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.
Photo Credit: Black Permaculture Network
We, the members of the undersigned permaculture groups and organizations, wish to publicly state our support for the BlackLivesMatter movement and the ongoing fight to end all police violence against communities of color. Permaculture is a system of regenerative ecological design rooted in indigenous knowledge and wisdom. Its three core ethics, care for the earth, care for the people, care for the future lead us to call for accountability for police who currently target, harass and murder people in communities of color, and especially the black community, with impunity. We cannot care for the people unless we assure justice for all people and assert the value of every person’s life.
Permaculture also teaches us to look at patterns, and we see a recurring pattern of devaluing and dehumanizing people of color that extends back through the centuries, including the histories of enslavement, the genocide of indigenous peoples, segregation, exploitation and much more. We cannot build a vibrant future unless we acknowledge this painful past and recognize that its legacy continues today.
We see this current system is designed to benefit certain people at the expense of others and is part of the concentration of wealth and power in the hands of a few. Out of this comes an opportunity to redesign a truly restorative way of dealing with injustice, conflicts, competing needs, and past wounds.
At this time of grave environmental crisis, we recognize that the divisive impact of all forms of discrimination and prejudice hamper every effort to shift the path of our society off of the road to ruin and onto the path of regeneration. Our economic, political and social systems can only find ecological balance when they are founded upon justice. One of the core permaculture principles is that diversity creates resilience. We are committed to envision, design and create a world in which we affirm and celebrate human diversity, where we can learn from one another’s perspectives and support one another’s struggles. We are proud to lend our support to all those who work to make that vision real.
Pandora Thomas, Black Permaculture Network
Starhawk, Earth Activist Training
Gardens at Austin Permaculture Guild

So, what is permaculture?

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. 

Permaculture Ethics

Earth Care

The Earth is a living, breathing entity. Without ongoing care and nurturing there will be consequences too big to ignore.

People Care

If people’s needs are met in compassionate and simple ways, the environment surrounding them will prosper.

Return Surplus

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.

WHAT OUR STUDENTS ARE SAYING

Tabitha Tatterbach
PDC Student

“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.”

Victoria Schwartz
PDC Student

“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.”

Eric Huggins
PDC Student

 “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!”​

Meet Our Team

Taelor Monroe
OWNER, CO-DIRECTOR

Taelor is a wildling at heart. She is deeply passionate about healing our earth, our bodies, and our relationships with ourselves and one another. She revels in growing healthy soils, healthy bodies, and delicious home cooked meals.

She studied under Caroline Riley, at the Whole Life Learning Center from 2014-2015, where she worked to transform the space into a full functioning permaculture design. She received her permaculture teacher training certificate from Theron Beaudreau in the Fall of 2014. She helped the Permablitz events get started in Central Texas, with Kirby Fry from 2013-2016.

She previously helped start a Permaculture centered intentional community titled Sacred Roots in San Marcos, TX in 2011. She has studied Permaculture design under Theron Beaudreau, Kirby Fry, Caroline Riley and Dick Pierce. Her main focus and drive is to create community and educate others about regenerative permaculture design and practice. Her home base is in a tiny house on 4.5 acres in the Hill Country.  

When she’s not gardening or cooking, she is out dancing at local music shows around Central Texas or spending time with her family. Contact her at taelor@austinperm.com, 214-448-6428

Caroline Riley Carberry
CO-DIRECTOR

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, 512-217-0661

Book Here

Holistic Permaculture Site Design

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.

SPECIFIC POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS FOR YOUR SPACE:
  • Companion Planted Vegetable Garden Beds
  • Poly-culture Orchard/Food Forest
  • Ponds
  • Berms & Swales
  • Water Catchment
  • Irrigation
  • Holistic Building Assessment/Design
  • Grey Water
  • Composting Toilet/Humanure
  • Erosion Control
  • Holistic Soil Management

Service Fees:

  • Initial Design Consultation: $100/hr including drive time
  • Permaculture Site Design: $50/hr
To set up your initial consultation, click the link below. Or, email taelor@austinperm.com or call 214-448-6428.
Book Design Consultation Here

Installs by APG

All Backyard Food Forest Prairie Lea Mandala Food Forest Backyard Make-over Hamilton Pool Vineyard & Farms Crestvale Edible Landscaping

Learn with Us!

