Resilience Design | Sustainable landscape design • Homesteads • Habitats

Drawing Plants: Summer Session

Posted on May 22, 2018 by mulysa

My next workshop is coming up in June though the Portland Underground Graduate School. It’s blend of art, science and medicine. We’ll be celebrating midsummer and learning about local, edible and medicinal plants (from my food forest guilds plus cool plants at Thicket Nursery) by drawing them. Like my winter drawing class, it’s an invitation to slow down and be present with the season and details of the natural world. A time to set phones aside and practice connecting hands, heart, eye and mind.

All experience levels welcome. Now with more drawing demos, per request!

Drawing Plants: Summer Session
Drawing has a special way of allowing us to tune in to nature’s rhythms. It’s a simple practice that can bring us to a mindful state anywhere we go. In this course, we’ll celebrate the bounty of summer and the high energy of the longest day of the year.
Dates: Wednesdays, June 6, 13, 20, 27
Time: 7-9 pm
Location: Thicket Nursery, 4933 NE 23rd Ave || Alberta Arts District
$199 || Space limited to 12 students
Registration and details: www.pugspdx.com

PUGS believes education should be accessible to all. Radical pricing is available.

Posted in Botany, Drawing, Ecology, Edibles, Events, Food Forest, Native Plants, Permaculture, Seasons, urban flora, Wildflowers, Workshops | Leave a comment

Spring Plant Sale!

Posted on May 2, 2018 by mulysa

Spring Plant Sale ~ A Fundraiser for Beach School Garden
Beach Elementary School, 1710 N Humboldt St, Portland, OR 97217
Fri. May 11, 3 to 6 pm
Sat. May 12, 10 am to 6 pm
Resilience Design’s spring plant sale will benefit the garden program at Beach School. Come see the renovated garden and pollinator meadow and shop for native plants, fruit trees and berries, herbs, seeds, tomatoes and more!

Cash, check or credit/debit accepted.

Do you have 3.5″ or 4″ plastic pots in good condition? We will reuse them! Bring them to the sale or contact Mulysa. Thanks for helping keep costs down and plastic out of the waste stream.

More info here.

Posted in Edibles, Events, Food Not Lawns, Grow Your Own, Native Plants, Permaculture, Pesticide Free, Pollinators, Seasons, Trees, Wildflowers | Tagged Plant Sale | Leave a comment

Design Your Own Yard Workshop

Posted on March 26, 2018 by mulysa

Design Your Own Yard!
Create a plan for your yard using permaculture design principles. A series of 6 collaborative work sessions will guide you through the design process, plant selection, budgeting and making a plan of action. Starting with a look at the flow of energy, water and nutrients in our household ‘systems’, we’ll chart a path towards a more efficient, useful, beautiful and realistic yard for you. This class will build on what you already know and draw on Mulysa’s extensive experience designing, building and maintaining urban homesteads. You’ll leave with a plan for your yard!

Dates: 6 sessions, Wednesday evenings, April 18, 25, May 2, 9, 16, 23
Time: 6:30-8:30 pm
Location: Thicket Nursery, 4933 NE 23rd Ave || Alberta Arts
Cost: $480 || Sign up with a friend or partner for $680 total! || Work trade and sliding scale available.
Space is limited to 12 students.
Register here:

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Posted in Events, Food Not Lawns, Landscape Design, Native Plants, Permaculture, Uncategorized, Workshops | Leave a comment

Permaculture Workshop at Xera Plants

Posted on March 7, 2018 by mulysa

Planting the Multi-functional Garden:
A Permaculture look at the Xera Plants catalog

Update: The workshop is full! Thanks for all your interest. Check the events pages for more upcoming courses.

Sat. March 24, 10 am – noon
Xera Plants Retail Shop 1114 SE. Clay St. Portland, Oregon 97214
Instructor: Mulysa Melco
Cost: Free!
Space is limited. Please register below to reserve your spot.

