Permaculture is the practice of designing and building sustainable human settlements that are truly sustainable. It’s a design system based on close observation of nature. Balanced ecosystems are extremely resilient to problems like pests, disease, drought, and even extremes of weather. A permaculturist tries to mimic this natural resiliency.

Permaculture can be as complex as planning a city or as simple as creating a place to grow food on an apartment balcony. At Grinning Jaguar, we specialize in home-scale permaculture.

Site assessment

Permaculture starts with observation. We’ll spend time getting to know the ecology of your site. For properties less than three acres, we can create a hand-drawn map, useful for site planning and to document your progress towards sustainability. And we can recommend projects that are the perfect fit for your site, your goals, and the cycle of seasons.

Project help

We can help you with projects like growing your own food, creating a composting system, and raising your own backyard flock of chickens.

Many companies advertise gadgets and tools for these kinds of projects, but their goal is really to sell you products. Most of these projects are easier (and less expensive!) than you might think. We’ll help you understand what to buy, and what you can make for yourself with inexpensive and recycled materials.

Whether you’re a renter with a small yard or a home owner with an orchard, we can help by providing recommendations specific to your situation.