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Jon Sedore joins Cormac Harkin to discuss discovering permaculture in Alberta, growing food and composting, leaving corporate work, hempcrete, the Interdependence Works Summit, local economies and building stronger connections between people and communities.

In episode 129 of The Permaculture Vine Podcast, host Cormac Harkin was joined by Jon Sedore to talk about his route from the oil and gas industry into permaculture, growing food, composting, community involvement and hempcrete.

The conversation also covered the Interdependence Works Summit that Jon is helping to organise, its five pillars, disagreement and political division, local economies, community participation, shared resources and some of the projects Jon hopes to develop after the summit.

Who’s at the Table

Jon Sedore lives in Alberta, Canada. He spent much of his working life in business, including oil and gas and logistics, before leaving his corporate job in 2022. He first became involved with permaculture in 2018 and has since spent time growing food, composting, learning about herbalism, working with community projects and building with hempcrete.

Cormac Harkin hosts The Permaculture Vine Podcast. In this conversation, he shared examples from his own gardening and composting, discussed community and political division in Northern Ireland, and talked about his planned contribution to the Interdependence Works Summit around global conversations and local action.

Discovering Permaculture

Jon’s introduction to permaculture came through his partner at the time, who had become interested in gardening and began exploring permaculture. Jon said that before this he had never gardened and had given little thought to where his food came from.

He joined her in taking a Permaculture Design Course through Verge Permaculture in Calgary. Jon described the course as changing his perspective, particularly around design, inputs and how different elements can work together.

One concept that remained particularly prominent for him was stacking functions. He described continuing to apply the idea of having something perform more than one function, including when thinking about people working together.

Growing Food and Learning About Soil

After completing the course around the beginning of 2020, Jon started growing food in Calgary. He was living in a small urban property where he created two raised beds and an in-ground bed, growing crops including tomatoes and beans.

He also joined a community garden. His growing interest in soil led him to take responsibility for its three-bin composting system, giving him more practical experience with compost and soil.

Cormac discussed his own approach to composting, including cold compost, hot compost and using material from a chicken deep-bedding system. The conversation focused on the practical process of combining different materials and producing compost for the garden.

Leaving Corporate Work

Jon left his corporate job in 2022. He explained that although the job provided good pay and benefits, he had become uncomfortable exchanging his time for work that was ultimately contributing to somebody else’s creation.

He did not leave with a plan to immediately establish a permaculture design business. Instead, he wanted practical experience.

Jon spent time WWOOFing and visiting farms to see how other people approached organic farming. He moved from Calgary to British Columbia and later Saskatchewan, where he lived beside a lake in the boreal forest and learned more about mushrooms.

He eventually returned to Alberta and settled in a small town.

Community Work at the Arboretum

After moving to Trochu, Jon became involved with the Trochu Arboretum, a long-established tree garden in the town. He joined the society and later became chair of its board.

He described trying to introduce permaculture knowledge into the way the organisation operated and bringing facilitators into the community.

The surrounding area includes conventional agriculture and ranching, and Jon discussed engaging younger people with different ideas around plants, soil and growing. Much of this work was voluntary.

Building with Hempcrete

Another major part of Jon’s recent work has been hempcrete.

Jon and his partner Kat, who is a herbalist, have spent considerable time working with hemp. He described hempcrete as using hemp hurd mixed with lime and water to produce a building material.

They have built three of their own buildings using the material, while Jon has also participated in other builds.

Jon discussed growing hemp in Alberta, where the short growing season means one crop rather than two. He said it grows well in the local conditions and described plants in his front garden reaching more than 11 feet.

The conversation also covered regulation of hemp and Jon’s interest in promoting its use as a building material. Cormac discussed the licensing requirements around growing hemp where he lives.

The Interdependence Works Summit

The conversation then moved to the Interdependence Works Summit, an online event Jon is helping to organise.

Jon explained that the idea developed partly from conversations taking place in Alberta around independence, government and the relationship between Alberta and Canada. He described seeing political discussions creating division between people and said the summit was intended to focus instead on interdependence and bringing people into conversation.

The event is organised around five pillars: sovereignty, belonging, vitality, regeneration and prosperity.

Jon described sovereignty in terms of individual rights and free will without infringing on the rights of other people. Belonging covers human and communal systems and how people work together.

Vitality introduces conversations around individual and societal health. Regeneration looks at moving beyond sustainability and discussing regenerative approaches across society, culture and agriculture.

Prosperity focuses on local economies, producers and ways of keeping more economic activity within communities.

Disagreement and Conversation

A substantial part of the discussion focused on disagreement.

Cormac and Jon discussed how political conversations can quickly become polarised. Cormac described the divisions around Northern Ireland’s constitutional position, while Jon discussed similar experiences in Canada.

Jon said he did not expect everybody involved in the summit to agree. Instead, he described disagreement as something people need to be able to engage with while continuing to listen to each other.

The conversation covered the effects Jon believes COVID had on relationships between families, friends and co-workers, and his view that people have become less comfortable discussing differences of opinion.

Cormac described his podcast in similar terms: creating conversations where people can have different perspectives without the discussion becoming an argument.

Taking Part in the Summit

Jon explained several ways people can participate in Interdependence Works.

The website includes a section called Voices, where people are being asked what interdependence means to them. Jon said these responses will be collected and used to identify recurring words and subjects.

People can also apply to speak. Jon said the event is not being organised solely around recognised names and that people who have a perspective or experience they want to share can submit information about what they would like to discuss.

The summit will contain multiple conversations around the five pillars. Some selected conversations will be available publicly, while ticket holders will have access to the wider conference, recordings and opportunities to participate in discussions and Q&A sessions.

Jon also discussed plans for an online space following the summit where people could continue networking and communicating without advertising.

Hempcrete and Local Systems After the Summit

When Cormac asked what Jon planned to work on after the summit, hempcrete remained one of his main areas of interest.

Jon also discussed developing systems for people to work together locally. He referred to ideas he has encountered through One Small Town, sociocracy, WWOOFing and Young Agrarians.

His interest is in exploring ways people within towns, churches, sports clubs and other organisations could contribute work and skills and create forms of exchange around that participation.

Jon has also been developing software and described using AI to help him create code and systems despite not previously knowing programming languages such as JavaScript.

Local Economies and Shared Resources

The discussion returned repeatedly to the relationship between individuals, local producers and larger economic systems.

Cormac discussed the difficulties regulations can create for small producers selling across different markets. Jon described similar concerns among farmers and producers in Canada, particularly where producers have limited control over how products reach markets.

They also discussed the amount of equipment individually owned within communities.

Jon used lawnmowers as a simple example, questioning why every household needs to purchase equipment that is only used occasionally. Tool libraries and shared equipment were discussed as alternatives where resources can move between people.

This connected with a broader discussion about people becoming less accustomed to asking neighbours for help or sharing resources.

Food, Dependence and Local Production

Towards the end of the conversation, Jon returned to food production.

