No-Nonsense Marketing for Permies, Farmers and Earth Repair Entrepreneurs (Podcast)
Podcasts — by Rob Avis June 18, 2013
by Rob Avis
I recently had the opportunity to interview my friend Tad Hargrave from Marketing for Hippies in Edmonton, Alberta. Verge has been hosting Tad’s workshops in Calgary, Edmonton and Central Alberta for the past few years now, and we’ve benefited greatly from his coaching services too.
We share a similar vision with Tad: we see the importance of showing people how to thrive in earth repair businesses. A lot of our students want to follow their dreams, quit their 9-5 jobs, and work for themselves full-time doing the things they love — but they don’t know how to communicate what they do, and attract clients to engage their services, talents or products.
In this interview, Tad and I talk about some of the most important, simple and no-nonsense marketing strategies you need to do regardless of whether you are just starting out or if you have been at it for a while. Take a listen, let us know what you think.
Comments (1)Local Farming Wisdom Goes Global: Verge to Broadcast Joel Salatin’s First-Ever Livestream Course Around the World
Courses/Workshops — by Rob Avis February 20, 2013
When sustainable agriculture superstar Joel Salatin agreed to come teach for us, we knew we had to make it count. Joel’s message of reclaiming farming and food production has been so influential to us, and to like-minded people around the world, that we knew his three days of workshops in Alberta, Canada weren’t going to be enough.
So we decided to offer up his dirt-under-the-fingernails wisdom and lunatic farmer passion beyond the classroom – opening the doors to students 50 or 5,000 miles away with his first-ever live-streamed appearance.
Comments (0)Heating The Greenhouse Rocket-Style
Building, Energy Systems — by Rob Avis February 15, 2013
by Rob Avis
Our new rocket mass heater is now functionally done. After installing a proper chimney, it really hums! Above is a video that we produced showcasing its construction.
Comments (5)The Verge Permaculture Grad Series – Juli & Jeff Gillies (Alberta, Canada)
Demonstration Sites — by Rob Avis February 8, 2013
Juli Gillies (a Verge PDC grad) and her husband Jeff (a PDC student of Barb Hazenveld from Gorgeous and Edible Gardens and Ron Berezan from The Urban Farmer) are demonstrating a wide array of permaculture homesteading techniques on their 5 acre parcel near Rocky Mountain House, AB. In just a couple of years they have transformed their land – an old junk yard – into a beautiful and productive garden, complete with food forest and up-cycled raised beds. They’ve used their technological know-how and a “get-er-done” approach to test everything from solar electricity and heating to rainwater harvesting, energy efficient retrofits, food storage, and large scale soil production through their business Taimi Soil Projects. Their acreage, the Rancho Relaxo, has quickly become a leading example of off-the-grid homesteading solutions for cold climates, and they will be showcasing it all as the hosts of the 2013 Western Canada Permaculture Convergence this August.
Comments (1)Crystel Vultier: From PDC Student to Local Food Purveyor (Alberta, Canada)
Community Projects, Markets & Outlets, Village Development — by Rob Avis January 28, 2013
by Rob Avis
Crystel Vultier is a true local food purveyor for her home town of Canmore, AB. Over the past several years she has been instrumental in creating the Canmore Community Garden which now provides plots for over 100 gardeners in the city and area. She has also created a project called Farm Box which sources local and organic food directly from farmers in Alberta and BC, and distributes it to 130 families in a weekly CSA program, as well as making the abundance of healthy produce available to the whole city through a booth at the local farmers’ market. Watch how one person’s potential to create positive change is realized through hard work and permaculture tools, and see how quickly the ripples have spread to effect her entire community.
Comments (0)Shauna Teare Puts Permaculture to Work in the Slocan Valley (British Columbia, Canada)
Demonstration Sites — by Rob Avis January 25, 2013
by Rob Avis
Nestled deep in the forested mountains of the Slocan Valley in British Columbia, ex-urbanite Shawna Teare and her family have applied skills from their former lives in business and carpentry, along with gifted and innovative craftmanship to create a leading edge permaculture homestead complete with chickens, rabbits, interns and more! See how they have up-cycled materials en masse, created a diverse and plentiful organic garden, put their on-site resources to productive use, and networked within their community to create a truly resilient, sustainable, and enjoyable lifestyle.
Comments (5)Verge’s Grad Interview Series: Trailer
General — by Rob Avis December 14, 2012
by Rob Avis
The Grad Video series tells the stories of 10 graduates from our Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) courses, documenting what they’ve done with the knowledge, skills and inspiration they acquired from the course. Two film makers set out to find these graduates and catch them in action, capturing their successes, struggles, and transformations as they embark on new endeavours — starting gardens, homesteads, community projects, businesses, building sustainable homes and structures, hosting conferences and much more.
Above is the trailer for the ten-part series to follow.
Comments (3)Compost Teas and Extracts: Brewin’ and Bubblin’ Basics
Compost, Fungi, Rehabilitation, Soil Biology, Soil Composition, Soil Conservation, Structure — by Rob Avis July 11, 2012
by Rob Avis
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 love our compost brews too, and since we’re always getting questions about the compost tea process, we thought it was time to sit down and write a post about it. In this article we’ll explain the difference between a tea and an extract, discuss the best ingredients and recipes, and give you the step-by-step how-to for making your own compost tea brewer.