The Medicine Garden

How to Design and Steward a Food Forest

The Medicine Garden aka Food Forest
Are you ready to cultivate medicinal plants for yourself and community? Are you looking to utilize Permaculture design methods to create resilient thriving gardens? Come learn from Caroline’s experience creating and stewarding our 10 year old forest garden. The heart of our community, our forest garden is full of medicine and food plants that support the health and wellness of our community. It is truly a Food and Medicine Forest – a thriving forest garden ecosystem in suburban South Austin. Since 2011 this garden has grown alongside our community.
 
This course will walk you through the process of starting and tending a forest garden with a focus on medicinal plants. It includes cultivating soil and plants and working with the flows of nature and human systems. I will introduce specific plants, their needs, how they work within the garden ecosystem and broad strokes on their herbal actions and how they work to support our health and wellbeing. Plus follow up activities between classes to help move you along your personal design process.
Beginners welcome! Watch our segment on Central Texas Gardener to see what we are up to around here.
 

THE MEDICINE GARDEN COURSE LOGISTICS

Cost : Sliding Scale – $300 – $450. You pay the base of $250 as a deposit. Pay more if feel it.
 
Schedule: Tuesday – Thursday evenings 6 – 7:30pm on Zoom
October 3rd – October 26th
 
Bonus In Person Day – Saturday November 5th 10 – 12:30 pm 
In person hang time – seed swap plus plants from our medicine garden and plant remedy spritzers from our medicine garden! Garden Party!
 
More in person time: Weekly volunteer days at the new Mutable Earth/Cultivate location begin this Fall.
 
Class 1:  Monday, October 3rd ~ 6-7:30 pm zoom
The Medicine Garden Ecosystem
~What is a medicine garden and how is it different from an annual edible garden.
~Community herbalism and garden activism
~Introductions
 
Class 2:  Wednesday, October 5th ~ 6-7:30pm zoom
Flows and the art of Observation
~Get oriented with the natural flows – sun, water, wildlife, people
~Create your own goal/context for your medicine forest garden
 
Class 3: October 10th ~ 6-7:30pm zoom
Soil and Water 
~ Growing the Living Soil – no-till, succession, as above so below
~ Small Scale Earthworks to utilize water
 
Class 4: October 12th ~ 6-7:30pm zoom
The Plants
~ Plants for the soil – medicinals to grow healthy soil
~ Utilizing medicinal cover crops
~ Growing healthy soil takes time – a soil succession story
~ Working with the seasons to utilize the rain when it comes
 
Class 5: October 17th ~ 6-7:30pm zoom
Methods of Design
~ 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
 
Class 6: October 19th ~ 6-7:30pm zoom
Through the Seasons
~Plants and succession through the seasons and years – working with perennials and annuals
~Plants for pollinators – Blooms for every season
 
Class 7: October 24th ~ 6-7:30pm zoom
Propagate
~Propagation stations for small scale needs
~Seeds, cuttings, division and a bit on grafting
 
Class 8: October 26th ~ 6-7:30pm zoom
Group Share & Connect
~Design shares and celebrations
~Be the Fulcrum – Break ground – A Declaration!
 
Bonus In Person Day – Saturday November 5th 10 – 12:30 pm 
In person hang time – seed swap plus plants from our medicine garden and plant remedy spritzers from our medicine garden! Garden Party!
 
More in person time: Weekly volunteer days at the new Mutable Earth/Cultivate location begin in October!
Caroline with a harvest from food forest

REGISTRATION INFORMATION

Cost : Sliding Scale – $300 – $450 You pay the base of $250 as a deposit. $50 – $200 paid by the 2nd week of class. Please reach out if $ is what is in the way of you registering for this offering. 

To register, click here.

SCHOLARSHIPS

We offer reparation scholarships for this workshop for our BIPOC community. These full ride 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. 

Scholarship Deadline: September 1st.  Responses will be given one week after the deadline.

