Rooted in relationship.
Designed for resilience.
Permaculture Design Course
Registration is for the full 11 day program and not individual weekends
Dates
5-day intensive
• Wed, Apr 8 - Sun, Apr 12
2 x 3-day Weekend sessions
• Fri, May 22 - Sun, May 24
• Wed, Jun 26 - Sun, Jun 28
Location
Ruby Ranch
36 Kel County Rd, Candler, NC 28715
A 20 acre permaculture horse ranch nestled in the Blue Ridge mountains
We are Mother Tree Permaculture
We are a women-led experiential educational space that aims to root permaculture design in principles of justice. Predominately housed in Western North Carolina, we teach resilient ecological design from a place of relationship and remembering, while honoring the land.
Mother Tree is a co-creation of Laura Ruby, Bevelyn Afor Ukah, Beatrice Nathan.
Mother Tree Permaculture and Ruby Ranch recognize that we are located on the ancestral Indigenous homelands of the Tsalagi (ᏣᎳᎩ) Cherokee. We honor the Tsalagi as the original stewards of this place and recognize the enduring presence, culture, and sovereignty of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI).
We acknowledge that this land was taken through violence and displacement, and that these histories remain alive today. As current caretakers of this land, we hold this truth with humility and responsibility, committing ourselves to ongoing learning, unlearning, and practices of care that honor both people and place.
We seek to listen to Indigenous voices, learn from Indigenous knowledge, and support Indigenous-led efforts in this region as part of an ongoing relationship rooted in respect and accountability.
Permaculture Design Course
Registration is for the full 11 day program and not individual weekends
Dates
5-day intensive
• Wed, Apr 8 - Sun, Apr 12
Weekend sessions
• Fri, May 22 - Sun, May 24
• Wed, Jun 26 - Sun, Jun 28
Location
Ruby Ranch
36 Kel County Rd, Candler, NC 28715
A 20 acre permaculture horse ranch nestled in the Blue Ridge mountains
Meet Your Instructors
Laura Ruby
Permaculture Educator and Professional,
Owner of Ruby Ranch
Laura brings over two decades of permaculture expertise, combining her passion for plants, education, and community. She is the founder of Ruby Ranch, 20 acre educational permaculture farm and Paddock Paradise horse ranch.
- Masters in Sustainable Business Administration, Green Mountain College, 2008
- Certified in permaculture since 2001 (Crystal Waters Ecovillage, Australia)
- Co-founder of Wild Abundance permaculture course (2014)
- Founder of Ruby Ranch (2022) and Ruby Rose Landscaping
- Extensive experience in K-5 outdoor education and school garden design
- Background in renewable energy, green building, and organic agriculture
Bevelyn Afor Ukah
Community Engagement & Equity Consultant
Bevelyn is a consultant, facilitator, and artist dedicated to exploring how humans connect across cultures. She brings a unique focus on deep ecology and equity, creating accessible permaculture spaces for BIPOC communities and fostering environmental justice.
- Founding consultant of AFI Oak Consulting and The Manifest Farm
- Over a decade organizing food systems practitioners
- Permaculture certified and co-developing permaculture course for BIPOC participants
- Master's in Intercultural Service, Leadership, and Management
- Bachelor's in International Studies, Sociology, and Anthropology
Beatrice Nathan
Founder of Grow & Harvest Gardening education, design and consulting
Beatrice is passionate about helping new gardeners transform their spaces into productive urban food forests. She creates sustainable systems through diligent observation and hands-on learning, making gardening dreams a reality for her students.
- Master's in Sustainability Studies, Lenoir Rhyne University (2023)
- Permaculture certified through Wild Abundance (2022)
- Creator of thriving urban food forest oases
- Specialist in sustainable food systems for families
- Dedicated mentor for beginning gardeners
- Collapse-aware writer and creator
Guest Instructors
G White
G (she/they) is a treeworker, gardener, bodyworker, childcare provider, and theater performer.
They received her permaculture design certificate in Ithaca NY, 2007. Their fascination with the cascade of positive vibes that come from trees / perennial agriculture has led them to be a devoted hobbyist fruit & nut grower.
