For over twenty years Jason Gerhardt has professionally practiced and taught ecological design in diverse environments from the hyper-arid US Southwest to underserved neighborhoods in North St. Louis to a refugee community in Central America. Jason’s design portfolio includes academic campus planning, regenerative agriculture site development, organizational strategizing, farmer-accelerator program development, and extensive work with conservation organizations. Jason has taught thousands of students as a faculty member at multiple universities, the US EPA, and dozens of private and public institutions. A developer of land-based enterprises for ecological community development, he holds a BA in Sustainable Design from Prescott College, as well as a Permaculture Diploma in the fields of Site Design, Education, and Research from the Permaculture Institute, Inc., and a Permaculture Diploma in Education from Permaculture Institute of North America.

Jason is an outstanding vegetable grower using human-scale methods, an accomplished agroforestry systems designer, and a renowned ecological water management consultant, often combining all three of these specialties in the design of agroecosystems.

Jason serves as Co-Director of the Permaculture Institute, Inc., and founder of Real Earth Design. His emphasis is at the union of the natural world and human culture. A student of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh for over twenty years, he applies a keen awareness of ecosystems, society, and self to his transformative work connecting people to all life. He is a devoted husband, paddler, writer, and farmer. When not serving his students and professional community, he can be found joyfully immersed at innovative farms, mountain lakes, and cityscapes.