-
13/01/2026 at 9:00 am
Event date:
-
27/01/2026 at 5:00 pm
Event end:
-
How to bookClick on the Book Now button.
Full certified 15 day permaculture design course at Routes to Roots, Natural Farms, Sarwaniyabor, Neemuch, Madhya Pradesh, India
From 13th January through to 27th Jan 2026
THE PERMACULTURE DESIGN COURSE
This fully certified course (certified by the Permaculture Association Britain and Roots n Permaculture) will delve deep into how we can use permaculture to create rich beneficial relationships between people, communities and their surroundings, including how to grow food, build houses and create economies, while also enriching and taking care of nature.
Special emphasis will be put in creating a temporary community for the duration of the course, where we use social permaculture tools, especially sociocracy to make sure everyone’s needs are met, so we can all enjoy living together in a joyful, supportive learning environment.
The course will from day one put into practice social permaculture. We will learn sociocracy to create a community and practically explore how we ensure everyone’s needs are met, and how everyone can safely express themselves, without conflict. Having found our inner balance and balance within our newly forged community, we then move into exploring the traditional permaculture syllabus, including environmentally friendly food growing; soil generation; water management; house building; alternate economics and livelihood, etc.
Having explored the theory of permaculture ethics, principles and approach to challenges, we will then move on to in depth design work and practicals (hands-on work), which solidifies the theory.
The emphasis remains on learning the patterns and concepts that are applied in permaculture, so you can apply this to all aspects of your life after the course has finished. Hence the practicals will be a way to reinforce the theory and design work that we cover.
Where and when appropriate we will visit nearby intentional communities and projects that integrate permaculture in their design (subject to consent by the students).
TEACHERS
Lead Instructor: Rakesh Rootsman Rak
An experienced Permaculture designer teacher, forest garden specialist, yoga teacher, homeopath and reggae DJ. Rakesh has been designing and teaching permaculture to individuals and communities since 2009, and has taught over 500 permaculture, forest gardening, eco village design and related courses.
His design portfolio ranges from a forest garden on part of a 30-hectare ecovillage in Croatia that he co-owned through to many urban community food growing gardens, private farms and back gardens as well as designing collaborative businesses, urban water retention systems and even computer software and documentation systems.
Rakesh is also passionate about sharing his journey of self empowerment (learning how to make all the things you need for yourself rather than relying on the system to provide for you), this includes eco architecture (low impact housing); capturing and storing energy (electricity, heat, lighting, etc); fuel efficient heating systems (rocket heaters and stoves); water capture, purification and recycling systems and so on.
He is one of the founders of the Children in Permaculture project which was launched at the international permaculture convergence in this year.
So be prepared to go off on inspirational tangents occasionally.
rootsnpermaculture.com/
DATES
- Tue 13 January Welcome & Collaborative Ways of Working (Sociocracy)
- Wed 14 January Introduction to the World of Permaculture
- Thu 15 January Water Cycles and Plant Relationships
- Fri 16 January Soil Health and Growing with Nature
- Sat 17 January Designing Low-Maintenance Food Systems
- Sun 18 January Rest, Reflection & Optional Visit to Udaipur
- Mon 19 January Permaculture Livelihoods and Local Economies
- Tue 20 January Living Off-Grid: Energy, Water & Waste
- Wed 21 January Designing and Retrofitting Sustainable Buildings
- Thu 22 January Urban Permaculture: Growing in the City
- Fri 23 January Free day (rest or site visits)
- Sat 24 January Groups designs + Emerging Topics Shaped by the Group
- Sun 25 January Groups designs + Emerging Topics Shaped by the Group
- Mon 26 January Sharing and Presenting Design Projects
- Tue 27 January Celebration & Continuing the Permaculture Journey
FOOD, ACCOMMODATION & 16 DAY ACCREDITED* PERMACULTURE DESIGN COURSE TRAINING COSTS
Payment options include all food, accommodation and training for 16 days
The cost for the training is based on gift economy, where participants are invited to contribute what they can afford and are willing to pay.
The cost of putting on the course means we need to raise on average INR 45000.00 per person. However we invite you to propose how much you would like to contribute somewhere in the range of the following:
- Ideal contribution INR 56000 (€530)
- Average contribution INR 45000 (€435)
- Minimum contribution INR 35000 (€340)
We encourage those of you who can contribute more to do so, which should allow us to cover our costs, however if the minimum is outside of your ability to contribute then please let us know of your circumstances so we can see if we can find a way to get you on the course.
PAYMENT METHODS
- Bank Transfer (Euro)
- Bank Transfer (UK)
- Bank Transfer INR
- Pay pal (USD, €, £)
LANGUAGE
All classes will be in English however If there are a number of people who require a translator please let us know and we will work to accommodate this. As part of our community culture we will create a process which ensures if there are words or sentences you do not understand we will address it immediately. Also at the end of each day you wok in a small group to review the day, so if there is something you misunderstood this is your chance to catch up.
To help prepare for the workshop, you are encouraged to use this list of permaculture, forest gardening, sociocracy and plant names that have been translated into many languages
https://tinyurl.com/RnPTransPC
REGISTRATION
To register for this course, please fill in the following form. If you have any difficulty or have any questions please feel free to contact Rakesh
https://tinyurl.com/PDCInd2025
CONTACT
Course and Content, please contact Rakesh:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rootsmanrak
Email: rakeshaji@gmail.com
Venue and travel logistics Sangam:
routestorootsfarms@gmail.com