Xera Plants’ mission is to grow unusual and high quality plants – and to espouse “a viable alternative to the water-intensive gardening aesthetic.” You probably caught on from their name that many of their plants can withstand our summer dry (xeric) season without a lot of supplemental water. But did you know they offer many plants that are benefical in other ways?

Among Xera’s beautiful selection are plants for soil restoration, carbon sequestration, food, drinks, medicine, dyes, crafts, creating a regional sense of place – and plants that can help create habitat for birds, pollinators and wildlife in the Pacific Northwest.

Explore Xera’s incredible plant offerings through the lens of permaculture (a design methodology based on natural systems). Learn some ways ecological thinking can be applied to create multi-functional gardens such as creating guilds of plant species. Join us to discuss how gardens and gardeners can have a positive role in the ecosystem!

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Posted in Botany, Ecological Restoration, Events, Food Not Lawns, Landscape Design, Native Plants, Permaculture, Pesticide Free, Pollinators, Seasons, urban flora, Wildflowers, Workshops | Leave a comment

Design Your Own Yard ::: Landscape Design Coaching

Posted on January 9, 2018 by mulysa

Landscape Design Coaching work session!

Do you have ideas about how you’d like to use your yard, how it could look, feel and what kinds of plants you might like to grow – but you’re not sure how to plan it out?

Resilience Design offers a coaching service that can help bring all your ideas together into a realistic plan of action.

Landscape Design Coaching is a budget-friendly option for those who need a plan for their yard and want to be hands-on with the planning process. You’ll gain a deeper understanding of your site and get experience with the permaculture landscape design process.

Through a series of coaching sessions, you’ll create your own landscape plan tailored to your budget, time and interests – and the microclimates of your site. It’s an opportunity to learn about whole systems design while exploring the possibilities of your site with expert guidance and support. You’ll receive resources in each phase to expand your knowledge of sustainable landscaping, permaculture, water systems, urban ecosystems, pollinator habitat, growing food and herbal medicine and organic gardening methods. By the last session you’ll have created a custom master plan and plant list for your site.

Session 1 – Base map, site analysis, zone and sector analysis
Session 2 – Concept planning of landscape elements, spaces and systems
Session 3 – Layout plan and material choices
Session 4 – Planting diagram, guilds and plant list

The fee for the individual coaching program is starts at $850 for typical urban residential lots and includes 4 work sessions at your site (90 min each). Talk with Mulysa about pricing for other types of properties and group rates.

Get the confidence and tools you need to transform your yard into a place you love to be, that supports your needs and the local ecosystem.

Compare to master planning and other available services here.

Contact Mulysa with questions or to schedule your first session: mulysa [at] resiliencedesign.com

Resilience Design Landscape Coaching brochure (PDF) DesignCoaching_ResilienceDesign_2018

Posted in Ecology, Food Not Lawns, Landscape Design, Native Plants, Permaculture, Pesticide Free, Uncategorized | Tagged coaching, garden design, Mulysa Melco, Resilience Design, services | Leave a comment

Drawing Plants: Winter Meditation

Posted on December 8, 2017 by mulysa

Join me for a winter drawing retreat on Wednesday evenings in January. Unplug for a couple hours and tune-in to the often overlooked beauty of winter in Portland.

Using simple materials like pencil, charcoal, and ink, we’ll trace the arc of late winter, marking the weeks by exploring the details of seeds, jewel-like buds, and the signs of spring’s approach. All experience levels welcome.

Drawing Plants: Winter Meditation
Dates: Wednesdays, January 10, 17, 24, 31
Time: 7-9 pm
Location: People’s Co-Op || 3029 SE 21st Ave
$149 || Space limited to 25 students
Registration and Details: Portland Underground Grad School

Scholarships available.

Posted in Botany, Drawing, Ecology, Events, Native Plants, Seasons, urban flora, Workshops | Tagged Botany, drawing, Local plants, Meditation, Mulysa Melco, Portland Underground Graduate School, Winter | Leave a comment

Fall Planting Time – Fruit tree sale!

