Matt and Rachel Berry arrived at the Regenerative Design Institute in 2005 – the institute’s first summer at Commonweal Garden.  

“We signed up for a six-month internship and ended up staying for almost four years. We arrived when it was a nearly feral garden with little infrastructure and few classes, and left when it was busy with classes nearly every week and landscaped with maturing permaculture gardens.”

Matt and Rachel now live in the Sierra Foothills, about two hours east of the bay area.  From what they learned and experienced during their time at Commonweal Garden, they are both passionate about teaching others how to be more self-reliant through the partnership and thoughtful use of local plants. 

As it is understood in Permaculture, humans are an integral part of the natural landscape and we become better stewards when we strengthen our relationships with the natural world around us. Matt is passionate about exploring this relationship with wild edible plants, and Rachel with medicinal and nutritive herbs.

“One of the things we’re most excited about right now is a unique format we created to help people connect more deeply with their local landscape – its a wild food and medicinal herb CSA.”  They borrowed the concept of distributing seasonal plants from the ‘Community Supported Agriculture’ model, but are calling their work ‘Community Supported Awareness’, because of the emphasis on experiential education in how to identify, process and use abundant local plants for food and medicine. Their first CSA season begins this spring and is sold out.

“It’s hard to imagine how we would have arrived at this point – doing work we are passionate about, that feels like play and helps reconnect people with nature – without our experiences at the Regenerative Design Institute. We definitely used techniques we learned in the Ecology of Leadership to map out what we wanted to create in our lives when we moved to the foothills.”

In addition to their CSA, Matt teaches permaculture, wild foods and primitive skills for several local organizations; continues with some biological surveys, and is developing more skills in natural building. Rachel sells locally made herbal products, teaches herbal do-it-yourself classes, and works with a local non-profit that helps create more local farmers and more local farms.

“We feel blessed for the time we spent with the Regenerative Design Institute. We had the opportunity to help create and live within a developing permaculture center, learn from some of the top instructors from all over the world, build our own home with our friends from the earth around us, and be a part of a solution-based community that celebrates the abundance in every day life. The experience has changed our lives, and helps us create a better one for our daughter Amara, who was lucky to have spent her first year of life at Commonweal Garden.”

Both Matt and Rachel are instructors in the RDI Re-skilling Series.

You can read more about Matt at www.SierraLivingSkills.com and more about Rachel at www.SierraBotanica.com

Tara Smith, 50, credits RDI's Ecology of Leadership (EOL) program with helping catalyze a major life change: "jumping into organic farming." She is the proud co-owner of Tara Firma Farms, a thriving all-natural farm and education center in Petaluma, Calif.

"Trusting that I am worthy."

Tara learned about the Ecology of Leadership through the Internet. After participating in a free introductory session, she was inspired to sign up for the full course--EOL 2 in spring 2008--which met one weekend a month for 5 months. Tara came into the program with a clear vision of what she wanted: a life immersed in organic farming, education and community. Her major edge was learning to trust herself and her vision.

Believing in herself was a challenge, she says. "Trusting that I am worthy regardless of my perceived 'facts' to the contrary." She was surprised to learn "how much we all listen to the voices in our heads--much to our detriment."

A major aspect of the EOL journey is designing and taking action on a project that helps bring forth one of your ideal visions. Tara's project was to work out the "how" of her organic farming dream--namely, the business plans.

"While I didn't finish all of them, I was able to move structurally through most of it and deal with the pressure and stress much better," she says, "learning to understand what drives me and how I can enjoy that process much more."

"Fear I can deal with. Regret I can't."

Almost three years later, Tara Firma Farms is a bustling reality, a place offering CSA shares, fresh produce, eggs, pasture-raised meats, farm tours, holiday events, farm-to-table dinners, and a daily "sunset experience" by the pond.

"The thing I learned through EOL that has stuck with me the most is that I live without fear," Tara says. "Fear I can deal with. Regret I can’t.
 
"EOL is worthwhile if you are really interested in moving forward in your life. And even if you're not, at least a glimpse or a beginning of telling yourself the truth is worth the time and money."

