About Us
Finca Magdalena~ Isla de Ometepe
Driven by my original draw to the profession and inspired by momentum in the areas of green infrastructure and local foodscapes, in 2013 I formed Third Nature Design. Third Nature focuses on creating places of community, respite, and enterprise while connecting people to each other and their natural environment. The Third Nature Collective offers site and drainage design and construction for home, community, and local economies and specialized services for rural and urban homesteads. We focus on providing clean air to our community through EPA certified wood stove installation. We embrace issues of water quality, food cultivation, and the value of ecosystem services.
Vanora (Mandi) Motes, Landscape Architect and Owner:
After receiving a bachelor’s degree in landscape architecture I began work as a project designer for a large engineering firm. There I designed commercial site and sustainability plans, erosion and sedimentation prevention plans, and conducted hydrologic analyses and flood studies. A few years later, I set off on a new path, working with Kaleidoscope Inc., a small planning and consulting firm for outdoor centers (places like camps, retreat centers, nature centers). This work took me across the country and into Central America, working with non-profit committees and boards, creating consensus-based designs that reflected the unique visions of people and place. Five years and many projects later, I found myself in Cuba for an international conference on permaculture. There was such richness and resilience to their culture that seemed to have so little material possessions yet had so much love, kindness, caring, and supporitve community. This experience led me to form Third Nature to help others to deepen their own connections to each other and their surroundings. After visiting Cuba I lived and worked at regenerative centers and permaculture sites in the Pacific Northwest and Canada. My partner, Matt, and I currently call one of Oregon’s remaining small villages our home.
My work focuses on reviving ways of community, intimacy, and ritual in the places we live and gather.
