Erik Blender is a Permaculture Designer & Teacher based in the Pacific NW, USA. From 1996 – 2002, Erik worked in post-conflict and emergency aid situations in former Soviet Central Asia and Afghanistan. Developing a deep sense of true sustainable development, he returned to Oregon, where he designs and installs multifunctional, edible, and ecological systems for private and community lands.

- Certified Permaculture Designer – studied under Toby
Hemenway at Portland State University (2008-2009)
- Certified Teacher of Permaculture – studied under Jude Hobbs &
Andrew Millison at Cascadia Permaculture Institute (2009)
- Installed Perennial Food Forests in Portland, OR (2009-2011)
- Installed large-scale Permaculture slope restoration designs on
Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge in Portland, OR (2009-2010)
- Founded Schiller Farms Eco-Village, Portland, OR (2010)
- Country Director in Tajikistan/Afghanistan for United Methodist
Committee on Relief – sustainable development programs for
post-civil war and emergency cross-border relief programs
(2000-2001).
- MA from Bryn Mawr College in Group Dynamics and Language
Acquisition (1998)
- Fluent in Russian language