Designer, Consultant, Educator

Neil Bertrando currently resides in Reno, Nevada, USA, and is a permaculture consultant, designer, and educator. He has lived and worked in the humid tropics, dry tropics, dry temperate and humid temperate climates. He has an MS in Environmental Science and Health from University of Nevada, Reno, where his research focused on effects of the urban corridor on stream health. His experience has oscillated from academic research to field studies to farm management.

Some experiences on his journey include 1) Managing a 10 acre Permaculture orchard in Puna, Hawai’i, 2) Developing sub-urban and peri-urban Permaculture projects in Reno, NV, 3) Conducting wildlife, soil and vegetation surveys and compiling baseline environmental impact reports, 4) Conducting ecosystem surveys of Mangroves in Pacific Mexico and small streams in the Hoh Rainforest in Washington State, 5) Trialing swales, Keyline pattern cultivation, windbreaks, contour tree belts, and Soil Food Web applications for biocide-free invasive weed management and non-irrigated restoration in the high desert ecosystems, 6) Trialing perennial crops and crop systems in the Great Basin 7) Working with Loping Coyote Farm running a small scale nursery 8) Working with Mindful Generations to do teaching and aid work in Haiti, and 9) Working with Dryland Solutions on creek restoration and erosion control.

He teaches Permaculture and Keyline Design courses and enjoys teaching collaboratively. He is currently partnering with Urban Roots (www.urgc.com) to develop an AgroEcology training program for young farmers land managers.

He is passionate about Permaculture, people, plants, water, soils, collaboration, and socio-ecological processes. His current focus is on continual education and hands-on training through a combination of traditional academics, workshops, site development, demonstrations, and mentor-apprentice relationships. As a life-learner, he strives to gain experience in many aspects of Agroecology, Permaculture, and Land Management and is looking to partner with and mentor under other passionate and experienced Permaculturists, Holistic Managers, or socio-ecological systems thinkers.

Farm Road Stream Crossing references

a compilation of references on farm roads focusing on stream crossings

Irrigation Polypipe suppliers

3/4" -2" and larger polypipe and HDPE pipe for farm and homestead scale water supply distribution

Terrace building resources

a list of papers and references about building terraces

hybrid poplar info

quick description of my experience using these trees and some links to references

Perennial vegetable list for trial in High Desert

an update to the small scale nursery article and list of US sources for seeds and tuber of plants of interest

Gravity fed Irrigation systems

a reference list and request for info on Gravity flow/fed or water-in-transit systems

Small Scale Nurseries

some of my experiences and thoughts on small scale nurseries as a design element

Whole Farm Fertility Course June 5-9th 2013 Wilsall, Montana

Spend 5 days learning Holistic Management and Keyline Design

Loping Coyote Farms 2013 Annual Bareroot Plant Sale

We're having our annual bareroot plant sale Saturday April 27th from 9 am - 5 pm

N-fixers and polycultures

starting a resource list for n-fixers. from threads and emails currently.

Salt Tolerant Plant list: Halophytes

focused on cold desert plants

Rainwater catchment outline

a brief thread on rainwater catchment

Design and Construction of Ferrocement tanks

A collection of articles and papers

12-month Permaculture Design Course, Reno, NV

A year long, 1-day per month PDC to provide a low-cost, local PDC option