The Resiliency Institute provides permaculture and re-skilling education to the suburban population. We offer evening and weekend classes, workshops, and certification courses. Classes are taught by knowledgeable and experienced regional instructors with class sizes ranging from 6 -30 attendees. Whether you are a novice or an expert, you will find a class that is right for you.

Most education courses, unless otherwise noted, are taught at the Clow Education Center on The Conservation Foundation McDonald Farm at 10S404 Knoch Knolls Road in Naperville, IL.

PERMACULTURE

The word “permaculture” was coined and popularized in the mid 70′s by David Holmgren, a young Australian ecologist, and his associate / professor, Bill Mollison. It is a contraction of “permanent agriculture” or “permanent culture.” Permaculture is about designing sustainable, restorative ecological human habitats and food production systems. It is a land use and community building movement which strives for the harmonious integration of human dwellings, microclimate, annual and perennial plants, animals, soils, and water into stable, productive communities. The focus is not on these elements themselves, but rather on the relationships created among them by the way we place them in the landscape. This synergy is further enhanced by mimicking patterns found in nature.

CERTIFICATION PROGRAMS

Permaculture Design Certification
The Permaculture Design Certificate course is a training program that utilizes the teachings of Bill Mollison’s Permaculture Design System. The goal is to achieve a basic working understanding in ecologically-based planning, site design and management. This course provides a comprehensive introduction to Permaculture principles, applications and design practices as first set out by Permaculture founder, Bill Mollison. The PDC meets a common international standard as a foundational course for Permaculture practitioners and teachers.

Edible Wild Plants Certification
Dig deeper into Edible Wild Plants through our certificate program taught by Patricia Armstrong. Discover edible wild plants each season to observe the full plant cycle, what part of the plant to harvest and eat when, and which plants to look for in each season. You will learn to identify over 200 species of edible wild plants from handling actual specimens and from seeing them growing in their natural environments. Learn recipes that use wild plants to make tasty food. The Edible Wild Plants certificate Program will be taught both in a classroom and through site visits to various public and private locations to provide a thorough experience of the plants. To earn your certificate, you are required to take all four courses and pass four seasonal exams to demonstrate that you can identify edible (and poisonous) wild plants successfully. These courses will be offered each year, so if you miss one, you can take it the following year.

RESKILLING

Reskilling is learning the skills we need to become self-sufficient and resilient as individuals and communities during a time of economic and climatic change. These skills span the spectrum of land management; food production, preservation and preparation; sustainable living; community building; water management; renewable energy; and ecological building. Classes can be viewed by category or date on our course calendar.