Mother Tree Permaculture

03/04/2026

𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧 𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟔

-Earn your Permacultrue Design Certificate
-Create your own design
-Recieve one-to-one map making mentorship
-Build relationships with land, people, & planet

✨Registration Ends March 20th-15 days left to register for our spring cohort!

MotherTree Permaculture’s Spring 2026 course offers a chance to learn the skills that will transform your goals into plans, actions, and joy.

In this 𝗲𝗹𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻-𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝗶𝗻-𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗲 , you’ll learn how to move from garden ideas to clear designs and next steps. You’ll be supported by experienced instructors, hands-on practice, and a learning community that continues beyond the classroom.
This course is designed for people who want to translate ideas into real work while staying connected to land, purpose, and reality.
What you learn with us goes beyond inspiration to help carry you forward.

This course will change how you see and move through our food systems. We give you the skills needed to make a change, context for your decisions, and people to learn alongside with.
MotherTree’s Permaculture Design Course is for people who want to work with the land and enter systems thoughtfully to be part of a joyful revolution.

Our course is women-led and founded in racial justice and equity. Your instructors don’t separate ecology from history or land from power. In this class, we teach that part of good design is understanding how race, access, and exclusion shape food systems and land use.

We strive to make this essential work approachable while also holding ourselves accountable. Mother Tree Permaculture’s perspective informs how to observe landscapes, design systems, and show up in our work and communities.
Learning with us is active!

You won’t spend all your time just sitting through lectures. Most of the course happens outdoors, through direct observation, guided instruction, and hands-on practice.

What is unique to our program is that 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘁𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗰𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗽𝗲𝘀.

The project is taught and completed with support from the instructors every step of the way. You’ll learn to read land, map it, and work through design decisions with practical tools you already know how to use. If you don’t have land of your own, you’ll be paired with a meaningful site so the work stays connected to real conditions. Practice is the point.

You will leave with a comprehensive manual that becomes a dirty, creased, long-term reference guide used throughout your permaculture journey. You’ll have hands-on experience working with tools referenced in the guide, not just hearing about them. We offer our course in the spring so that what you learn can move directly into action. Skills gained here can be applied immediately during the 2026 growing season and built on in the years that follow.

And while the course ends, the relationships don’t! Students stay connected through shared chats and channels, exchanging resources, opportunities, questions, and support. Many continue collaborating and learning together long after the course concludes.

Everyone is welcome. Some students are new to permaculture. Others have been practicing for years. Mother Tree’s instructors bring decades of experience, not only in permaculture but also in working with local land and community. This class is collaborative. Our instructors are skilled at teaching across levels without hierarchy or pressure. Curiosity, care, and a willingness to engage are what matter most.

If you’ve been thinking about learning skills that will genuinely support your life and purpose, now is the time.

𝗦𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲
𝗥𝘂𝗯𝘆 𝗥𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗵 · 𝗖𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗹𝗲𝗿, 𝗡𝗖

02/27/2026

Purple Dead Nettle: she's an icon! This hardy w**d is an early pollinator snack, medicinal powerhouse, and to top it off is a yummy salad topping (see what I did there? :). She also makes a surprisingly decent in pesto. We 💚 w**ds.

02/23/2026

Honoring Dr. Elaine Ruth Ingham (1952–2026)

Dr. Ingham was a groundbreaking microbiologist whose research revolutionized how we understand soil. In 1980s and 1990s she published dozens of papers that canonized a relatively new idea that soil microbiology played a central role in plant health. Her discoveries gave farmers, educators, and land stewards a framework to see soil not as a living system.

After many years as a professor at Oregon State University she worked to make this knowledge accessible. Through teaching, public speaking, microscopy education, and founding the Soil Food Web School, she helped translate complex science into practical tools. Dr. Ingham is the mother of modern fundamentals in regenerative farming: compost, compost tea, supporting soil health through microorganisms.

Her work, intellect, and leadership influenced an entire generation of regenerative agriculture, including many women in a field long dominated by men.

Dr. Elaine Ingham’s family has invited those who wish to honor her life to plant a tree or support the Soil Food Web Foundation. Continuing to study, restore, and protect living soil is, in many ways, a living embodiment of her work.

02/22/2026

Our former student Kat reflects on the 2025 Permaculture Design Course.



Beatrice Rose Grow and Harvest

02/20/2026

Now is a great time to plant. Garlic is so easy to grow and just keeps on giving, both bulbs and scapes.

How can we help you successfully grow 🧄 garlic in your garden? Shoot us a DM or comment below.

02/17/2026

Grab these spots while they last!

Join us at Ruby Ranch for engaging family-friendly gatherings in Asheville. Experience sustainable agriculture practices, plant sales, equine workshops, and more. Connect with nature and community at our events.