He contrasted food grown and harvested at home with produce moving through longer commercial supply chains. He discussed questions around how long food has been stored, where it was produced and how it was grown.

The conversation also considered dependence on supermarkets and supply chains. Jon described growing food at home as one way of reducing that dependence and increasing personal food security.

Cormac and Jon connected this back to permaculture and to their respective experiences of growing food, building systems and sharing what they are doing with other people.

Closing

Episode 129 covered Jon’s progression from oil and gas into permaculture, his first experiences growing food and composting, practical learning through WWOOFing, community work in Alberta and his growing involvement with hempcrete.

The conversation then moved through the Interdependence Works Summit and its five pillars, political disagreement, community participation, local economies, shared resources, food production and Jon’s plans to continue developing hempcrete and local collaborative projects after the summit.

Lindsay Brandon joins Cormac Harkin to discuss preparedness through permaculture design, including food and water storage, energy and heat, growing at different scales, off-grid systems, redundancy, skills and community interdependence.

In episode 128 of The Permaculture Vine Podcast, host Cormac Harkin was joined by Lindsay Brandon from Permaculture Canada. Lindsay joined the conversation from her school bus just north of Golden, British Columbia, where she is setting up her off-grid systems.

The conversation covered preparedness through the lens of permaculture design, moving beyond storing supplies to look at food, water, energy, heat, waste, skills, property design and community.

Who’s at the Table

Lindsay Brandon is with Permaculture Canada and was speaking from her school bus just north of Golden, BC. She has recently moved from Calgary and is setting up her off-grid systems, including solar power, water, hot water, a humanure composting system and other infrastructure.

Cormac Harkin hosts The Permaculture Vine Podcast. During the conversation, he discussed his own property and the systems he uses and is developing, including water, food growing, composting, chickens, a food forest and annual garden.

Preparedness Beyond Food Storage

The conversation began with government messaging around keeping additional food and supplies and preparing for extreme weather and possible supply-chain disruption. Cormac contrasted simply stockpiling food with using permaculture to consider how different systems work together.

Lindsay added community resilience and interdependence to the discussion. Food and water storage were part of preparedness, but she also raised the importance of knowing the skills available among neighbours and knowing who could provide help in areas such as medical care.

Cormac also raised the practical question of whether stored foods are foods people normally eat and know how to prepare. The discussion therefore moved from simply having supplies towards considering how those supplies would actually be used.

Starting at Different Scales

Space was one of the first practical constraints discussed. Cormac described his own property as one tenth of an acre and also raised the situations of people living in flats or apartments.

Lindsay described the contrast between living inside a school bus and being surrounded by a much larger property. Rather than creating an individual garden beside the bus, she is participating in community growing systems already operating on the property.

The conversation also covered balcony herbs, community gardens and finding unused land. Lindsay mentioned grants she had encountered in Canada for people willing to organise community gardens. She also referred to her recent trip to Iceland, where the range of crops that can be grown outdoors is more restricted, and raised indoor growing and hydroponics while noting their dependence on power.

Using Permaculture Design for Preparedness

Cormac framed permaculture design around food, energy, water and shelter rather than treating each one separately. Lindsay discussed the tools that might be available for extending food storage, including fermentation crocks, solar dryers and dehydrators.

Those tools do not necessarily have to belong to one person. Lindsay described bringing people together for fermenting, with several people sharing the work of preparing kimchi, beet kraut and other preserved foods. Different people could bring different skills and equipment to the process.

Cormac also discussed observing what is already available before beginning: skills, community, resources, money, food, water, electricity, heat, fuel and waste streams. Kitchen waste was used as an example of an output that could become an input for compost or chickens.

Auditing Skills and Resources

Lindsay described an exercise she is currently doing as she moves from city life to living off-grid. She is writing down her skills, resources and tools, including experience with soap making, fermenting, acting, music and dance.

She described this as a needs-and-yields analysis that she is applying to herself so that people in the community can understand what she is able to contribute.

Observation is also happening directly on the land. On the rainy day when the episode was recorded, Lindsay and Brian planned to walk the property and observe where water was moving and pooling and where ponds might be located.

Water Storage and Supply

When Cormac asked where someone should start, Lindsay initially identified water, followed by food and community.

Cormac discussed calculating how much water a household requires, how much can be stored and whether more can be collected. In his own climate, rainwater can be collected throughout the year, although water intended for drinking would need to be treated.

The conversation also covered storing water higher on a property where possible for gravity feeding, as well as considering both drought and flooding.

For Lindsay, the current off-grid setup includes delivered water and access to a freshwater spring. Later in the conversation she also described plans for a Bunyip pump, which she compared with a ram pump, to move water uphill from the river without electricity. The property has two creeks running through it.

Food Growing and Preservation

Cormac described beginning food planning by asking what people actually eat before deciding what to grow. He discussed choosing crops and varieties suited to the local area and combining annual and perennial plants.

Food resilience in the conversation also included buying food for preservation rather than necessarily growing everything yourself. Fermenting, canning and dehydrating were discussed alongside growing.

Lindsay described Permaculture Canada’s design process as looking at the person, the property and what will thrive there, then considering food production, soil health, water storage, microclimates, preservation and plant propagation. She also described breaking implementation into stages according to budget and experience.

Designing Around Climate and Environmental Threats

The design discussion expanded into water catchment, composting, food forests, annual gardens, animal systems, kitchens and indoor environments.

Lindsay also included rotational grazing where animals are present and eco-buffers or shelter belts. She described geography and climate as an early part of their design process, including identifying possible forest-fire, flood and landslide risks before moving into other parts of the design.

A sector rose was mentioned as a way of identifying environmental influences and threats. The discussion included wind, neighbouring pollution or sprays, and the possibility of using snow fences to capture snow so that it later melts into ponds.

Energy, Heat and Cooking

Power cuts led into a discussion of what stops working when electricity is unavailable. Depending on the situation, that can extend beyond lights and electrical appliances to water and other services.

Lindsay described her current solar setup, batteries, wind-up flashlights, candles and firewood. Her portable solar panels had blown over during the recording because of strong mountain winds, and she discussed needing to build a frame and secure them.

Her cooler contains its own batteries and is charged from solar during the day. She also shuts down her power and internet systems at night.

Cormac described keeping his cooking gas separate from the mains supply, with a spare bottle available when the first runs out. He also discussed his wood burner and alternative approaches to heating, including a simple solar air-heating system he had seen using cans, a small fan and a south-facing window.

The conversation also covered reducing energy requirements before replacing energy supplies, including heating a smaller area rather than an entire house.

Preparing Away From Home

Preparedness was not limited to the property. Lindsay described a recent power outage along a stretch of highway in British Columbia. Shops without power closed, fuel was unavailable and one organic food store with a generator remained open.

She also described keeping water and food in her vehicle when travelling through the Rocky Mountains. When her car broke down, those supplies meant she had food and water while waiting four hours for a tow truck.

