Community Corner

Urban Permaculturists Take Gardening, Sustainability to New Level

In late August, the VGI will begin training upwards of a dozen new permaculturists during its third annual Urban Permaculture Design Certification.

Grow more food with less work. 

The Victory Garden Initiative wants to extend the growing season without using extra energy and create abundance in your own backyard and capture the benefits of the sun, wind, and rain for your benefit. 

Permaculture is a design theory that seeks to create a sustainable relationship between humans and the environment. 

Find out what's happening in Shorewoodwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

On Aug. 23 VGI will begin training upwards of a dozen new permaculturists during its third annual Urban Permaculture Design Certification. 

Registration is now open online at VictoryGardenInitiative.org. The course is spread over four three-day weekends, once a month from August through November. 

Find out what's happening in Shorewoodwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Participants learn whole-systems thinking and permaculture design skills that will enable them to design their own permaculture projects and earn the internationally recognized Permaculture Design Certificate at the end of the course.

Recent course graduates have used their certifications to redesign their own yards, bolster their resumes, and design permaculture landscapes for clients.

Focusing specifically on the urban environment, the Urban Permaculture Design Certification (UPDC) course enables students to recognize and address the challenges and advantages of the urban environment. 

For example, while urban lots cannot accommodate large livestock, water-capturing gutters are widely available and can be tapped to store storm water for later use. The UPDC is sweeping in scope, covering everything from edible gardening to green building to renewable energies, all from a local, urban perspective.

Designed by and for Milwaukee-area residents, the Urban Permaculture Design Certification course taps into Milwaukee’s growing sustainability scene by employing local experts as teachers, including lead instructor and local small-businessman Ryan Dale.

Dale formerly served as the Construction/Renewable Energy Manager for Growing Power, a nonprofit organization devoted to urban farming and education. Currently, Dale runs Great Taste LLC, a regenerative farming enterprise that assists organizations with design for, implementation of, and education on sustainable food and energy production.

Victory Garden Initiative’s UPDC also exposes students to local permaculture projects, from private homes to larger scale permaculture installations, such as Victory Garden Initiative’s 1.5 acre community garden in Milwaukee’s Harambee neighborhood and the 6th Street Green Corridor’s edible orchard project. During site visits, students will engage in hands-on learning as part of the course’s 90 hours of instruction.

More information and registration and for the Urban Permaculture Design Certification are available at Victory Garden Initiative’s website at: VictoryGardenInitiative.org/PDC. Space in the course is limited to 20 participants. Registration for the course is on a first-come first-serve basis, although each day of the course is also open to the public for $100 per day. The full course fee is $799 for Victory Garden Initiative members and $999 for non-members.

For more information on the Urban Permaculture Design Certification, visit VictoryGardenInitiative.org/PDC or call 414-431-0888. 


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

More from Shorewood