Community Design

“Food forest” – “forest garden” – “agroforestry” – if you grew up seeing farms with single-crop fields stretching away into the distance, these terms may provoke some cognitive dissonance. [...]

Rob Avis recently had the chance to chat with Kamea Chayne from Green Dreamer Podcast about the poor condition of our soils and the solutions to address this problem, how we can eat a truly [...]

How did Verge Permaculture begin? What is the order of operations in permaculture design if you want to prevent flooding and water scarcity ? How does a rainwater harvesting system mimic the [...]

Lorinda Peel is a herbalist-in-training and a former Verge grad. We’re happy to feature her guest blog, first published over at Reforged Ironworks, a company that crafts hand-forged tools [...]

Tim Wickstrom is a Verge grad who has started his own forge business to make permaculture and garden hand tools (Check out his Alumni Profile here). Here is the final piece of his three-part [...]

Tim Wickstrom is a Verge grad who has started his own forge business to make permaculture and garden hand tools (Check out his Alumni Profile here). Here is the second piece of his three-part [...]

Tim Wickstrom is a Verge grad who has started his own forge business to make permaculture and garden hand tools (Check out his Alumni Profile here). Here is the first piece of his three-part [...]

  To get caught up and find out why Lyme disease is spreading like oil spilled in the Gulf of Mexico, check out Part I. We’ll all wait for you. We’re nice. So, reason number three why Lyme [...]

Hey Everyone,  This summer, we won’t be around Calgary much. We have taken a contract position with the Groundswell Network Society, in Invermere, BC, to act as their Resident Permaculture [...]

Growing Good Business Video Series Part 3: So Many Opportunities, Where Do You Start? In 2007 we first watched – and were completely awestruck by – Geoff Lawton’s “Greening the [...]

Growing Good Business Video Series Part 2: Hindsight is 20/20 – What The Permaculture Experts Learned the Hard Way In 2007 we first watched – and were completely awestruck by – [...]

We travelled to the Permaculture Voices conference in Temecula, CA this past March to interview successful permaculture designers, teachers, farmers and business owners and get their top tips! [...]

Over the last few years, I have been formulating my opinion on how to approach investing and what do to with extra cash. And I can’t believe how many people have told me in the last few [...]

For the last four years, I have been dreaming of retrofitting a small town with a group of like-minded individuals with a diverse set of skills. I talk a lot about this in my courses, and it [...]

For the last couple of years, I have recognized that transitioning our culture from one that looks at the planet as an endless mine and ecological destruction as a just another externality to one [...]

Hi Rob, I have been studying permaculture for several years now, but once we get past the basics of gardening we seem to run into the same wall again and again. That wall for us is a balance of [...]

I had heard a little about permaculture through my gardening volunteer work but didn't really get to understand the principles until taking Rob’s intro course in 2009 and reading Toby Hemenway’s [...]

Last weekend both Jordan and I had an amazing opportunity to be part of Rob Avis of Verge Permaculture’s Design Team, participating in an applied Design Practicum at the Groundswell [...]

Evonne Smulders brings a youthful, inspired, and change-making spirit to her home town of Black Diamond, AB, and beyond… all the while embodying and sharing her truly “Sage” [...]

Jordan Saunders is a young farmer whose projects have already made a significant impact on the yards and hearts of many people across Western Canada; he shows by example that farming and [...]

Ashley Lubyk and Heather Noakes show that creating beautiful and sustainable human habitat is possible through the passionate work of their natural building education and consulting company, Dirt [...]

Part 7: Sara Haney and Chrissy Begus   Sara Haney and Chrissy Begus are piecing together the puzzle of sustainability through their education company Puzzle Permaculture, which currently [...]

Kym Chi shows with creativity and humour, that permaculture is a form of art, as well as a tool for increasing personal empowerment and community resiliency. Her sense of enjoyment and infectious [...]

Josh Baker demonstrates a beautiful and functional approach to urban permaculture design at his home in Calgary, AB, incorporating many unique landscaping elements including a young food forest, [...]

Verge’s Grads in Action Series: Part 4 – Juli & Jeff Gillies Juli and Jeff Gillies are demonstrating a wide array of permaculture homesteading techniques on their 5 acre parcel [...]

Verge’s Grads in Action Series: Part 3 – Chrystel Vultier Chrystel Vultier is a true local food purveyor for her home town of Canmore, AB. Over the past several years she has been [...]

Nestled deep in the forested mountains of the Slocan Valley, ex-urbanite Shawna Teare and her family have applied skills from their former lives in business and carpentry, along with gifted and [...]

Ever Wondered, “What Can I Do With a Permaculture Certificate?” Meet Our Grads and Get Inspired By Their Stories of Earth Repair and Personal Transformation! Verge’s Grad [...]

Since it worked so well last year, we have decided to unplug again this year! The office will be closed from December 21st to January 2nd, we hope you all take the time to relax and enjoy the [...]

With the help and expertise of our Edmonton PDC students and Big Sky Permaculture, we recently installed a series of wicking beds at Jasper [...]

Luke is our outgoing intern and the 2011 Contest Winner for the Sunnyside Garden Centre Writing Competition: "How is gardening a form of artwork, and how does gardening build [...]