School Of Permaculture

Many people in the permaculture community have had similar experiences with Nicholas Burtner. Ranging from arrogance and a know-it-all attitude (sadly without knowing it all) to a picture of Jesus on his wall where he teaches that conveniently looks just like him.

I took a short workshop with him and found his information to be very basic and when trying to correct him, he is quick to deflect or dismiss.

He pays no attention to accepting feedback (a permaculture principle) especially from people more experienced from him. He also relentlessly advertises any class that he can by giving paltry information that links to his website.

The director of School of Permaculture is against LGBTQ. He has posted 'pray away the ***' posts on his facebook and has lost me as a follower because of it. I don't care what kind of excuses he makes or that he took down the post now. This is too much! Permaculture is supposed to be free of religious coercion.

He has made jokes about gays being stoned, using bible references.

And speaking of the separation of Permaculture from religious coercion, in his PDC he praises Jesus throughout his lectures and the guy doesn't even believe in outer space. He thinks it's made up. He says nobody can prove outer space exists.

Do what you want, but know that if you are ***, he is not supportive at all.

I was hired by the charismatic cult leader to operate an excavator for his class. He didn't have money to pay when it came down to it (isn't that what they all say?) but he would trade me for some of his edumacational classes.

Fat chance when he won't respond to communication. Interesting lunatic.

Burtner is very misleading concerning his portfolio and actual experience with complete design and installs. He's been cited as claiming to be as well known as people like Darren Doherty and has insinuated that he knows more about Permaculture and regenerative design than Darren. All this while having only a few years experience into the Permaculture scene. He's attempted to design an underground house and has no engineering degree and offered no Civil Engineer approved plans to the hired operator that posted this complaint on one of the Lawton online PDC groups:

"Ok, I have some lessons learned to share from a project I just worked on. I am a heavy equipment operator and got hired on to do the excavation for an underground house.

1. Do not commit yourself to a project without first seeing the design. I assumed that this designer would be ready for me when I and the machine arrived. But there were no stakes in the ground, no design to be seen, and nothing prepared. I should have never gone to the project without first seeing the design. My work on the project is done but I still have not seen a design for the house. My work is some thing I take pride in and I was too ashamed to even take pictures of it. Don't let yourself get into this situation.

2. Never back down from your rate as a designer or skilled worker. I allowed myself to be talked down from my normal rate and system of billing. The idea was that I would have a good learning experience and get into the underground house community. I ended up only getting paid half of what I would have with my normal billing system and all I learned was what no to do when building an underground house.

3. Never accept favors from people you don't know. This designer got me some other work and expected me to give him respect without earning it, just because he had gotten me some work. Well the work turned out to be extremely painful for me and the client. Then when I tried to use my experience as an operator and carpenter he viewed it as undermining his project and that I should respect him because of all he'd done for me. It's better to earn things for yourself and not have to deal with peoples pride.

5. Plan your work, work your plan. Especially when building a house. You must have detailed plans and a strategy that will get you through the project efficiently.

4. This is just advice that will help on any job site. Always be prepared! Have tools on hand and be ready for any situation. Luckily i came prepared to this job site and we were able to get things done. The

In light of more people coming forward about the poor quality of instruction received by Nicholas Burtner, I felt I should share my experiences, too. I came out of my PDC VERY disappointed and wanted to ask for a refund. If the other instructors had not contributed and carried the weight of his lack, I definitely would have.

Lots of name dropping, project claims, and accomplishments were cited but no backing was ever provided. I asked to see his portfolio and was told he was "working" on it. To this day (almost a year later) it is still not available to see. His writing is barely legible and his designs are entirely too conceptual. As evident by this recent review: http://school-of-permaculture.pissedconsumer.com/review-in-tutoring-category-from-wylie-texas-201508****5272.html I think anyone who is a novice or has very basic knowledge could easily be lured in by his charismatic and flamboyant way. That's what is really scary to me. It's predatory behavior.

He is condescending and narcissistic, often cites conspiracies without scientific backing and exaggerates accomplishments; including personal methods and resources. Is NOT a legally listed non-profit. Is not forthright about how he's supposedly transitioned into a permaculture lifestyle. Volunteers have done almost ALL of the work he claims to do. He seeks glory, fame, and credit through the diligence of others. And uses religion as a marketing tool to garner blind support.

Several women in our class came to me with feelings of unease. He was making inappropriate advances and while he had a girlfriend at home. Very open about the fact that he "was" a sex addict and had to "quit *** cold turkey" These kinds of behaviors are ingrained. Also, where do you draw the line with self-disclosure in a professional environment? Is that Christian behavior? Or do we just forgive and forget? I think the lines are blurry there.

There are SO many other things I would like to add but it would take all day. The truth is starting to seep out. I hope people will research the many other options available for permaculture design courses, consultations, and advocacy, in the DFW metropolitan area. This work IS important and is being done with tact and skill in so many places.

i attended a PDC with Nick and was also sexually approached,in the form of touching and innuendo as well as a number of high level disclosures like,"I have a large appetite for food and women"especially those who wear glasses.I wear glasses.He really creeped me out.He also spoke alot about himself and did not respond well to feedback that was not in line with his teaching.I told him in some areas swales where not appropriate,he responds to these types of questions with well"Geoff Lawton"is my mentor so I have it on good authority.He seemed to tell lots of stories based around how good he was,and who he knew and who he worked with.He liked to spend a lot of time brushing his hair and putting make up on so he would look good in the sessions that were video taped,often being quite rude to the person taking the film.The whole experience was terrible,I only stayed 5 of the 12 days.Give it a miss.

Nothing happened except a bunch of fake reviews on this site. Nicholas is probably the most experiences permaculture consultant in the DFW area.

I've spoken to most of them and had several out at my property. He spent 3 hours with me touring the property and providing the most relevant and insightful feedback of all. The time spent with him was well worth the money as I'll avoid thousands of dollars in mistakes that I would have made otherwise. I highly recommend School of Permaculture.

Judge for yourself, go meet Nicholas, spend some time with him and you'll find that these reviews are not credible.

Actually, spend time with all the permaculturists before you hire them for a big project. I recommend you find someone that you enjoy being around and has a similar world view.