My sister and I bought a beautiful piece of land in the wonderful country of Ecuador. Both of us, being rookies to the world of permaculture design, had no idea where to start. Luckily, one day, I came across a youtube video advertising the Oregon State University’s Permaculture design course. I was ecstatic having come across this course. I felt a sense of reassurance that taking a six month long course like this would be extremely valuable in the journey of permaculture design. It turned out to be even more valuable than I had originally thought.

I started the course, and was assigned my professor for the next six months, Javan Bernakevitch. To my surprise we are both living in Ecuador and originally from Canada! What a crazy coincidence; to be in a foreign country taking a permaculture design course and your professor is also there!

Over the next six months we were doing assignments, meeting in groups, discussing and learning the ins and outs of permaculture design. What a data dump of information that six months was. Javan had many insightful discussions with myself and the class over this time, which made comprehending this avalanche of information easier.

At the end of our six month permaculture design journey, it was time to put to practice on our land all that was learned. Javan really helped me throughout the course to make a workable and professional design. However, I still felt overwhelmed at the task of starting this permaculture farm from a completely raw piece of land.

This is when my sister and I decided to ask him if he would be willing to travel to our site and do some consulting in person. We came up with an arrangement, and before you knew it, Javan had showed up in the flesh on the coast of Ecuador. It was surreal to meet him in person after spending six months with him online.

He spent two days with us, and I can’t express enough how valuable those two days were! He made us feel comfortable about starting this project. He answered the entire mountain of questions we had, and guided us through everything we needed to do, in order to start things off on the right foot! Again, I can’t express enough the value of his visit. There was the knowledge value we gained as well as the savings in committing rookie errors. We would not have felt comfortable starting this project the way we did if Javan had never come.

I would highly recommend to anyone new to farming / permaculture design to not only take the permaculture design course that Javan is a part of, but also, to have him come to your site and assess it in person! You will save money in the long run, but more importantly he will give you the confidence and the knowledge to make sure you are doing things correctly. There is much room for error undertaking projects like this. Having Javan help you along the way is invaluable. And not only is he great at his job, but he is great to be around and has wonderful enthusiastic energy. You can tell he is very passionate about what he does, and the knowledge he brings to the table is vast! I implore people to consult with Javan if you need help and are feeling a bit overwhelmed with your farming project. My sister and I would love to have him back to the land one day. He is and will always be a part of our land. Without him, I honestly don’t know how things would have turned out.