Teaching Team ~ Permaculture Design Certification Course
The Instructors of this course are a wonderful combination of practicing professional permaculture designers and educators from leading permaculture design groups in the Northeastern USA.
Kay Aihla McGrenaghan Cafasso, Instructor
Your Lead Course Instructor is Kay Aihla McGrengahan Cafasso, Permaculture Designer and Director of Sowing Solutions. Kay is a certified permaculture designer practicing the thoughtful design of ecological landscapes. She is also a certified design course instructor who has led over 20 Permaculture Design Certification Courses (PDC’s) to date, and has certified over 500 graduates, while consciously designing and creating supportive learning environments. After documenting ecological design applications in homes and landscapes in arid, temperate and tropical climates worldwide, Kay founded Sowing Solutions Permaculture Design & Education in Western MA, offering ecological garden design and permaculture site planning and consultation services for homeowners and land stewards. She has taught PDC's alongside Geoff Lawton of the Permaculture Research Institute based out of Australia; Kay has taught PDC's in Hawaii with Living Mandala, as well as in the Hudson Valley of New York for the Omega Institute, in the Finger Lakes region of NY for the Finger Lakes Permaculture Institute, and in Massachusetts for Living Routes Study Abroad in EcoVillages. She has inspired the inclusion of permaculture training at educational centers such as Omega Institute and at Greenfield Community College. Kay has worked as teaching staff for Permaculture Teacher Training Courses to guide others in 'Teaching Permaculture Creatively' along with Dave Jacke of Dynamics Ecological Design and Jono Neiger of Regenerative Design Group. Kay has natural building experience, with certificates in Solar Home Design and Natural Building Construction, and has many years of professional experience specializing in earth plasters and natural finishes for straw bale and other natural buildings in the southwestern and northeastern US, as well as in Europe. The educational design approach of this course carries a focus on whole person learning, supportive to all kinds of learners (auditory, visual, kinaesthetic) and weaves in many opportunities for student participation, so that each person can take an active and effective role in their learning. Her teaching style is one that is grounded in the permaculture principles and whole systems thinking. Kay's interests are also in contemplative studies, healing through mindfulness and somatic presence practices, and she is often exploring the bridges between meditation and gardening. She has a passion for creating contemplative and healing outdoor spaces. Kay practices what she teaches: thoughtful and wholistic design of landscapes, agriculture, dwellings, communities, and learning environments.
- Director of Sowing Solutions Permaculture Design & Education
- Permaculture Design Certification, Naropa University
- Permaculture Instruction Certification, Dynamics Ecological Design
- Bachelor of Science, Environmental Geosciences, Boston College
- Natural Building and Solar Home Design Certification, Solar Energy International
Your Lead Course Instructor is Kay Aihla McGrengahan Cafasso, Permaculture Designer and Director of Sowing Solutions. Kay is a certified permaculture designer practicing the thoughtful design of ecological landscapes. She is also a certified design course instructor who has led over 20 Permaculture Design Certification Courses (PDC’s) to date, and has certified over 500 graduates, while consciously designing and creating supportive learning environments. After documenting ecological design applications in homes and landscapes in arid, temperate and tropical climates worldwide, Kay founded Sowing Solutions Permaculture Design & Education in Western MA, offering ecological garden design and permaculture site planning and consultation services for homeowners and land stewards. She has taught PDC's alongside Geoff Lawton of the Permaculture Research Institute based out of Australia; Kay has taught PDC's in Hawaii with Living Mandala, as well as in the Hudson Valley of New York for the Omega Institute, in the Finger Lakes region of NY for the Finger Lakes Permaculture Institute, and in Massachusetts for Living Routes Study Abroad in EcoVillages. She has inspired the inclusion of permaculture training at educational centers such as Omega Institute and at Greenfield Community College. Kay has worked as teaching staff for Permaculture Teacher Training Courses to guide others in 'Teaching Permaculture Creatively' along with Dave Jacke of Dynamics Ecological Design and Jono Neiger of Regenerative Design Group. Kay has natural building experience, with certificates in Solar Home Design and Natural Building Construction, and has many years of professional experience specializing in earth plasters and natural finishes for straw bale and other natural buildings in the southwestern and northeastern US, as well as in Europe. The educational design approach of this course carries a focus on whole person learning, supportive to all kinds of learners (auditory, visual, kinaesthetic) and weaves in many opportunities for student participation, so that each person can take an active and effective role in their learning. Her teaching style is one that is grounded in the permaculture principles and whole systems thinking. Kay's interests are also in contemplative studies, healing through mindfulness and somatic presence practices, and she is often exploring the bridges between meditation and gardening. She has a passion for creating contemplative and healing outdoor spaces. Kay practices what she teaches: thoughtful and wholistic design of landscapes, agriculture, dwellings, communities, and learning environments.
