Andy Webster
Regenerative Design and Nature Awareness Program (RDNA) 2006-2007
RDNA Cultural Mentoring Program 2007-2008
Art of Mentoring 2006, 2007, 2008
Bird Language Weeklong Intensive 2008
Keyline Design with Darren Doherty 2007
Permaculture Design Course with Permaculture Institute of Northern California (PINC) 2003
At the end of the RDNA Cultural Mentoring Program, my second year with the RDNA program, I was faced with what I found to be the most challenging part of the program. For two years I spent a chunk of each week with all of my friends going on adventures in the coastal hills, installing elements of permaculture designs, learning the language of the birds, learning an incredibly unique set of facilitation skills from the cultural mentoring model that can be used in working in and with community, telling stories and playing music by the fire at night, and more. We had the opportunity to work with the most respected teachers in permaculture, nature awareness and cultural mentoring, and the ecology of leadership. It was a rich and fertile time for me. But the time had come for me to leave the program, and I was now faced with the challenge of how to integrate all I had learned into the life I lived outside of class.
I started Waking Water Designs to offer and to fully use the skill set I’ve gained over my whole life to my community! Waking Water Designs is an ecological design, installation, and maintenance company that believes in seeing through the lens of water as a foundation for ecological design. We call ourselves an Ecological Design company because permaculture design itself is a practice of applied ecological thinking. We believe fully in permaculture as a design system for making decisions based on earth care ethics and principles drawn from the observation of natural systems. Whether we are designing how to increase the health, vitality, beauty, and productivity of your property through harvesting water in your landscape, or working on a creative carpentry project such as the entry way in the photo, earth care ethics and the permaculture principals are at our core.
As ambassadors of regenerative design into our communities, we also believe strongly that how we carry our message is just as important as the message itself. We believe in honest, clear communication to help you determine your needs and goals so that we can design and install a system that fully meets your criteria and fits into your life.
Aside to running Waking Water Designs I am also passionate about patiently mentoring people of all ages into their own skill sets. In the summer you might catch me guiding youth in adventures along a local creek, watch out for mud balls! Another time you can find me working with a nature-based youth mentoring organization teaching hand skills through a knife and leather sheath making project. Or more currently you can find me partnering with a local non-profit Conexions to teach a water harvesting workshop series called Waking Waters: Guiding Your Land in Stewardship Through Responsibly Harvesting Water.
RDI has prepared me to walk humbly and firmly on a path of living and teaching earth stewardship and regenerative living practices. I am looking for more people to partner with in the stewardship of their land. Please contact me at wakingwaterdesigns@gmail.com if you see a way for us to work together in the future.
