About Me
Thank you for visiting this website. I offer permaculture design consulting and teaching services in central Texas and New England. I also work in other locations by request. We currently winter in central Texas but I was born and raised in New England and spend as much of the summer as possible in C-MA and SE-MA. Besides being the lead instructor of the weekend permaculture design “commuter course” in Austin, Texas, I also teach several classes a year in New England.
My detailed Permaculture & Landscape Design CV appears below.
Websites to check for current activities: www.austinperm.com and www.citizengardener.ning.com
To contact me, email dickpiercedesigns AT gmail DOT com, or phone 512-992-8858.
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Dick Pierce’s Permaculture Introduction and Bio – My Permaculture Story – What’s Yours?
New England and [Upstate] New York (45 yrs)
-SE-Mass – through High School, College summers – worked on estates, farm, gardens;
Rural, small town, home gardens, woods, creeks; workers, trade folks
-W-Mass – William College for 4 years – local travel, hiking, camping, kayaking;
Berkshires, small towns, farms, local people
-Buffalo/Syracuse – wonderful wife, 2 children; vac. time in RI, SE-MA; farm,
grape/wine, dairy country, small towns, community
-[Summer visits to RI, SE-MA, MV while living in FL/GA (7 years)]
-Suburban CT – 10 years; gardens, trees, compost; boating; visits to RI, MV, SE-MA
Colorado (5 yrs) – UC-Boulder – American Indian Science & Engineering Society (AISES)
-AI Knowledge Conferences ‘w Vine Deloria, Jr, St-Rock Sioux – Stars, Plants, Animals.
–Traditional AI Agriculture project; extensive travel to NM, AZ, WA, MT, SD, NY.
- Permaculture; 2-week PC Design Course in San Lucas, Guatemala w’ Geoff Lawton
-A Sponsor of 1st Pueblo PC Course at Tesuque ‘w Thos Mack, Justin Willy, Navajo, of
Black Mtn. PC, and Clayton Brascoupe, Mohawk.
-Clayton formed TNAFA – Trad. Nat.Amer. Farmers Assoc. – annual Pueblo PC Course
-Coord. PC course at Pine Ridge, SD Res. with Geoff Lawton & Justin Willy -
Now small center for AI- PC gardeners at Sinte Gleska Tribal College.
-Wrote for Winds of Change mag. – AI Agriculture, AI Knowledge, AI Permaculture
-Started mail-order/web AI Book Catalogue – heavy on AI-Ag, AI Environ., PC titles
-Became a CO Master Gardener in Denver/Boulder; helped out on organic farm
-Continued summer visits to NE – RI, MV, Cape – began visits to S-NH & Trauger Groh
Texas (10 yrs) – Central TX – Austin
-Programs Officer – Amer. YouthWorks (AYW) – AmeriCorps/YouthBuild programs:
-Environmental Corps: young people doing parks, trails, environ. remed., learning PC
-Casa Verde Builders: over 90 new, energy efficient, 5-Star Green homes built by youth.
-Became a TX Master Gardener, TX Master Naturalist, Master Composter, Citizen
Forester; Design Certificate from Austin C’Coll.; now do PC consulting & design
-Founding Member off Austin PC Guild – Talks, Projects, Courses, AustinPerm listserv
-Guest teacher with Patricia Allison, veteran PC Teacher, formerly of Austin, a founding
member of Earthaven Eco-Village in NC; then formal, 2-yr apprenticeship with Patricia.
-Attended PC Teachers Conf., Earthaven, NC – worked with embryonic E-PC Tchrs Net.
-Frequent PC speaker: Gardeners, Green Building, Master Gard., Conferences around TX
-Teaching PC – 8 years: began with modules as apprentice, then 2-day Basics, then
weekend format 7-Day Fund’s., and 10-day Fundamentals/Design Course – last 3 yrs.
-Began Winter Series of Talks – 10 Wed. evenings – PC-related topics; next is 4th year.
-Retired from AYW – More NE/NH trips – NOFA Member/Conf., [PC Guild] listserv, etc.
-Co-Founder (Fall, 2008) of Austin Citizen Gardener, now a major part of the Local Food
Movement with over 300 CG-Bascis Gardening graduates doing and loving home gardens.
Current M.O./Plan
-Wintering/teaching in Austin, TX, increasing Summering/teaching in New England
-Focus is on E-MA, Boston, RI, MV, S-NH: Intro talks, Basics Courses (Boston – Fall
’07, Spring ’08; plan SE-MA – Fall ’08), Design Course in Sept, MV; spring ’09 S-NH).