Instructors
Larry Santoyo
Founder of the Permaculture Academy and lead instructor. He has been a teacher and practitioner of Permaculture Design for the 28+ years and spent over a decade studying and teaching with Bill Mollison. He has taught environmental design at colleges and universities nationwide, including UC Berkeley, UC Santa Cruz, Evergreen College, CSU Northridge, and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.
Elijah Santoyo
Eli is the Director of the Permaculture Academy and the President of Earthflow Designs. He was raised on a farm in Stevens County, WA. He attended California Polytechnic San Luis Obispo and majored in Economics and Psychology with specializations in Macroeconomic, Psychoanalysis and Experimental Design.
Eli is a professional chef and trained as an apprentice under Master Toshi Suigara in Japanese cuisine and as a sake sommelier. He spends his free time walking the earth.
John Valenzuela
John is a permaculture designer, consultant educator, and rare fruit aficionado. John has taught extensively throughout the Hawaiian Islands and has also been a lead instructor at the Bullock Family Permaculture Homestead on Orcas Island, Washington. His special expertise is in traditional agriculture, plant propagation, and ethnobotany.
Scott Pitman
Scott is one of the foremost teachers of permaculture in the US. He has taught the subject extensively worldwide on four continents and is the founder of the Permaculture Drylands Institute and co-founder of the Permaculture Credit Union.
Scott co-taught with Bill Mollison, and helped to establish permaculture movement in the Southwest. His experience includes working with indigenous and traditional people worldwide, design projects that range from backyards to thousand-acre farms and activism in promotion of sustainable living.