Both Lindsay and Cormac discussed keeping additional winter clothing or sleeping equipment in vehicles in case of breakdowns during cold weather.

Tools, Skills and Asking for Help

Community returned throughout the conversation. Lindsay discussed examining not only what she can do herself but where she needs help, including work on the school bus that requires tools or skills she does not have.

Cormac described belonging to a tool library for £30 a year, allowing him to borrow equipment rather than purchase everything himself. Lindsay described skill exchanges within her current community, including exchanging yoga classes, massage and other skills.

Lindsay also described her current experience of integrating into a new community and learning to ask for help. Her personal audit therefore includes identifying what she can contribute, what she lacks and who she could approach when she needs assistance.

Community and Interdependence

The discussion returned to the difference between trying to provide everything individually and knowing what exists within a wider community.

Cormac suggested auditing community resources in much the same way as personal resources. Lindsay discussed identifying skills, resources and gaps, and considering who could provide help.

Near the end of the episode, Lindsay also discussed the upcoming online Interdependence.Works conference. She described five areas of conversation: sovereignty, belonging, vitality, regeneration and prosperity. The event brings together people with different skills around the subject of interdependence and community.

Redundancy

When Cormac asked for a final thought, Lindsay returned to redundancy: when one solution is identified, she suggested having another available in case the first does not work.

Cormac added multiple uses to that discussion, connecting them with redundancy within the systems being considered.

Closing

The episode covered preparedness at household, property and community scales, including stored food and water, growing and preserving food, power and heat, off-grid systems, climate and site conditions, tools, personal skills and community resources.

The conversation also followed Lindsay’s current experience of setting up her school-bus systems north of Golden and Cormac’s discussion of developing water, chicken, composting and food-growing systems on his own property. Throughout the episode, preparedness was discussed in terms of the practical systems available, the backups for those systems and the people and skills available around them.

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In episode 127 of The Permaculture Vine Podcast, host Cormac Harkin was joined by Dominik Jais.

The conversation covered Dominik’s introduction to permaculture, his diploma work, the development of his Finnish homestead, digital permaculture, artificial intelligence, open-source alternatives, his book Digital Permaculture and his work with the European Permaculture Network.

Who’s at the Table

Dominik Jais lives in Finland. He is a web developer, permaculture diploma tutor and lead of the European Permaculture Network’s software. He also runs the Beyond Buckthorns permaculture homestead and wrote the book Digital Permaculture.

From Coding to Permaculture

Dominik first encountered permaculture in New York in 2014 after meeting people involved in DIY biogas projects through a local hackspace. During the visit, he attended a final presentation connected with a Permaculture Design Certificate course and heard a permaculture project being presented.

He continued learning through books, websites and videos before completing an intensive two-week PDC in Finland in 2018 with George Sobol. At the time, Dominik and his wife were already gardening and beginning to develop designs for their own property.

Dominik later began his Diploma in Applied Permaculture Design. His existing projects provided material for the diploma, including work on a barn and a communications design for the Finnish Permaculture Association.

Beyond Buckthorns in Finland

Dominik and his wife began developing Beyond Buckthorns after moving to their property in 2016. The project involves transforming the existing space into a permaculture homestead.

The property includes several gardens and indoor growing areas. Dominik described an indoor food forest built into an old barn using reclaimed glass from a municipal building renovation in Tampere. The space is used mainly for perennial plants, with some annual crops such as tomatoes.

The property also has a greenhouse and a recently completed partially sunken greenhouse. This was created from an old garage containing a working ditch below the frost line. Dominik plans to use it for trees that would otherwise struggle with the area’s winter temperatures.

Their outdoor growing includes garlic, vegetables and a range of berries. They do not currently keep livestock, although they have a cat named Ms Sophie.

Courses, Consultancy and Design Work

Beyond Buckthorns hosts different forms of permaculture education. Dominik’s wife, Lumia, teaches an introduction to permaculture course in Finnish. Dominik has taught two PDCs in English and usually runs a biogas course every other year.

They have also tested a regenerative energy course and different teaching formats. One format that has worked well is their design camp, which provides a direct and hands-on introduction to permaculture design.

Dominik also undertakes occasional design and consultancy work. The projects vary according to what comes to them, with the largest consultancy project discussed covering approximately 12 hectares.

Biogas in a Cold Climate

The conversation included the biogas system Dominik installed inside the converted barn. He explained that methane production is highest at approximately 37°C and declines as the temperature falls.

To operate the system in Finland, he placed it indoors and used approximately 40 centimetres of insulation. He combined it with a solar vacuum-tube collector, circulating hot water through the IBC containing the system.

The barn now contains the biogas system, the indoor food forest and a teaching classroom.

Applying Permaculture to Digital Systems

Dominik distinguished between using digital tools for conventional permaculture work and applying permaculture design within a digital context.

For property design, he uses QGIS along with graphics software including Inkscape, GIMP and Affinity. The choice depends on the requirements and complexity of the project.

Dominik described digital permaculture as permaculture design conducted within a digital context. It still involves observation, ethics, principles, a design process and an assessment of available options.

Cormac used his planned home server system as an example. The proposed system would store podcast files and family photographs while allowing files to be accessed and shared remotely.

Dominik discussed examining whether a network-attached storage system was required, whether existing equipment could meet the need and whether open-source or proprietary software was appropriate. He also noted that a proprietary system might remain the practical choice if operating an open-source alternative placed excessive demands on the user.

Artificial Intelligence and Digital Choices

Cormac described using AI-generated elements inside Affinity to create visual representations of greenhouses and trees for property designs.

Dominik raised the energy and hardware requirements associated with artificial intelligence, including mineral extraction and the production of computing equipment. He said that AI features can appear inside software without users making a conscious decision to adopt them.

They also discussed AI-generated images and voices appearing in permaculture content and course promotion. Cormac described finding an AI-generated version of a speaker’s voice off-putting, while Dominik referred to the increasing presence of this material within the permaculture community.

Platforms and Open-Source Alternatives

The conversation examined the digital platforms used by permaculture organisations and individuals.

Dominik questioned the reliance on large proprietary platforms and discussed alternatives including PeerTube, Mastodon and Signal. PeerTube was described as a decentralised and federated alternative to YouTube that can be operated through independent servers.

Cormac discussed Nostr as a system through which a user can retain an identity and carry information between services. They also considered the difficulty of encouraging communities to move away from platforms where large numbers of people are already active.

Messaging platforms were another part of the discussion. Dominik currently prefers Signal or Threema and does not use WhatsApp. He described open-source software as allowing its source code to be examined, while proprietary systems do not provide the same access.

The Book Digital Permaculture

Dominik’s book introduces digital permaculture and follows one complete digital permaculture design across approximately 200 pages.

The design begins with observation and surveying. Dominik inventories the hardware and software he uses, evaluates those systems and considers possible alternatives. The book includes areas such as digital zones, hardware, software and messaging services.

