Permaculture Design Course (PDC)
March 8th - 22nd, 2026
Join our diverse team of permaculture practitioners for this inspiring, potentially life-changing experience. Earn your Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) in an authentic permaculture community, home to more locals than foreigners. We have been practicing permaculture and community living for 7 years at Finca Sol y Valle in the agricultural heart of Costa Rica. In the past, we have only offered courses in Spanish but we are happy to now offer courses in English!
Course Description
72-hour Permaculture Design curriculum in host farm Finca Sol y Valle has many functioning permaculture systems in place to inspire your future, including:
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Organic veggie gardens on terraced land (in the process of local certification).
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Food forest with over 100 species focused on fruit trees and coffee.
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Bamboo forest focused on the best species for building.
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Secondary forest under active regeneration by the life-long local conservationist Don Humberto.
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Natural construction (bamboo, volcanic rock, recycled materials, earthen walls, and floors), including a cabin, exterior dining, composting, greenhouse, nursery, and homemade furniture.
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Rainwater harvesting, filtration, drip irrigation, and ground infiltration.
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Small-scale bio factory where we create organic compounds and micro-organisms to support our plants.
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Appropriate technologies (homemade solar water heater, plants for greywater treatment)
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Creative local economies (trade, gift, volunteer, Homestay , tours, workshops, ownership models, etc.)
The course mixes lectures, design, group dynamics and hands-on work. Students can design their home project (wherever it may be) or help a local develop their property as part of their group work and receive design feedback.
Beautiful relationships are formed in PDCs and students will walk away with a strong community and support network.
What You Will Learn...
You will learn why the term “permaculture” comes from permanent culture and permanent agriculture. Permaculture is a creative design process based on whole systems’ thinking informed by ethics and design principles. The approach guides us to mimic the patterns and relationships found in nature and apply them to all aspects of human habitation, from agriculture to ecological building, from appropriate technology to education and even economics. With permaculture’s tool kit, you will learn how to overcome most barriers in the design phase. Applying the ethics, principals, and design methodologies is possible at any scale, from a home garden to a neighborhood, or entire village. The students will receive a digital learning manual before the course. Here is a brief summary of the learning outcomes:
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Community building. For us, community means living and working together daily. This requires us to reflect on our weak points, use compassionate communication, and practice conflict resolution. We often say “living in community teaches you more about yourself than others.” Social sustainability techniques taught in this course are one of the most transferable skills to all our relationships including family, partners, and coworkers.
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Reading and creating maps. Maps are one of the most useful tools to visualize projects and transition a project from an idea to a plan that is easy to communicate. Final presentations for group design projects will solidify what you’ve learned and allow you to apply it to a local project or a project you are developing.
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Permaculture ethics, principles, and tools. This includes some of permaculture’s most influential practices including zone and sector analyses, pattern language, the scale of permanence, and techniques that can be applied in most climates around the world.
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Natural building techniques. One of our strong points, we have been building with locally available materials like bamboo, wood, volcanic rock, and clay for almost a decade now. We are focused on create low-impact structures that are elegant and interactive, so we can really appreciate our private and shared living spaces.
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Soil care. Understand how to improve soil quality, protect it, and create biodiverse ecosystems on human-impacted areas.
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Water capture and storage. The farm has many examples of different tank building techniques, terracing, berms and swales, efficient watering techniques, and greywater recycling.
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Growing organic food. Finca Sol y Valle is in the 3 year transition process to become a certified organic producer. Organic guidelines are strict in Costa Rica and the natural pressures from wildlife, pests and fungi are intense! We like to say “if you can grow organically in the tropics, you can grow anywhere.”
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Farm to Table Management. We plant over 400 species on the farm including vegetables, roots, vines, fruits, bamboo, woods, and natives. We teach and learn how to utilize biodiversity to develop more resilient and productive food systems. Plant, care for, harvest, clean and cook farm produce to create delicious local meals.
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Food preservation and fermentation. Process foods when they are abundant to avoid losing them. Create brines, dried plants, medicinal infusions. Elaborate fermentations like sourdough, sauerkraut, kombucha and kimchi.
Accommodations
Something unique with our course is the integration of the local community. Through our Homestay program, students will have the option to live and eat with local families. Also, we offer an optional Spanish cultural immersion course to learn Spanish and enhance your communication skills.
​​Stay in private rooms with local families in our Homestay program at no additional cost (maximum 5 people). You will eat breakfast and dinner with the families and have lunch on the farm. All diets are possible. The families are around a 15-minute walk to the farm. Photos of the accommodations can be provided upon request.
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The optional Spanish Cultural Immersion Course is available with this housing option. More information about that course is below.
Option #1:
Option #2:
Stay in private rooms at a beautiful 3-story cabin at the neighboring “Finca Estacion Descansos” with other PDC students 5 minutes walking from the farm (maximum 5 people). The PDC students will organize breakfast and dinner at the cabin. This option has an additional cost of $225. The listing is on AirBnB under the same name if you’d like to see more photos.