02/16/2026

Starting sweet potato slips at home is simple! Here’s what grocery stores don’t want you to know 😉: You can grow your own sweet potatoes from the left over ends!

How to do it:

🌱Cut any large potatoes in half and plant them in a shallow container, ideally 10-12” deep. (You could even do this in a plastic bag.)
🌱Fill your container with a loose soil mix: half compost and half potting soil, or add sand for extra drainage.
🌱Bury the potato halfway, keeping them 2–3” apart.
🌱Set the container in a warm, sunny window. Sweet potatoes prefer to stay cozy and warm (Relatable!).
🌱Water well, making sure the soil stays damp, but not soggy. Your slips will form in 2–4 weeks!

☀️ Once slips are 6–8” long, gently twist them off and plant directly into warm soil after the last frost (or root them directly in water).
☀️ When planting in your garden, space slips about a foot apart.

🍠Need direction designing your garden space? Check out our permaculture offerings.

🍠Tip: Use organic sweet potatoes if you can, since conventional ones are typically treated with growth inhibitors. One sweet potato can produce many slips. Food is free/ free your food! 💚

02/15/2026

This is the McDonogh Oak in City Park in New Orleans. She is a mother tree. It is estimated that she is between 800–900 years old, making her one of the oldest live oaks in the region.

Her roots were here centuries before the land was named Louisiana. Her bark bore witness to enslavement and exploitation, and her branches presided over John McDonogh’s donation of this former plantation land to the City of New Orleans.

Today, her limbs descend slowly and gracefully to the ground, not in weeping, but as part of her ancient relationship with the life around her.

In forest ecology, the idea of the mother tree is simple: elder trees anchor the system. They create shade, hold soil, move nutrients through underground networks, and support new life without asking anything in return except the continuation of life itself. When a mother tree reaches full maturity, she begins her gradual return to the earth. Her changing branches mark her place in the cycle.

On her branches you can see Spanish moss resting, catching air and light. Spanish moss is an epiphyte. It takes nothing from the tree, accepting only the space offered and living lightly within it.

You can also find resilience fern there, those tiny ferns tucked along the branches. (Formally known as “Resurrection Fern,” but don’t you think “resilience fern” is better?) During extended drought, the ferns shrivel and turn brown, appearing overcome by their circumstances. But with just the next rain, they unfurl and green again, reclaiming vitality.

Permaculture asks us to design in this way. At Mother Tree Permaculture, we aim to build systems where support does not depend on depletion. Like the mother tree, we try to acknowledge and participate in the full history of a place while helping it move into its next act, within the larger drama of the landscape. We design for harmony and plan for resilience.

02/13/2026

Let's face it, we all need to go every day and most of us prefer to think about the process as little as possible, we just want it to work.

But in nature there is no waste and there is no "away".

Because of how we've designed our systems, human waste has become a big problem that isn't going away anytime soon. It's polluting our waterways, it's costing municipalities billions to process, it's one natural disaster away from a public health nightmare. As our industrial systems become more fragile we need to find ways to address our waste management needs more thoughtfully.

Permaculture has an analytical tool called a Needs & Yields Analysis, this is a useful illustration to get us thinking more deeply about our waste disposal options.

Standard Toilet:
Needs:
Indoor plumping
Working municipal water and sewage system or septic system and well
Flushable toilet paper
People who know how to use and clean it properly
Trained plumber for repairs
Industrial supply chain to produce toilet and parts
Regular cleaning

Yields:
Easy to use
Low risk of pathogens spreading from waste
Pollution
Expensive waste management systems
Dependance on industrial systems
Fear of humanure
Loss of soil nutrients

Fancy Toilet (seat lighting and heater, self cleaining,sensors to open and close lid)

Indoor plumping
Working municipal water and sewage system or septic system and well
Flushable toilet paper
People who know how to use and clean it properly
Trained plumber for repairs
Industrial supply chain to produce toilet and parts
Regular cleaning
Trained electrician
Electric parts
Specialized parts and supply chain

Yields:
Easy to use
Low risk of pathogens spreading from waste
Pollution
Expensive waste management systems
Dependance on industrial systems
Fear of humanure
Loss of soil nutrients
Warm t***y
Easier to clean
Easier to use especially for those with disabilities

Composting Toilet

Needs:
Bucket
Toilet seat
Carbon source (wood chips, leaves etc)
Storage system
Careful education on how to clean equipment and age humanure

Yields
Easy to use with training
More cleaning and risk of pathogens spreading at storage site
Rich soil amendment
Educated people who take responsibility for their own systems
No risk of public health crisis from municipal system breakdown
Not dependent on industrial supply chains or systems