Farmer Rishi's

Increase Your Footprint Course

A 7-week Regenerative Gardening Course

September 27 to Nov 8

$349
Before Sept. 15: $299

Reduced Fees available to those with limited financial resources.
Click here.

Already Registered?

Why Increase Your Footprint?

We are part of the web of life - it's time to reclaim that.

Why do we believe that our footprint on Earth is inherently bad or negative? Thousands of human cultures around the world live in a loving and caring relationship with plants, trees, animals and soil and so can we.

This course is about translating the care and love we feel for our Mother Earth into a care and love that is expressed through our hand and actions. Farmer Rishi will guide you to INCREASE YOUR FOOTPRINT of healing and regeneration on our Earth-body by restoring health to soil, water cycles, plants and ourselves.

Gardening from the ground up.

Learn to create a garden sanctuary in any space, small or large.

This unique 7-week course is designed to help guide you to develop caring & healing relationships with soil, plants, and animals.

We breathe Earth, we eat Earth, we sleep Earth.
We are Earth - it's time we all see that.

The purpose of this course is to educate and inspire everyone to create healing gardens with the power to regenerate land, bodies, minds, and spirits.

With Farmer Rishi's guidance, you will learn the fundamental ideas and practices necessary to participate in healing and regeneration at any scale and in any location- whether you are creating a garden on balcony, in a suburban home garden, or a public landscape.

Farmer Rishi will define and describe what regeneration means as a cultural concept, and demonstrate how that practice can be reflected tangibly in a garden setting and as part of your lifestyle.

Gardens by Farmer Rishi

swipe right to see other gardens →

The Growing Home

A suburban home transformed into a forest of fruit trees, herbs, vegetables, and flowering plants over the course of 4 years in Los Angeles. This garden demonstrates the abundance possible in a medium size home garden with rainwater harvesting, terracing, and polyculture design.

80+ fruit trees, vegetable gardens, medicinal gardens on 5000 sq ft.

The Growing Commons

A public garden created from the lawn of a Southern California Church. This garden focuses on low maintenance fruit trees and CA native plants, along with demonstrating rooftop rainwater harvesting practices.

70 fruit trees + 10 grape vines + 100 CA natives on 7500 sq ft

The Patio Jungle

A skinny completely concrete condo patio converted into a secluded, edible jungle. This garden demonstrates how dynamic and rich even very small spaces can be. A variety of potted fruit trees, hanging baskets of herbs, a mini-pond for birds & butterflys, raised bed for veggies, and a romantic table for two.

6 fruit trees + 1 grape vine + veggie bed + pond on 160 sq ft + 6 worm composting bins

Sarvodaya Farms

1/2 acre of forgotten urban land transformed into a farm, educational space, nursery, and community venue. Photos below are from 2 years into development to show how rapid transformation is possible. For more current photos, check out our Instagram @sarvodayafarms.

100 fruit trees + vegetable gardens + expansive nursery + one of the best places on Earth

It’s time to reclaim our role as caregivers of this planet

Farmer Rishi has been featured in:

What You'll Learn

No experience necessary. Long time gardeners welcome.

How would you garden if the world was living? How would you care for soil, rocks, plants, and animals if you believed them to be as conscious and creative as we are?

This #IncreaseYourFootprint Course is about a new (and very old) way of gardening. Whether you are a long-time gardener or never put your hands in the soil, this course has something for you. We will explore traditions of gardening based on the knowledge of indigenous people around the world, including:

• how to tend and care for soil so that she becomes rich enough to invigorate plants
• how to compost at home EASILY (and without smells & flies)
• how to have abundant plant growth with minimal water use
• how to harvest rainwater
• choosing and planting trees that will bring an abundance of fruit into your life
• caring for trees long-term
• designing a healing garden that is a sanctuary for you and your family
• creating an abundant and easily to maintain vegetable garden

and so much more!

Past students are saying...

"Farmer Rishi's Regenerative Garden & Living Class goes deeper than the soil. His philosophy of interconnectedness applies to community, family and our relationship to ourselves."

Heather Cappiello

"This course was deeply transformational and has already rippled out to innumerable facets of my life, and I want to extend a heartfelt thank you for everything. Your humility, generosity, and care came through in every class and lesson. - thank you!"

Shaina Rico

"Farmer Rishi’s Regenerative Soil & Living class is amazing and he’s amazing and I wanna take it again. Honestly, it was the first time I’d ever heard someone describe how our role within ecosystems can be positive, in a way that I could address immediately, right outside my door."

Matthew Miller

"I never thought my first gardening course would be online, but it was and I couldn't have asked for a better experience. Farmer Rishi is so compassionate and so knowledgable about gardening and regenerative practices, and he does more than just teach his students how to garden - he empowers them."

Sarah Mykels

Why join #IncreaseYourFootprint?

Direct Guidance from Farmer Rishi

I've been teaching gardening for 10 years, have thousands of hours of experience in gardening, and thousands of hours in practice of teaching. I've also consulted on and developed numerous gardens in Los Angeles and all across America.

Tested and validated materials

Hundreds of people have taken this course. Most of them have gone on to create beautiful vibrant gardens, and many are now gardening teachers and consultants themselves. I receive photos and testimonials regularly from people who were profoundly impacted by the course inside and outside the garden.

Easy to access

This online course can be taken from anywhere and everything is recorded. Join live or watch on your own time. With your registration, you'll also get a 90 page written curriculum as a resource for you and over 5 hours of professionally filmed content.

Your Questions answered:

Q: My soil sucks! Its hard and rocky and won't even grow weeds. Should I even bother? Can I start a garden?