Fall Companion Planting Workshop

October 10th & 12th, 2022

Companion planted perennial forest garden designed and installed by APG, note use of alliums along all of the edges!

This October 10th & 12th join us in planning out your Fall garden! Austin Permaculture Guild’s Co-Director Taelor Monroe will be teaching an in-depth workshop on how to companion plant and design out your fall garden.

Have you been getting really excited about planting a garden for yourself but don’t know where to start? Do you want to make your current garden more sustainable? Do you want to keep those pesky pests away without using chemicals? Then this is the workshop for you!

The practice of companion planting uses the selection of specific plants organized in such a way that they are in symbiotic relationship with one another. Instead of planting the same plant over and over again in rows, which attract pests and reduces the nutrient density of the growing vegetable, a polyculture of intermixed plant types is planted. This style of planting not only reduces pests but also provides beneficial support plants that increase the strength and nutrient density of the plants in your garden. For instance, legumes are planted to provide nitrogen to the surrounding plants and alliums are planted on the outside of each bed to deter pests and weeds from coming in.

In integrated pest management, specific plants are selected to deter pests from entering your garden. Often times the best plants are very aromatic plants with strong smells to confuse pests. Within these companion planted systems, the plants are stronger than in mono-cropped gardens increasing their integral pest deterrents. Weak plants attract pests.

Companion planting using cosmos for pollination of the cucumbers, picture from Hamilton Pool Vineyards, designed by APG

This workshop will be a two part event, going deep into details of companion planting, plant selection, plant placement, integrated pest management, how to prevent weeds, feeding the biology in the soil, maintenance, on Wednesday evening and how to build a garden bed on Saturday morning. I’ve found that putting it in chunks, instead of a whole day long event, allows the information to have time to sink in, so that you have more brain power for each section. 

The soil and microbial life at the plants’ roots also determine the health of each plant. If you have healthy soil biology, then you will also deter blights, harmful pathogens, and fungal infections growing on your plants. Even a home gardener can spend a terrible amount of time and money trying to kill off these pathogens and pests to keep their plants alive. A better practice is one that is preventative, less time consuming, and free!

Come out to this dynamic, holistic garden management design workshop, to build a better fall garden! There will be a focus on the design of Fall Companion Planting but these methods can be applied to any season.

 
Companion Planting Class 2020 planting out the garden!

SCHEDULE:

October 10th, 2022

6:30-8:30pm: Classroom Instruction on Companion Planting & Plant Families, Plant Selection, Plant Placement, Integrated Pest Management, Preventing Weeds, Soil Biology

October 12th 2022

6:30-8:30pm: Outdoor Hands-on Planting of a Companion Planted Garden Bed

Classroom instruction and hands-on planting will take place outside. 

COST: $85

Click the PayPal Button below to pay your tuition and Register

LOCATION:

The Austin Permaculture Guild, 10801 Old San Antonio Rd, Austin, TX 78747

Advanced Digital Permaculture Design Class

Project Eden
Estes

If you want to become a professional in the permaculture design and install world, this is the class for you. Learn how to use Adobe Illustrator to create detailed, professional, digital permaculture design maps. You will also learn how to create your own permaculture landscaping business, and specific methods of permaculture design, assessment, and application. 

Course Start Date: October 7th, 2022

Format: Fridays, 10am-12pm & 1pm-4pm; 1/2 of the lessons on Zoom, 1/2 of the lessons in Person

Location: New Cultivate Nursery Location (South Austin, Next door to Whole Life Learning Center)

Cost: Sliding Scale $600-$1,100

From Assessment to Install

We take you through every stage of the permaculture process

During this design workshop, we will lead you through the phases from assessment of the site, what the opportunities and weaknesses of that particular property are, how to address and use these weaknesses as resources, which design elements to implement, how to portray these design methods digitally, and then finally to the phases of the installation process. 

Advanced Digital Design Class Schedule

Companion Planted Veggie Gardens
Edible Forest Garden
Residential Food Forest
Organic Farm Bird's Eye View

Class Schedule

01 Permaculture Design Methods

October 7th, 10am-12pm, Zoom: Methods of Permaculture Design, Flows & Sectors, Permaculture Design Principles

02 Observation & Assessment

October 7th, 1pm-4pm, In-Person: Learn how to assess and observe the flows of water, wind, cardinal directions, soil, microclimates, sun/shade, existing plants, plumbed water, gutters, erosion and more.

