Our Permaculture Design Work
Since 2018, Matt has seen over 50 clients. He is grateful to have the chance to bring this experience to serve you and the land that you love.
We are currently looking to work with new clients for 2025 in North Carolina and Virginia.
This can be life-changing work, so the more you make a place for it in your life, the deeper it will root!
Working With Us
Permaculture design can save you hundreds of hours of learning and thousands of dollars of expenses (plus a lot of lost time!) in maintaining systems that struggle against nature.
We offer 3 main ways of working together. If none of these meet your needs, you can contact us and we’ll do our best to work with your situation.
The most common way people work with us is to start with an on-site Permaculture consultation. Then, we recommend design work based on your land and goals.
Working Together
On-Site Permaculture Consultation
Inspiration, recommendations, and clear next steps for your land.
Walk your land with a Permaculture designer. Get inspiration, broad recommendations, and help with current challenges. End with clear next steps on how to begin.
- On-site consultation (3–4 hours)
- Get personalized Permaculture guidance on your own land
- 1-page summary including broad observations & best next steps to take right away
- 1 month of text / email support
- Additional design work available afterwards at our hourly rate
Custom Permaculture Design Work
Custom design support to help you meet your goals with land.
Receive custom plant lists, concept and detail sketches, seasonal plans and guides for working with land, or whatever most supports you in reaching your goals (examples).
- Design support from an experienced practitioner
- No one-size-fits-all expensive site plans – we listen to you and recommend what helps you most
- Clear proposal before work begins that respects your budget.
- Usually requires a site visit first to get to know your land.
Permaculture Land Coaching
Steady guidance and committed support for land transformation.
Reduce your overwhelm and have a clear focus each month. Receive steady support and guidance for your journey with land from an experienced Permaculture teacher.
- Work with an expert who understands you & your land
- Start with a clear vision from our Holistic Goal Setting process
- Monthly 1-hour call focused on supporting you to keep moving towards your goals for land
- Clear next steps each month
- 15% off workshops & design!
Need Help With Installation?
Though many of our clients prefer “DIY”, not everyone has the time or ability to do that! That’s why we also offer installation support for your Permaculture design at an hourly rate, including full design and installation for Food Forests.
We offer some specialized installation services (like earthworks) which can be very hard to find anywhere else. We also love to teach as part of our installation so that you or others can know why we do what we do and feel more able to do it yourself.
Ready to work together?
Why Work With a Permaculture Designer?
While each person’s situation is different, a lot of us face the same types of challenges in working with land. Here are some of the more common reasons people hire us.
Reduce the overwhelm of too much to do on land
We know working with land can be overwhelming! Our experience combined with the processes that Permaculture offers can help you focus on what needs to happen now and let go of the rest. Keep your relationship with land feeling like a blessing and not a burden!
After watching and reading a lot online, get real life clarity
Free information is great, but sometimes all those different sources contradicting each other can leave us more confused. We help you focus on what you need and know how to apply it directly to your situation.
Get another informed opinion to help check your decisions
Many of our clients already have real expertise and relationship with their land. They hire us because it helps to have another informed perspective. We almost always can make the plan a little better - and if not, confirmation that you're already on the right track matters too!
Learn a more earth-friendly way of tending land
We've worked with people with a background in conventional farming or gardening who know how to grow food but want to know how to grow without poisons, tilling, and harm to the earth. We can teach ways to apply Permaculture starting with what you know.
Get help with our specialty focus on perennials / food forests
Outside of Permaculture, it's hard to find experts on Food Forests, Fruit Trees, and other Perennial crops. We work with these plants every day and especially focus on ones relevant to the Southeast US.
Design help for gardens, windbreaks, earthworks, and more
Some clients already know they need help designing a garden, food forest, windbreak, rain garden, or other element of their land. We offer specific Permaculture design support for setting up these systems.
Take a big step to learn Permaculture for yourself
Permaculture has been a life path for Matt for almost a decade. Hiring a Permaculture designer to come to your land is a strong step towards learning this art yourself. Matt loves teaching and can be a great fit for someone hoping to learn this art for themselves.
What to Expect in a Permaculture Consultation
- 3-4 hour consultation on your land.
- We learn about you and your goals and vision for the land.
- We walk the land while observing, answering questions, and offering recommendations.
- We record video notes to inform our summary and any future design work.
- We follow-up with a 1-page summary including some best next steps to take this season.
- We share some applicable resources – for example, quick instructions for a simple garden or a list of local nurseries.
- In most cases, we propose additional design work based on your needs.
- We’re there for free brief email and text support for 1-month following the visit.
- We’re available for future visits or video “visits” to support you through the seasons.
Sometimes our clients know specifically what they’d like to focus on. In that case, we make sure to include time on those topics. To go into detail (like selecting precisely what plants go where or how to design the movement of water through the land), we’ll often recommend additional design work.
What to Expect From Permaculture Design Work
- We propose design work based on your goals and what’s possible for the land
- Each step comes with an hourly and cost estimate.
- Design work can be done over time. We’ll recommend the highest priority work first.
- When a given phase of design work is done, we’ll present it to you over video or in-person.
- For some work, like concept sketches, we can ask for feedback and offer design revisions.
- We only make design work as detailed as you need it to be to succeed. Often, a simple pencil sketch with few details is enough to begin (…and it takes time and costs less money)!
- If you’re working with landscapers or other people to install a design, we’ll make sure they have the detailed information they need to do it right. We’re also able to be on-site to supervise installations.
Some examples of what clients ask us to do:
- Garden and Food Forest designs
- Plant lists for an area
- Concept sketches illustrating possibilities for an area
- Holistic planning for the whole land
- Water designs for the landscape including earthworks
- Placement of major elements on the land (structures, fences, roads, etc.)
- Maps of wind, water, sun, shade, soil types
- A plan to support wildlife, reduce erosion, increase soil health
- Climate Change risk mitigation plans (wildfire, flood, drought)
- A guide for what to focus on in each season (1-5 years ahead)
- … whatever else you most need!
Let’s Work Together!
Travel Fee for Site Visits
We charge a small fee for travel based on your distance from our home in Floyd, VA or our second “home base” in Chapel Hill, NC. Please see map below:
Zone 0 – No fee for travel – Within 40 miles of Matt’s home in Floyd, VA.
Zone 1 (Red): $25 per visit
Zone 2 (Yellow): $50 per visit
Zone 3: (Blue): $75 per visit
Zone 4 (Outside these areas): Contact us to discuss pricing.
