Bio

Ken Benway

Ken became a permaculture designer in October of 2000 after training with Geoff Lawton and Bill Mollison in Minden, LA. He has a 30 year background in design engineering and related fields, as well as in rain catchment systems and water purification. He has studied and worked in Biodynamic Agriculture, Natural Building and Bioregional Planning for over thirteen years.

Ken’s passion for permaculture has been an inspiration to others. He has designed and implemented several permaculture projects in the Tampa Bay area, organizing the area’s largest permaculture network as well as the establishment of several other networks throughout Florida and Alabama.

In 2008, he cofounded The Permaculture Guild, an educational initiative, which sponsored its first Permaculture Design Certification Course at the site of the first “off-the-grid” Earthship in Manatee County, Florida.

Ken has recently returned from a seven month consultation with Grow Alabama in Birmingham, assisting farmers in the process of shifting to more sustainable and regenerative growing methods and increasing farmer’s crop diversity, production and economic viability.

Upon his return to the Tampa Bay Area, he has been primarily focused on building a stronger organizational foundation for The Permaculture Guild, allowing it to facilitate the rapid and dynamic growth of this educational and consultation focused organization.

Within the comprehensive realm of permaculture, Ken’s primary focus has been to develop of a series of watershed based bioregional permaculture design initiatives, starting with the Mississippi River Basin encompassing 37 states. In parallel with the Mississippi River Basin project, he has initiated 14 smaller scale bioregional design projects reflecting the14 primary watersheds in Alabama, which cover three additional states, including Florida. His long term vision is to see watershed based bioregional permaculture design projects established throughout North America and beyond.

Ken is also involved with other permaculture initiatives, including the establishment of a non-profit sister organization to The Permaculture Guild, currently involved in regenerative design initiatives and projects in both Haiti and the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. You may reach Ken by email at ken.arcadiandesign@gmail.com

Cory Brennan

Cory Brennan, permaculture designer, has worked in the fields of social justice and human rights for 20 years in the Los Angeles area. She has worked with a permaculture project at Crenshaw High School in Los Angeles, created food forests, and volunteered hundreds of hours planting, instructing and consulting with business organizations and other leadership in Los Angeles to make permaculture concepts more well known. She has taught permaculture in a number of US locations. She co-organizes a sustainability and resilience project at Pine Ridge Lakota reservation in South Dakota with the Oglala-Lakota Cultural and Environmental Revitilization Initiative. This project includes a “sustainability school” with permaculture as a core subject, a demonstration site which is in process of going fully sustainable and off-grid, and an economic revitilization project. She founded Create Clearwater (createclearwater.com), a grassroots effort to bring permaculture solutions and community resilience to citizens of Clearwater, FL. She organized a “sustainable” disaster response in Haiti and has continued to support projects in that country. Her areas of expertise and passion are food forestry, community building, and financial permaculture. You may reach Cory at cory8570@yahoo.com