Michael Pilarski

Michael has been one of the main permaculture teachers in the Inland Northwest over the past 30 years, including one in Spokane in 2012. His specialties include herb growing, sustainable wildcrafting, forestry, agroforestry and ethnobotany.

Michael Pilarski, has been making waves in the international ecosystem restoration and regenerative agriculture for decades. Michael is a regenerative farmer by trade, teaching hundreds through his example garden at Finn River Cidery in Chimacum, WA. His sustainable herb business, Friends of the Trees Botanicals, shares its name with Friends of the Trees Society, which he founded in 1978.

Since 1988 he has taught 36 permaculture design courses in the US and abroad. His specialties include earth repair, agriculture, seed collecting, nursery sales, tree planting, fruit picking, permaculture, agroforestry, forestry, ethnobotany, medicinal herb growing, hoeing and wildcrafting. He has hands-on experience with over 1000 species of plants. He is a prolific gathering organizer and likes group singing.

In 2019, Michael founded the Global Earth Repair Foundation and gathered over six hundred visionaries, activists, ecologists, indigenous leaders, farmers and other international way-showers to participate in a five-day conference in Port Townsend, WA. Having trained directly in the early days of permaculture with both Bill Mollison and David Holmgren, his permaculture knowledge is legendary, and he’s written voluminously on these and many other subjects. His article, A Carbon Sequestration Proposal for the World, outlines the effort needed to literally repair the Earth, complete with realistic proposals concerning budgets and man hours.

Michael Pilarski will attend the following breakout session(s):

Reduce Wildfire Hazard (Saturday 11:00am)
Bio-regional Planning (Sun. 2:00pm)

Maurice Robinette

I’m a third gen rancher located in the channeled scablands of southwest Spokane county. We have implemented and practiced holistic management on the ranch for 29 years. Alan Savory certified me to teach holistic management in 1999.
I’m a founding board member of Roots of Resilience, a 501 c 3 dedicated to improving the grasslands of the PNW.

Maurice Robinette will attend the following breakout session(s):

Regeneration (Saturday 11:00am)

Mary Bishop

Mary "discovered" permaculture about 10 years ago and decided, eight years later, to make permaculture design my new career, running her design business, "All Things Regenerative, LLC.

After teaching for 25 years in the public school system, She became a student again attending Oregon State University’s Permaculture Design Certificate Online Course.

She consults with clients/community gardens about yard, garden, and property design to regeneratively and sustainably grow food. She resides in Spokane, Washington and is creating her own urban food forest. Permaculture is fair share, earth care, and people care; all of which mesh with her core values.

Mary Bishop will attend the following breakout session(s):

Permaculture (Saturday 11:00am)
Bio-regional Planning (Sun. 2:00pm)

Chrys Ostrander

Greetings,

My name is Chrys Ostrander. I live and farm in far northeast Washington. The farm of 20 acres is known as the Bezaleel Israel Eco-Village and is nestled in a narrow valley on the southwest edge of the Selkirk Mountains. The valley floor is over 14 feet deep, a histosol soil type. Histosols are soils that are made up of mostly organic materials, such as fallen plant material, typically more than 20-30% by weight and are often called bogs, moors, peats, or mucks. (nrcs.usda.gov) It is extremely rich topsoil. One of our challenges as we design and implement a permaculture design for the property is to initiate and maintain practical approaches to food, fiber and energy production that do not mine that organic matter in an extractive, ultimately exhaustive manner but instead to become partners with the natural processes that produced the abundance in the first place and have that be one facet of the regeneration agenda we practice here.

Another challenge we are facing is how shall we create a small village populated by a community of friends whose mission is to joyfully maintain and implement the permaculture design for the property for at least the next seven generations. To that end we are struggling against the fierce wind of colonial land laws, plotting out a course between the rocks and the shoals in the form of legal documents that attempt to assemble, as much as it is 'allowed,' a non-hierarchical, horizontally-governed independent society of land stewards (not 'land owners' which we find to be an illogical abstract delusion among the ruling elite and the root of much injustice). We are perusing a course that is inspired as much by the Community Land Trust model (see https://centerforneweconomics.org/?s=%22community+land+trust%22) as by the Hippie Back-to-the-Land movement of the early 1960's (see https://saradavidson.com/open-land-getting-back-to-the-communal-garden/ - Our tea leaves telling us we're due for another one of those as the global polycrisis continues to unfold). We think our approach to village-building is worth experimenting with and we hope we are successful enough that others could model their approaches to living on the planet permaculturally on our model. We are still very early in the process.