Dominik designed the book himself, including its fonts, layout and chapter presentation. It is distributed through a print-on-demand service and can be ordered through bookshops using its ISBN.

The European Permaculture Network

Dominik leads the software work for the European Permaculture Network. Its website is designed primarily for teachers and course organisers, allowing them to create profiles, list courses and share resources, books, links and funding opportunities.

At the time of the conversation, Dominik said the website had approximately 230 members and around 2,500 visitors per month.

The network also operates an assured-teacher process. A person must have completed a PDC, a Permaculture Teacher Training course and a diploma before becoming eligible. The process then includes a peer review with an assured teacher from another European country.

The network has a core council, monthly meetings and an open-source community forum. Dominik described it as a growing project developing through voluntary participation.

Permatalks, Dialogue Sessions and the Lync Project

Dominik discussed the European Permaculture Network’s Permatalks series, which returns at the beginning of each year. The programme usually contains eight to ten sessions presented by different speakers.

For the programme discussed in the episode, the network was adding dialogue sessions. Members selected areas of experience through their network profiles, and people with shared areas of knowledge were invited to take part in conversations together.

The planned subjects included PDCs, introductory courses, online permaculture education and teaching at homesteads.

The Permatalks programme was also connected with the Erasmus Plus-funded Lync project. The planned online convention included several sessions each day, alongside permaculture talks and networking.

Moving the Permaculture CoLab from Slack

Dominik is part of the Permaculture CoLab’s digital circle. The group spent a year researching an alternative to Slack.

The CoLab subsequently moved from Slack to Discourse, an open-source forum platform. Dominik noted that the two systems operate differently: Slack is primarily a chat platform, while Discourse is organised as a forum.

The decision involved evaluating alternatives and listening to members who wanted to contribute to the process.

Sensors and Remote Monitoring

Dominik also uses small digital systems around his property. Temperature and humidity sensors send data using MQTT, while sensors located farther away use LoRa.

The monitoring includes greenhouse temperatures and the water line entering the house. Winter temperatures can reach approximately −25°C, so the water line has an electric heating cable connected to an MQTT-controlled plug that can be activated remotely.

Dominik has also added a sensor to the washing machine so that it can indicate when a cycle has finished. For basic temperature monitoring, he uses smaller devices rather than running a complete Raspberry Pi system.

Closing

This episode covered Dominik’s route from web development into permaculture, the development of Beyond Buckthorns in Finland, biogas and indoor growing, the application of permaculture design to digital systems, open-source platforms and the work of the European Permaculture Network.

In episode 126 of The Permaculture Vine Podcast, host Cormac Harkin was joined by Steven Golemboski-Byrne.

The conversation covered Steven’s introduction to permaculture, the development of his property in County Down, food growing, off-grid energy, natural building, biogas and the permaculture gathering in Ireland.

Who’s at the Table

Steven Golemboski-Byrne is based in County Down, Northern Ireland. He has been involved in permaculture for 15 years and lives off-grid at Lackin Cottage Farm. His work includes providing power systems for people who cannot or do not want to connect to the electricity grid, alongside consultancy on buildings, heating systems, natural materials, greywater recycling and water treatment.

An Introduction to Permaculture in Bangor

Steven first encountered permaculture while working on a community farm project in Bangor. The farm’s owners wanted to develop community farming and social-prescribing activities, but the people involved did not yet have a clear plan for organising the site.

Philip Allen delivered a one-day introduction to permaculture for the group. Steven said the course left him with more questions than he had beforehand, but it helped the project develop a long-term design. Work on that design was still continuing 15 years later.

Steven subsequently visited projects in Wales, including Lammas Ecovillage, where he met Simon and Jasmine Dale. He was also part of a group attempting to establish another ecovillage in Wales. Although that project did not proceed, the group had already considered how permaculture could inform the design of a future site.

Finding Land and Making an Initial Plan

Steven and his family wanted to live off-grid and travelled to different projects to see how other people were doing it. Before finding land, they developed a list of things they might want to include and considered how they could earn a living.

Their budget was a major factor when looking for a property. They eventually found land in County Down containing some woodland, along with ground that had previously been closely grazed by sheep.

Once they had the property, they considered which parts of their earlier plans were suitable for that particular site. They produced an initial five-year plan and a first permaculture design for the property.

Renovating the Cottage and Working Outwards

When Steven and his family received the keys, the house was derelict. They had previously lived in a converted truck, which they brought to the new property.

With Claire pregnant and their daughter Lyra due to be born, they had 14 weeks to make the cottage habitable. Their first priorities were shelter, heating, bathing and somewhere to sleep.

Food was initially grown in bags and containers because there was no prepared growing area outside. Rubble from work on the cottage was used while putting infrastructure in place, and development gradually moved outwards from the house.

Once they had enough dry ground, they established a route to the planned polytunnel, began improving the soil and started planting. They also planted large numbers of trees during the first few years so that the trees could begin growing without losing another season.

Practical Work Before the PDC

Steven did not complete a Permaculture Design Certificate until 2018, several years after arriving at the property in 2012.

Before taking the course, he had already helped to organise gatherings, facilitated courses and contributed sessions about the work taking place on the farm. Hannah Moll taught courses at the property, including during its first year.

Steven completed his PDC in Wicklow. He described the course as practical and hands-on, while also providing more detail about subjects including ponds, soil and the process of developing a design with other people.

Food, Fuel and a Local Group of Households

The property initially concentrated on producing food for Steven’s family rather than operating as a CSA.

Steven described a loose local group of four or five families who grow food and keep different animals. Food and other resources are exchanged within the group, which also places wholefood orders through Suma.

During lockdown, members worked together on larger jobs, including erecting polytunnels. They would work at one property before moving to the next. This arrangement has continued, although the group no longer meets for shared work as often.

Lackin Cottage Farm has usually kept chickens, although it had no chickens at the time of the conversation. Steven also keeps horses. One of the horses can undertake field work, move materials and pull timber.

The property grows much of its own fuel. Existing woodland has been supplemented by thousands of planted trees, coppice and double hedgerows.

Adjusting the Amount of Food Being Grown

The amount of food grown at the property has changed over time. Steven explained that the vegetable-growing operation became too large to maintain comfortably, even when the systems were designed to require less intervention.

The family has since reduced the scale of production to a level that provides what they need. They also try to retain resources within the farm and the wider group of local households.

A smaller garden immediately outside the conservatory is now used more intensively. Steven said that concentrating effort in this area has made it more productive than the larger growing area further from the house.

Some other areas are left without regular intervention. Steven described allowing them to remain wild unless they begin affecting another part of the property.

Greywater, Rainwater and Compost Toilets

For the first four years, the property relied on compost toilets, including one inside the house. The indoor toilet was later replaced with a rainwater-flushed system, while compost toilets remain outside.

