Rakesh Rootsman Rak is an experienced permaculture designer and educator, forest garden specialist, yoga teacher, homeopath and reggae DJ. Since 2009, Rakesh has been designing and teaching permaculture to individuals and communities, leading over 500 courses covering permaculture, forest gardening, ecovillage design and allied disciplines.

His portfolio includes projects ranging from a forest garden on part of a 30-hectare ecovillage in Croatia, which he co-owns, to numerous urban community food gardens, private farms, and home gardens. He has also worked on the design of cooperative business models, urban water retention systems, and even computer software and documentation systems. Rakesh is also deeply committed to sharing his journey towards self-reliance and personal sustainability — the ability to create the things you need yourself, rather than relying on the system to provide them to you. This includes eco-architecture and low-impact housing; energy capture and storage of electricity, heat, and lighting; energy-efficient heating systems, including rocket heaters and stoves; water collection, purification, and reuse systems, and more.

He is one of the founders of the project Children in Permaculture, which was presented at the International Permaculture Meeting that same year. So be prepared for the conversation to occasionally take an inspiring side path.