03 Digital Design Intro

October 14th, 10am-12pm, Zoom: How to find contour lines and digitize, how to utilize google earth, using a drone for footage, digital soil survey, 1st Illustrator lesson

04 Client Relationship

October 14th, 1pm-4pm, In-Person, Learn how to conduct a permaculture design consultation, Goals & Solutions, SWOT Analysis, Specific design strategies, Business structure-clients, deposits, designs, installs

05 Illustrator Deep Dive

October 28th, 10am-12pm, Zoom: Importing the land survey, tracing the survey, how to create a base map, how to digitize flows and sectors

06 Digitize Design Elements

October 28th, 1pm-4pm, Zoom: Apply design strategies on your map, plant placement, digital bed creation, making pathways, best strategies for install

07 Design Presentations

November 4th, 10am-12pm, In-Person: Present the digital design you created to your fellow classmates, and share what you've learned

08 Implementation & Celebration

November 4th, 1pm-4pm (or later ) In-Person: Install a design element onto the Cultivate property, Potluck, Graduation, & Party!

Registration for Advanced Digital Permaculture Design Class

*Pre-requisites: Must own or have regular access to Adobe Illustrator during each zoom class. You do not need to specifically have received a Permaculture Design Certificate, but knowledge and direct experience with permaculture design and application is a must. Please email or call Taelor if you are confused about any of these requirements. *

To register for this course, submit your $300 non-refundable deposit below. This course is sliding scale, and follows a payment schedule. Your 2nd payment of $200 will be due on September 1st, and your final payment of $100-$500 will be due on your first day of class.




There is one scholarships available for this class. Please email Taelor at taelor AT austinperm DOT com to submit your letter of intention and why you think you should receive this scholarship. 

Spring 2023 Permaculture Design Course

Facilitated by Caroline Riley and Taelor Monroe

Austin,TX and the surrounding area is unique in that we are home to many mission driven organizations working to build sustainability and community. This course is designed to connect the participants with many local organizations with an array of missions so that you can continue your permaculture practice and outreach for years after you’ve completed this course. We are also committed to learning real hands-on practices so that you feel confident in building a garden, growing your own food, and getting the resources together for a wide array of restorative projects. Students will finish this course with a toolbox of design techniques and strategies as well as connections with organizations and people who can help guide them towards new opportunities to learn, volunteer and work in various fields of interest related to sustainability.

This course includes virtual learning and hands-on guided lessons from  facilitators Caroline Riley and Taelor Monroe. It features hands-on learning activities, including your final site design project. Required reading: Rosemary Marrow’s Earth User’s Guide to Permaculture Design and Gaia’s Garden by Toby Hemenway. Each lecture will have additional readings for reflection and additional resources for personal extensions. The final design project sites are chosen from student’s properties or student’s have a unique opportunity in this round to design the new Cultivate Nursery Site. Each student will create a conceptual permaculture design map and choose at least one dedicated area to solidify in all of the details needed to implement. For more details about the content and schedule, scroll down this page.

Let's Learn Together!

Two Available Permaculture Design Course (PDC) Formats:

Register for Online Only  OR Online + Hands-on sessions.
Course Dates: February 22, 2023 – March 25, 2023

Online Only 5 Week Course 

Online 5 Week Course: Wednesdays & Fridays 6:30-9pm

Take it from anywhere, all  classes recorded

Personalized follow up activities to deepen understanding on each module and support your design process.

Opportunities to connect in person and volunteer weekly at Cultivate. Volunteer days start Fall 2022.

Full Permaculture Design Certificate Course

Online 5 Week Course + Weekly Hands-On in Person Sessions

Take it from anywhere, all  classes recorded

Personalized follow up activities to deepen understanding on each module and support your design process.

