Zigi Jansen (he/him) came to CPI in the summer of 2026 as the first enrollee in our new residential permaculture design training. Through this program, Zigi and up to three others will spend a year living under our roof and learning practical permaculture skills through direct, hands-on practice and projects, as well as joining the next cohort of our yearlong permaculture design course. We’re excited to welcome Zigi and get to know him as he gets to know us!
We asked Zigi: what brought you to permaculture and CPI? Hear what he had to say, in his own words:
I’ve always been drawn to the outdoors and natural stuff. And in terms of the thought and philosophy behind it, the sustainability, the care, the empathy — thinking beyond yourself — I’ve felt like I align with that as well. So when I ran into permaculture, it was an instant connection.
I already had a connection: My dad took CPI’s yearlong PDC a few years back. We have barely over 5 acres of land, and this year I got to know the plants that were coming up, the aromatics, the mints, the bee balms, the mullein. I started harvesting it and realizing how rewarding and how deep the connection there is. Now that I’m more assimilated, I think my dad plans on coming back as well, and possibly being a site host for a future class.
I’m 19 now, I’ve been out of school for over a year, and in that phase of figuring out what I can do. I asked my dad more about permaculture, and he pointed me to Green Umbrella and CPI. So one night I looked you up online, and the first thing I saw was the Residential Program - and I started getting excited. I had been working at Domino’s and making tips that I put away in savings, and once I saw the price of the program, I was like “Oh…oh! My life is changing!”
Through the next few weeks I started reaching out to people and came up here to check out the land, met Howie and started volunteering, and everything started feeling like it was settling, like this is what I wanted to do.
So yeah! I just made it happen. I quit my job with enough money in my pocket that I now need to provide for myself in a more sustainable way — rather than work, Kroger, low quality meals that who knows who’s producing them. After this interview [CPI nursery manager] Howie and I are about to go to the farmer’s market in Northside.
If I could put it in a nutshell: I just let it be what it is, and hold my intention in the right spot. Stay active, stay learning, and involve myself in the program. I’ll have so many connections and so many opportunities that will give me that momentum to slingshot me like a spaceship around the planet.
