Demonstration Site

Demonstration Site

Please note: Currently we only provide tours of the property to registered guests staying at the inn.

Over 8 years ago we started an eco-friendly bed and breakfast inn in the north Georgia mountains. Our goal was to develop a business to provide overnight accommodations to guests and to demonstrate living in a sustainable manner allowing us to practice "right livelihood" and lead a "simpler life". We're gratified that inn

our guest reviews express an appreciation for not only our services, but also for our demonstration of how to live a "greener" way.

The property we purchased for the inn needed a great deal of work in order to serve the public. The outside areas were totally devoid of any signs of life. No birds or animals would call it home. There were no trees either. We have planted over 250 trees and shrubs since purchasing the property to provide much needed shade and to lower our carbon footprint.

About a year ago we learned about permaculture and started to visualize how our property could be enhanced. Our first positive experience involved sheet mulching a barren area we had tried to use for a vegetable garden for three prior years with little success. To say the past attempts at growing vegetables was frustrating, is an understatement. Besides having to dig and weed, the final product was disappointing. Some of the plants produced, but none flourished. Using permaculture we had a great garden last Spring. As December 21st this year, we still have four more fresh tomatoes waiting to be eaten in the next week. Our freezer is packed with our organic tomatoes and spaghetti sauce.

We have dug many water catchment swales to retain rainwater longer and to provide more swale

planting areas. Food producing trees and shrubs have been planted in and near the swales. So far we have planted plums, peaches, pears, apples, autumn olives, concord grapes, blueberries, raspberries, thornless blackberries, strawberries, figs, persimmons (Asian & American), paw paws, pomegranates, nanking cherries, sour cherries, quinces, aronias, gooseberries, comfrey, currants, mayhaw, medlar, high bush cranberries, goumis, gogi berries, mullein, jujubes, thimbleberries, wineberries and serviceberries. Each Fall planting season we plan on adding more varieties of edible plants.

The last portion of the water conservation program will be the ponds which will be developed in the future.

The inn is now becoming a permaculture demonstration site or a sustainable human settlement. Guests can attend permaculture workshops or just stay at the inn and discuss the permaculture lifestyle with the innkeepers. We only provide tours of the property to registered guests staying at the inn. Inn guests frequently take a tour of the property after breakfast with Fred and Mary Beth to learn more about permaculture and the work in progress. For more information on the inn visit Cedar House Inn & Yurts.

To see our site plan we developed for our Permaculture Design (PDC) certification visit Site Plan.

Our site and other permaculture demonstration sites are listed in the Worldwide Permaculture Network.