Ecology of Leadership:
http://regenerativedesign.org/courses-events/ecology-of-leadership

Tara Firma Farms:
http://www.tarafirmafarms.com/

My name is Shawn Berry and I participated in the 2009 PDC at RDI. It was my first in-depth encounter with permaculture.

Well, let’s back up a bit. Actually I had quite an introduction to working with the land when I was a kid. And I hated it. Launching and maintaining the ¼ acre, family vegetable garden my large family put in every spring was a total bust on summer break fun for us kids. Of course back then no one had ever heard the word permaculture and we certainly were guilty of accosting the land and bending it to our will as opposed to “listening to the land.” But we also inadvertently harmonized in some ways simply because nature will also bend us to her will as well.

In most ways for me, and I suspect for anyone who comes into an awareness with the ideas of permaculture, it’s less about learning something new and more about a process of deep remembering and even a deeper knowing that there is something true about acknowledging our individual and communal relationship with nature and the earth. Indeed, as much as many of us are immersed in our modern metropolis with a growing number of electronic devices that give us up-to-the-minute abundant information about the world around us—yet shield us from the actual world that it is all happening in—it’s difficult to really stop and think about how and where our food comes from and the incredible magic that this earth creates with plant life.

Think about it. Drop a seed in the dirt. Add water. Make sure there’s enough sun so you can see what is happening. And what is happening? A miracle is happening. If you didn’t know the potential an apple seed had, do you think your imagination would be big and wild enough to imagine that this lone tiny, dry object could transform into a massive structure that would have it’s own micro ecosystem and provide food and materials for three generations or more? Not only that, it cost nothing, it can operate efficiently with no maintenance and it can proliferate itself 100 times over with virtually no effort. It’s a miracle.

I digress. What excites me most is that there are communities out there like RDI who have been pioneering the forums to expose others to the miracle that is our earth. Creating a space for a community of curious and courageous minds to gather and explore our truest expressions together; remembering the ways of harmony and becoming re-awestruck at the miracle of this world as we peel off our facades one at a time until our innocence of naked humanness cowers before the revealed face of nature. What a gift!

In the permaculture design course at RDI, we created a community with 30 complete strangers for 2 weeks straight; eating, sleeping, working, laughing, learning, questioning, angering, crying. Ultimately, it demonstrated to me the immense capacity we as humans have to do this thing called “connect.” The capacity to know and understand, to communicate and share experience with another amazing glorious fascinating, complex and complicated being! I mean, we are these conscious beings walking around on this planet! We can SEE INSIDE each other and have the miraculous ability to consciously acknowledge each others existence of self through a myriad of emotive expressions capable of bringing us into a space of such intimate contact that it can be downright, gloriously terrifying!

How is it then that we often move through our days in monotone thoughts and muted expressions, feeling more alone that connected? Interacting with perhaps dozens of other conscious beautiful wonderous beings a day with out realization of the miracle of their existence? Seeing them only as obstacles or objects to be manipulated or handled? How is it that we wolf down a meal without even thinking about the absolute miracle of the vegetal world and that without the magic or miracle of seeds and photosynthesis, we would cease to exist? How did we become so recently concerned about the fragility of this planet without having been intimately and consciously acquainted with it?

My permaculture experience was one of the final gentle shakes that have brought me into being fully awake. I think it is gently shaking a lot of people awake. We are realizing that we’re dreaming if we think we can continue to live, thrive and evolve the way we have been living; particularly in first world economies - the dream is over!

So what to do with this wakefulness? Take action! How? By taking the initiative! That is to say, by becoming initiated to move forward in a direction with affirmation, blessing and expectancy by a group of ones peers and mentors. Many people become concerned with how to keep the fire alive that was experienced in a transformative experience and bring it back into their day-to-day life. It is difficult to carry a passion alone by yourself. The support and anticipation of a community who is present to your journey and is ready to welcome the gifts that comes through building and living your vision that was sparked by a personal transformation is an invaluable asset to that same community.