Of course, access to land is fundamental to the application of permaculture by those who would steward that land that way, but the cost of land, an ever diminishing, ever more in demand resource in a world of rising population and widening income inequality, will only climb farther and farther beyond the reach of those prospective stewards who by and large would qualify as "the meek" who are prophesied to inherit the Earth. That is my wish too: That those who have the will to steward land permaculturally (and can prove it over time) will inherit it (or expropriate it, but certainly not be coerced into paying for it) for as long as the culture of stewardship is passed from one generation to the next with benefits flowing not only to the land stewards but to the communities surrounding them. Parcel by parcel. Imagine the suspension of colonial zoning regulations (under which most permaculture eco-village plans would be deemed illegal) once an eco-village has presented a plan to the electeds showing how their village will not add extra strain to public utility systems, will not pollute the water or air (quite possibly improving air and water quality), will have a comparatively very light carbon footprint (contributing more to climate mitigation than to climate warming) and could become a valued source of locally-grown, permaculturally-grown food, fiber and medicine for their greater communities steadily into the future.

A resident of Washington since 1990, I have been active in sustainable agriculture and permaculture circles. I earned a Permaculture Design Certificate in 2012 during the first ever permaculture design course held in Spokane that was instructed by Michael “Skeeter” Pilarski. For nearly two decades I had a micro-farm, homestead and permaculture project located at corner of an 80-acre parcel that is part of the 280-acre Tolstoy Farm intentional community in Mill Canyon, near Davenport, Washington. Before that I worked on an organic collective farm north of Santa Cruz, CA after five years with a workers' collective organic produce distribution operation there and before that, in the late 1970's, I lived and worked at a communal organic, whole foods bakery in the state of Maine.

Current:
Farmer at BZ Permaculture Farm Collective, a WA mutual benefit non-profit farm
Secretary at Permaculture Conservation Trust
Convener at Spokane Farmland Preservation Working Group
Newsletter Publisher at Inland FoodWise Online
Past:
President 2021-22 at Spokane Food Policy Council
Caretaker at Heartsong
Grand Fromage and Chief Bottle Washer at Chrysalis Farm at Tolstoy
Executive Director and Farm Manager, Pine Meadow Farm Center in Cheney, WA, non-profit educational farm
Marketing Committee Chair, Washington Sustainable Food and Farming Network
Board Member, Spokane Farmers' Market
Board Member, Tilth Producers of Washington
Board Member, Spokane MarketPlace
Member, Organic Matters Produce Collective
Tofu Maker, Clearway Tofu, Santa Cruz, CA
Baker, Gelpe's Old World Bakery, Minneapolis
Field Technician, AMAX Environmental Services Group, Babbit, MN
Project Manager, Rene Dubos Center for Human Environments, Queens, NY
Baker, Sunflour Communal Bakery, Bar Harbor, ME
Studied Human ecology at College of the Atlantic
Studied Political Science/Environmental Science at University of California, Santa Cruz

Chrys Ostrander will attend the following breakout session(s):

Increase Local Food Production (Saturday 11:00am)
Access to Land (Sun. 2:00pm)

Kathryn Alexander MA

Kathryn is a consultant, author, educator, and expert in ethics, systems thinking and change. Kathryn’s shift to nature as the expert, provided a strong framework for effective and harmonious change, in sync with nature – the largest system. The discovery of the biotic pump and the meta crisis we are facing, drove Kathryn to shift her focus into the education and application of this new systems understanding of how rain is formed and how the planet has been cooling itself since the beginning.

Kathryn Alexander MA will attend the following breakout session(s):

Regeneration (Saturday 11:00am)
Bio-regional Planning (Sun. 2:00pm)

Danielle Harris-Reimers

Danielle Harris-Reimers is a Cycle Alchemist and embodiment guide weaving regenerative wisdom through the body’s natural rhythms. She supports women and families in aligning with the lunar and solar cycles as a path to resilience, sovereignty, and sustainable living. Through her work at Womb Wise, Danielle bridges inner healing with permaculture principles — reminding us that true regeneration begins within. Connect with her work on Instagram @womb_wise_women_.