Keith Zaltzberg, Instructor
Keith combines his professional training in environmental and Permaculture design with the hands-on experience of a farmer, homesteader, and builder to help communities and individuals create new, symbiotic relationships with their homes and place. Since 2002, he has dedicated his deep interest in applied ecology to exploring patterns in landscape use that can both rebuild ecosystem resilience and meet people’s needs today. An avid teacher and skilled designer, Keith has worked with diverse groups from Latino farmers creating an urban farm to Smith College students engaged in a neighborhood wide infrastructure redesign. At the Conway School of Landscape Design, he teaches Master’s candidates to apply digital tools such as GIS, CAD, and graphic design software to environmental design. Keith is a certified Permaculture Designer, holds a B.S. in Environmental Design from the Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning at UMass-Amherst, and is a founding partner of the Regenerative Design Group, a leading ecological design firm.
- Founding Partner at Regenerative Design Group, an Ecological Landscape Design and Site Planning Firm
- Faculty Member at Conway School of Landscape Design
- Certified Permaculture Designer and Instructor
- B.S., Environmental Design, UMass Amherst
Keith combines his professional training in environmental and Permaculture design with the hands-on experience of a farmer, homesteader, and builder to help communities and individuals create new, symbiotic relationships with their homes and place. Since 2002, he has dedicated his deep interest in applied ecology to exploring patterns in landscape use that can both rebuild ecosystem resilience and meet people’s needs today. An avid teacher and skilled designer, Keith has worked with diverse groups from Latino farmers creating an urban farm to Smith College students engaged in a neighborhood wide infrastructure redesign. At the Conway School of Landscape Design, he teaches Master’s candidates to apply digital tools such as GIS, CAD, and graphic design software to environmental design. Keith is a certified Permaculture Designer, holds a B.S. in Environmental Design from the Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning at UMass-Amherst, and is a founding partner of the Regenerative Design Group, a leading ecological design firm.
Llani Davidson, Instructor
Llani is passionate about growing her own food and teaching people how to feed themselves.. Her experience is built upon years of living and working on small organic farms, including Hawthorne Valley Farm, where she practiced and taught small-scale vegetable production, as well as at SIrius Community where she is one of the lead growers for the local CSA, and numerous agricultural sites in South America. Increasingly passionate about home-scale food production, Llani studied permaculture and became a certified permaculture teacher in 2010, studying under Dave Jacke of Dynamics Ecological Design. She co-founded a business called Broadfork Permaculture, structured as a cooperative model, that works with clients, installing edible forest gardens and perennial landscapes. Llani has much wisdom to share about life in intentional communities, having spent her childhood years living at a well known ecovillage, as well as much of her adult life coordinating and managing the food systems for residents and neighbors of the community.
Llani is passionate about growing her own food and teaching people how to feed themselves.. Her experience is built upon years of living and working on small organic farms, including Hawthorne Valley Farm, where she practiced and taught small-scale vegetable production, as well as at SIrius Community where she is one of the lead growers for the local CSA, and numerous agricultural sites in South America. Increasingly passionate about home-scale food production, Llani studied permaculture and became a certified permaculture teacher in 2010, studying under Dave Jacke of Dynamics Ecological Design. She co-founded a business called Broadfork Permaculture, structured as a cooperative model, that works with clients, installing edible forest gardens and perennial landscapes. Llani has much wisdom to share about life in intentional communities, having spent her childhood years living at a well known ecovillage, as well as much of her adult life coordinating and managing the food systems for residents and neighbors of the community.
Dave Dion, Instructor
Smith College Botanic Garden, Lead Arborist and Gardener
Dion Tree, Landscape and Tree Care
Dave is a head gardener and assistant to the lead Arborist at the Botanic Garden at Smith College in Northampton, MA. Dave has years of experience owning and operating a landscape and tree care business, as well as teaching horticulture at a vocational school. An experienced homesteader and farmer, Dave brings direct training to students of this PDC.
