Green University® LLC Presents... In collaboration with Broken Ground and Sage Mountain Center
Practical Permaculture: Grow your own Food Intensive Weekend Workshop and Design Practicum Approximately June 2 - 4, 2025 | Sage Mountain Center, Whitehall, Montana
Instructors Include:
Kareen Erbe, Owner Broken Ground
Linda Welsh and Christopher Borton,
Co-Founders Sage Mountain Center
Tom Elpel, Founder and Director of Green University
Transform your land and your life...
A weekend workshop covering cold climate design strategies for gardeners, homesteaders, and those who want a little more self-reliance.
Learn how to design a property that captures water, improves your soil and produces healthy organic food, all while regenerating the land and life around you. Participate in an intensive weekend of class sessions, tours, and a design practicum to get all the tools you need to start growing in the spring!
Permaculture stands for permanent agriculture or permanent culture and is a design approach for sustainable living and land use, rooted in the observation of natural systems. If you want to be more self-reliant, grow your own food, and create a sustainable future for yourself and your family then join us!
The course takes place at Sage Mountain Center, an off-grid, sustainable learning center in the Montana wilderness, near Whitehall. Illustrating straw bale and cordwood construction, passive solar design, high altitude gardening, and wind and solar energy, the center is an ideal location for our Practical Permaculture Course.
This design practicum is intended to give participants an introduction to permaculture concepts while engaging them in the actual design process.
Cost: $450 (includes food and lodging at Sage Mountain Center)
Or $375 (Includes food and camping at Sage Mountain Center)
Space is limited so please register soon through Broken Ground!
And scroll down this page for a bonus event...
We fed hay to Green University's flock of sheep in the corral at River Camp over the winter and early spring to build up soil nutrition as well as to graze and smother existing weeds and grasses. Students in the 2022 Practical Permaculture class created a permaculture plan to convert the corral to a garden, and the plans were implemented immediately afterwards during the Applied Permaculture session. In four days, participants built four wooden planter beds and a greenhouse, started a cob chickenhouse, and planted fruit trees. The exterior walls of the tire palace, shown above, were stuccoed with cement later in the summer.
Bonus!
Applied Permaculture: Hands-on Implementation
Bonus to the Practical Permaculture Intensive Approximately June 5 - 7, 2025 | Pony, Montana with Thomas J. Elpel and Linda Welsh
From theory to practice...
Participants in the Practical Permaculture weekend intensive are cordially invited to transition from Sage Mountain Center to Tom Elpel's homestead in Pony for a three-day hands-on experience implementing permaculture principles related to the class.
Last year's students created a permaculture plan for Green University's River Camp campus, including a garden plan that was implemented immediately afterwards in the Applied Permaculture class. Partipants built several raised garden beds, constructed a greenhouse, enriched the soil, planted trees, and began construction of a pallet-cob chickenhouse, which was finished later in the summer.
This year's design project will include a deep dive into the Elpel Homestead to examine previous permaculture projects, including the newly created pond project, while creating a next-generation landscaping, water retention, planting, and livestock plan to fully pimp out the homestead.
This Applied Permaculture experience is intended to give participants the opportunity to physically integrate lessons learned during the weekend class. This year's session will include three days of hands-on homestead experience, including:
June 5: Water Projects
Water harvesting and management is key to successful permaculture in the West. This year we will install a new rainwater harvesting system, upgrade an existing one, prepare irrigation lines for summer, and fine-tune the permaculture pond with a larger, slightly higher overflow pipe.
June 6: Rainwater Garden
With a newly built rainwater collection system, we will create a postage stamp rainwater garden featuring aspens, elderberries, currants, honey berries, and more. We will prepare the soil, sheet mulch with cardboard and wood chips, and create a garden path. We will enhance the sunniest portion of the garden with a bee-butterfly-hummingbird flower sanctuary. Learn skills that will apply to any backyard garden space.
June 7: Dry-Stack Stone Retaining Walls
The final day of class includes hands-on experience with dry-stack stone masonry to finish a portion of a retaining wall along the driveway. Learn how to choose, place, shim, and backfill rocks to turn free materials into a beautiful and functional retaining wall with wildflower garden potential.
Cost: No charge for Practical Permaculture students.
Please come self-contained for camping with a tent, van, or camper.
Please bring your own breakfast and lunch.
Linda and Tom will provide dinner each night.
Come join the party!
If you are interested in participating in this Applied Permaculture hands-on experience, please get in touch with Tom Elpel at: thomasjelpel@gmail.com
Green University® LLC Trademark
This year's design project will include a deep dive into the Elpel Homestead to examine previous permaculture projects, including the newly created pond project, while creating a next-generation landscaping, water retention, planting, and livestock plan to fully pimp out the homestead.
June 6: Rainwater Garden