The cottage also incorporates part of the water system associated with an Earthship design. Greywater from the bathroom passes into beds in the adjoining conservatory, where some food is grown. The water then moves into a small pond and can be pumped back to flush the toilet.

Rainwater is stored in IBCs. In one building, the structure was positioned in front of the tanks because rock prevented them from being buried.

Building with Natural and Recycled Materials

Steven has built roundhouses, compost toilets and other structures at the property. The buildings include examples of load-bearing and non-load-bearing straw bale construction, sheep’s-wool insulation, earth plaster and a reciprocal-frame roof.

One building uses a rammed-earth tyre foundation, a timber frame and straw-bale walls. Clay taken from a nearby hole was used for the earth plaster, while birch cut approximately 200 yards away provided the frame timber.

The floor was reused from another building. Sawmill waste, silage plastic and soil were used in the roof, which is now covered by growth and is not readily visible from outside.

Steven said the structure cost approximately £400 and took around four or five weeks to erect, although the plastering was completed over a much longer period. It now serves as his office and workshop and is heated with a small wood burner.

Insulation and Moisture in Existing Buildings

Cormac and Steven also discussed Cormac’s garage renovation. The garage was being stripped back to its brick walls and roof structure for use as a workshop, classroom, office and podcast-recording space.

Steven discussed using wood-fibre insulation between and above the roof structure to reduce cold bridging. For the walls, he described a possible build-up involving wood fibre, a vapour-control membrane, battens and an internal board.

They also discussed the need to consider where moisture might condense within an insulated wall. Steven noted that his suggestions were based on systems used successfully in his own buildings and were not a guarantee for another structure.

Off-Grid Power Systems

Living off-grid led people to ask Steven where he obtained his equipment and whether he could provide similar systems for them. During the pandemic, this work developed into a separate business.

Steven provides power systems for people who cannot connect to the electricity grid or who do not want to connect. The work combines customer installation, DIY involvement and Steven commissioning the technical parts of each system.

He does not install solar panels on roofs. Many of the systems he works with use ground-mounted panels, while some customers already have photovoltaic panels and want to move from an on-grid arrangement to an off-grid system.

Steven said solar panels were among the least expensive parts of an off-grid installation. Battery storage remained more costly, with shipping disruption and availability affecting prices at the time of the conversation.

Heating a Biogas Digester

The property has also used a biogas digester to turn food waste into cooking gas.

Steven described two possible ways to maintain the temperature of a digester. A passive option is to place an IBC digester behind glass or inside a greenhouse.

At Lackin Cottage Farm, the digester was positioned near the house. A coil of plastic pipe was placed inside the IBC and connected to the return from the heating system. Water returning to the boiler transferred enough heat to keep digestion operating.

Steven said the optimum temperature was approximately 37–38°C. At temperatures in the twenties, the system produced enough gas to cook once a day. He was preparing to move the digester and test a greenhouse-based arrangement.

Retrofitting an Existing Cottage

A second cottage at the property is used as guest accommodation. Steven described it as an old building retrofitted with readily available materials rather than a new, highly insulated modular structure.

The cottage does not use oil or gas, provides its own power and has very low bills. Steven also uses the property to demonstrate different building materials, heating systems and resource-management arrangements.

People considering an off-grid property can stay in the cottage and look around the systems used on the farm. At the time of the conversation, no formal classes were scheduled, but Steven said visits could be arranged with people who wanted to discuss their land or plans.

The Permaculture Gathering in Ireland

Steven has attended and helped organise permaculture gatherings in Ireland. The gathering discussed in the episode was due to take place near Mullingar on a family farm, with 100 tickets available because the site was smaller than in previous years.

The gathering is organised through a self-organising programme. Participants meet on the first morning and add talks, classes or demonstrations to a board. They can also request a subject they would like someone to cover.

Steven said previous gatherings had included subjects ranging from forming ecovillages to practical demonstrations and shamanic journeying.

The new association organising the gathering was also beginning to formalise some of the work around the event. Steven said possible future activities included using funds to support training and help people complete PDCs, although these plans were still at an early stage.

Closing

This episode covered Steven Golemboski-Byrne’s introduction to permaculture, the early development of Lackin Cottage Farm and the gradual adjustment of its food-growing systems.

The conversation also included compost toilets, greywater and rainwater systems, natural building, insulation, biogas, off-grid electricity and the organisation of permaculture gatherings in Ireland.

In episode 125 of The Permaculture Vine Podcast, host Cormac Harkin was joined by Lindsay Brandon for a Permaculture Canada livestream covering her move from Calgary to an off-grid school bus in Golden, British Columbia.

The conversation covered Lindsay’s move from Calgary to a school bus in Golden, British Columbia, the practical systems needed for living off-grid, joining an established community, shared food production, sociocracy, creative work, travel and the future use of the bus.

Who’s at the Table

Lindsay Brandon is moving from Calgary, Alberta, to Golden, British Columbia. Her work includes permaculture design, yoga instruction, music, illustration and sculpture. At the time of the conversation, she was preparing a camperized school bus for the move while continuing to undertake permaculture designs and planning upcoming travel to Iceland and Thailand.

Cormac Harkin is the host of The Permaculture Vine Podcast. He joined Lindsay for this Permaculture Canada livestream and discussed her move, the bus conversion, off-grid systems, community arrangements and future plans.

Leaving Calgary and Downsizing

Lindsay had lived in Calgary while raising her children for 23 years. With her children now adults and out of the house, she decided to stop renting a three-bedroom property in the city and move into a school bus in Golden.

The decision followed winter travel with her partner through six countries in Central America. They were looking for places where they might spend Canadian winters while retaining a home in Canada near family and their children.

Maintaining a city house while travelling created considerable overhead. After returning to Calgary, Lindsay found that the house was larger than she needed. She wanted to move away from the noise and routines of the city and spend more time on the land.

The move also required a significant reduction in belongings. Lindsay estimated that she sold around 70 per cent of what she owned. This took approximately three months of managing listings, calls, collections and negotiations through Facebook Marketplace.

She retained her instruments, recording equipment, seasonal clothing and other belongings that she still needed. These are being stored in a rented 20-foot shipping container near the airport, allowing her to collect or exchange equipment and seasonal items when she returns to Calgary.

Making Space for Creative Work

Lindsay described the move as an opportunity to spend more time on music, songwriting, painting, illustration and sculpture.

In Calgary, she had a large music studio but generally used it only occasionally in the evenings. On the land, she intends to create music with other artists, build sculptures in the woods and paint murals on the school bus and shipping containers.

She also plans to use a virtual reality headset to transfer her illustrations onto larger surfaces. Drawings can be loaded into an application, enlarged to the required scale and viewed against the surface being painted. Lindsay intends to use this process to turn sketches into large murals on the bus and other structures.

A future music studio may be housed in a yurt. She also discussed purchasing two shipping containers and using them as separate workshop spaces beneath a large covered structure.