Posted on November 16, 2017 by mulysa

This is a great time of year to get trees and shrubs settled in to the ground and I’m extending my fall planting time sale till the end of November.

All Fruit Trees 20% off!

Includes Asian pears, European pears, Plums, Cornelian Cherry dogwood, Medlar, Fig and more.

See the plant availability list and descriptions here. The nursery is open by appointment for plant pick up and browsing! Email me at mulysa@resiliencedesign.com to find a time to stop by. Delivery to N and NE Portland is available.

Posted in Edibles, Grow Your Own, Permaculture, Seasons | Tagged Fall planting time, Fruit Trees, Micronursery, Plant Sale | Leave a comment

Decoding Plants: Seeing Urban Trees with New Eyes

Posted on August 18, 2017 by mulysa

I’m excited to be teaching a botany/ecology course with the Portland Underground Grad School in October. This is the next course in my Decoding Plants series – this time a schedule-friendly weekend workshop! Please join us! Details below.

Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 14 – 15, 10 am – 3 pm
Location: Overlook Neighborhood (You’ll receive meeting information upon registration)
$160 individual/$225 corporate || 20 student maximum
Registration open at Portland Underground Grad School

Deepen your connection with the place we live by tuning in to the world of trees and learning how the flora of our bio-region is in flux. Understanding the species we share our home with positions us to be advocates for conservation and offers tools for reimagining our personal and collective relationships to nature.

Have you ever walked around your neighborhood, or gone on a hike, and wished you knew the names of the trees you saw? Have you ever wondered how they fit into the ecosystem and what uses they have? Have you ever felt daunted by conifer identification? In this class, you’ll learn to recognize our local trees and how to identify conifers. By the end of the course, you’ll have created your own guide to 10 major tree families – and you will have fresh eyes for the trees that live right outside your door.

Day 1: Tree Patterns. Explore the taxonomy (how plants are classified according to their relationships) and morphology (the form and parts of a plant) of trees and meet our first five plant families, including native and introduced species. Practice using a key to identify conifers.

Day 2: Tree Communication. Learn how trees interact with each other and other species in the ecosystem. We’ll discuss the ethnobotany of trees in the Willamette Valley including edible, medicinal and culturally significant species. Take a woodland walk to practice identifying five more tree families.

What to bring: Sketch book, pencil, eraser, pencil sharpener
Optional texts: Botany in a Day by Thomas Elpel, Pacific Coast Tree Finder by Tom Watts
Bring drinking water and a bag lunch or buy lunch at one of several nearby cafes.
Dress for the weather and bring sun/rain protection, and whatever you need to be comfortable walking outdoors.

Questions? mulysa@resiliencedesign.com

Posted in Botany, Ecological Restoration, Ecology, Events, Native Plants, Permaculture, Social Forestry, Trees, urban flora, Workshops | Tagged Mulysa Melco, Portland Underground Graduate School | Leave a comment

Join the Resilience Design Newsletter

Posted on July 1, 2017 by mulysa

My next e-newsletter will be a summer reading list and movies that form the inspiration for my permaculture work and teaching and I consider an essential tool kit for earth repair of all kinds. I would love to share it with you – sign up to receive the next newsletter!

Posted in Ecological Restoration, Landscape Design, Permaculture | Tagged Earth repair, Localization | Leave a comment

Decoding Plants – Summer Session

Posted on June 12, 2017 by mulysa

I’m excited to teach a mid-summer session of my botany course with the Portland Underground Graduate School. Registration and Details Portland Underground Grad School

Decoding Plants: Seeing Urban Flora with New Eyes
Tuesdays, July 8th – August 1st || 6:30-8:30 pm
Meets in Overlook Neighborhood || North Portland
Four weeks, $100 || Space is limited to 20 students.

Posted in Botany, Native Plants, Permaculture, Seasons, Uncategorized, Wildflowers, Workshops | Tagged Portland Underground Graduate | Leave a comment