Ancient tribal peoples, and even healthy modern ones, address this issue through “initiating.” That is to say, they would watch for when a youth starts to become inspired by something apart from the games and frivolity of their adolescent peers and was ready for the challenge and adventure of living as an adult. The premise involves creating a space for the adolescent to have a transformative experience in which they become present to their inspired vision, which is both unique and fragile, apart from the support of a community.

Being an adult meant that you were committed to pursuing your vision and enacting it on the earth for the people to see. It was a gift in return to the people that had cared for you since the day you were born. A gift that is essential and necessary to the health and wealth of the community. In these tribal cultures, rites of passage, community and regenerative, respectful living on the land were absolutely inseparable. They were born out of one another and the failure to uphold the integrity and importance of any of these components would result in the demise of the people.

Looking back I can map the process of this discovery and passion for this direction in my life within these three concepts. I remember when I first had fleeting thoughts of interest in organic farming and living off the land. I entered the initiating threshold space when I chose to participate in the permaculture certification course at RDI. This was my transformative experience and when I returned to my regular life and struggled with how to apply this newfound enthusiasm, I realized I would need the support of a specific community to fully realize the potential of the vision that I was beginning to see.

I am now preparing to enter into the 9 month RDNA course also offered by RDI. I consider these new experiences as a trial run, or “R&D”—research and development for how to begin giving and living my true gift.

Growing up, it turns out my parents practiced many tenets of permaculture: organic gardening, seed saving, raising bees and rabbits, composting, food preservation, people care, and sharing the surplus (it seems like we supplied the whole county with rhubarb).

Despite the example set for me by my parents I soon found myself chasing the elusive “American Dream,” forgetting this slower more resilient way of being. The wonderful thing about forgetting is that we still have the ability to remember. A series of synchronistic events led me to RDI in June of 2007 where “re-membering” seems to be the name of the game.

It seemed odd at the time, telling my co-workers that I was going to spend my annual 2-week vacation sleeping in a tent and learning about “organic farming” (aka, Permaculture Design Certification or PDC).  The PDC not only opened my eyes to a new way of being and gave me a renewed sense of hope; it also introduced me to a community where I felt completely safe. It was within the safety of this new found container that I was able to begin processing the tremendous grief that came up for me around chasing such an unsustainable, unfulfilling dream for so many years.

RDI played a significant role in helping me to open my heart and see the possibilities that lie far beyond what a consumer-based society had always expected of me. Six months later, I made the commitment to participate in the Ecology of Leadership (EOL) program. Again, I had little idea what I was getting into! What EOL continues to be is another amazingly safe container in which I can continue to heal. I was given a set of tools and a new “operating manual” for creating a life vision that empowers me to take my gifts back out into my community. During the second month of EOL, I resigned from my 17+ year corporate career with the clear intention of pursing a livelihood that was more meaningful to me.

While the PDC held space for grieving, and EOL for healing, the Art of Mentoring (AOM) was a living example of how 150 loving and lovable human beings can truly “be” in community.  AOM was one of the most beautiful experiences of my life.  It was a strong call to action for me: a reminder to follow my heart, pursue my passions, and live a more authentic life.

In the short time I have been involved with RDI, I have become active as an Awakening the Dreamer (ATD) facilitator and embrace the vision that “together we can bring forth an environmentally sustainable, spiritually fulfilling and socially just human presence on this planet as a guiding principle of our times."  I am also serving on the Steering Committee for the 2010 Sustainable Enterprise Conference which is held in Sonoma County each May.

Last but not least, I am excited to be on staff at Transition US where we are supporting the growing number of Transition Initiatives that are sprouting up across the country. My work within the Transition Movement allows me to take an active role in what Joanna Macy calls the ‘Great Turning’ and to begin helping others to “re-member.” It is all part of an “ideal scene” that began at RDI, and continues to unfold. I have it on good authority that we are alive at a time like no other in human history and I am eternally grateful for RDI helping me realize the profound responsibility that goes with it. Please visit my website if you would like to contact me for any reason.

RDI Courses Completed

Permaculture Design Course - June 2007

Ecology of Leadership – 2008 & 2009

Art of Mentoring - 2008

Kambria (my partner) and I enjoying the benefits of a new earthen clay oven we created along with Allan Hogle in Sebastopol this past summer.

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