Georgics Certification
Monticello College Campus
The idea of homesteading or farmsteading is gaining popularity in the wake of the global pandemic, supply-chain shortages, violent acts of nature, and growing government debt and social unrest. A small group of early adopters have quit their jobs, purchased a piece of land, pulled a trailer and a tank of water onto that land and begun working to build a new life of independence. We commend them.
But there is a much larger group of people who see the merits of being more independent but are looking for a way to transition into this lifestyle more gradually. If this second group describes you, our Georgics Certification program is the right time and place to gain the knowledge and strategy to begin where you are.

During our new Georgics Certification, you will experience nine days full of classes, discussions, and hands-on experiences in:
- The New Economy
- Soil Regeneration
- Custom Soil Analysis For Samples You Bring to Us
- Create Biochar
- Composting
- Introduction to Alternative Construction
- Introduction to Animal Husbandry Including Slaughtering Chickens
- Intensive Instruction and Hands-on Experience in Full Time Family Food Production
- Intensive Instruction and Hands-on Experience in Market Gardening
- Elements of Biodynamics
- Elements of Permaculture
- Instruction and Hands-on Experience with Natural Beekeeping and Hive Construction

Perhaps the most important take-away from this certification experience are the new friends and the community development that always happens when people come together to address concerns and find solutions. Be sure to bring any musical instrument that you play, jam sessions around the bonfire under our amazing no light-pollution night sky are common here.
Going the extra mile, there will be a colloquium on day five covering the book, Flight From the City by Ralph Borsodi (find it on Amazon). A colloquium is a group discussion around a book we have all read. To get the most out of this experience, read this short book before arriving on campus.
CERTIFICATION SCHEDULE
Day One: Wednesday, June 21
3:00-4:00pm – Arrive and settle in
5:00pm – Light Dinner
6:00-8:00pm – The New Economy lecture: Dr. Shanon Brooks
Day Two: Thursday, June 22
Soil Regeneration I
8:00am – Breakfast
9:00am – 1:00pm – Classroom: William DeMille
1:00pm – Lunch
2:00 – 4:00pm – Classroom: William DeMille
4:00 – 6:00pm – Hands-on: Compost Workshop: MC Students
6:00pm – Dinner
8:30pm – Bonfire and Biochar Demo (fire restrictions allowing): Dr. Brooks