Stewarding Land Without Owning It

The conversation considered the difference between purchasing land and entering an arrangement to inhabit and help steward land owned by someone else.

Lindsay is exploring agreements based on the needs of both the landowners and the people living there. She mentioned bartering, trading and contributing skills as possible parts of these arrangements.

She plans to spend a year living in the school bus on the property before deciding where to position it permanently. This will allow time to observe different parts of the land before choosing a longer-term location.

Lindsay and her partner are also considering eventually building an earthship. She said they hoped to begin that process the following year, but the location had not yet been selected.

The initial infrastructure may include two shipping containers with a Quonset-style roof between or above them. The containers would provide workshop space, while the covered area could be used to protect the school bus and other vehicles during the snowy Golden winters when Lindsay and her partner are travelling elsewhere.

Preparing the School Bus

The vehicle is a full-sized International school bus that had already been camperized. Lindsay thought it was approximately 25 feet long but was not certain of the measurement.

At the time of the recording, the bus could not safely make the journey through the mountain pass to Golden. It needed a fuel pump and new tyres, so it was due to be transported on a flatbed. A diesel mechanic in the area would be able to work on it after it arrived.

The bus already had plumbing, curtains, shelving and considerable storage. A friend removed part of the former bunk-bed structure and built a two-level workspace. Clothing bins fit on the lower level, while the upper level serves as a standing desk. Covered windows were also reopened to bring more natural light into the bus.

Another friend built a new bed frame with storage underneath and repaired broken glass. An additional countertop was installed near the front to provide more food-preparation space.

The existing full-sized refrigerator will not initially be operated because of its power demand. It will instead provide storage for dry food and dishes, with the option of selling it later.

Water, Hot Water and Composting Toilets

The bus has plumbed water, but the hot-water system had not yet arrived at the time of the conversation. Lindsay had ordered a propane on-demand unit, which remained on back order.

Water will be obtained from the property, where there are creeks and wells. Lindsay plans to capture and store it in a larger container connected to the bus system.

There is no fitted bathroom. The bus has an empty cubicle that could hold a bucket and toilet seat when going outside is impractical.

One of Lindsay’s first jobs will be to build a three-stage composting system into which toilet buckets can be emptied. There was already a box and seat at one prospective location, and sawdust was readily available. A shelter would still be needed to keep the toilet covered during cold or wet weather.

Until the on-demand hot-water unit arrives, Lindsay considered using a solar shower bag or black pipe placed on the roof. Cormac also described a compost-heated water arrangement in which pipe was routed through a compost heap, as well as the simpler option of using black pipe heated by the sun.

Lindsay also mentioned the possibility of heating water using copper pipe around a fire made in a converted keg. Current fire restrictions limit the use of open flames, although she said propane fire pits were permitted under the restrictions she described.

Building the Solar System

The solar installation was still incomplete despite Lindsay allowing more than six weeks to assemble it.

She and her partner already owned a Bluetti power bank that had been charged from the alternator of their truck. They had used it to run DJ turntables and other equipment during pop-up performances.

For the bus, they ordered an expansion battery and 500-watt solar panels. The first expansion unit arrived cracked on both sides. Its replacement was then delivered to an address where Lindsay had lived two houses previously.

Finding the correct cables also proved difficult. Some components came from different suppliers, while tariffs affected the practicality of ordering equipment from outside Canada.

Once complete, Lindsay expected the system to take approximately six hours to charge and provide more power than she required. Her computer has a relatively low demand, and she does not expect to spend long periods inside using electrical equipment.

The bus also has a conventional fuse box that could be used when connected to mains electricity at a campground. Lindsay’s normal arrangement, however, will be based on the separate solar system.

Refrigeration and Food Storage

For refrigeration, Lindsay purchased a 58-litre Anker Solix EverFrost 2 rolling cooler.

The unit has two separately controlled compartments, allowing different combinations of refrigeration and freezing. Lindsay noted that the internal compartments were smaller than she expected relative to the overall size of the unit, with part of the space used for its battery system.

They purchased three batteries. Lindsay believed that one battery could run the unit for approximately three days. The batteries can be charged through the solar power system, and the cooler can be monitored and controlled through a phone application.

Shared Gardens and Food Production

The Golden property already operates a community garden. Lindsay said that someone who contributes one day of work can eat from it.

The garden is large, irrigated and open to additional planting. It includes a range of vegetables and a dedicated structure containing hot peppers and basil. Other gardens around the property have different functions.

The property also has ducks, chickens and pigs. Eggs, bacon, sausages and other meat products are produced there. One of the landowners also owns the natural food shop in town, and products from the property are sold through an existing store.

The mountainous ground is rocky and rich in minerals. The people living there have spent years building soil with hügelkultur, imported biomass and composting systems. A compost collection programme at the natural food shop previously brought material from town to the property. Some of it was fed to chickens, with the resulting manure contributing to soil production. Pigs are now also part of that process.

Lindsay brought a collection of perennial plants that had previously moved from her parents’ property to her Calgary home. Some were planted among existing orchard rows, while approximately three-quarters remained in pots until their placement could be considered more carefully. The collection includes perennial berry bushes, hops and grapes.

Animals and the Layout of the Property

Although the property covers more than 140 acres and is surrounded by forest and mountains, Lindsay said she had not seen bears or deer on it. She attributed the limited wildlife pressure in part to two large dogs, Odie and Phoenix, which respond loudly to signs of animals.

Most food production and livestock are concentrated near the people, gardens, community kitchen and dome. The dogs have a defined perimeter that keeps them away from the B&B, glamping and camping areas.

The pigs are contained with electric fencing and moved regularly. The ducks move freely around the property. The chickens live in another school bus within a fenced area where much of the compost is deposited.

Joining an Existing Community

Lindsay had watched the property develop over many years but had not originally expected to live there.

As she considered purchasing land independently, the amount of work involved became a concern. She referred to household maintenance, snow clearing, road access and pump management, alongside the continuing work of a homestead. She also expects to be absent for approximately half of each year.

Joining an existing community allows responsibilities to be shared. The current landowners use seasonal workers and WWOOFers to help manage the farm and rental operations, but it can still be difficult for them to leave. A larger group could watch over each other’s homes, systems and projects, allowing different members to travel.

Lindsay also wants to learn additional practical skills on the property, including operating heavy equipment, building ponds and undertaking more carpentry.

Sociocracy and Community Agreements

The community is moving towards a sociocratic model, although Lindsay said she had not yet seen how it would work as the group expanded.

She has helped the landowners define parts of their business plan, investor possibilities and the matters that need to be addressed when forming agreements with residents. Some meetings had already been conducted in a small-scale sociocratic way.

The discussion included taking turns to speak, communicating honestly and accepting responsibility for personal issues. One landowner focuses on self-awareness and communication, while the other places importance on self-responsibility and acting for the good of the group.

Cormac and Lindsay also discussed the relationship between shared decision-making and responsibility for individual areas of work. Cormac suggested that someone managing a particular system, such as chickens or pigs, should retain responsibility for its day-to-day operation while remaining connected to the wider community.