Unfortunately, Danielle is unable to attend the Symposium. She has, however, provided the following information. Please follow the link.

Tending the Inner Ecosystem: Regeneration at the Margins with Danielle Harris-Reimers

https://spokanepermaculture.org/tending-the-inner-ecosystem

Danielle Harris-Reimers will attend the following breakout session(s):

Permaculture (Saturday 11:00am)

Molly Quade


Molly Quade- Bio

Molly Quade graduated from Washington State University in 2023 with a Bachelor's degree in Agricultural Education. During her undergraduate studies, she worked in the Hopkins Lab on a project in collaboration with Fungi Perfecti, investigating the role of Reishi mushroom extract in enhancing honey bee immune systems. This experience sparked her interest in mycology and insect-fungi relationships. Now a graduate student at WSU, Molly is researching the use of Metarhizium and other entomopathogenic fungi in honey bee Integrated Pest Management, focusing on developing fungal strains for Varroa mite management and examining additional hosts for these fungi. She plans to continue her research in mycology, with the long-term goal of advancing the uses of fungi in sustainable agriculture.

Molly Quade will attend the following breakout session(s):

Community Gardens and Food Forests (Saturday 11:00am)
Soil Health (Sun. 2:00pm)

Heather Matthias

Heather Matthias is the founder and director of Common Ground Spokane, a nonprofit that helps schools design, build, and manage community gardens and food forests on their campuses. With a background in real estate, community organizing, and a lifelong love of plants, Heather brings a systems-thinking approach to schoolyard transformation—rooted in equity, ecology, and education. Her work is fueled by big questions: How do we equip our communities for an uncertain future? How can the built environment be a tool for justice? And how can we make neighborhood landscapes both more beautiful and more resilient? Heather lives in Spokane Valley with her family, where she’s been raising kids, growing gardens, and dreaming big about what’s possible in public spaces.

Heather Matthias will attend the following breakout session(s):

Community Gardens and Food Forests (Saturday 11:00am)
Soil Health (Sun. 2:00pm)

Taylor Birdtail

Taylor Birdtail (Aaniiih & Cree) works at the intersection of land, language, and restoration. As Climate Justice Program Director at The Lands Council, Taylor leads community-rooted initiatives that blend Indigenous knowledge systems with environmental education, ecosystem restoration, and green infrastructure. They are also the founder of RedUrban, a nonprofit that revitalizes Indigenous language and culture through grassroots programs, curriculum design, and intergenerational learning.

With over 15 years of experience, Taylor’s work bridges cultural revitalization with climate resilience—centering healing, place-based knowledge, and sustainable futures. Their approach to permaculture is shaped by ancestral values of stewardship, responsibility, and deep relationality with land and community.

Taylor Birdtail will attend the following breakout session(s):

Community Gardens and Food Forests (Saturday 11:00am)
Access to Land (Sun. 2:00pm)

Johnny Edmondson

Johnny Edmondson leads Growing Neighbors and lives in Spokane with his wonderful wife and 2 daughters and enjoys connecting with others while being active outdoors, eating, and dreaming about better ways of doing life. Growing Neighbors started in 2016 as an experiment and continues to evolve as we collaborate with a wide variety of community partners to help neighbors of diverse backgrounds grow and share healthy food and relationships. We seek to embody love in local neighborhoods by increasing equitable food access, reducing waste, and cultivating communities that treat every member of the environment more like family.

Johnny Edmondson will attend the following breakout session(s):

Community Gardens and Food Forests (Saturday 11:00am)

Gregg DePonte

Gregg is a part Native Hawaiian first generation farmer in Colville, WA who has been interested in the connection of how agriculture, environment, economics, social, and health interact. His farm, Ola Aina Farms, focuses on pastured based pork fed non-sprayed grains and rotationally grazes sheep and beef cattle on pastures intentionally planted to maximize species diversity.

