Our Story

In 2010, the Shenandoah Permaculture Institute began as an idea that sprung up from a conversation between Dr. Ted Butchart and Ryan Blosser.  Their friendship spilled over from of a Permaculture Design Course that Ryan took through the New Community Project in Harrisonburg, VA. The course was led by Adam Campbell and Meghan Williamson, with Ted as a guest instructor.  Throughout the course, Ryan and Ted found themselves engaged in conversations around how Permaculture can impact human health through smart design.  Their dialogues continually spiraled back to the fascinating observation that Permaculture tends to be, as Ted would say, “a collection of competencies.” As their friendship grew, they kept returning to the idea of strengthening the approach to the human element in Permaculture. 

Fast forward 2 years later:  Ryan was now working as Executive Director of Project GROWS in Augusta County, VA and was interested in training the Project GROWS farm manager in Permaculture.  As we've all heard, necessity is the mother of all invention, and the need for local Permaculture training soon evolved into Ted and Ryan co-leading their first course together in Staunton, VA in the Spring of 2012.  From the beginning, the goal of this teaching team has been to grow more Permaculture educators, and so even in this first iteration of the course, a teaching apprenticeship was created.  Enter Trevor Piersol.  As he stepped into the role of apprentice, his talent, enthusiasm, and knowledge was immediately apparent.  As a native Virginian with a wealth of local knowledge and hard skills, Trevor shone as a natural teacher with a sturdy presence.  At the end of the course, Ryan, Ted and Trevor decided to launch the partnership of the Shenandoah Permaculture Institute.

Finally, in the fall of 2015 Emilie Gooch Tweardy, then new to Virginia, reached out to SPI to inquire about strengthening her Permaculture training, experience, and community.  As it happened, another PDC was being offered soon after her inquiry.  The SPI team was so excited about Emilie’s enthusiasm that they offered her the Teaching Apprentice role in the upcoming course.  During the PDC, it became apparent that Emilie's ease of communication, honed leadership abilities and grasp of complex animal systems added to the dynamic of the team and fit in well with the spirit of feedback and collaboration.  Although she'd intended only to dabble with teaching, she immediately felt a strong connection to the work, and quickly expressed her interest to continue teaching with the SPI team.  Late in 2015 she was invited into a full SPI partnership.

Currently, the team is thrilled to be teaching and learning together throughout a variety of workshops and courses.  They are proud to be teaching at an array of venues, from private institutions, to University sponsored courses, to farm-based intensives.  They continue to focus on the original theme of improving coverage and understanding of the human sector in Permaculture instruction, as well as offering teaching apprenticeships that help to inoculate communities with competent, talented teachers.