A Permaculture Design Certification Course

Permaculture at Ruby Ranch

Learn Permcaulture through the seasons!

Learn permaculture in Asheville, North Carolina, with veteran teachers and a group that meets one weekend a month from April to October 2025. Whether you plan to use this knowledge for your career or in your personal life, you’ll acquire the skills to create self-sufficient ecosystems and sustainably manage the land. 

You’ll be part of a cohort of permaculture students dedicated to creating a better future for flood-ravaged Western North Carolina. Students can put their new land management skills to good use right away in a critical real-world situation while learning the principles of resilience and community preparedness. 

You’ll also gain:

  • An intimate relationship with nature

  • A deep understanding of how to read the landscape

  • Connection with a group of people who share your interests

  • Diverse experience with a variety of teachers and topics

  • Weekends in the retreat-like setting of a small rural far

Growing plants, harvesting new ideas, & cultivating new friendships

Join our 2025 cohort of students studying permaculture through the seasons at Ruby Ranch outside of Asheville, North Carolina. The class meets one weekend per month from April through October 2025. All classes meet in person, except for the hot months of July and August, when we will meet virtually. Master the principles and ethics of permaculture while also gaining an understanding of its social and interpersonal aspects.

In addition to learning the basics of permaculture, we will focus some of our time on the ecological restoration of areas that have been affected by Hurricane Helene while learning about the importance of intentional holistic design to make the landscape more resilient.  

This permaculture course is led by permaculture instructors Laura Ruby and Beatrice Nathan. Each weekend will also feature one or more expert guest speakers on topics such as growing food forest, medicinal plants, and water management. Additionally, we will be touring a number of farms and gardens in Western North Carolina.

Course Curriculum

This course will exceed the Permaculture Institute of North America’s 72-hour educational requirement to receive your Permaculture Design Certificate. We will cover the typical curriculum for a PDC while also including a lot of regionally specific content

  • Permaculture history, ethics, and principles

  • Repairing damaged landscapes

  • Native, perennial, edible, and useful plants

  • Disaster preparedness and mutual Aid

  • Growing food year-round

  • Soil health

  • Food preservation

  • Social and interpersonal permaculture

  • Race and agriculture

  • Water management

  • Animal systems

  • Forest systems

  • Contours, swales, earthworks

Topics will include:

A Special Opportunity in the Mountains

The mountains of Western North Carolina are one of the world’s biodiversity hot spots and provide a unique backdrop for this class.

The recent devastation wrought by Hurricane Helene has highlighted the weaknesses of modern development patterns and has opened opportunities for better systems to emerge. Working with plant and animal species to create landscapes and communities that can better withstand future catastrophes is urgent work. 

We invite you to help us work on this immense project while learning the principles of permaculture.

We will spend some of our time working on the ecological restoration of areas that have been affected by Hurricane Helene. Through this work we will also learn sustainable landscape design and discuss emergency preparedness and community resilience.

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.

Who is this class for?

This class is for you if:

  • You are ready to design an edible landscape for your home, workplace, school, or community

  • You believe in working with instead of against nature

  • You want to learn new skills that can be used in your career

  • You value having healthy food for your family

  • You want to be a force for good in the world

  • You are drawn to connect more deeply with people, plants, animals, and land

  • You want to learn how to repair damaged landscapes

  • You understand the need to be prepared for an emergency situation

This class is open to students of all skill levels and backgrounds, you don’t need to have any special skills or training ahead of time to benefit from taking this permaculture design course!

Beatrice Nathan

Class Facilitators

  • Beatrice understands her place in the world through studying natural systems. After purchasing her first home in 2015, she fell in love with the process of growing her own food and dove head first into learning everything she could about creating sustainable systems to feed her family.

    Through reading books, working with other gardeners, and diligent observation, Beatrice created an urban homestead oasis that brings immeasurable joy to her and her family.

    In 2022, she earned her permaculture certification from Wild Abundance and then later went on to receive her Masters of Sustainability Studies from Lenoir Rhyne University in 2023. Beatrice is passionate about working with new gardeners and helping them learn to make their gardening dreams a reality.

Laura Ruby

  • Laura received her permaculture certification in 2001 after studying at Crystal Waters Ecovillage in Australia. Upon returning to the states, she shifted her focus to Environmental Science and Education and the relocalization movement, which encouraged her to earn her Permaculture Teachers Certificate.  After working in renewable energy, green building and organic produce companies, she realized her love of gardening and working with children. She joined a local non-profit to design, install and teach K-5 outdoor education and gardening. It was during this time that she started YummyYards.

    Upon moving to Western North Carolina, she continued working with multiple non-profit organizations to build school gardens and promote edible plantings in Asheville. She also continued working with private clients through her company, Ruby Rose Landscaping, while continuing to teach permaculture and organic gardening.

    In 2014, she co-founded the Wild Abundance permaculture course. Later, she went on to open Ruby Ranch in 2022 where she combines her passion for horses, plants and people. The ranch is designed to be a welcoming space where all can learn about the natural world, connect with plants, and connect with each other.

    When working with Laura, you get a teacher who understands the ins and outs of the plant world and inspires you to tackle some of your bigger gardening and design goals.

Gigi White

  • Gigi (she/they) is a treeworker, gardener, bodyworker, childcare provider, and theater performer.

    She 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.

Guest Teachers

More guest teachers coming soon!