She gets joy by taking simple action everyone has access to- promoting regenerative agriculture. She believe we must not only sustain what we have, but we must improve our ecosystems…not just because it will sustain us physically, but spiritually.
They have been grafting and maintaining trees in community parks, in her garden, and throughout Asheville for 12 years. She is excited to share what she knows about how to select, train, prune, and graft a tree through its lifetime.
George Brabant
I grew up on and in the St. Lawrence River, Thousand Islands, New York. I was immersed in nature from a young age, experiencing all four seasons and their rhythms. I moved to Lake Placid for a couple years and then to high in the Colorado Rocky mountains.
After a decade and a half of skiing, kayaking, fishing, and hunting in the Rockies, I landed in Asheville NC, making a living as a remodel contractor. I discovered Permaculture as a result of losing my brother and reading the works he left behind. I started to question our way of living and how sustainable it is.
Permaculture was explained to me as using nature as a guideline. The edge of the forest turns full and green every year with no help from man. It happens from a symbiotic relationship between plants, animals, and fungi.
I started running with this philosophy and turned our Asheville property into a Permaculture Foodforest. I bought chickens and ducks, removed all grass, and installed swales, ponds, mushrooms, and fruit trees. A year in, I sought help from more experienced minds and took a permaculture design course and became a certified instructor.
Now we are giving classes, tours, and having other local permaculture and gardening instructors do tours of our farm as well. This is Phat Ninja Foodforest.
Greg Peterson
"What if there was a garden and fruit tree in every yard?" This is a question that Greg ponders every day. For over 32 years he created of one of Phoenix's first environmental showcase homes for urban farming. The 1/4-acre yard featured a primarily edible landscape with over 80 fruit trees, rainwater and greywater harvesting, solar applications, and extensive use of reclaimed and recycled building materials. What we now call an Old Growth Food Forest.
He is the co-founder of Great American Seed Up an educational organization designed to energize local seeds. He is also the founder of UrbanFarm.org and the host of The Urban Farm Podcast that has over 900 episodes and over 5 million listens. The podcast is designed to help fulfill Greg's passion of spreading the word about growing your own food and sharing new and seasoned gardeners epic stories.
Jennifer Verprauskus
Jennifer Verprauskus is a North Carolina Licensed Landscape Architect and a Permaculture Design Certificate Holder. She studied Landscape Architecture at the University of Massachusetts & Cal Poly.
Since graduating, she has traveled the world to help people grow trees and their own food. She is the founder of both UpBeet Landscapes and BareRoot Designs, PLLC.
Jennifer actively practices Permaculture through Landscape Architecture all over the States and currently teaches Permaculture classes at the North Carolina Arboretum.
Hector Lopez
Hector Lopez has worked in several community projects focused on strengthening the social fabric through the care and regeneration of local ecosystems that allow people to achieve food autonomy for their health.
Through the planting of organic vegetables with a focus on permaculture, he has traveled part of the continent (Mexico, Ecuador, U.S.) sharing his knowledge with children at rural schools, community leaders, women in prison young people from the city and stay-at-home moms in order to empower all those who want to build a better world.
He shares his cultural legacy through millenary spiritual practices that he inherited from his ancestors. He is also passionate about renewable energy and music. Today he works in the triangle area in North Carolina accompanying social movements in search of social justice for the good of humanity.
Course Curriculum
13 comprehensive modules covering all aspects of permaculture design
Permaculture Ethics & Principles
Master the foundational ethics of Earth Care, People Care, and Fair Share, along with the 12 design principles that guide all permaculture work.
Social and interpersonal permaculture
Explore how permaculture principles apply to building inclusive communities, addressing social injustices, and creating equitable systems that benefit all members.
Repairing damaged landscapes
Hurricane Helene has left our landscape scarred but thoughtful design can create healing.
Native, perennial & edible plants
Learn to work with useful plants to bring beauty, food, and habitat to your landscape.
Disaster preparedness and mutual aid
When your community is prepared everyone is less vulnerable to the impacts of unexpected emergencies.