Our Backyard Soil Sample – The Results Are In!
Compost, Fungi, Rehabilitation, Soil Biology, Soil Composition, Structure — by Rob Avis May 28, 2012
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A few weeks ago we had our amazing interns prepare a soil sample to be sent off to the Soil Food Web Lab in Vulcan, Alberta. (See the blog, Testing Our Soil for a Nutrient Dense Garden). A few quick weeks later, our analysis came back, and we were told by the lab that our “sample’s biology numbers were one of the best we have seen for garden samples”.
We’ve been telling people for years now that compost is the most effective way to improve soil texture, nutrient density, tilth, carbon content and overall health, and now the results are in.
When we started our garden almost four years ago, growing anything in our backyard seemed hopeless. You can see (top right) what our soil looked like when we started. It was basically chunks of sand and clay with the consistency of concrete. Not a very welcoming home for new seeds.
Comments (5)Swales: The Permaculture Element That Really “Holds Water”
Conservation, Dams, Food Forests, Irrigation, Land, Swales, Water Harvesting — by Rob Avis May 16, 2012
by Rob Avis
Michelle, Rowen and I were driving home from a vacation in the mountains when we passed by a swale on a farmer’s field in the middle of Alberta cattle country. Naturally, it piqued my curiosity and I had to stop the car to investigate. It was such a great example of how this simple technique can catch and store water on a large scale, we decided to make a short video about it….
What’s a Swale?
 Rob walking along a swale after a huge rain event at the Permaculture Research Institute of Australia |
Simply put, swales are water-harvesting ditches, built on the contour of a landscape. Most ditches are designed to move water away from an area, so the bottom of the ditch is built on a modest slope, usually between 200:1 to 400:1.
Swales, however, are flat on the bottom because they’re designed to do the opposite; they slow water down to a standstill, eliminate erosion, infiltrate the surrounding area with water, and recharge the groundwater table. When water moves along the flat bottom of a swale, it fills it up like a bathtub — that is, all parts of the bath tub fill at the same rate. The water in a swale is therefore passive; it doesn’t flow the way it would on a slope.
Comments (11)From the Bottom Up – A DIY Guide to Wicking Beds
Conservation, Food Plants - Annual, Food Plants - Perennial, Irrigation, Land, Urban Projects — by Rob Avis June 20, 2011
by Rob Avis
Wicking beds are a unique and increasingly popular way to grow vegetables. They are self-contained raised beds with built-in reservoirs that supply water from the bottom up – changing how, and how much, you water your beds. In this article, we’ll talk about how wicking beds work and why we love them. We’ll also show you some great examples and leave you with ideas and instructions for creating your own.
Comments (12)The Grass Isn’t Greener…
Biodiversity, Consumerism, Food Forests, Food Plants - Annual, Food Plants - Perennial, Food Shortages, Land, Medicinal Plants, Plant Systems, Society, Soil Erosion & Contamination, Urban Projects, Water Contaminaton & Loss — by Rob Avis May 13, 2011
by Rob Avis
If you’ve been following permaculture, then you’ve probably been hearing about Permablitz – the transformation of lawns into productive, abundant landscapes. (For those of you in our region, here in Canada, check out this site.)
You may be thinking: why food? Why not lawns?
Comments (20)Listen to the Beavers
Biological Cleaning, Conservation, Irrigation, Regional Water Cycle, Storm Water, Waste Water, Water Harvesting — by Rob Avis April 18, 2011
A 13 year old in Saskatoon Canada put this together.
Further Reading:
Comments (3)Everything You Need to Know About Composting With Worms
Compost, Rehabilitation, Soil Biology, Urban Projects, Working Animals — by Rob Avis April 2, 2011
by Rob Avis
Following my recent blog post on the Do-It-Yourself Vermipod, I’ve been receiving a ton of questions from folks who built Vermipods and are looking for information on how to manage and maintain their new pets. So here’s a compilation called Everything You Need To Know About Composting With Worms….
Comments (12)How We Designed Our Solar Greenhouse
Building, Energy Systems, Food Plants - Annual, Nurseries & Propogation, Urban Projects — by Rob Avis February 11, 2011
by Rob Avis
We live and garden on an urban lot in Calgary, Canada, located on the 51st parallel north and approximately 80 km east of the front ranges of the Canadian Rockies. This northern climate presents many design challenges, including less than one hundred frost-free days, an annual mean temperature of 4.1 degrees Celsius and summer cyclonic weather patterns (i.e. high risk of hail). We are also considered to be a moderate temperate desert as our precipitation is around 500mm including snow. However, one of the advantages of growing food up north is the long summer days. There is no better place to observe this than in Alaska which also has an average of 100 frost free days but is renown for growing the largest vegetables in the world. Also, despite being cold in the winter, it is rarely overcast and we enjoy mostly sunny days. These two factors combined result in Calgary having nearly the same solar potential as Florida.
