Welcome to the APG Community!
We are an ever growing community in Central Texas committed to resilience, collaboration, and catalyzing diversity and abundance. We believe that although one person can’t change the world, together We can.
It stands for Permanent Agri(culture). It’s an ideology that can be used as a guide when making major sustainable improvements to all areas of our life including our homes, our communities, or our work situations. This ideology offers human beings a way to harmonize with our environment, symbiotically.
Many people first hear of permaculture in a gardening or farming context. But the terrain of permaculture extends far and wide, to include all other areas of human activity as well. Transportation, energy, building, manufacturing, business and finance, social organizations — you name it.
Another aspect that is not so much at the forefront that we believe is highly potent is social permaculture. We believe that an important element of permaculture is being able to facilitate a safe space where all people, marginalized communities, all genders and orientations feel empowered to restructure existing societal frameworks while regenerating ecosystems.
The Earth is a living, breathing entity. Without ongoing care and nurturing there will be consequences too big to ignore.
If people’s needs are met in compassionate and simple ways, the environment surrounding them will prosper.
Take what we need, share what we don’t, while recognizing that there are limits to how much we can give and how much we can take.
“This course change my life from a very deep place in my soul. It gave me the courage to believe in the Earth’s future and my ability to help.”
“I am inspired to steward the Earth more than ever. Even though I have been organic gardening and bio-dynamic gardening for years, I have never felt closer to Mother Nature.”
“This class equipped me with the confidence to utilize the knowledge and realize I already have a great knowledge base and can do what I’ve set out to do! I’m ready to get busy! It has also made me realize that I have a passion for teaching!”
Taelor Monroe is a mother, permaculture specialist, environmental advocate and health coach. She is deeply passionate about helping others heal their relationships with their bodies, themselves, each other, and the Earth.
Educating people about regenerative permaculture practices and design is Taelor’s personal way of seeding food sovereignty, happy soil, and strong communities for the future.
She initially got into permaculture in 2011 as a response to learning how most food is created in industrial farms using toxic chemicals. Growing our own food helps people come together, share resources, and become independent of (or at least less reliant upon) the system. She began growing her own food and “living the permie dream” in an intentional community she co-created in San Marcos, TX called Sacred Roots.
In the Fall of 2014, Taelor earned her permaculture teacher training certificate from Theron Beaudreau. She started doing publicity for the Austin Permaculture Guild, a business that promotes permaculture design courses. It wasn’t long before Taelor was co-running the guild, which she has been managing ever since.
Taelor also helped initiate Central Texas’ Permablitz events with Kirby Fry in 2013. As lead organizer for three years, she planned the monthly events, organized 100+ volunteers, designed the plans, organized the plants on site, and helped install berms, swales, and food forests at schools, churches, community centers, and individual properties.
For a year and a half, Taelor lived on site at the Whole Life Learning Center, studying under master permaculturist Caroline Riley. Together they co-designed the transformation of the property into the flourishing food forest it is today. Taelor helped double the size of the food forest, managed the 10K gallon rainwater catchment system, took care of the animals, and coordinated all the volunteer events that took place on site during her residency there.
To date, Taelor has helped hundreds of clients with assessments, digital designs, and installs of food forests, veggie gardens, rainwater catchment and more. Her success has her currently looking to expand her crew! They recently completed a full permaculture design for Hamilton Pool Vineyards, adding an impressive one acre organic farm to their expansive vineyards.
As a certified health coach, Taelor naturally uses food, herbs, and intentional practices to further help people with their health. Taelor’s work in the world is generating empowered healthy people, thriving communities, and beautified sustainable spaces in her wake.
When she’s not gardening or cooking nourishing meals, she is likely out dancing at live music shows or spending time with her family. You can contact her directly at
or (214) 448-6428.
Caroline Riley is a Texas native who grew up in the garden and free ranging on the Texas gulf coast with her family. She discovered permaculture design while living in Colorado in 2004 and soon incorporated the ethics and principles into her Montessori classroom as a foundation to learn from nature with youth. She completed her first PDC through Austin Permaculture Guild in 2009. She has since studies with Jude Hobbs, Warren Brush and Geoff Lawton.
Caroline founded One World Permaculture in 2010 with the mission to connect and serve people worldwide through the study and practice of permaculture design ethics and principles. OWP collaborates and inspires to create integrated regenerative community, ecology and economy. This project took her on world travels connecting with communities in need through permaculture design projects and evolved into local design and consultation work in Austin, TX.
In 2011 she and her husband founded the Whole Life Learning Center in Austin, TX which is where she currently focuses her creative efforts. This site is an example of permaculture in action. Over the years as the learning center has grown and matured, so have the permaculture systems in place including animal systems, a beautiful forest garden and farm space, the outdoor living classroom and Mutable Earth Botanicals. Mutable Earth Botanicals is a seed to apothecary herbalism practice and small scale plant nursery offering community and clinical herbalism.
With a passion for experiential learning and creative design, Caroline instructs Permaculture Design Courses through Austin Permaculture Guild and herbalism classes through Sacred Journey School of Herbalism. Her goal is to create a unique learning opportunity for her students from her vast experience.
When not at the learning center Caroline can be found with her husband and two children while enjoying the retreat of her South Austin homestead. Contact Caroline at
caroline.riley.carberry@gmail.com
or 512-217-0661
Holistic Site Design & Install Services:
What are your hopes and dreams that you want to accomplish at your property? Do you work at a business that wants to take a step beyond landscaping and add more truly regenerative elements to their property? Then this is the service for you!
