Western North Carolina Land Architect
Licensed Landscape Architect in North Carolina. Offers residential, agricultural, and commercial site planning and design for new construction and renovations. Focused in Off-Grid Living, Homestead Design, Regenerative Agriculture, and Permaculture Design using low-cost construction materials and methods.
Services
WNCLA's goal is to deliver the exact product the client is looking for - from the idea to construction. Our services can begin as early as project realization. We can workshop different ideas with you, we can even help with site selection. And once engaged, we can work with you all the way through the construction process until the design is realized in reality.
Although we are flexible to work with the client in many different ways, below is a typical step by step process we can engage with our clients (starting from left to right).
Why are we here?
Sustainability
I originally came from the real-estate development world. Technically, my job title was a landscape architect. I liked that position because it was advertised to me as the combination of ecology, economy, and culture. All expressed through design. While that sounds nice and all, it quickly morphed into something more profit-driven that I feel I didn't necessarily sign up for.
We worked for real estate developers, who (not to their own fault, just the nature of the business) were easily persuaded to "cut" the environmentally friendly and/or morally right thing out of the project to widen profit margins. That was usually the first thing that would be "value engineered". And while there are many great landscape architects in that industry, who produce great work, I felt that there were no contributions being made for the betterment of the environment. No progress towards a solution for environmental degradation.
At the end of the day, I would always look to my superiors for guidance on this situation. After all, the landscape architecture industry always touted themselves as "the stewards of the environment". At every firm I worked, I received the same response: "We are going to do what our client asks us to do, because he pays our bills". After a couple years of banging my head against the wall, frustrated with the response, even I began to, unintentionally, parrot this as well to the younger people in our firm. There is ultimately no way around the fact that you are going to do what your client says. No matter how bad it is for the environment, no matter how costly it may be in permitting fees, you are ultimately at the will of your client. I've even been told to my face, "shut up and draw it".
​
So as I am only human, I began to look for other avenues to scratch my sustainability itch. And that is where I found regenerative agriculture.
​
Regenerative Agriculture
I first heard about regenerative agriculture from the Savory Institute. As I understand it, without being too technical, regenerative agriculture focuses on using animal impact in farming techniques to grow the top soil and provide resources to the community. In conventional agriculture practices, tilling the soil and the uses of pesticides/herbicides/insecticides degrades the organic matter in the soil. This type of agriculture has been used for so long, that we are on track to loosing top soil entirely. And no top soil means no crops, which means no food. Regenerative agriculture provides the best of both worlds: higher ecological/sustainable health, while creating higher profits margins for local farms.
Furthermore, the Savory Institute has created scientific, low-cost protocols that actually monitor the short term and long term health of farms. That way farmers/landowners can use data from these protocols to make informed decisions on to how they can make their farms more sustainable. This is extremely significant because its is very rare for "sustainable" programs/certifications in the industry to actually document the results of their protocols. Its about time we start to hold these "sustainable claims" by corporations/industries accountable. Many companies who tout themselves as green and sustainable but they rarely turn out to actually be that sustainable. In reality, its more of a marketing campaign than anything.​
​
Lastly, the incentives to be more sustainable is actually there for farmers and producers. Its logical for farmers to want their operations to be sustainable. The longer one's farm can produce quality product, the longer you can count on it for income. Its common that farms are passed down from one generation to another. Why wouldn't you want to put your farm in a position to produce quality products for as long as possible? Don't you want your children to able to thrive as future producers in America?
​
In the end, on my pursuit to sustainable design, I've found a place where you can not only help the environment, but you can help people improve their agricultural enterprises, and their overall quality of life. Whether its a homestead, a farm, or even a backyard garden, reach out and we can talk about how to improve your operation.
​
​
​
​​
The Boards
Agricultural History
We can look back at agriculture and understand that's its been synonymous with human existence throughout time. Ever since we learned how to domesticate animals (chickens, cows, turkey's, etc.) we've been able to sustain ourselves as a population, and establish some form of food security. No more cavemen and nomads. Only since the middle of the 20th century (I believe, and could be wrong), that we have seemed to distance ourselves from food production. It used to be such a common thing for every human to interact with their food, or just have some relationship or connection with it. That connection has seemed to fray in today's society and I'm curious to look back and see how it all unraveled. Because I could be writing about this for the rest of my life (if I'm not careful), I'm going to pick an arbitrary point in history that makes sense to me, to begin to examine our agricultural history from there. And what better way to start, than with the Stock Market Crash of 1929.