Day Three: Friday, June 23
Soil Regeneration II
(Microscope Soil Analysis of Your Home Garden Soil Sample)
8:00am – Breakfast
9:00am – 1:00pm – Classroom: William DeMille
1:00pm – Lunch
2:00 – 4:00pm – Hands-on: Getting Your Hands Dirty in the Greenhouse/Garden: William DeMille
4:00 – 6:00pm – Hands-on: Animal Husbandry/Goats – Grooming, Deworming, Feeding, Shelter: Dr. Brooks and MC Student
6:00pm – Dinner
7:00pm – Group Discussion: What is Community?
Day Four: Saturday, June 24
Food Production I
8:00am – Breakfast
9:00 – 11:00am – Hands-on: Slaughter and Butchering Chickens and a Goat: William DeMille
11:00am – 1:00pm – Classroom: William DeMille
1:00pm – Lunch
2:00 – 4:30pm – Classroom: William DeMille
4:30 – 6:00pm – Hands-on: Mountain Hike: MC Students
6:00pm – Dinner
9:20pm – Bonfire (fire restrictions allowing)
Day Five: Sunday, June 25
Rest Day
8:00am – Breakfast
1:00pm – Lunch
6:00pm – Dinner
7:00pm – Colloquium: Flight From the City, Ralph Borsodi: Dr. Brooks
Day Six: Monday, June 26
Apiculture
8:00am – Breakfast
9:00 – 11:30am – Introduction to Natural Beekeeping: Dr. Brooks
12:00 – 1:00pm – Hands-on: Hive Inspection: Dr. Brooks
1:00pm – Lunch
2:30pm – 6:00pm – Hands-on: Hive/Frame Construction: Dr. Brooks
6:00pm – Dinner
7:00pm – Group Discussion: High Quality Rural Living
Day Seven: Tuesday, June 27
Elements of Permaculture
8:00am – Breakfast
9:00am – 1:00pm – Classroom: Dr. Brooks
1:00pm – Lunch
2:00 – 5:00pm – Hands-on: Fire Making: MC Students
5:00 – 6:00pm – Hands-on: Plant and Soil Condition Tour: Dr. Brooks
6:00pm – Dinner
9:20pm – Bonfire (fire restrictions allowing)
Day Eight: Wednesday, June 28
Elements of Biodynamics
8:00am – Breakfast
8:30 – 11:00am – Hands-on: Alternative Construction
Methods (Strawbale/Cob/CEB): Dr. Brooks
11:00am – 1:00pm – Classroom: Lloyd Nelson
1:00pm – Lunch
2:00 – 5:00pm – Classroom: Lloyd Nelson
6:00pm – Dinner
7:00pm – Evening Discussion: Bringing Georgics to Your Community
Day Nine: Thursday, June 29
Food Production II
8:00am – Breakfast
9:00am – 1:00pm – Classroom: William DeMille
1:00pm – Lunch
2:00 – 4:00pm – Hands-on: Back in the Soil: William DeMille
6:00pm – Dinner
7:30pm – Debrief
9:20pm – Bonfire (fire restrictions allowing)
Certification Cost:
Per person (18 and over)
Before May 1, 2023: $1,000
After May 1, 2023: $1,300
Per married couple
Before May 1, 2023: $1,500
After May 1, 2023: $2,000
Cost for children
(covers meals only, children may attend all classes for free)
Ages: 0-5 – $0
Ages: 6-9 – $75
Ages: 10-13 – $105
Ages: 14-17 – $165
Parents are strongly encouraged to keep a close eye on their children. While we have never lost a child in 14 years of events on this campus, some kids have wandered away from the main areas of activity which caused a moment of stress for the parents.
For those who want to attend a class or two without worrying about their kids, childcare services will be available on a case by case scenario, let us know and we will connect you with the local providers.
Cost includes RV or camping spots (no sanitation or water/power hookups available), all meals, all instruction, limited restroom/shower facilities.
Limited Space: Because this certification program is designed for lots of hands-on and one-on-one experience with instructors, it is limited to 15 paid participants beyond MC student body.
San Juan County Residents:
San Juan County residents receive a 25% discount for this program, or may attend individual discounted classes. Food production classes on day four and day six are free to San Juan County residents. For special San Juan County pricing and flex-schedule, contact Julia Brooks at (435) 459-9155.
Camping or RV parking on campus is encouraged at no cost
No Pets
No Refunds Allowed After June 1, 2023
Faculty
Denise Devynck
Lloyd Nelson
Shanon Brooks, PhD
William DeMille
What is Georgics?
*For the Western world, the foundation of critical thinking was conceived during a time when farming was king. It was known to the ancients as georgics. Georgics, more commonly known since the 1800s as the philosophy of agrarianism, is a term that describes a culture of independent farming that engenders the qualities of duty, order, frugality, and self-control. These farming-oriented values and ethics are the same ones that create and sustain a liberal arts system of education and a political order in which citizens govern rather than being ruled by the so-called 1%ers.
The word “georgic” or “georgics” is derived from both Latin and Greek, and literally means to work the land or to engage in agricultural efforts. When I say that in the 21st century, people generally think I am suggesting that everyone should engage the profession of farming, but that is not what I am saying. I mean to say that even while a person may be a doctor, a lawyer, a bricklayer, or a salesman; we should all still engage in farming to produce food and creating a rural lifestyle.
Georgics as a concept has a strong 2,700-year history. It begins with Hesiod around 700 BC. The Roman historian Virgil picked up the torch in his poetic writings actually called “The Georgics” in 35 BC. Hilaire Belloc illuminated economic medieval history in his work The Servile State, which outlines the evolution of the term “yeoman” from servant of the king to free landholder and independent farmer from 500 to 1400 AD. Georgics as an Anglo New World concept and practice, started in 1607 with Jamestown as agriculture and georgics became the primary means of livelihood and way of thinking for the American
colonists. By the late 17th century John Locke introduced his georgic concepts of private land ownership with “Two Treatises on Government,” followed by the mid to late 18th century economic theories of the Physiocrats in Europe, which supported the growth and development of agriculture as the true means of national wealth. Early 20th century Austrian philosopher, Rudolf Steiner, the founder of the Waldorf Schools, developed the georgic concept of biodynamics in the 1920s, which was then introduced to American farmers in the 1930s, followed by the georgic concepts of permaculture presented by Bill Mollison in 1978 (chapter four covers both biodynamics and permaculture in depth).
The term georgics was adopted by the early Americans to describe a quality they not only very much admired, but one that they were determined to inculcate into the new American culture and that they were convinced would create a great land of liberty.


