restoring vintage hardware, or sourcing natural clay and lime plasters, the team prioritizes what already exists—preserving character while upgrading function. Every interior is approached with an eye toward utility, low-impact materials, and enduring beauty, offering clients spaces that are as healthy and sustainable as they are elegant. It’s a method that starts with function but never ends there. “The mix of functionality and beauty that exists in nature astonishes me on a daily basis,” she says. “We focus on the efficiencies of natural beauty, while taming it to the degree that ensures human interaction is simple and convenient.” One special, and self-sustaining, project encapsulates that ethos. “We recently created a breathtaking food garden and orchard for a client that is completely regenerative,” she says. “The rain capture system that we installed is the source for watering the garden. There’s no need for hoses, or wells. If the tank overflows with too much rain, it drains to the local stream. If the tank lacks water, the local stream along with a solar pump fills the tank.” The result? A lush, self-sustaining ecosystem overflowing with food that nourishes both the homeowner and the local community, through donations to a nearby food charity. For Walsh, beauty and abundance are just two facets of her firm’s mission. The work done by 100 Miles North is also a direct challenge to the widespread notion that regenerative design is costly or complicated. “Regenerative design is not more expensive,” she says. “It requires far less maintenance and certainly far fewer non-natural inputs than conventional ‘landscaping.’” Still, the idea of permaculture can feel abstract to the uninitiated. That’s where Walsh’s passion for education comes in. “When clients first see the ideas that come from a permaculture design philosophy, it’s always a lightbulb moment,” she says. “Permaculture brings forward solutions that stack functions of multiple parts of your life and garden, and these solutions are quite simple.” The simplicity, in fact, is what makes her work so revolutionary. Swap plastic for biodegradable cellulose. Trade Teflon pans for cast iron. Compost your food scraps, even if you don’t have a garden. “The easiest and most convenient start is to implement simple solutions right in your kitchen,” she says, adding, “We offer kitchen greening packages that get you set up.”
public appetite shift dramatically. She observes, “Lawns are out. Meadows are in. Ornamentals are out. Foodscapes are in. Pesticides are out. Nature’s birds and bugs are in.” The firm’s reach is also expanding into interiors, product sourcing, and nonprofit advocacy. Walsh serves on the board of the firm’s nonprofit partner, the Permaculture Land Trust. Together, they’re preserving and developing agroforestry sites throughout the Northeast by reintroducing native nut and fruit tree crops, developing community-accessible nurseries, and ensuring future generations inherit a more resilient landscape. As part of that mission, Walsh is building an Eco Design Center in the Hudson Valley. “This will allow designers, builders, architects, and consumers to come see what their choices are,” she says. “We do all of the research to make sure that the best products and designs are available to you.” For Walsh, it all comes back to alignment—with the land, with long-term thinking, and with the client’s values. That’s where her entrepreneurial journey has taught its sharpest lessons. “When a client or a situation does not align with my values, it is so obvious to me now that it is just not a compromise we can make,” she says. “Our culture has become so conditioned to go for the quick fix, so I often have to talk to clients about patience. If we do it the right way now, you’ll never have to replace it again.” That kind of clarity doesn’t just make for better landscapes, it cultivates a new kind of luxury. One rooted not in opulence, but in intention. And in a world increasingly defined by excess, the work of 100 Miles North feels like a breath of air: cool, clean, and wild with possibility.
It’s this values-driven, low-barrier approach that has fueled the firm’s rapid growth. In less than two years, Walsh has seen
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