Smith College Botanic Garden, Lead Arborist and Gardener
Dion Tree, Landscape and Tree Care
Dave is a head gardener and assistant to the lead Arborist at the Botanic Garden at Smith College in Northampton, MA. Dave has years of experience owning and operating a landscape and tree care business, as well as teaching horticulture at a vocational school. An experienced homesteader and farmer, Dave brings direct training to students of this PDC.
Guest Instructors:
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Jesse is a passionate propagator, forager, and applied ecologist. He cofounded yellow bird farm and Vermont tree nut processors to accelerate the perennialization of our food systems. Though he remains an ardent mycrole, his company Fungal Forest, a low tech gourmet mushroom farm, is now being phased out after three years of lucrative cultivation. The deficit of high-quality plant material combined with the ecological and financially transformative reality of incorporating improved crop bearing trees into our agricultural systems has driven Jesse to co-found Yellowbud Farm and Vermont Tree Nut Processors. While Yellowbud farm provides the plants to fuel the tree based agricultural revolution, Vermont Tree Nut Processors fills the niche of creating marketable products out of these raw foods.
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Walker Korby, Guest Instructor
Inspired by the likes of Henry Thoreau, Walt Whitman, then Tom Brown Jr., Walker Korby realised that he had found his people we he discovered Wilderness Awareness School doing programs at his high school in New Jersey, USA in the mid nineties. He got involved through illustrating for the school and for the Kamana Naturalist Training program, and after college followed them out to Washington state to became the first Outreach Coordinator. He came back to the East Coast where he still resides, in Massachusetts, to teach children’s nature connection programs at several schools. Walker was also an Adult Expeditions Instructor for Wilderness Awareness School for their wolf tracking programs, and has been staffing the Art of Mentoring in the USA on and off since it’s inception. Most recently Walker has been coordinating the Teen Rendezvous at the Art of Mentoring in Vermont. His passion for peacemaking inspired by Chief Jake Swamp, a Mohawk peacemaker, has been fueled by his work in the Mankind Project and training in mediation. Walker brings with him the unique perspective of being immersed in the Art of Mentoring teachings for half of his life as well as his ability to integrate them into his own community.
Inspired by the likes of Henry Thoreau, Walt Whitman, then Tom Brown Jr., Walker Korby realised that he had found his people we he discovered Wilderness Awareness School doing programs at his high school in New Jersey, USA in the mid nineties. He got involved through illustrating for the school and for the Kamana Naturalist Training program, and after college followed them out to Washington state to became the first Outreach Coordinator. He came back to the East Coast where he still resides, in Massachusetts, to teach children’s nature connection programs at several schools. Walker was also an Adult Expeditions Instructor for Wilderness Awareness School for their wolf tracking programs, and has been staffing the Art of Mentoring in the USA on and off since it’s inception. Most recently Walker has been coordinating the Teen Rendezvous at the Art of Mentoring in Vermont. His passion for peacemaking inspired by Chief Jake Swamp, a Mohawk peacemaker, has been fueled by his work in the Mankind Project and training in mediation. Walker brings with him the unique perspective of being immersed in the Art of Mentoring teachings for half of his life as well as his ability to integrate them into his own community.
Connor Stedman, Affiliated Guest Instructor
- Executive Director, Vermont Wilderness School
- M.S. Natural Resources from University of Vermont
- Permaculture Design Certification, Dynamics Ecological Design & Regenerative Design Institute
Previous, Stellar Guest Instructors Have Included:
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Ghadi Tayeh, Guest Instructor
Ghadi Tayeh, Founder and CEO of Topo-Terra Regenerative Design, LLC is driven by a calling to inspire connection and renewal of the natural world. His work as a Permaculture Designer, Environmental Engineer in Training, and Savory Holistic Management Champion is internationally recognized. With a M.Sc. in Environmental Engineering and Graduate Certificate in Sustainable Environmental Planning and Management, he wields his dual passion for art and science in service and in gratitude to the natural world. His ardor for place-based design is reflected by his status as a LEED Green Associate. Ghadi has extensive leadership and team-based experience, specializing in soil and aquatic chemistry, petroleum forensic analysis, organic farming, site assessment and environmental remediation with a deep interest in humanitarian engineering, sustainable agriculture and rural development. To date, he has worked to improve how communities in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Washington, Costa Rica, Nepal, Ecuador and Saudi Arabia function with their natural environment. |
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Meghan McAuliffe, Affiliated Guest Instructor
During her undergraduate studies in Environmental Sustainability, Meghan focused on food systems and design which led her to completing a permaculture design certification at Sirius EcoVillage, where she now resides. Her connection to yoga grew from her studies in sustainability and permaculture, during which she realized that global problems are just as much cultural as ecological. She received her yoga teacher training certificate from Dhyana Yoga, Philadelphia, and teaches both vinyasa and yin yoga. Through the modalities of permaculture design, herbalism, ayurveda, and yoga she synthesizes principles of ecology with focus on the “inner landscape”, seeing it as a leverage point for not only vibrant health, but outer-system change. Meghan is currently working toward a MA in Contemplative Education from Naropa University, believing that the way we educate about sustainability should reflect the principles of ecology that we teach– in the environment, body, and mind.
