We are here to heal nature, produce abundance, sequester excess atmospheric carbon, and build an inclusive society.
We find our purpose and where we belong as we learn to heal our relationships with the living things around us.
This garden is built from yard waste. It is the logs, sticks, wood chips and chicken bedding often sent to the landfill. We do no tilling and no composting. We treat no insect as a pest and no plant as a weed.
The total area of this garden is 250 square feet. It produces an annual harvest of grapes, lettuce, mallow, lambsquarter, purslane, tomatoes, beans, turnips, chard, potatoes and pumpkins. All we do is plant and harvest.
This is an example of healing our relationships with the living things around us. The many pages of this web site will introduce you to all the other ways of healing we explore at the Living Systems Institute.
Take a virtual tour of the Living Systems Institute through this 12 minute interview with executive director David Braden
Experience what it is like to be embedded in nature.
This book is part cook-book, part instruction manual for living lightly on the Earth and part whimsical expression of ways to live a connected life! There is much to be learned here from simple elegant recipes to ways to gently change our minds and ways of interacting with the world to be more in harmony with how the world works outside of human structures. And, that’s just the beginning! David’s writing flows like a stream bubbling over rocks and the wind blowing through the trees and can be enjoyed repeatedly like a favorite piece of music.
- Peter Kindfield, Ph.D. Co-Director, Hilltop Education Connections.
Featured Project
The Reinhabit Cooperative
Our newest and biggest initiative, The Reinhabit Cooperative Project is designed to rebuild habitat on residential properties through affordable regenerative landscaping services. In doing so, we will also create green jobs for local gardeners; educate both our gardeners and clientele on how to live a truly sustainable life at home that works with nature; help our clients save on much more expensive conventional landscaping maintenance; generate opportunities and awareness for food justice and independence and wildlife habitat (especially pollinators!); and strengthen communities through a partnership to improve our shared environment.
Most Popular Blogs
Growing Our Own: More than a Lifestyle Choice
Deep Mulch Gardening: Building a Habitat for a Whole-Soil Ecosystem
20 Years Unlearning to Garden
Upcoming Events
The Reinhabit Cooperative:
Orientations
If you are a homeowner interested in hiring one of our gardeners, or someone who is looking for a way to have access to land to garden, contact us to arrange for an orientation to our Reinhabit cooperative project.
Schedule a Tour of Living Systems Institute
Experience our proof of concept to understand how simple and practical it is to live integrated with the natural systems around us.
Join the Greater Denver Urban Homesteading Group
This is a place to meet other locals interested in urban homesteading skills like gardening, food preservation, alternative energy, and more.
“I truly loved my time working with you! I feel you have so much knowledge and you explain it with ease and on a level someone that doesn't know anything about living system can learn. I tell people about you all the time and would love to come back for more of your meetings.”
— KH, Living Systems Institute intern
Our Partners