Hire Taelor for an initial consultation to discover and document the strengths, opportunities, weaknesses, and threats to your property. During this walk around the property, your specific wants and needs will unfold. Solutions will then be introduced to holistically solve any problems presented during the consultation. If you also desire an integrative design of the space, together we will map out the perfect homestead, community, and/or education center. We will make sure all essential elements including food, water, energy, and/or shelter are represented.
Service Fees:
Partner with Plants for Every Occasion
This course will walk you through the process of designing and stewarding diverse polyculture gardens growing food, medicine and a thriving garden ecosystem. We are excited to share practical applications of permaculture design including cultivation, making herbal remedies, and fermentation. It includes an introduction to propagation, harvesting, processing, storing techniques and herbal remedy making. You will learn how to cultivate the living soil to grow nutrient rich plants and a thriving garden ecosystem. We will introduce specific plants, their needs and how they weave into the garden ecosystem. We are covering broad strokes on herbal energetics and actions and how they work to support our health and wellbeing.
Participants who create and share a design project will receive a certificate of completion for this course. Each participant gains access to a drive full of resources. All classes are recorded and available for you to watch and rewatch for seasons to come.
REGISTRATION AND TUITION
Cost: $800 – $1200. We provide a sliding scale tuition format. YOU choose the best amount within the range provided that works for your budget. We have found that this format supports accessibility to these offerings.
A $300 deposit is due at registration to reserve your spot in this class. The remainder is due by the first day of class. Click Register Now button above to register.
SCHOLARSHIPS
We offer scholarships for this course for our BIPOC community. These full scholarships require no payment in exchange for taking the course. If you would like to apply for this please submit a letter of intention attached in an email addressed to Caroline Riley at mommacaroline AT gmail DOT com.
CLASS MEETS
Monday & Wednesday afternoons 12-3pm on Zoom
In person sessions 10:30am-3pm in South Austin and South East Austin depending on the date.
*The final in person day is on SUNDAY 4/7*
More in person days on available Fridays during Community Herbalism Days.
SCHEDULE
Session 1. Zoom 3/4/2024
The Permaculture Garden
~Permaculture Ethics and Principles
~The Polyculture Garden
~Community herbalism and garden activism
Session 2. Zoom 3/6/2024
Design Methods for Plant People
~Get oriented with flows and sectors – sun, water, wildlife, people
~Zones of Use
~Create your vision and goal/context for your project
Session 3. Whole Life Learning Center 3/9/24
–Seed to remedy: Sit spot, Plant walk, Harvest, process and dry herbs, Tincture making, Oxymel,Tea
Session 4. Zoom 3/6/2024
The Living Soil
~ no-till, succession, as above so below
~ Small Scale Earthworks to utilize water
~ Growing healthy soil takes time – a soil succession story
~ Composting and medicinal plants through succession of your soil
Session 5. Zoom 3/13/1024
Companion Planting
~ Zone 1 – growing veggies and herbs
~ Mycology in the living soil and for edibles/medicinals
~ Site specific growing conditions for Central Texas and beyond
Session 6. Whole Life Learning Center 3/16/2024
Composting & Propagation – soap making, Home mushroom cultivation, potting soil, seed starting, divisions from the garden, mushroom block to take home
Session 7. Zoom 3/18/2024
Seed To Remedy
~ Herbal tastes, energetics and actions
Session 8. Zoom 3/20/2024
~ Farm to Table, from the garden to the kitchen, fermentation
~ Local resources and simple home solutions
~ Animals in design
Session 9. Cosmos Ranch 3/23/24
Fermentation & Cooking- herbal syrups, pickled radishes, cheese making, sourdough & sauerkraut
Session 10. Zoom 3/25/2024
~ Design Basics – creating an easy functional scale design to get the job done.
~ Scaled designs to help us see the bigger picture and support our budgets and time
~ How to build different types of gardens
~ Earthworks & Ponds
Session 11. Zoom 3/27/2024
~Perennial food forest gardens
~Polyculture to grow edibles and medicinals
Session 12. Cosmos Ranch 3/30/24
-Planting Day – salve making, planting perennial and annual food and medicine plants, a polyculture garden
Session 13. Zoom 4/1/2024
~Propagation stations for small scale needs
~Seeds, seed saving, cuttings, division and grafting
Session 14. Zoom 4/3/2024
~Design shares and celebrations
Session 15. Whole Life Learning Center – Sunday 4/7/24
~ A time to harvest and enjoy the fruits of our labor together – Press tincture, Press Oxymel, enjoy foods and medicines together, Certificate of Completion, Be the Fulcrum ~ Break ground – A Declaration!
A donation to the Austin Permaculture Guild means more outreach in all areas of our organization. We get to host more workshops, have more community building events, sponsor events and other non-profit organizations
Austin Permaculture Guild is a societally supportive platform meaning it is our main goal to help Austin thrive by growing in environmental awareness and action. We do this through our education courses, supporting our local neighbors grow food, and by creating an outlet that connects people to regenerative organizations.
Membership Tiers and Perks included (this is a tax deductible donation):
**These perks are based on a yearly membership commitment. They can be taken away at any point in time if a member decides to cancel their membership before a year’s worth of contributions.***
**All donations made in partnership with Whole Systems Network**
Whole Systems Network: A national nonprofit dedicated to funneling funding to environmental grassroots causes. They do this by hosting events, providing educational trainings, and managing an online resource platform. Our main goal is to help livelihoods thrive within the movement. We are a fiscal sponsor of the Austin Permaculture Guild.
