Permaculture, Biodiversity & One Mom's Path To Building A Sustainable Landscape Design Firm

royahloie
Sep 14, 2020
2 min read

Brandy Hall and Shades of Green Permaculture

Brandy Hall founded Shades of Green in 2008. Shades of Green is a regenerative landscape design and education firm, that uses permaculture practices to increase biodiversity, build soil, grow medicinal plants, while creating pollinator habitat and restoring the water cycle. Over the years, their team has grown to a staff of 12, and they've worked with hundreds of clients. Brandy is passionate about leading a purpose-driven business that actively creates a healthier world for our children every single day. She loves seeing her daughter graze on the plants in their yard, knowing they are chemical free and full of nutrients you can't get at the store. Brandy's roots are in building. She earned her General Contractor's license directly after completing undergraduate work at the age of 20, and began training as a stone mason where she fell in love with the way intelligent design responds to the natural world. She has nearly two decades of experience in building off-grid water systems, landscape construction, and integrated farming systems. She serves on the Pine Lake City Council and spends lots of time outdoors with her husband, Aaron, their daughter, and their rambunctious pup, Peanut Butter.

In this interview Brandy talks about her upbringing, education and what led her to study permaculture and start her own company. She also talks about:

How studying contemplative education has helped her throughout her work
Two major turning points in her life (one incredibly difficult one and one beautiful one)
Her unconventional educational path that involved taking time off school for travel, farming and later enrolling in a Tibetan Buddhist-inspired non-sectarian university.
How her role as a director of a non-profit led her to creating Shades of Green
How having a supportive partner that shares home/life responsibilities has helped her in doing the impactful work that she does ...And much more. Tune into this episode to learn more about this inspiring mama. You can learn more about her company Shades of Green here: https://shadesofgreenpermaculture.com/

Also, check out Project Drawdown a non-profit Brandy mentioned that focuses on work that helps greenhouse gas emissions decline: https://www.drawdown.org/