithaca, N.Y.
Each apprentice is expected to complete 100 hours of workshops, training and fieldwork as offered by the Finger Lakes Permaculture Institute before the Design Certification Course begins on July 24. The apprentice program is heavily rooted in self-directed learning. We help apprentices to define goals, set milestones, and produce measurable results. Facilitators offer guidance and feedback to create a challenging and rewarding endeavor.
Camping facilities with showers and outhouses are available for apprentices who wish to live at the design site from late-May through mid-August. A small fee and homestead/camp chores are asked in exchange for camping. Food will be the responsibility of the individual, but apprentices are encouraged to grow food on onsite gardens while growing food for the course.
Tuition is $600 for on-site apprentices or $500 for commuting apprentices.
Accepting applications through April 10 online.
Permaculture FundamentalsApril 24 - 26
Spend a weekend learning the basics of permaculture design. Walk away with a toolbox of ecological design principles. This affordable course offers a discussion on the ethics, attitudes, and principles of permaculture as well as an exploration of natural ecology and pattern that lead to regenerative designs. These classes are designed to be interactive and hands on. We use the site to discover how useful permaculture ideas can be in a variety of settings and situations. Because this course covers the introductory classes of our Design Certification Course, your tuition can be applied to the full cost of the Certification Course.
Tuition is a sliding scale of $100 to $250.
Register online.
Mushroom Inoculation WorkshopMay 16
Take home the new skill of cultivating culinary mushrooms. Learn how a forest can produce a cash crop in a permaculture food forest. Participants will bring home their own shiitake-inoculated log and can purchase additional logs.
11 a.m., bring your own lunch
Tuition is a sliding scale of $20 to $40.
Register online.
2009 Summer Permaculture Design Certification CourseJuly 24 through August 9, 2025
The Finger Lakes Permaculture Institute (FLPCI) invites you to join its 2009 Summer Permaculture Design Course running from July 24 through August 9, 2009. This is our seventh internationally recognized certification course training people of all backgrounds to mimic natural patterns and principles in their yards, on their land, and in their homes and businesses.
This affordable course highlights hands-on learning in the beautiful rural Cayuta Lake Valley. The class equips students with the knowledge of whole systems and the principles, techniques, and challenges of permaculture as a system of sustainable design. We explore topics such as soil regeneration, water conservation, building ponds and swales, managing woodlots, building natural and efficient homes, utilizing renewable energy, and designing gardens.
We teach these topics though presentations, case studies, and student design projects and exercises. Our student design practicum will inform the final design of the Cayuta Sun Homestead. Instruction is augmented by presentations from local experts, field trips, and games.
Completion of the course earns participants an internationally recognized design certificate.
Topics include:
Ethics - Principles - Ecology - Whole Systems - Water - Soils - Pattern - Climate - Earthworks - Forests & Trees - Economics - Governance - Gardening - Waste Treatment - Buildings - Tools - Appropriate Technology - Design - Practicum and more...
$1200 includes tuition, food, and camping
Sign up by May 1, 2025 and save $150
Sign up by July 1, 2025 and save $50
Register online.