Growing Resilience in Uncertain Times

In 2018, I developed acute tendinitis in both of my hands and wrists. I couldn't do much (as a result of doing way too much!). It was hard. Having to pause much of my busy life while healing my hands, I turned to researching other ways of working the land, growing food and being in community. Having been surrounded by permaculture from a few different angles, I ended up on a deep dive into the body of knowledge that would then inspire my way forward. 

For me, permaculture, which owes its roots to indigenous ways of being on this planet, is all about cultivating symbiotic relationships, working smarter not harder and becoming a co-creator of a regenerative world. Which brings me to a beautiful permaculture design course that I'll be offering alongside my original permaculture instructor, Charles Williams, starting September 20th. 

Charles Williams brings a wealth of experience and knowledge: he knows the science and theory like the back of his hand and has extensive land stewarding, community building and teaching experience across the United States and now in Mi'kma'ki. I continue to learn from him as we've explored ways of teaching together over the last couple of years. Me, I bring my local experience as a homesteader, busy mom, permaculture designer, and community organizer, sharing mistakes made, lessons learned and permaculture in action through:

• Establishing a rural Nova Scotia / Mi'kma'ki homestead-scale food forest with integrated systems to feed my family, the pollinators and my spirit
• Establishing the Scotsburn Community Food Forest project with community members and the elementary school next door
• Wild nut orchard land management case study
• Growing year-round in an unheated greenhouse in Nova Scotia 
• Setting up a micro community seed bank and micro permaculture nursery
• Supporting clients' perennial yard projects
• Designing and supporting school food forests and gardens
• Organizing climate action campaigns to protect wild spaces 

Far more than a way to design perennial gardens, this PDC is a portal into so much more. The knowledge, insights, and relationships gained can certainly inform food production, but it can also lead to earth healing, community organizing, organizational growth, city/town planning, a quiet deepening into the natural world, expansive opportunities for change and everything in between!

Times are uncertain. This journey will be a grounding touchstone where resiliency, reciprocity and learning will weave us together, lift us up and inspire us to move forward in powerful ways that serve our souls, our human and more-than-human communities and our planet.

I'm grateful to report that my tendinitis was such a huge teacher and that, through a long healing process, they work beautifully again today. 

Read on for details on our upcoming Permaculture Design Course that begins September 20th: 

A 2026-2027 Permaculture Design Certificate course in Truro, NS

Our 2026-2027 Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) course is an ecological intensive that combines theory and hands-on learning with a grounding in spirit and a focus on social justice.  This course will help you build practical skill in sustainable design, earth healing and gain the tools to regenerate land and community.

We use a diverse set of teaching tools that encourage experiential and participatory learning. By combining theory with practice, lectures with hands-on projects, and science with spirit we will prepare ourselves for an uncertain future and have lots of fun doing it! We will challenge the current paradigm, while exploring ways to advocate for, and create a culture of sustainability, compassion and equity.

• Location: Truro Farmers Market, Truro, NS Canada
  
• Dates: Sept 20th, 2026 – June 13th, 2027
• Time: Sundays 9am - 4pm once-a-month, with one weekend intensive May 15 & 16, 2027 at Back Road Farm & Forge
• Attend all the sessions and complete final design project to earn a Permaculture Design Certificate or attend selected classes for personal growth/targeted learning.
  

Payment

• Full Certificate Tuition: $140/month ($1400 total)
• Individual Class Tuition: $75 for a single Sunday session, $450 for May weekend.
• We are dedicated to making our courses accessible. If you cannot afford the tuition but want to attend please contact us.
• Scholarships available for Indigenous People and People of Color. More details.
• All amounts in CAD
  
  What is permaculture?
  
  To Register: https://earthactivisttraining.org/pdc-nova-scotia/
  Questions: raina.mcdonald@gmail.com
  
  
  Meet Your Teachers
  

Charles Williams (he/him) is Earth Activist Training’s program director.  A long-time permaculture educator and certified permaculture designer, Charles comes to Earth Activist Training through a love of the wild, faith that healthy communities can solve complex problems, and a belief that working with one’s hands is sacred work.

Over the past thirty years, he has stewarded many pieces of land, including Diana’s Grove in Missouri, Farm & Wilderness summer camp in Vermont, and Starhawk’s Golden Rabbit Ranch in California. His approach simultaneously promotes both the preservation of wild spaces and conservation of the domestic.

His deep respect for and relationship with the divine in nature informs all he does, integrating spiritual practices with land management. Charles also understands the need for healthy community and knows that skilled human implementation is an essential part of any design. In these challenging times, he finds hope for the future through the interlocking, symbiotic relationship of spirit, community, and action.

As an accomplished tinkerer, Charles brings a wide range of practical and somewhat obscure hand skills. He has installed complex systems such as solar electric arrays, gray water filters, and veggie oil diesel conversions. He has implemented simple systems such as emergency water filtration, humanure composting toilets, and rotational grazing plans. He is talented in wilderness tracking, solo canoeing, gathering and tending wild edibles, starting fire by hand, and mapping. He loves to work with his hands, whether he is tanning hides or repairing a generator, and this love is reflected when he teaches EAT’s hands-on segments.

Charles believes that no problems are unsolvable as long as we work together to develop and implement our plan effectively, and honor the holy in our work.

Raina McDonald is an artist, yoga instructor, grower, and climate activist focused on permaculture design, land stewardship, and seed saving. She co-owns Back Road Farm & Forge with her husband, blacksmith Ruben Irons, where regenerative homesteading meets the ancient craft of ironwork. Guided by ancestral ways of living in relationship with the land and each other, her work spans community building, placemaking, and cultivating food sovereignty.

Raina is the founder of the Scotsburn Community Food Forest, an edible and medicinal hub for intergenerational knowledge sharing and resiliency, and a founding member of the Pictou County Seed Collective. As a certified permaculture designer, she has supported schools, public spaces and land owners with edible landscaping and ecological design.

She has experience in the non-profit sector, helping to build a provincial network of school gardens by developing resources, expanding infrastructure, and strengthening capacity for garden leaders. Her teaching and facilitation empower people of all ages to connect with food systems, and she envisions edible forest gardens as a natural part of every schoolyard and public space.

Raina and her family steward and protect 150 acres of Wabanaki Forest, wild blueberries, and edible forest gardens in Mi’kmaw’ki/Brookland, Nova Scotia.