Instructors: Jenny Pell, Christopher Shanks, Michael Judd, Ronaldo Lec and Douglas Bullock

"I went to Ometepe Island in January of 2004 for the project Bona Fide 72-hr Permaculture Design Course. Teachers Doug Bullock, Chris Shanks, Jenny Pell, Scott Godfredson, and of course, Campesino Mike (Judd) provided the group a balance of passion, pragmatism, creativity and vision. Despite the breath-taking views of the island's volcanoes, I managed to concentrate long enough to catch some of the group's enthusiams for sensible, practical, ecological, social and dynamic design. I left the course feeling confident that whatever my life's pursuit, I would be deliberate in it.

I continue to use what I learned in the PC course in the design for my farm in Barrytown, NY, as well as in my master's program in Community Development and Applied Economics at the University of Vermont. The importance of systems analysis and integrated design in all faculties and professions has been further underlined for me at the 7th International Permaculture Convergence in Croatia. Today more than ever we need to be careful and creative with the resources that we have, and Permaculture is one one of the tools that can facilitate this."