Instructors and Guest Speakers
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Jeffrey Davis
Jeff has been a passionate permaculture practitioner for almost 10 years. He began with the project Sol y Valle 5 years ago, and since then, it's been an intimate relationship with the environment, with the goal of co-creating a sustainable lifestyle with an intentional community.
He is also a teacher in bio-construction with materials like bamboo, rocks, clay, and wood.
His strong hands also give great relaxing massages!
Daniela Jiménez
Daniela Jiménez Escudé is an environmental engineer with a master's degree in circular economy. Passionate about the interconnected cycles of nature, humanity, and women, she specializes in syntropic agroforestry systems and medicinal plants. With a deep commitment to regenerative practices, Daniela integrates ecological principles with holistic well-being, fostering sustainable solutions that honor the rhythms of the land and life.
Dani practices Reiki, reads Akashik Records, Womb Blessing, and Holistic Men Ciclicity.
Anamor Parra
Anamor has been immersed in permaculture practices for the past four years at Finca Sol y Valle, where her hands-on experience has deepened her understanding of sustainable living. She earned her PDC certification through a Porvenir Design course in 2024, a milestone that solidified her commitment to environmental stewardship. Passionate about cultivating life from the ground up, Anamor coordinates vibrant vegetable gardens and enjoys working with medicinal plants, brews, and ferments, blending traditional knowledge with modern techniques. Her dedication to permaculture is not just a profession but a lifestyle that continuously inspires and transforms the communities she engages with.​
Hugo Soto
Hugo, a native of San Jose, Costa Rica, embarked on his permaculture journey in 2012 by studying organic agriculture and deepening his connection to both people and place; he began promoting urban permaculture through community gardens and edible spaces featuring native plants while also leading workshops on sustainable soil management and production strategies, and complementing his passion for design, he incorporates communal living principles and invisible social structures into his planning—working as a member of Red Permanezca to inspire societal change through permaculture education, site visits, and a collaborative eco-community lifestyle that embraces mountain hikes and swims.
Humberto Castillo
Don Humberto has been reforesting in our town for the last 30+ years. His story is extraordinary! From a young age, he made the unique decision to reforest his 2.5 acre inheritance instead of growing lucrative monocultures like most of his neighbors. Now, we value him as the only local with his skill set. We aim to be the caretakers of his knowledge and keep his traditional craft alive!
Georgina Zamora Quílez
Born in Barcelona, Spain, Georgina has spent the past ten years coordinating an Education and Outreach Program for a sea turtle NGO in Tortuguero and Bocas del Toro. Specializing in community work, nature education, and environmental communication, she also runs her own educational project, "Biodiversity School." Committed to a simple, adventure-filled life, Georgina embraces passions such as scuba diving, nighttime forest explorations, drawing imaginative characters, and playing the drums.
Dates and Costs
Arrival: Students should plan to arrive to their accommodations in the afternoon of March 8th between 1-6pm.
Departure: Plan to leave the accommodations before noon on March 22nd.
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The following costs include food, lodging, course instruction, and your Permaculture Design Certificate!
Regular Price: $1,500
Neighbor's High-end Cabin with a View: $1,725
Early Bird (November 30th) / Costa Rican Residents / Foreign Students: $1,350
Costa Rican Nationals: 380.000 colones
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Scholarship - Are you signing up for the course and want to help a low-income person attend? Please let us know if you'd like to make a voluntary donation towards our scholarship fund.
One scholarship will be offered to someone who can apply the knowledge immediately and demonstrates financial need. Does this fit your description? Please email us at solyvallecr@gmail.com and inquire about our scholarship application form.
Are you interested in making the most of this community-building experience? We offer a mini-EDE (Ecovillage Design) course for 6 days starting two weeks before the course from February 23-28. The course is based on the four core dimensions of Gaia Education’s Ecovillage Design Curriculum: the Social, Worldview, Ecological and Economic dimensions of sustainability. The Curriculum was developed drawing on experience from a network of some of the most successful ecovillages and transition settings around the world. Full details and registration can be found on Gaia's website. This course can be added for $300 (housing booked separately).​ Please get in touch with us for more information about booking courses together.
Are you interested in making the most of this cultural experience? We offer an optional Spanish course (beginner, intermediate or advanced) with volunteering for 2 weeks starting a month before the course from February 8-22. This will include 40 hours of Spanish classes with one of our professors, led by Anamor (Mon-Fri, 5 days of 4 hours/day), and 20 hours of guided volunteering at Finca Sol y Valle to put permaculture concepts into practice.
Costa Rica and our farm is “Spanish first” since most workers and neighbors only speak Spanish. This option is excellent for people interested in improving their Spanish or living in Costa Rica for the long term. It is only available through our Homestay program since living with a local family is the best way to solidify your knowledge and integrate with the community. The discounted price of this optional 2-week Spanish Immersion course is $1,200 when purchased with the PDC (normal price of $1,360). Only 4 spots are available so be sure to ask us to reserve your spot sooner than later!
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For more information about this class and Finca Sol y Valle, please contact us at solyvalle.com, call us at (+506) 6447-8457, or WhatsApp us at (+506) 6447-8457