Permaculture Skills: Fall Food Forest Workshop + Tour
October 10 @ 10:00 am – 1:00 pm
Chapel Hill, NC
Learn about Food Forests inside one of the most mature and abundant forest gardens in the Piedmont area of NC!
In this food forest workshop, we’ll be touring Liane Salgado’s 15+-year old food forest / forest garden in Chapel Hill, NC and talking all about the trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants that thrive there as an example for hot, humid zone 8a system.
This is the most abundant and mature example of a food forest I know of in the entire Piedmont. This workshop gives a rare opportunity to learn from an established, local food forest.
As part of it, we’ll also talk about what the real maintenance of a food forest involves, how this one was started years ago, and answer any questions you might have about food forest design.
It’s rare to get to see many of these trees at the age they’re at. With Matt and Liane’s combined experience and the food forest to immerse yourself in, you can count on learning a lot!
Also – if you’re in town for the food forest tour, we’re having another workshop nearby that afternoon on tree guild design and planting. Learn more about it here.
The Venue
The food forest tour and discussion will be at Liane’s 2-acre property in Chapel Hill. The location will be sent out a few days before the workshop.
What to Bring:
- Rain gear if it’s rainy
- Water bottle
Sorry to say that for liability reasons, there’s been a request not to bring children or dogs to this one.
Also:
- Openness to new (and ancient) ways of seeing and living
- Kindness towards the plants, animals, soil, water, and other people here
- Inclusivity and welcoming spirit towards the people in the workshop
- Willingness to put your phones away and tune into your senses
- Curiosity about life and what each other and the land has to say
Sign Up
This year, we’re offering tickets at a sliding scale and standard rates. Please only choose the reduced rate tickets if you truly need to. Thank you for the support that allows us to continue sharing this work!
This workshop is part of our Fall 2026 Permaculture Skills series. If you sign up for more than one of the workshops in this series, we give a small discount to say thanks. Just let us know at workshops@silverbranchpermaculture.org.
Check out our other Fall 2026 Permaculture Workshops!
About the Facilitator:
Matthew “Watersong” Tracy started practicing Permaculture in 2011 and received his design certificate from Wild Abundance in 2015. He has been consulting and teaching as a Permaculture Designer since 2018.
Along the way, he learned from numerous Permaculture teachers, tended land with minimal inputs, worked with around 70 clients on their land, lived off-grid for a decade, and made (… and still makes!) a whole lot of humbling and valuable mistakes on his way back to life in harmony with the earth.
Matt is also an herbalist (…in training, like all herbalists..!) and has been putting strong-tasting plants in bottles to make helpful things happen since 2007. He prepares dozens of local herbal medicines for his community every year.
With all that experience, Matt is ever a beginner and student of the land. Nature is infinite. What can we do but listen and try?
Matt is honored to be a Permaculture guide to anyone interested in coming a little closer to the earth. Becoming a father in 2023 has made passing down these teachings that always consider future generations more important than ever.
Read the rest of Matt’s bio here.
