Coming from a university background in ethnobotany (the study of traditional uses of plants), Rebecca has years of experience in diversified farming, having been involved in market gardens, beekeeping, urban medicine gardens, milking, and cheese making, among other things. Currently she is the youth intern at Groundswell Network Society in Invermere, a nationally recognized grassroots organization that advances sustainability through applied demonstration projects promoting health in community, economy, and environment.

Verge’s PDC helped Rebecca tie together her seemingly disparate areas of expertise into one cohesive framework of permaculture:

“I’ve been wanting to do a PDC for some time now, but haven’t had a spare thousand dollars kicking around. Verge was kind enough to allow me to work-trade for my course by volunteering at Groundswell Network Society.

Groundswell, in turn, helped me to apply for We Feed the Planet.

It’s all connected.”

We were thrilled to learn that Rebecca has been selected as two of fifteen delegates to attend this year’s We Feed the Planet EXPO in Milan, Italy.

A bit about the event:

“Feeding the planet is the biggest challenge our generation has to face. And with EXPO 2015 focusing on exactly this, the world is looking to Milan for answers. We need all young farmers, food producers and food professionals from all over the world to show who really feeds the planet and to come together to discuss the future of food and farming.

However, it is senseless to discuss how to feed the planet in the future without the presence of the young generation, especially small-scale producers. With their closeness to the land and practical knowledge, they do much more than produce food. They teach us how to protect seeds, planets, animal breeds, water, soil and other non-renewable sources of our nutrition. They can show us how their work is about nourishment, but also about the joy of living: the happiness that comes from good and beautiful things, from sharing, and from the wisdom that preserves the Earth in order to leave it in better shape for future generations.



With this picture in mind, a picture made up of thousands of faces, hands, languages and knowledge, the Slow Food Youth Network and Slow Food have set themselves on an immense challenge: to bring the discussions on the future of food and farming those who deserve to be there the most. In other words, to bring small-scale producers from all over the world to Terra Madre Giovani – We Feed The Planet.

The Slow Food Youth Network and Slow Food are asking all young farmers, food producers and food professionals from all over the world to show who really feeds the planet through a discussion on the future of food and farming.”