Permaculture Design Project and Certification

Weekly Hands-On learning every Saturday 10am-1pm

PERMACULTURE DESIGN COURSE SCHEDULE

Day 1 – Wednesday, February 22, 2023 6:30pm-9pm via Zoom

Intro to Permaculture, Ethics and Principles of Permaculture

Day 2 – Friday, February 24, 2023 6:30pm-9pm via Zoom

Permaculture Design Methods

Day 3 – Saturday, February 25, 2023 10am-1pm at Cultivate Holistic Supply

Intro to Permaculture design mapping, Intro to design project to design your own property, a friend’s/relative’s property, or the new Cultivate site location

Day 4 – Wednesday, March 1, 2023 6:30pm-9pm via Zoom

Intro to Natural Building design methods

Day 5– Friday, March 3, 2023 6:30pm-9pm via Zoom

Soil Science

Day 6 – Saturday, March 4, 2023 10am-1pm at Cultivate Holistic Supply

Hands-on soil activity, building with cob

Day 7 – Wednesday, March 8, 2023 6:30pm-9pm via Zoom

Mycology, Design Methods in practice

Day 8– Friday, March 10, 2023 6:30pm-9pm via Zoom

Earthworks, ponds, berms & swales, rain water catchment, grey water, black water

Day 9 – Saturday, March 11, 2023 10am-1pm at Cultivate Holistic Supply

Hands-on design methods, Earthworks implementation

Day 10 – Wednesday, March 15, 2023 6:30pm-9pm via Zoom

Vegetable Garden Design, Companion Planting

Day 11– Friday, March 17, 2023 6:30pm-9pm via Zoom

Food Forest Design, Medicine Garden Design, Herbalism

Day 12 – Saturday, March 18, 2023 10am-1pm at Cultivate Holistic Supply

Garden implementation, Design project hands-on

Day 13 – Wednesday, March 22, 2023 6:30pm-9pm via Zoom

Animals in design, Sustainable Food Systems 

Day 14– Friday, March 24, 2023 6:30pm-9pm via Zoom

Invisible Structures

ONLINE COURSE COMPLETION

Day 15 – Saturday, March 25, 2023 10am-1pm at Cultivate Holistic Supply

Sharing Circle, Design Certificates & Ritual of Completion

PDC Students building a cob bench on-site

Location: Cultivate Holistic Supply: 10817 Old San Antonio Rd. Austin, TX 78748

Course Dates: February 22, 2023-March 25, 2023 (exact dates shown above in schedule)

Our Spring 2023 Permaculture Design Certificate Course is currently open for registration. The format of the online lectures portion of this course is Wednesday and Friday evening, 6:30-9pm, over 5 weeks.

Hands-on learning days are every Saturday from 10am-1pm. More hands-on time will be available every Friday at the new Cultivate volunteer days.

REGISTRATION AND TUITION

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.

To register please submit your deposit through the Buy Now button below the format you choose. After you have submitted your deposit, please fill out our form that auto-populates after you leave PayPal. Please reach out with any questions.

SCHOLARSHIPS

We offer reparation scholarships for this workshop for our BIPOC community. These full ride 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. 

ONLINE ONLY TUITION FORMAT

The tuition rate is $500-$800 for the online lectures only. A $200 non-refundable deposit is required to secure your spot.

 




ONLINE + HANDS-ON SESSIONS: FULL PERMACULTURE DESIGN CERTIFICATE COURSE

The tuition rate is $800-$1000 for the online lectures + hands-on sessions. A $300 non-refundable deposit is required to secure your spot.






Caroline teaching a PDC at the WLLC food forest

Meet Your Instructors

Caroline Riley

Taelor Monroe

Become a Contributing Member of the Guild!

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.***

Cultivate Plant Nursery

Membership Tiers and Perks included:

 

$5 a month Tier:

  • APG swag and newsletter sign up
  • Buy two get one product free 7 Feathers Trading Post “apothecary”.  Made with local medicinal herbs!  
  • 10% off Texas Coffee Traders Website
  • 20% discount for a five class pass at Sanctuary Yoga

 

$15 a month Tier:

 

$20 a month Tier:

 

$30 a month Tier:

 

$50 a month Tier:

Donate Today to our 501c3 non profit!


Become a member of APG today. **Monthly payment unless noted**



**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.