Healing our relationships takes learning about the needs of others in our community
These projects are designed to engage you and the people around you in the healing process. There is a project here that is right for you and your community.
Reinhabit Cooperative
Connecting people without land who want to garden with homeowners who do not have the time or skill to build a regenerative landscape
Bee Safe Neighborhoods
One of the best ways to motivate you neighbors to begin the process of healing nature is to talk to them about the plight of the pollinators. Even the most committed user of poisons understands the need for pollinators. Get 75 contiguous homeowners to pledge to stop using systemic poisons and become a Bee Safe Neighborhood.
Neighborhood Nurseries
The front range of Colorado is a unique climate. We begin to heal nature as we select for genetic diversity among plants specifically adapted to this place. We do this by collecting seeds from plants that thrive here and taking cuttings and divisions of plants that thrive here. This saves money for every member of our community cooperating in this task.
Property Tours
The Living Systems Institute is located on 1.3 acres east of Golden, Colorado. The executive director, David Braden, has lived on this property since 1954. Since 2004 he has been experimenting with the programs and projects described in this web site.
Contact us. David would love to show you around.
Education & Internships
Some people do best with hands on learning. The Institute holds periodic skill development events advertised through the Greater Denver Urban Homesteading Meetup Group and various social media. In addition, we offer an internship program for those interested in a more in depth and well rounded understanding.
"It strikes me as somewhat odd that these practices aren’t a mainstay of society. The more I read and hear about the Agents of Habitat philosophy, the stranger the concept of “otherness” feels; there seems to be an illusion in our society that nature is a force pitted against us, that we must fight against and overcome if we are to survive—as if we are somehow not part of it. What I take away from the agents of habitat series feels almost like what I take away from basic math classes: these are basic principles that we as a society have somehow forgotten, and in the process we have made things stunningly overcomplicated to compensate for much more peaceful, easier ways that were perfect in the first place. It is the nature of all things to be part of a network, and humans are no exception."
— Amelia Hurlbut