Gregg DePonte will attend the following breakout session(s):

Regeneration (Saturday 11:00am)
Soil Health (Sun. 2:00pm)

John Hancock

John Hancock’s PFAS activism began in the fall of 2022 when a neighbor sought advice about Air Force PFAS water trouble. He’s a member of Fairchild’s Restoration Advisory Board, and lives nearby in the forested Deep Creek Canyon on Spokane’s West Plains. He and his wife Jane practice beginner permaculture on their 10 acres, including a HipCamp glamping operation, modeled originally on the practices and idealism of Heartsong.
John is the founder and President of the West Plains Water Coalition, a grassroots neighhborhood non-profit, educating and advocating for clean drinking water on Spokane's West Plains. Beyond investigations underway at Fairchild AFP and Spokane Airport, biosludge from municipal water treatment is the latest revelation in the 55-year history of local PFAS contamination. Details of that work appear at www. westplainswater.org

His non-profit executive leadership and consulting career included projects funded by the Arts Councils of Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, California, and Washington, National Endowment for the Arts, WA State Capital Funding; National Trust for Historic Preservation, HUD, USDA, City of Spokane, and Spokane County.

Since 1980, his topic endeavors include symphony orchestras and opera, public housing, Main Market Coop, Boy and Girl Scouts, veterans with PTSD, music lessons for incarcerated teens, homelessness, tattoo removal for former gang members, Smart Justice, health care, biofuels, hospice, farmers market and community gardens, acoustics and theater renovation (Spokane’s Fox Theater), real estate development, digital CRM design in ticketing and fundraising, iTunes music distribution, and a health clinic in Tanzania. His Deep Creek Consulting served 50+ non-profit organizations in Eastern Washington and North Idaho in project development, grantwriting and fundraising, strategic planning, executive search, and governance.

John Hancock will attend the following breakout session(s):

Regeneration (Saturday 11:00am)
Bio-regional Planning (Sun. 2:00pm)

Bridgette O Lambson

My name is Bridgette Lambson I was born in a small town in eastern Arizona, however, I have spent the majority of my life in the PacificNorthWest. I am the founder of the BGRCRC a Private Members Associative Network looking to expand the territory, by Building Grass Roots, &, Creating Rural Connections. I am excited to ignite the Ember that starts this Journey into a healthy sustainable Future. I am looking forward to sharing my knowledge, &, experience with each of you, as we build our Cooperative Networking Systems beyond the PacificNorthWest.

Bridgette O Lambson will attend the following breakout session(s):

Community Gardens and Food Forests (Saturday 11:00am)
Watershed Health (Sun. 2:00pm)

Craig Madsen

Craig Madsen
509-990-7132
Craigmadsen.consulting@gmail.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/cemadsen/
https://integritysoils.com/pages/create-fellowship-coaches

Craig has over 30 years’ experience focusing on ecosystem management issues. For the last 20 years he has owned and operated Healing Hooves with his wife Sue Lani, a vegetation management business using goats. Craig is on the Board of Directors of Roots of Resilience, a non-profit, that works on regenerating grazing lands through educational workshops and the teaching of Holistic Management. He graduated from Nicole Masters CREATE Coaching Program in April 2022. The CREATE Program is a deep dive into soil ecology, the interrelationships between plants, soil biology and ecosystem function. He is currently a CREATE Fellowship Coach. He is a Certified Educator in Holistic Management with the Savory Institute since 2001. He was a Range Management Specialist with the USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service for 14 years from 1989 to 2002.

Craig Madsen will attend the following breakout session(s):

Reduce Wildfire Hazard (Saturday 11:00am)
Soil Health (Sun. 2:00pm)

Alex Machado

Alex Machado lives and farms in Edwall, Washington, where she raises Navajo Churro sheep as the operator of Sundog Sheep Company. She serves as the Farmer Collectives Manager on the Farm to Farmer team at Washington Farmland Trust, supporting collaborative land access and farm viability across the state. Alexandra co-facilitates New Cowgirl Camp, a five-day ranching intensive for women focused on regenerative agriculture and holistic management. She also serves on the Board of Roots of Resilience and Hunters of Color, organizations dedicated to ecological stewardship and equity in land-based traditions.

Alex Machado will attend the following breakout session(s):

Access to Land (Sun. 2:00pm)