United Designers project lead and permaculture educator, Rhamis Kent partnered up with SouthWoods to design and build green space at Zaytuna College in Berkeley California. Using cultural themes and geometry we filled the space with raised beds and a diversity of fruiting trees. The campus has many other opportunities for ecological design to enhance the architecture, create outdoor classrooms, study spaces, and build a sustainable and harvest ready landscape. Our goal was to

This was the best possible way to see Alaska's South east coast. A small ship and the small group of 50 on the tour. We saw things close-up.

The next phase of ecological restoration is building new habitat to replace those long gone. Dredging materials from shipping lanes is being collected and mounded for new islands in a Polish estuary. SouthWoods Ecosystems is developing the strategy to create the trophic levels and layers of strata needed to support a complex 7 different habitat types disbursed across the island. Civil engineering and marine ecology combine to build a stable and resilient home for thousands o

We were invited to participate in an evaluation visit to Haiti by Commonland and the Red Cross of the Netherlands. The Red Cross of the Netherlands was moving from just disaster relief to disaster resilience. Southwoods was asked to identify and assess project options for restoration of watersheds. Severe erosion has accelerated across the island. Repairing the catchment areas to increase storage and water infiltration is a priority needed for new tree crop strategies. We

In July 2018 I traveled to the island of Molokai Hawaii for a site assessment of the newly available land of Molokai Ranch. For sale for the first time in decades. 57,000 acre of overgrazed, overstocked, and eroded land from 200 years of wandering cattle and unregulated Axis Deer. Over 150 years ago the land was sold to corporate growers raising sugar cane, pineapple, and cattle; lost to the Molokai people. 1/3 of the island was fenced off excluding them from traditional land

Traveling to Lisbon and then by train to the town of Oliveira de condé we spent 5 days walking the scorched land of Wim Willems near Vila Mea. After four years of planning and raising funds, a Eucalyptus fire tore through large portions of Portugal and my clients land. The winds blew the hot flames like fingers across the land, missing some areas and engulfing others. Burning embers from the paper-like Eucalyptus bark would fly over canyons starting new fires on the other s

Just south of the ever encroaching Sahel desert, Kebemer was once a fertile land of small farms. Woodlands covered the the unused land and cooled the soils. Eventually the expanding farms and unregulated livestock depleted the ground cover; raising the ambient temperature, increasing the evaporation rate, and destabilizing the soil base. The rains diminished and pressure increased to grow food on depleted lands. Southwoods was asked by NGO Matter Incorporated to develop a ag

Early March in 2017 we gathered at La Junquera-El Servalejo near Topares, Spain. The Altiplano region of Spain is a far off and secluded section of Spain dotted with abandoned stone villages. The skies are the clearest in Europe, known to astronomers for clear star gazing with telescopes. I stayed up late at night laying on the picnic table soaking in the colors of the Milky Way. The moonless late winter night brought out the best viewing I have ever seen. We gathered to wa

Three days in Lacrosse, Wisconsin discussing design and seeing all my farming and permaculture friends. Probably the best educational conference there is for sustainable farming practices.

The floods have got me remembering New Jersey a week after hurricane Sandy. Having lived with tornadoes, I had never seen the power of a hurricane aftermath first hand. The power of water to redirect the stream bed was a great lesson. Also a good reason to try and accept the new pattern and not think we needed to "repair" anything. It was about using the new energy flow to create new opportunities. Also to get ready for further inundation and higher water. Not sure

One of my favorite places. Challenging, resilient, an island of survivors in an ever changing and geographically hostile environment. Hurricanes, Earthquakes, and a multitude of NGOs influence the daily lives of all Haitians. Haitian students use an "A" frame to check the heightened consistency of a berm. The digging tool is called a Wu and is used much like a pick. Swung into the ground and pulled back to mound of the soil into the tall berms. Hands-on teaching is very impor