In a single sentence:

Roberte Riche’s Pearl Dragon Studio is a fantasy-writing sanctuary and the online gateway to the now-private, two-acre Ocala Food Forest, where the website no longer hosting public or nursery activities but still serves as a rich resource for learning permaculture principles and cultivating self-sufficiency.

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The Storyteller Behind the Studio

Pearl Dragon Studio began on an ordinary half-hour commute when I resolved to write a tiny tale that might encourage my partner to chase her own storytelling dream. Somewhere between the first stoplight and my client’s driveway, that “tiny” tale exploded into outlines for a full-length novel, then a trilogy, and finally three prequel shorts fleshing out each hero’s past. Years—and countless drafts—later, those road-born imaginings have grown into everything you now find on this site: the family-friendly Pearl Dragon Series, the free Bedtime Stories videos, the myth-laced adventures narrated by scholar Callista, and the gritty, adults-only saga Revenant of the Broken World. Continuous writing, revising, and recording have also ushered in audiobooks and a YouTube channel were fresh fiction debuts aloud.

Books, Merch, and Making Things

My creativity spills beyond manuscripts into 3-D resin printing, painted RPG miniatures, fantasy art prints, and woodworking pieces—items sold in the shop to fund professional cover art, editing, and future stories. The catalogue already features a Permaculture Logbook for tracking sixty plants per site and a young-readers adventure focused on environmental stewardship.

A Community of Free Readers

Every short story on the site remains free to read—no paywalls—because new worlds should be accessible first and profitable second. Voluntary donations simply keep the lights on and the pages turning.

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The Ocala Food Forest Vision

A backyard experiment launched in 2020 merged Central Florida’s (Zone 9) subtropical climate with permaculture design and became the Ocala Food Forest—a private, two-acre proof that food independence is possible at home.

Mission & Approach

  • Mission: Show others how to mimic natural ecosystems so anyone—whatever their space or budget—can grow chemical-free food, heal soil, and build resilience.

  • Design: Stacked guilds of edible, medicinal, native, and companion species chosen for Florida’s heat and humidity.

Education & Resources

Although the land is no longer open to the public, the website offers:

  • Plant Library: Hundreds of entries with scientific names, zone ranges, harvest notes, and real-time status updates.

  • Deep-Dive Plant Pages: Detailed profiles (e.g., Anna Apple, Garden Bean) covering tolerance ranges, companion planting, Florida-specific pests, N-P-K timing, and harvest calendars.

  • Florida Garden Guide: Month-by-month advice on direct-seeding, starting indoors, and transplanting across North, Central, and South Florida, plus region-specific pest solutions and edible-flower lists.

Together, Pearl Dragon Studio’s stories and the Ocala Food Forest’s lessons invite readers and growers alike to cultivate imagination, resilience, and self-sufficiency—whether on the page or in the soil.