Growing food year-round
With a little knowledge and creativity, we can grow fresh food year-round in any climate
Soil health
Soil is the basis of all life, in this class we learn to become stewards of our soil.
Food preservation
Learning to preserve our food builds our skills and resilience.
Race and agriculture
Examine the historical and contemporary intersections of race and agriculture, understanding systemic exclusion and promoting racial equity within food systems.
Water management
Water can create abundance or destructure. With a deep understanding of how water moves and accumulates, we can work together to create thriving lives and landscapes.
Animal systems
Animals are an essential part of all thriving ecosystems. Learn how they can be a healthy part of our food systems and landscapes.
Forest systems
The forest is our teacher. We go to nature to observe and learn how to work together with other species.
Contours, swales, earthworks
Explore how shaping the earth can create lush, diverse landscapes.
Learn by Doing
Race and Equity in the Food System
Investigate how honoring processes that center justice, equity and history fosters healthy ecological systems and a richly interconnected world.
- Legacy of land theft, sharecropping, and systemic exclusion of Black farmers
- Indigenous food systems and displacement in the Southern Appalachian region
- Historical and contemporary barriers to land ownership for BIPOC communities
- Food sovereignty movements and community-led solutions
- Building equitable and just food systems rooted in repair and accountability
Hands-on Learning
Practice real-world skills including composting, propagation, design mapping, and building garden structures.
- Soil building and composting
- Plant propagation and planting
- Measuring and laying out at basemap
- Building garden structures
- Food harvesting
- Food preservation
- Building a swale
- Basket weaving
- Time with the horses, understanding large farm animals (optional)
Field Days & Site Visits
Visit established permaculture sites in the Asheville area to see designs in action and learn from experienced practitioners.
- Healthy food growing practices
- Micro businesses and entrepreneurs
- A robust and nutrient dense composting worm operation
- Visit with community leaders at a community garden in downtown Asheville
- Integrated and robust suburban and urban permaculture systems
- So many ways to compost!
- Urban food forests
- Mushroom growing systems
- Community building
- And more!
Permaculture Design Project
Part of the permaculture certification program includes the completion of a design project.
Students will have the opportunity to complete an individual or small group design project. Participants can choose to design a property of their choice or be assigned a local project. Through this project, students can apply the permaculture knowledge they gain from class to a real-life scenario and receive feedback from instructors and peers.
This project allows students the opportunity to work with real design clients. Instructors will guide you through this process using various design tools such as needs and yields assessments, bubble diagrams, and zone and sector overlays. Students will present preliminary designs part way through the course to get feedback from instructors, peers, and clients. This feedback will allow them to revisit their designs before the final design presentation.
2025 PDC Design Project Photo Gallery
Ready to Begin Your Permaculture Journey?
Register by Januray 15, 2026 and use the code EARLYBIRD26 for $200 off registration
When choosing your pricing tier, know that as a small business focused on equity, we use funds provided by students who choose a higher tier for scholarships for those who would not have access to this course otherwise.
We deeply appreciate your willingness to honestly examine your financial capabilities and choose the tier that best reflects your situation. If you cannot afford the community price and would still like to attend the class, please reach out to us directly and we will provide you with a scholarship application.
Uplift
$2,000
For those with financial security and some privilege
- •I am comfortably able to meet my basic needs
- •I own my home or rent high-end properties
- •I have expendable income on a regular basis
- •I am fully employed or don't need to work for pay
- •I take vacations every year and have leisure time
Standard
$1,800
For those with moderate stability but notable constraints
- •I am able to meet all my basic needs
- •I have reliable transportation and safe housing
- •I take limited time off for vacations and leisure time
- •I have some expendable income
Community
$1,200
For those experiencing significant financial hardship
- •I am under employed or struggling to meet basic needs with my income
- •I don't always have access to transportation & healthcare
- •I rarely have expendable income
- •I am supporting children, elders or other dependents
Payment plans available.
We believe in this offering and the value it will bring to our students and the broader community. We are also dedicated to making this knowledge available to as many people as possible, regardless of financial situation. If your financial situation does not allow you to pay the listed prices, please reach out to us directly about work-study or scholarship opportunities.