All soils, like all people, have value. Learning to garden is learning to recognize the value of your soil, no matter what condition she is in currently. Once we accept this basic premise that every being of this Earth has value, then our practice becomes to guide, assist, and nourish soil so that she can express her value. When you can learn to do that, your garden will flourish. That process is what this course is all about.

Q: I don't live in Southern California. I live in Massachusetts/Florida/Dubai/wherever, will this course be helpful to me?

Yes, of course! My focus in this course is on the fundamental principles behind Regeneration. These principles don't change with climate, soil type, personality type, aesthetic preferences, or anything of the sort.

Much of the course will focus on helping you open yourself so you can listen and learn from plants, soil, and your own intuition. Gardening is not too much of an intellectual endeavor. My approach will ask you to connect to your garden with your senses, and trust those senses to guide you.

Q: It's about to be fall where I live. Isn't this the wrong time to start my garden?

Great question. If you are in a climate where it is snowing, then yes you won't be able to do much physical gardening at this time of year. However, this course is just partly about the physical practice.

On a deeper level, this course will help break down mental and emotional barriers of fear and anxiety that prevent us from diving into a caring role in the garden. That can happen at any time of year.

Also, if you are in a climate with mild winters like California, fall/winter is actually the best time to start your garden! The weather is mild, the soil is moist, and life is moving at a bit of a slower pace. Soil is open and ready to receive change at this time of year.

Q: I am a Brown Thumb. I kill everything I touch. Can you really help me?

Can I help you? The world needs you right now. I'm searching for you. Having a brown thumb means you are just at a different part of the regenerative cycle. You are a decomposer, a composter, an alchemist. You take everything we are taught has no value and help the world see its value.

We've been taught that death needs to be avoided. Death is what is missing in all of our gardens. Death creates birth.

You are a missing part of the cycle, and this course will help you see the value of your role and inhabit it. Through death, we will bring vibrant growth and regeneration to your garden.

Q: I haven't taken a biology course since the 9th grade. Do I need any scientific background for this course?

The most beautiful gardens I know of are tended to people that are highly empathetic, not highly scientific. In my view, science is too limited a framework to really understand gardens thoroughly. This course will require nearly zero scientific understanding and vocabulary. We will approach the garden primarily through our senses. If you can see, smell, taste, hear, or feel, you can understand this course.

Q: I can't make the live sessions. Is everything recorded? How long will I have access?

Yes, everything will be recorded. Recordings of live sessions will be posted within 3 days.

And all the course materials will be available through April 2022.

It's time to flip the script: "Increase Your Footprint"

Reduce my footprint? How about increasing my footprint of care and love! Everyday, I work to nourish the living being that nourish me. Every day I work to show soil that she is valuable and beautiful. Every day I work to heal unbalanced energy cycles. Everyday I increase my understanding and awareness in my role as a body of this Earth.

A week-by-week breakdown of what we will learn together

All lessons are recorded and will be available for viewing by Sunday each week.

Online Sessions:

Lesson 1 - LIVE SESSION Tue Sept 27 @ 5:30pm PT
- Introduction to Regeneration

Lesson 2 - LIVE SESSION Tue Oct 4 @ 5:30pm PT
- Soil: Feeling Earth's Skin

Lesson 3 - LIVE SESSION Tue Oct 11 @ 5:30pm PT
- Helping Soil Heal: Techniques for Regeneration

Lesson 4 - LIVE SESSION Tue Oct 18 @ 5:30pm PT
- Guiding the Flow: Water in the Garden

Lesson 5 - LIVE SESSION Tue Oct 25 @ 5:30pm PT
- Tending the Overstory: Trees

Lesson 6 - LIVE SESSION Tue Nov 1 @ 5:30pm PT
- Co-Creating Your Sanctuary: Garden Design

Lesson 7 - LIVE SESSION Tue Nov 8 @ 5:30pm PT
- Food for the Family: Vegetable Gardening

Final Q&A - LIVE SESSION Tue Nov 29 @ 5:30pm PT

Also Included with the Course:

1. Farmer Rishi's 88 page Regenerative Gardening Curriculum

2. Slide Deck's from every week's lesson

3. Three pre-recorded Video Presentations from Farmer Rishi
- Regenerative Garden Tours (1hr)
- Soil Regeneration Workshop (1hr)
- Seed Starting & Propagation Workshop (1hr)

Course Details

Course Start Date: Tuesday September 27, 2022
Course End Date: Tuesday November 29, 2022

Live Lectures via Zoom every Tuesday from 5:30pm to 7:30pm PT
Recordings of live lecture posted every week by Friday, available for viewing anytime.

All course materials available for 1 year after course ends (Dec 31, 2023)

No experience necessary. New and long time gardeners welcome.

You can create a garden sanctuary anywhere - even if you have little space or a "brown thumb"

Need a fee reduction?

We strive to make all of our content and educational classes available to everyone, regardless of financial status. If you are unable to pay the full value of this course ($349), we are happy to have you as part of the course at a reduced fee. The fee reduction is offered on a NEED basis; click the button below to apply. If you are able to pay the full course fee, use the buttons above to register for the course.

Reduced Fee Application

About Farmer Rishi

Farmer Rishi is a writer, artist, gardening educator and small-scale farmer based in Los Angeles, CA. He is super passionate about teaching and helping people to create gardens wherever they are, and has helped taught thousands of students around the world who are creating gardens of healing and regeneration.

Rishi is the co-founder of Healing Garden Community, an online platform helping connect gardeners and wellness-seekers.

He is also the Executive Director of Sarvodaya Institute, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping people recognize themselves as soil, and our concrete cities as Earth.

Refund Policy

Not sure if this is the right course for you? No problem. Let us know within the first two weeks (14 days) of the course start date, and we are happy to give you a full refund for any reason at all.

After two weeks, no refunds are offered.