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.

Keri Evjy

  • Keri Evjy, Owner, Founder and CEO of Healing Roots Designis a creative entrepreneur, teacher, permaculture designer, author, artist and community revitalist, committed to the healing of people and planet.  She was named a Green Built Alliance Local Sustainability Leader in 2023. She empowers others to be proactive agents of social and ecological change, building resilience and beauty. Her forte is project management, planning and coordination, edible and medicinal plant consultation and installation, herbalism, social restoration systems, communication and connecting the dots. 

    Keri is also the Founder and CEO of Regenerative Life Design, LLC, and author of the Regenerative Life Design Playbook, which brings nature's principles to life design.

    Keri resides on a cooperatively owned homestead in the southern Appalachian mountains, in the unceded lands of the Eastern Band of the Cherokee.

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. 

Class Dates

Class Logistics

Wondering when and where we’ll meet? Here are some of the class logistics that will help you plan ahead for joining Permaculture at Ruby Ranch.

Session One: April 5th & 6th

Session Two: May 17th & 18th

Session Three: June 21st & 22nd

Summer hiatus: July & August - Individualized online design support

Session Four: September 6th & Seventh

Session Five: October 18th & 19th

Class Weekend Schedule

Weekend schedules will vary based on the topics we are learning, our expert instructors, weather conditions, planned field trips, and more. A detailed itinerary will be provided before the intensive begins each weekend. Below is a sample schedule.

Friday Afternoon & Evening:

Arrival, set-up, orientation or short class session

Saturday: 

  • 9 AM- 12 PM - Class time

  • 12-1 PM - Lunch

  • 1-5 PM - Class time

  • Evening - Optional social events

Sunday:

  • 9 AM - 12 PM - Class time

  • 12 - 1 PM - Lunch

  • 1 -4 PM - Class time

  • 4 - 5 PM - Departure

Ruby Ranch

Located in beautiful Candler, North Carolina, just 15 minutes outside of Asheville, Ruby Ranch is a developing permaculture demonstration site. With 360 degree mountain views, clear flowing creeks, adorable animals, and focused, passionate people, the ranch is a place where dreams really come true.

The Ruby Ranch address is 36 Kel-County Rd in Candler, NC. To get here, take the right hand fork of the driveway over the bridge and drive to the end

Food & Lodging

Tent camping is available at Ruby Ranch for no additional cost.

There will be a refrigerator and camp stove available for students to cook on-site.

Within a short drive of the ranch, there are ample hotels and Airbnbs available. If you are struggling to find accommodations, please reach out.

Asheville is known for its delicious restaurants and food trucks. Students will have time to go out to meals or cook at the ranch.

“Beatrice and Laura are full of knowledge and expertise in permaculture! This class will inspire and expand your knowledge in permaculture, gardening, and much more! The class is also great for asking individualized questions related to growing, and a great way to connect with like-minded people. The ranch is a wonderful shared space doing great things in the community. I highly recommend this invaluable class and look forward to attending future classes/events!”
— Alexa
“Beatrice was a wealth of information. She is extremely knowledgeable, approachable, organized and friendly. She listened to our hopes and plans for our property and quickly helped us organize our thoughts, put a plan in place and followed up with a detailed email for us to reference. Absolutely worth the investment!”
— Becky

Testimonials

“I took a permaculture class from Laura, and it was the life-changing experience that I was hoping for. She is not only extremely knowledgeable and passionate, but she’s a great teacher and listener.
If anyone wants to rethink or create their garden, farm, landscaping, or even their back patio, this is who I would recommend. You’ll end up with something you love, the knowledge to keep it going, as well as food, beauty, and a clear conscience because you’ll be supporting nature..”
— Coco

Payment Options

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. Because of this, we are offering sliding scale fees for enrollment in this permaculture design certification program as well as an optional payment plan.

If you can pay the higher tier, please choose that one. But if you need to choose a lower tier because of your economic situation, please do so. If you are called to learn permaculture design and the lowest tier is outside of your budget, then email us about scholarship options at beatricenathan@gmail.com.

Sliding Scale- Read through these options and choose the one that most closely fits your financial situation.

Uplift: $2000

  • I am comfortably able to meet all my basic needs

  • I may have some debt but it doesn’t prevent me from meeting my basic needs

  • I own my own home or rent higher-end properties

  • I am employed or don’t need to work to meet my needs

  • I have access to financial savings or family wealth in times of need

  • I have an expendable income

  • I can always afford to buy new items

  • I have reliable access to healthcare

  • I can afford multiple vacations and take time off for leisure

Standard: $1600

  • I may have stress about meeting basic needs but I still regularly achieve them

  • I may have some debt but it doesn’t stop me from regularly meeting my basic needs

  • I have daily reliable transportation

  • I am employed

  • I have access to healthcare

  • I have some expendable income

  • I am able to buy some new items and thrift others

  • I am able to take time for sickness or leisure and still pay next month’s bills

  • I can travel annually without financial burden

Community: $1100

  • I frequently stress about meeting basic needs and don’t always meet them

  • I have debt and it sometimes prevents me from meeting my basic needs

  • I rent lower-end properties or have unstable housing

  • I have limited access to transportation

  • I am unemployed or underemployed

  • I qualify for public aid including food assistance or healthcare

  • I am supporting children, elders, or other dependents

  • I rarely buy new items because I can’t afford them