CAP OP 5: Introduction

            During my mid thirties is when I was engaged in my Gaia University Master’s degree program.  I was in the beginning stages of developing a permaculture business designed around a market garden, education, and permaculture design.  I had recently begun making my passion of wild edible mushroom foraging a profession.  I was running my market garden for  one farmer’s market a week and a small CSA when I started Gaia.  I was Djing at least once a month, spinning all vinyl reggae at various venues in my community.  I had been writing monthly articles called Permaculture Perspectives for almost 2 years.  Growing food was my main income as I worked on developing my permaculture demonstration site.  I was eager to transfer my passion in permaculture into professional endeavors.

            Through learning about sciences mainly, both physical and social.  I set out to gain knowledge of the world around me.  How the natural world worked and how humans interacted with each other and the natural world.  I was blessed with being inspired by several teachers early in my college career to keep learning.  Permaculture entered my life early in my college career and guided me through selecting courses to take to understand the world better.  I took as many classes as I could at Columbia Community College, earning an associate of arts in liberal studies.  Again at UC Davis I reached the unit cap by taking as many courses as I could.  I was more concerned about learning as much as I could rather than fast-tracking myself to a degree.  During my time at UC Davis I took a Permaculture Design Certification course (PDC) for college credit at the Central Rocky Mountain Permaculture Institute.  Soon after I got my PDC I applied for an independent major in Permaculture.  My program was accepted and I graduated from UC Davis in 2007 with perhaps the first bachelor in science in Permaculture in the world.  In 2009 I returned to the Central Rocky Mountain Permaculture Institute and got my permaculture teacher training certification.  I was excited and passionate about taking what I learned and applying it to my own life by making a profession from it.  I had a goal of turning the family property I grew up on into a Permaculture demonstration and education site where I could hold workshops and Permaculture Design Certification courses.  I began that work soon after I graduated from UC Davis.  Following my graduation I found Gaia University and felt the perfect opportunity was here, to continue the work I was doing and get credit for doing it.   

            A master’s in Integrative Eco-social design from Gaia University is the final step in my college career, yet not the last stop on my educational pathway.  It will continue from here but I will be focusing more on using what I’ve learned to produce professional outcomes.     

Leading through examples 

            To begin the work on my Master’s program in my first year, I worked on designing demonstrations that could showcase either my expertise or quality design for others to adopt.  It was also about building more foundation for myself to be able to share my knowledge and passions.

Putting my Permaculture passions into professional practice.

            My capstone phase at Gaia University entailed me building upon the foundation I had built prior to Gaia and during my Master’s program.  I designed and began implementing the branding of my business Love Creek Permaculture (LCP), hosted several workshops for the first sustainable workshop series at LCP, and designed a permaculture design certification course utilizing the Socratic method.