We empower people to honor and protect Earth’s living systems through education, research, and purposeful community connection.
What We Do
At Poly/Ana, we deliver dynamic, immersive education programs: including workshops, webinars, and hands-on courses, inspiring individuals and communities to become active stewards of Earth’s living systems. By fostering meaningful connections to Nature and each other, we cultivate the skills, mindsets, and practices necessary to regenerate our shared planet. Our work goes beyond information to create transformational experiences rooted in ecological intelligence, community collaboration, and joyful learning.
Our goal is to awaken curiosity, expand awareness, and celebrate the wonders of our living, breathing world.
Offerings
Hands-On Workshops
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Our interactive workshops bring people into direct relationship with the land learning by doing, feeling, and co-creating with the community.
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Lasagna mulching
Hügelkultur (method of berm building)
Conscious foraging
Native plant installation
Rainwater harvesting
Greywater systems
Designing with fire
Working with repurposed materials
Soil regeneration
Presentations & Webinars
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We host engaging in-person and online presentations featuring visionary leaders in ecology, design, and conservation. These sessions offer accessible and inspiring pathways to act with awareness.
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Recent examples:
Regenerative Landscapes with Erik Ohlsen
Native Plants for California Gardens with Carol Bornstein
Butterfly & Moth Conservation with Native Flora with Chris Cosma
Climate-Adapted Tree Species with Lisa Smith
Carbon Culture: Hugelkultur & Beyond with Leigh Adams & Shawn Maestretti
Landscape Design Courses
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For those ready to design with nature as a co-creator, our educational design series cultivates deep skills in whole-system thinking, ecological planning, and community-scale transformation.
Courses are offered in-person, hybrid, and in the field.
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Landscape Alchemy: Designing Whole-System Gardens
(Led by Shawn Maestretti and Leigh Adams)More course topics coming soon!
What the community is saying
Karin — Workshop Attendee
“Your emails on fire-resilience have really made me think and I have shared what I read with others… I also implemented hügelkultur on my property, and have been much more mindful of letting, for instance, my oak leaves lay where there are to nourish the soil… You are doing wonderful work in this world of ours! There are so few sources of hope and joy in this world, and you do both. You give practical tools that any of us with even a small patch of earth can implement, but the work you are doing to change government practices is HUGE!”
Jean — Newsletter Subscriber
“I can [now] think beyond the knee-jerk fire dept suggestions on design…there are more ways to landscape that combine aesthetics and fire prevention. I’ve always been interested in nature-inspired landscaping rather than manicured lawns with impatient borders. It’s revelatory to learn what grows authentically in our foothill terrain, how to use a swale, why tree litter is the good kind of litter to leave. All the stuff that makes sense here in Altadena, and what steps to take as we help nature restore balance around us.”
Leo — Workshop Attendee
“[I] have enjoyed the information and done small project to start. [Poly/Ana] gave me practical tools for living more sustainably.”
