Living Ground Workshops · Southern Ecuador
Soil. Microbes. homesteading. Plants. Food. herbs. food as medicine. The Human Terrain. Live & dried blood analysis
Come to Living Ground in the mountains of southern Ecuador and spend a week working directly with the living systems that connect soil, plants, food, microbes and the human body.
These are small, hands-on workshops. You will use microscopes, work in the gardens, make preparations, observe biology and develop practical skills you can carry home with you. Living Ground is not a conference centre. It is a working project. What we teach here is part of what we live here.
Thinking about coming to Ecuador?
You do not need to be ready to apply. If you are curious about one of the workshops and want to ask about travel, accommodation, pricing, dates, what the experience is like, or which workshop might be right for you, send me a message.
Ask first. Apply when you know it feels right.
You are not coming here simply to sit in a classroom. You are coming to participate.
Four Workshops. One Living System.
I believe Ecology & Terrain Theory is a necessary paradigm shift because health begins with the conditions that allow life to thrive. Soil, microbes, plants, food and the human body are connected parts of one living continuum. Each Living Ground workshop enters that continuum from a different place. You can come for the subject that calls you now, return for another, or follow the relationships between them.
Choose Your Workshop
The dates, focus and workshop links are included directly on each card. Click any card to explore the full workshop.
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Not sure which one is right for you?
You May Be Wondering If This Is For You
You do not need to be a scientist, farmer or health practitioner to come to Living Ground. Some people arrive with years of experience. Others arrive because they are fascinated by microbes, food, plants, growing, health or simply understanding how living systems work.
If you have found yourself questioning how food is grown, how the human terrain changes, what microbes are actually doing, or how much practical knowledge we have handed over to outside systems, you will probably find plenty here to explore.
Curiosity matters far more than arriving as an expert.
We are part of nature, not separate from it. The same living principles that shape a forest, feed a plant, build soil and move through a microbial community are also working within us. When we begin to understand those relationships, caring for ourselves stops being something we hand over completely to outside systems. We become participants again. We learn to observe, to nourish, to respond, to work with the conditions that support life and to make choices with more awareness. That is a large part of what I want these workshops to offer: a way back into relationship with the living world around us and the living world within us, so that caring for our health, our food and our land becomes something we understand and take part in directly.
What Does a Week at Living Ground Actually Feel Like?
A morning may begin around the microscope, looking at something that was invisible to you the day before. Later you may be in the garden examining roots and soil, harvesting herbs, working with compost, preparing food, making a ferment or comparing what you are seeing with what you learned earlier in the day.
The gardens, compost, apothecary, café, kitchen, microscopes and surrounding land are all part of the classroom. You are learning where these things actually happen.
There is time to learn, time to make things, time to ask questions and time to follow the discoveries that appear once you start looking more closely.
The intention is not to send you home with more information.
It is to send you home seeing more and able to do more.
Why I Teach These Workshops
I want knowledge back in our own hands.
We have become deeply dependent on systems outside ourselves to grow our food, tell us what is healthy, explain our bodies and supply what we use for our gardens, homes and health. In the process, a great deal of practical knowledge has slipped away.
I want people to leave Living Ground seeing more, understanding more and able to do more for themselves. The microscope is part of that. Soil is part of that. Plants are part of that. Food is part of that. Your own observation is a very important part of it.
These workshops are not about memorizing my conclusions. I want to give you tools, show you what I have learned and create enough space for you to begin making your own connections.
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I’m LeishaI have spent more than 30 years working with natural health, plants, food and the terrain of the human body. My work has moved through naturopathy, herbal medicine, Live and Dried Blood Analysis, soil microbiology and the Soil Food Web. What fascinates me is the relationship between all of them. I can look through a microscope at blood, then walk into the garden and look through a microscope at soil, and I am still asking a very similar question: What conditions allow life to thrive? Living Ground is where I get to explore that question every day, and these workshops are my way of sharing what I have learned. |
Coming to Southern Ecuador
Living Ground is in Masanamaca, about 10 km south of Vilcabamba at the Quinara turnoff.
Getting HereFly to Catamayo Airport near Loja. Living Ground is approximately a 1.5-hour taxi ride from the airport and the taxi is about $40. Once your workshop is confirmed, we can help you with directions and arrival. |
Staying HereThere are six guest rooms at Living Ground: two private rooms and four shared rooms. Onsite guests also have access to our spa area, sauna and yoga room. Rooms are limited. |
Eating HereFood is prepared through our Gratitude Café. We use food from our gardens whenever possible and source additional ingredients locally. Vegetarian, vegan, meat and gluten-free ways of eating can be accommodated. |
Full workshop pricing, accommodation and meal options are on each individual workshop page.
Extend Your Time at Living Ground
Our workshops are intentionally scheduled back-to-back with retreats offered by Elizabeth Wysen at Living Ground. Her work explores the spiritual and emotional aspects of healing, while my workshops move into the physical terrain through blood, the microbiome, Terrain Theory, herbs, food and the living systems of the body and land.
There is one day between the two programs to rest, integrate and enjoy Living Ground. You can attend either program on its own or stay for both.
Can You See Yourself Here?
If one of these workshops keeps pulling your attention, you do not need to fill out an application yet. Send me a message. Tell me what interests you, where you are coming from and what you are hoping to learn. I answer the messages myself and I am happy to help you decide whether Living Ground is the right fit.