Andrew Millison is the founder of Oregon State University’s Permaculture Design program where he has been an instructor since 2009. He has built a worldwide following through his multimedia storytelling and online educational programs. His popular YouTube channel, boasting of hundreds of thousands of subscribers and tens of millions of views, documents the most impactful ecological projects on Earth and presents them in both an artistic and technical manner. In recent years he has documented epic permaculture projects throughout India, Egypt, Mexico, Senegal, Spain, Cuba, and throughout the US. As a Permaculture designer, Andrew has designed and consulted on projects since the late 1990’s around the US and the world, specializing in large scale water design.
A life-long political activist and nature advocate, Lynda Mueller has been focused on Garry Oak savannah restoration of her 16 acres in Yamhill County since 2021. She is dedicated to outreach and education pertaining to water storage and retention within watersheds, small-scale food production, regenerative farming, wildfire mitigation, and habitat restoration. She was a founding partner of Social Venture Partners-Portland and served as an officer on the boards of Sunset Montessori School and Stafford Hills PTSA. She loves utilizing her passion for education, policy design and implementation, community building, and advocacy to inspire others. Lynda can think of no better use for her free time than spending it with animals and the Earth. Her dogs love to run the forest trails and to relax by the pond with her.
Tao Orion (she/her) is the author of Beyond the War on Invasive Species: A Permaculture Approach to Ecosystem Restoration (Chelsea Green Publishing, 2015), and "“People as Purposeful and Conscientious Resource Stewards: Human Agency in a World Gone Wild” in Rethinking Wilderness and the Wild: Conflict, Conservation, and Co-Existence (Routledge, 2020). Tao consults on holistic farm, forest, and restoration planning through her company Resilience Permaculture Design, LLC. She holds a degree in agroecology and sustainable agriculture from UC Santa Cruz, and a MSc degree in Climate Change, Agriculture, and Food Security from the National University of Ireland. She lives with her husband, two children, and an array of fruits, vegetables, seeds, nuts, and animals on her southern Willamette Valley smallholding, Viriditas Farm. She is an instructor and administrator in the Oregon State University Permaculture program.
Brenda Smola-Foti, a passionate artist turned farmer, draws from a rich upbringing in farming and ranching to weave generations of agricultural heritage into a sustainable venture emphasizing regenerative farming and water-retention permaculture. Together with her husband, they own and operate TabulaRasaFarms and TheGround, an integrated farm business fostering connections through farm, food and people in the Willamette Valley.
Julia Eden first discovered her deep love of nature in the forests of the Pacific Northwest. She now focuses on holistic land management as a landscape designer, consultant, and educator under the brand, Squatchberry. Specializing in native plant propagation and decentralized water retention, she devotes as much time as possible to her ongoing education of the natural world.
Heather Miller is all about connections and collaboration. As the lead of Community Engagement at The Ground and Tabula Rasa Farms, Heather works to build relationships with fellow farmers, community members and organizations to uplift agriculture and strengthen local food systems. Growing up on a small family farm, Heather was raised on grass-fed beef and truly believes that everyone should have access to nutrient dense foods grown and raised locally. In her spare time, Heather enjoys hiking, traveling and meeting new people. As a founding member of PLUG, she is excited for the potential to make change that will improve the quality of life for generations of Oregonians.
Megan Neary is dedicated to regenerating and reviving landscapes in harmony with nature. After studying Geology & Geophysics and working in an extractive industry, she shifted her professional focus to conservation, followed by farming. She began working with Elemental Ecosystems in 2019, where she learned to reshape the earth to positively influence the flow and infiltration of water worldwide. Megan serves as the Community and Workshop Manager with Water Stories and as the Operations Manager with Elemental Ecosystems.
Protégé of revolutionary Austrian farmer Sepp Holzer, Zach Weiss is the first person to earn Holzer Practitioner certification directly from Sepp - through a rigorous two-year apprenticeship working on projects in North America and Europe. After 10 years of building Water Retention projects for clients around the world, Sepp said that there “needs to be hundreds or thousands of Zachs working around the world, millions would be better!” In that moment, the idea of Water Stories was born; so that any professional, land steward, or concerned citizen can have the same positive impact on their waters and lands.
Don Tipping has been farming and offering hands on, practical workshops at Seven Seeds Farm in the Siskiyou Mountains of SW Oregon since 1997. Don is active in the Seed Stewardship movement and educates regionally on seed saving through the Seed Academy, the Student Organic Seed Symposium, Seed Schools and numerous conferences. He currently sits on the board of a new non-profit called Seeds of Light that is developing educational programs from Gap year students and workshops aimed at growing humans through their head, heart and hands.
Andy Fischer is the owner of Rogue Water Solutions and Sacred Earth Ecological Design and has been working as a landscaped contractor and permaculture designer in Southern Oregon for over 20 years. Andy is a trained ecologist and received a masters degree from University of Oregon and became particularly focused on water during the drought and shifting climate patterns. At Rogue Water Solutions we have been working on projects to help clients figure out creative ways to capture rainwater, irrigate more efficiently and create more water resiliency through better design.
Jarad Taillefer is a passionate restoration practitioner who strongly believes that educating and guiding people to connect with nature is the most crucial aspect of successful restoration work. Jarad came to the Willamette valley in the spring of 2020 in order to work with and learn from Zach Weiss, founder of Water Stories. Since then he has been developing his own business, Green Phase Environmental, specializing in Oak Savanna restoration, in-stream erosion mitigation/restoration, water retention landscape installation, natural spring development, trail and access building, and more. Jarad considers working with people to create sustainable and restorative landscapes an art, and he takes pride in his extensive knowledge, readiness to learn, and experience in bringing life back to places commonly unspoken for.
Jordan Hamilton is inspired to re-establish human connection to nature. As manager of Programming and Partnerships at the Ground, Jordan seeks to educate and empower individuals and groups to feel connected to their food, community, and ecosystem. For the past 5 years, Jordan has been pursuing his PhD in Positive Psychology, studying how humans and teams can thrive. In his spare time, Jordan enjoys hiking, backpacking, and cold plunging throughout the Pacific Northwest.
Sean Scorvo is a retired ER physician who recalled the healing power of the pre-industrial agricultural practices of his great-grandparents. Endeavoring to bring the the same benefits of what we now call “permaculture practices” to others, he and his wife Lainey started No Regrets Flower Farm and Sanctuary in Bellfountain, OR, for the commercial production of flowers, livestock, eggs, soldier flies, and compost mixed with a bit of goat yoga on the weekends.