Advanced Permaculture Apprenticeship - Animal Systems

The Advanced Permaculture Apprenticeship with a focus on Animal Systems is an intensive educational experience centered on permaculture design for integrated animal systems. Rather than stepping into routine farm labor, apprentices participate directly in the assessment, design, and implementation of systems for goats, pigs, poultry, and other small livestock on a developing homestead. Under guided instruction, apprentices learn how to read a landscape, evaluate infrastructure, map opportunities and constraints, and create designs that integrate animals, plants, soil, and human use into a cohesive, functional whole.

The program includes 80 hours of structured instruction, covering topics such as site assessment, sector analysis, paddock design, grazing patterns, water and fencing layout, species needs, nutrient flows, and practical strategies for building regenerative systems from the ground up. Apprentices then move from theory into practice—translating their designs into real implementation steps, improving existing structures, and establishing early-stage systems that support long-term resilience.

As part of this integrative approach, apprentices also study animal health and wellness, including behavior observation, recognizing stress or illness, nutrition, enrichment, parasite management, and species-specific care. Instruction additionally includes humane animal processing (as appropriate), whole-animal utilization, and foundational farm-to-table food preparation, emphasizing respect and ecological responsibility.

This apprenticeship includes room and board, providing a grounded, immersive learning environment. Because the homestead is newly established, apprentices have the rare opportunity to engage deeply with the full design cycle: assessment → concept → plan → implementation → reflection. This is an ideal experience for those who want to build skill and confidence not just in managing systems, but in creating them through thoughtful, informed, regenerative design.

Instructor -
Alana Bliss is a regenerative land steward, permaculturalist, and educator with over 20 years of hands-on experience in animal systems, homesteading, and community-scale ecosystem design. She has lived, taught, and farmed across multiple bioregions — Costa Rica, Tennessee, Minnesota, and now the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia.

Her work integrates Waldorf-inspired education, holistic animal husbandry, ecological design, family-centered living, and a deep commitment to healing the relationship between humans, animals, and the Earth.

Alana specializes in integrated animal systems, including goats, pigs, poultry, rabbits, bees, grazing design, fodder systems, and forest–pasture ecotones. On her teaching homestead, Regenerative Roots, she mentors learners through immersive hands-on experience, grounded in respect for the animals, ecological literacy, and practical farm management.

She brings a warm, grounded, and deeply intuitive approach to both teaching and land stewardship — empowering students to step confidently into regenerative agriculture, homesteading, and community leadership.