Lindsay said that expected contributions should be established in advance. These might include meetings, shared meals or a specified number of working hours. She also identified personal freedom as an important part of the arrangement.

Travel, Recording and Future Work

The bus is intended to become mobile once its mechanical work is completed. Lindsay and her partner want to travel to land they have in Mexico and continue making music on the road.

They plan to install a recording studio in the bus. During previous travels, they carried DJ turntables in a backpack and performed pop-up sets on beaches and volcanoes. Moving the equipment into the bus would allow them to record in different locations and work with musicians who may not otherwise have access to recording facilities.

They are also considering a business retrofitting existing vehicles for off-grid use or completing full camper conversions. Lindsay described the intended conversions as artistic and individually decorated rather than conventional recreational vehicles.

At the time of the episode, Lindsay was also preparing to travel to Iceland for the Eclipse Festival. She was scheduled to speak about observation from a permaculture perspective, connecting with land and reading the landscape.

She was subsequently planning to attend a permaculture convergence in Bangkok, followed by a five-day bamboo-building course at a farm outside the city. She had not previously grown bamboo but wanted to learn a construction method that could be used during travel in tropical countries.

Highfield Farms in Calgary

The conversation was recorded from Highfield Farms, a 17-acre regenerative farm project within Calgary. The farm had provided space for Lindsay’s bus while work was being completed.

Lindsay described a large greenhouse, a compost club, strawberry growing, a possible mycology project, rainwater capture and extensive areas of mulch produced from locally collected wood.

The site had also hosted gatherings, DJs, soup competitions, roller skating, children’s activities, seed exchanges and activities run by the Permaculture Calgary Guild.

At the time of the recording, Highfield Farms was preparing to close because the City of Calgary intended to use the land for bus parking and associated storage. Materials, including mulch, were being given away before the site was cleared.

Closing

In this episode, we discussed Lindsay Brandon’s transition from a rented house in Calgary to an off-grid school bus in Golden, British Columbia.

The conversation covered downsizing, preparing the bus, solar power, refrigeration, water, composting toilets, shared gardens, animals, sociocratic decision-making, creative work, mobile recording, camper retrofits, upcoming travel and the closure of Highfield Farms.

In episode 124 of The Permaculture Vine Podcast, host Cormac Harkin was joined by Lindsay Brandon of Permaculture Canada and Neal Hegarty from Lake Atitlán in Guatemala.

The conversation covered Lindsay’s current design projects and planned move into a school bus, approaches to managing human waste, Neal’s greywater work around Lake Atitlán, the selection of plants for riparian areas, and their experiences of building teams around permaculture projects.

Who’s at the Table

Lindsay Brandon joined from Calgary, where she had been based for 19 years. Through Permaculture Canada, she was working on projects with a First Nations community on Vancouver Island, an agricultural and guest accommodation property outside Calgary, and a women’s wellness retreat centre and residence in Oaxaca. She was also preparing to move into a school bus in British Columbia.

Neal Hegarty joined from Lake Atitlán in Guatemala. He was working from his farm and collaborating with local people, farmers, nonprofit organisations and the municipality of San Pedro on greywater, planting and land regeneration projects. He was also running a training community connecting landowners with developing designers and teachers.

Current Permaculture Canada Projects

Lindsay described a First Nations project on Vancouver Island that began in May. The work involved meeting members of the community, discussing their vision for the future and exploring how permaculture could be incorporated into their communities. It also included conversations about ancestral knowledge and connections between elders and younger people.

Outside Calgary, she was working on a small agricultural property that also operates as a luxury bed-and-breakfast rental with horses. The property includes an adobe house, and Lindsay was preparing to collect drone footage for the base maps she would use in the design.

Her third main project was a women’s wellness retreat centre and residence on a site of just under five acres near Salchi and Zipolite in Oaxaca. She was collaborating with Scott Howard of Earth in Hand, who was expected to build earthen homes as part of the project. They had recently completed a site visit together.

Preparing to Live in a School Bus

Lindsay was preparing to leave Calgary and move into a converted school bus in the mountains of British Columbia. Although the bus had already been adapted for accommodation, she planned to remove bunk beds and create an office, music table and library area. A damaged bed frame also needed to be replaced because of concerns about water damage and air quality.

The planned off-grid setup included solar panels, a Blue Eddy power unit with an additional battery, a solar-powered cooler and a propane on-demand water heater. The aim was to have enough stored power for approximately three days, depending on available sunlight.

The bus was not running, despite attempts to identify a possible fuel-pump problem. Its tyres were also too worn for a journey through the Rocky Mountains. The immediate plan was therefore to transport it on a flatbed, while retaining the longer-term aim of getting it running so that it could be moved around the property.

Lindsay was also considering whether to move the collection of fruit and support plants currently growing in her Calgary garden. The collection included cherries, haskaps, currants, gooseberries, grapes, hops and buffalo berry, with around 53 berry bushes planted in a small area.

Toilets and Human-Waste Composting

The school bus did not have a toilet system. Lindsay discussed beginning with either a simple bucket toilet and a three-stage composting arrangement or a pit toilet.

She described the three-stage approach as filling one composting area, leaving it to rest and moving on to the next. This would allow the material to remain in place over a number of years before being used as compost.

Cormac described several systems he had encountered. One directed solid waste into a large container containing composting worms, while urine was separated and passed through a reed bed. Another used replaceable wheelie bins beneath a raised toilet, with sawdust added after use. Full bins could then be moved aside and left to process while another bin was placed beneath the toilet.

Lindsay had seen a wheelie-bin arrangement used at a gathering in Panama. She recalled that the toilets were continuously maintained, the bins were changed regularly and the system produced little smell. For her own site, she expected to use sawdust and said that protecting the surrounding watershed would be a primary consideration.

Greywater Work at Lake Atitlán

Neal described a kitchen greywater project that had been operating successfully before the work expanded into a larger collaboration with the municipality of San Pedro.

The municipality had asked him to examine a beachfront area intended to become an eco-park. The site had large streams of dirty greywater entering a narrow section of beach. An existing proposal involved placing the water in a pipe and carrying it farther into the lake.

Neal asked the municipality to consider alternatives. Working with Jeremy and others, he helped develop a riparian planting design intended to intercept and use the water before it entered the lake. Municipal representatives visited existing projects, including work completed through Water for Life, before deciding to support the approach.

Public posts about the work brought offers of assistance. This led to the development of a volunteer programme in which visitors could help with local projects and learn while participating.

The work included municipal projects, food forests created with Indigenous neighbours, and interception and irrigation systems on farms with greywater streams passing through them.

Riparian Plants and Public Criticism

Some public criticism focused on the use of a plant that was not endemic to the Lake Atitlán area. Neal said the plant was believed to have been brought there by the Aztecs and had been planted for several decades through programmes involving an Indigenous-led nonprofit and a government organisation.