- BS Environmental Sustainability, Philadelphia University
- MA Contemplative Education, Naropa University
- Permaculture Design Certification, Sowing Solutions
- Yoga Teacher Training Certification (200 hr.), Dhyana Yoga, Philadelphia
During her undergraduate studies in Environmental Sustainability, Meghan focused on food systems and design which led her to completing a permaculture design certification at Sirius EcoVillage, where she now resides. Her connection to yoga grew from her studies in sustainability and permaculture, during which she realized that global problems are just as much cultural as ecological. She received her yoga teacher training certificate from Dhyana Yoga, Philadelphia, and teaches both vinyasa and yin yoga. Through the modalities of permaculture design, herbalism, ayurveda, and yoga she synthesizes principles of ecology with focus on the “inner landscape”, seeing it as a leverage point for not only vibrant health, but outer-system change. Meghan is currently working toward a MA in Contemplative Education from Naropa University, believing that the way we educate about sustainability should reflect the principles of ecology that we teach– in the environment, body, and mind.
Ryan Harb, LEED AP, Affiliated Guest Instructor
Ryan Harb, MS, LEED AP is a certified permaculture designer and instructor, sustainable business consultant, expert marketing strategist, and founder of Beyond Sustainability Consulting. He received his BBA in Business Management and was the first person in the nation to receive an M.S. in Green Building. In 2010, Harb became the first Sustainability Manager for UMass Amherst Auxiliary Enterprises. His main accomplishment was developing one of the first public university permaculture gardens in the nation that supplies locally grown produce and hands-on sustainability education to the UMass campus and local community. In just a few months, UMass Permaculture went viral and became a premier sustainability program within higher education In 2012, Harb was named a "White House Campus Champion of Change" and was invited to the White House to meet and speak alongside President Barack Obama. His program was named the top university program in the country that's changing the world for the better. Harb has spoken internationally about sustainable businesses and regenerating underused or abused landscapes into edible, educational, and highly productive ecosystems. He specializes in developing 'beyond sustainability' demonstration projects for institutions that are committed to environmental, social, economic and cultural change.
- White House Award Winner, UMass Permaculture Initiative
- M.S. Green Building, University of Massachusetts Amherst
- B.B.A., Business Management, University of Massachusetts Amherst
- Permaculture Design Certification, Regenerative Design Group
- Permaculture Instructor Certification, Dynamics Ecological Design
Ryan Harb, MS, LEED AP is a certified permaculture designer and instructor, sustainable business consultant, expert marketing strategist, and founder of Beyond Sustainability Consulting. He received his BBA in Business Management and was the first person in the nation to receive an M.S. in Green Building. In 2010, Harb became the first Sustainability Manager for UMass Amherst Auxiliary Enterprises. His main accomplishment was developing one of the first public university permaculture gardens in the nation that supplies locally grown produce and hands-on sustainability education to the UMass campus and local community. In just a few months, UMass Permaculture went viral and became a premier sustainability program within higher education In 2012, Harb was named a "White House Campus Champion of Change" and was invited to the White House to meet and speak alongside President Barack Obama. His program was named the top university program in the country that's changing the world for the better. Harb has spoken internationally about sustainable businesses and regenerating underused or abused landscapes into edible, educational, and highly productive ecosystems. He specializes in developing 'beyond sustainability' demonstration projects for institutions that are committed to environmental, social, economic and cultural change.