I'm in Raleigh. I would say I garden a lot and aspire to
permaculture.
I first heard about permaculture from a professor at State- Will Hooker. I haven't taken any of his classes, but I've joined in on one of his classes which toured his home garden- it was a huge inspiration.
Here's an article from treehugger about Will.
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/04/biomimicry_for.php Feel free to send me an email! I would love so swap plants and designs.