I'm currently co-leading - with Tracy Matfin of La'akea Community - a PDC produced and hosted by Kalani retreat center on Hawai'i Island. Kalani recently initiated a commitment to permaculture by creating the position of Permaculture Manager, and hiring Scott Laaback to fill that role. Scott has a small team working with him, and all of them are students in the PDC. Scott is serving as an assistant instructor. In addition, over 3/4 of the students in the PDC are Kalani staff, managers, or volunteers, and represent all but a few of Kalani's operational departments.

Systems already in place at Kalani include kitchen organics composting and/or cycling through animal systems, on-site nursery, worm bin systems, and demonstration/trial gardens, slow but steady increase in plantings of edible landscaping and multi-function polycultures, and supply of some kitchen foods from on-site gardens.

PDC design teams are working on kitchen outflow system improvements, overall site water management, bee-centric education and production facilities, food forest/polyculture conservation and enhancement in the camping area, and increasing the capacity and integration of a kitchen garden.

Permaculture design and implementation at Kalani is bound to increase as the course graduates apply and spread their new learning throughout the organization.