Jacob is a scientist, artist and permaculture designer with 10 years of experience working on organic farms as a laborer, manager and in design and planning roles. He developed his scientific skills at the Evergreen State College where he obtained a degree in biology/ecology, focusing on connecting belowground and aboveground biological relationships.

Concurrently, Jacob spent many of these formative years studying permaculture and regenerative agricultural design, which included working under seminal permaculture practitioners like Michael Pilarski. In 2010, he completed a two-week PDC from the Regenerative Design Institute (RDI), which was led by Penny Livingston Stark, John Valenzuela and Brock Dolman. The following year Jacob attended a Permaculture Teacher Training at the Permaculture Institute in New Mexico, which was led by long-time practitioners Scott Pittman and Larry Santoyo.

In late 2010, Jacob moved to Santa Cruz, California after garnering an affinity for the mild climate and progressive ecologically minded culture.

Related Employment/Project History

> 2001 – 2006 ― Field Manager, Jubilee Biodynamic Farm (Carnation, Washington, USA)
> 2007 – 2009 ― Landscape Designer, Stone Haven Gardens (Olympia, Washington, USA)
> 2009 – 2011 ― Communications/Permaculture Focalizer, Cloudview Ecofarms (Royal City, Washington, USA)
> July 2011 – August 2015 ― Staff Scientist / Information Technologist, Weber, Hayes and Associates, Inc. (Watsonville, California, USA)
> September 2015 – Present ― Business Development Coordinator, Blume Distillation LLC (Freedom, California)