Cathe’ Fish is the founder and manager of the Practical Permaculture Research Institute www.practicalpermaculture.com. She has been active as a Permaculture consultant and Permaculture teacher since she was certified in 1987. She has designed 40 acre farms to small suburban plots. She has owned two 40 acre Permaculture farms.

She has been a Master Gardener since 1988, through the Land Grant University system. In 2010, she earned her Sustainable Landscape Expert certification.

Until 1999, she lived for 25 years in the high desert town of Bisbee, Arizona where she created a Permaculture homestead and food forest. She was the gardening editor for the Bisbee Observer for three years. She was the founder and original editor of the Drylands Permaculture newsletter in 1987 with Bill Steen, which later became the Permaculture Drylands Journal.

Cathe' is also a very experienced international speaker. She became a member of the Arizona Solar Action Team in 1980, traveling throughout Arizona conducting Passive Solar Greenhouse Workshops.
Cathe' became a member of the Arizona Solar Action Team in 1980, traveling around the state of Arizona conducting Passive Solar Greenhouse Workshops. She has taught her Passive Solar Greenhouse slideshow at Arizona State Master Gardener Conferences, as well as many California and Arizona Master Gardener classes, and Permaculture classes and Design Courses.

Cathe' was involved in the renaissance of super insulated strawbale buildings in 1987, and has taught passive solar building design at straw bale and hybrid construction workshops for many years.

Cathe loves Permaculture, especially food forests, particularly rare fruit trees, and she has planted 1000s of trees. She was the previous director of Cochise County Global ReLeaf. She is a member of the California Native Plant Society, NAFEX North American Fruit Explorers, California Rare Fruit Growers and the Local Food Coalition.

In the early 1970s, Cathe' lived in Santa Fe, New Mexico where she started a café called the Country Kitchen (now Harry's Roadhouse). She built a little greenhouse outside the cafe, where she grew the cafe's tomatoes and greens. To this day, she won't eat tasteless cardboard corporate tomatoes or any other food.

In May 2008, she spent two weeks at Geoff and Nadia Lawton's Zaytuna Farm in The Channons, NSW, Australia, where she worked with Geoff planting his amazing swales, dams and ponds, planting food forests, cover crops, bamboo cuttings and mulch gardens, driving his tractor with the custom mulch collector, and doing other farm activities. On the same trip, she was able to visit Tagari, Bill Mollison's long term Permaculture farm in Tyalgum, NSW, Australia (abandoned since 2001) with its amazing still functioning earthworks: 43 bodies of constructed dams, ponds, and water harvesting swales, as well as many lush food forests.

In July 2009, she went to Mexico to help low income families start a permaculture demonstration site at DouglaPrieta Works in Aqua Prieta, Sonora. Mexico.

For many years, Cathe' has been asked to displayed her "Solar Kitchen" exhibit at college campuses, Earth Day, and other locations.

In May 2009, Cathe' gave a 3 hour talk on Water Harvesting and Earthworks to the Women's Earth Alliance Gathering in Grass Valley, California, USA. Permaculture farmer, Cathe' was selected as a delegate for the WEA's Sustainable Agriculture Learning Exchange Delegation to Northern India in Oct 2009. She saw first hand the damage of the Green Revolution in India, visited women organic farming pioneers, tribal villages, and Barefoot College, exchanged Permaculture information, and visited and photographed ancient water harvesting sites.

Cathe' lives on a Permaculture Farm where she is the director of the Practical Permaculture Research Institute and runs a Permaculture Farm School.
She has an experimental solar kitchen where she cooks in her many different solar cookers rocket stoves. Cathe' spends her time, consulting, designing, teaching Permaculture and planting. She is the co-chapter leader of the Gold Country Weston A. Price Foundation which promotes Wise Traditions in Food, Farming, and the Healing Arts with local nutrient dense foods.

Permaculture Design Course on 2000 Acre Farm Oct 26 to Nov 3, 2012

Earn Your Permaculture Design Certificate at a Permaculture Based 2,000 Acre Family Farm with Integrating Grassfed Livestock, Dryland Orchard Farming and a 100 year old Heritage Olive Orchard in Northern California.

Permaculture Design Certification Course

Earn Your Permaculture Design Certificate at a 20 acre farm dedicated to permaculture in Northern California.

Permaculture Design Course October 26 to November 8th 2011

Robyn Francis to teach Permaculture Design Course at Alsgood Farm in Northern California

Permaculture Design Course

Want to take your PDC at a working 230 acre farm? You will get hands on experience in a community devoted to the principles of Permaculture and peace.