A foodscape is a yard designed to grow real food while still looking beautiful, blending edible plants, native species, and pollinator habitat into a single working ecosystem rather than separating "garden" from "landscaping." At Ralstead Foodscapes, every design is rooted in permaculture principles, so the space feeds you while supporting the soil, insects, and wildlife around it.

Ralstead Foodscapes is based in Raleigh, North Carolina, and serves homeowners and businesses throughout the greater Triangle area. All designs are tailored to our specific Zone 8a climate and red clay soil, so recommendations are grounded in what actually thrives here rather than in generic advice.

Permaculture is a design approach guided by three ethics: care for the earth, care for people, and share the surplus. In practice, that means building healthy soil, supporting native plants and pollinators, and creating a resilient system in which elements like chickens, compost, and companion planting work together rather than requiring constant external inputs.

Every project starts with a free discovery call, a 15 to 30 minute conversation to talk through your goals and get a feel for your space before anything is scheduled. From there, most clients move into a paid on-site consultation where the real planning begins.

The consultation is a one-hour, on-site visit where we walk your property together, assess your climate, soil, and existing infrastructure, and talk through your vision in detail. It costs $150, and afterward you'll receive a written brief that summarizes your goals, design recommendations, and a custom quote.

Services include garden consultations, full garden designs and planting plans, installation, ongoing garden coaching, native pollinator patch design, chicken keeping coaching, dog-friendly garden design, and workshops. Clients can book a single service or combine several, depending on whether they want hands-on guidance or a complete turnkey garden.

Both options are available. Ralstead Foodscapes offers in-house installation for select projects, works with a network of trusted contractors, or can coordinate with a contractor you already have, so the installation approach fits your budget and timeline rather than a one-size-fits-all package.

Every design project includes a custom landscape plan with an aerial view of your property overlaid with the design, a seasonal planting guide with region-specific timing for Zone 8a, and a sourcing guide listing trusted vendors for materials and plants. Nothing is left to guesswork.

Yes, chicken keeping coaching is one of Ralstead Foodscapes’ core services. Ingrid keeps her own flock as part of a closed-loop system where the chickens control pests, scratch through mulch, and cycle nutrients back into the garden, and she coaches clients on setting up that same kind of relationship in their own yard in addition to tips on how to protect your garden from chickens and what to grow specifically for your flock.

Yes. Native pollinator patches are a dedicated service, built around plants that support bees, butterflies, and other beneficial insects while still fitting the look and function of the rest of your yard.

Yes, dog-friendly garden design is offered as its own service, so families with pets don't have to choose between a productive foodscape and a yard their dog can safely enjoy.

Support continues well past installation through Ralstead Foodscapes' coaching program, which offers ongoing, personalized guidance for gardeners at any stage, whether you inherited an overgrown yard, starting fresh, or you're refining a garden you already built. The goal is for your skills and confidence to keep growing alongside the garden itself.

Yes, Ingrid Fromm is a certified Permaculture Designer with hands-on experience running her own working food forest, kitchen garden, and backyard flock in the Raleigh area. She started Ralstead Farm in 2017 and has spent years learning what actually thrives in Zone 8a before founding Ralstead Foodscapes to teach others.

Ralstead Foodscpes focuses specifically on edible and ecological design rather than ornamental landscaping, so every recommendation is built around food production, soil health, and biodiversity rather than just visual appeal. The process is also educational by design, meaning clients leave with the knowledge to maintain and grow the space themselves, not just a finished install.

You can book a free discovery call directly through this 30-minute Calendly link, or use the "Book a Consult" button anywhere on the site.