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Spencer Nielsen

Spencer Nielsen is a guide to Nature inside and out, in the wild lands, gardens, and consciousness.  He is a permaculture designer and educator based in Fairfax, California.  He has studied Ecology, Environmental Education, and Eco-Social Design, as well as Permaculture, Yoga, Qigong, Ayurveda, Daoist medicine, and Planetary Herbalism.  With over a decade of experience farming, landscaping, and gardening, Spencer currently teaches permaculture at the Regenerative Design Institute in Bolinas.  He is a perennial student of herbalism and Ayurveda, currently with the East-West School of Herbology and the American Institute of Vedic Studies.  Spencer has worked on international projects helping to design farms and gardens in India, Myanmar, and Indonesia.  Yoga is foundational to his life path which includes guiding nature connection, ancestral skills, wilderness rites of passage, and sharing yoga and qigong along with Vedic and Daoist herbal wisdom.  A lover of life, Spencer maximizes his time at his half-acre homestead, where he tends his garden and enjoys drinking tea and playing music.

Upcoming Programs by Spencer Nielsen

Online - Vrksayurveda, Vastu Shastra, and Permaculture Design

February 10, 2025
6:30 - 8 pm PT | We'll explore foundational principles and practices within Vedic Sciences of Vrikshayurveda (Ayurveda for plants), and Vastu Shastra (the science of harmonious creation) in the application of gardening, agroforestry, and design.  Permaculture principles and practices will serve as a modern application of whole systems design from which we can integrate these Earth wisdom traditions as well as develop our own "elemental eyes" to see food, herbs, plants, and spaces with a fresh and ancient perspective. 

Online - Introduction to Permaculture Design

March 3 - 31, 2025
Mar 3, 17, 31 at 6pm-8:30pm, PST | This is a hybrid synchronous/asynchronous online class.  Upon registration, you will receive a link to the 10 class recordings from last year's PDC.  We'll also have 3 calls together, where we'll cover more content as well as have plenty of time for Q&A and any clarifications.  We will also begin by building the class container as a group for this hybrid course, knowing that some students will be coming for the April immersion to complete their Permaculture Design Certificate.  

Permaculture Design Certification

April 6 - 12, 2025
This course will follow the structure and content of internationally-recognized PDC's, while adding principles and practices of Yoga and Ayurveda. We will look to the roots of permaculture with Bill Mollison and David Holmgren as well as the application and influence it has had around the world.