Permaculture Projects

Imagine a garden where every plant, insect, and drop of water plays a vital role in a vibrant ecosystem. This is the heart of an epic permaculture garden, a space that transcends traditional [...]

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 [...]

We are thrilled to announce that we just signed another book deal with New Society Publishers, "Building Your Adaptive Habitat".

Some exciting news from Verge grad Christina Goodvin (Check out her profile HERE)—She was just selected as a finalist in the Permaculture Institute of North America’s (PINA) 2019 design contest, [...]

As an engineer and permaculture designer living in a cold-climate, I am particularly fascinated with the interplay between thermodynamics and design and with capturing “waste” energy [...]

Until recently, going to google maps, to get a birds eye view of a location was the default option for many Permaculture Practitioners and Consultants, but the main limitation was it could not be [...]

In this third video on urban swales, I explain why the level is a key tool in permaculture design and demonstrate its use to ensure that our swales work as intended: Check out Part 1 and 2 of our [...]

This second video in the urban swales series looks at permaculture design with water as the primary consideration. Here I work on redirecting water passively from roofs and topsoil overflow areas [...]

Last year, we did a series of videos looking at the swale systems on our property and demonstration site. Part one looks at how we’ve combined the featuress of a Hügelkultur system, a [...]

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 [...]

Join us for a beautiful and info-packed video tour of our permaculture homestead! This is a 3-part series where we explain and explore our: – thriving food forest complete with fruit trees, [...]

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! [...]

Nestled in southeast Calgary is one of the city’s original thriving permaculture projects – our home! And now we are offering an exclusive opportunity to learn all about it…online in our new [...]

In this video Rob showcases one of the major water harvesting feature – an underground rainwater cistern – on Rob and Michelle’s urban home property. This rain tank is unique because [...]

A step-by-step account of installing an underground rain tank in our backyard for additional rainwater harvesting storage.

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 [...]

Identifying the Formative System The consultancy that I performed was in Central Alberta on the Red Deer River, which delineates the badlands from the grasslands. You can see in the photo that [...]

I had a few years of gardening/farming experience before I wandered off to South America in 2011. Serendipity found me volunteering at a sustainability project in Ecuador later that year, I had [...]

This spring, Verge converged with Big Sky Permaculture and 7 apprentices (most of them past students) at the Invermere Community Greenhouse site, to do a design blitz. We had three days to [...]

Our How we designed our Solar Greenhouse blog is one of the most read blogs on our website, so I thought it was time for an update! This post will cover the benefits of our greenhouse, the [...]

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” [...]

Luke Kimmel is a young social entepreneur and permaculture designer who shows that both the entrepreneurial spirit and the desire to heal the planet can be satisfied through permaculture and [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

Over the past few years, our goal has been to slowly retrofit our 25 year old house into a little urban permaculture homestead. Most recently, we brought in Simple Solar to install a solar hot [...]

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

Permaculturists everywhere are crazy about their compost teas and extracts. They have turned building compost tea brewers into a science and concocting the perfect tea recipe into an art. We [...]

Spring has sprung and there is much to be done at the Verge Headquarters - planting and transplanting, installing a drip irrigation system, amending the soil for a new growing year and plenty [...]

On September 17th, 2011 I attended the tenth international permaculture convergence (IPC 10) in Jordan... (which also happened to be my birthday). To read Part I of this series, click