He described the plant as growing in shallow water along the shoreline, providing habitat and performing well near places where contaminated water entered the lake. The volunteer group participated in planting days organised by the local organisations rather than selecting and introducing the plant independently.

The criticism expanded into broader claims about non-native plants, colonisation and gentrification. Neal responded publicly to some of the comments and acknowledged that his sarcastic responses increased the engagement around the dispute.

Cormac and Neal also discussed the difference between removing established non-native plantings at once and changing them gradually. Neal referred to Brendan Guinan’s approach of thinning pine and cypress plantations over time, using the timber for construction and introducing cattle as more light became available.

Travel, Design Work and Permaculture as a Lifestyle

Lindsay was considering several forthcoming trips. She had been invited to speak at a conference in Thailand, although the cost and timing still needed to be assessed. She planned to travel to Brazil to study capoeira and was due to speak about permaculture and lifestyle at the Eclipse Festival in Iceland.

She explained that frequent travel was one reason for leaving her rented home. Maintaining a house in Calgary no longer suited the amount of time she spent away, while the school bus offered lower overheads and a base that could accommodate her design work, podcasting, instruments and art supplies.

Neal contrasted this with his current decision to remain at Lake Atitlán while his children were young. Staying in one place had allowed several of his projects, working relationships and training activities to begin operating together.

Filming Soñado at Lake Atitlán

Neal also spoke about appearing in a short film called Soñado. The filmmaker had previously attended a permaculture course at Neal’s farm and later wrote a film set there, with Neal playing a version of himself.

The production was filmed on the farm and at other projects around Lake Atitlán. Several years later, it was accepted into a series of film festivals, including the Dances With Films festival in Los Angeles. Neal travelled to Los Angeles for the screening, where he saw the completed film and reconnected with the cast.

Connecting Landowners, Designers and Volunteers

Neal’s training community had recently attracted more landowners alongside people learning to become designers and teachers. This created opportunities to connect properties requiring design, teaching or implementation work with developing practitioners.

Some longer-term participants had also begun mentoring newer members through their first designs. The programme used Concepts for drawing and design work and Loom for recording screens, sharing material and reviewing projects.

Participants in the training programme sometimes stayed at Neal’s farm for two or three months, while volunteers generally stayed for one or two weeks. The trainees worked with the volunteers as projects were implemented.

Neal described a wider organisational model involving a physical location, a designer, a teacher, an event manager and a project-management team. In his current working relationship with Jeremy, Neal focused on design, content, storytelling and attracting suitable clients, while Jeremy managed implementation, budgets and workers.

Different Approaches to Building Teams

Cormac described previous attempts to bring teams together that became stalled by disagreements about how decisions should be made. His preference was for clearly assigned areas of responsibility, allowing each person to manage their own part of the work.

Neal said team-building required leadership, marketing, storytelling and the creation of value for the people involved. He also emphasised autonomous teams working towards a shared objective and allocating decisions according to people’s abilities.

Lindsay said the Permaculture Canada team had developed around people who already wanted to participate. Her initial aim had been to find regenerative practitioners across Canada and connect people who were working separately. Rather than actively recruiting or converting people, she worked with those who approached her because they were interested in the project.

Cormac’s Urban Property Projects

Cormac described the sequence of projects underway at his own property. He was using the shed as a temporary podcast space while preparing to install electricity and internet. Once the garage roof was replaced, the podcast studio and workshop could move into the garage, allowing the shed to become a cinema room for the children.

He was also preparing to document work on his small urban plot, including the front-yard food forest and a greenhouse build. The focus was on what could be completed by a busy parent with limited time.

Cormac was currently concentrating on consultations rather than full designs. His approach began with observing what was already present on an urban property, then considering small starting points such as a salad bed, building soil and processing household waste. He was also planning a workshop for repairs and other waste-reduction work connected to his engineering background.

Closing

This episode covered Lindsay’s current Permaculture Canada projects and preparations for living off-grid in a school bus, practical options for managing human waste, and Neal’s expanding greywater and riparian work around Lake Atitlán.

The conversation also included the response to non-endemic plants used along the lakeshore, Neal’s appearance in Soñado, the relationship between landowners, designers and volunteers, different approaches to organising teams, and Cormac’s plans for his own urban property and consultation work.

In this episode of The Permaculture Vine Podcast, host Cormac Harkin is joined by Maria McKenty of Permaculture Canada. Maria has been working with permaculture for more than 30 years and currently runs her own design and build company on the west coast of British Columbia.

The conversation covers Maria’s introduction to permaculture, her early training and design work, the practicalities of running a design and installation business, continued education after a PDC, herbal medicine gardens, her work with Permaculture Canada, and current community projects on Cortes Island.

Who’s at the Table

Maria McKenty is based in British Columbia, Canada, and lives on the small island of Cortes. She is part of the Permaculture Canada team with Lindsay Brandon and runs her own design and build company. She has been doing design work since her early twenties and has recently been working on design and build projects around Vancouver Island and Cortes.

Cormac Harkin hosts The Permaculture Vine Podcast. During the conversation, Cormac also discusses his own work around site observation and helping people at the early stages of considering what they want to do with their properties.

Discovering Permaculture and Taking a PDC

Maria first encountered permaculture at 16 when she saw the cover of the original Permaculture: A Designer’s Manual. Two years later, she completed her PDC with Lee Harrison in New Mexico. After returning home, she began drawing designs for people and, around three years later, started earning an income through landscaping work.The PDC was residential and was organised primarily as a women-only course. Maria described studying in a straw-bale barn and completing practice designs for the people hosting the course. After returning to British Columbia, she continued training to become more familiar with applying what she had learned in a temperate climate.Over the following years, Maria attended training and workshops with a number of people working in different areas. She spoke about encounters and training involving Larry Santoyo, Amelia Hazelip, Michael Pilarski and others, as well as attending a Bioneers conference where Bill Mollison was among the speakers.

From Early Designs to Paid Projects

Maria’s first substantial project developed while she was working as a housekeeper for a family at a resort. When a house was moved onto the property, she suggested turning the resulting pile of soil around it into terraces and gardens.

The idea was initially demonstrated as a small model made in a sandbox. The family liked it, and Maria was subsequently asked to direct the bulldozer working on the site.

The project developed into rock terraces around the house with imported soil and a productive garden. Maria said the first-year garden produced more food than the family could use.

She continued working on smaller projects and later restarted her business several times as she moved between different places. Her most recent restart was after moving to Victoria in 2015, where she worked for five years and completed full-yard projects.

Running a Permaculture Design and Build Business

Looking back at starting and restarting her business, Maria said business coaching would have been useful. She discussed bookkeeping, backend systems, tools, contracts and the other practical elements involved in operating a design and installation business.

Maria generally works as a one-person business and hires crews according to the size and requirements of individual projects rather than maintaining a permanent large crew.

For larger installations, she discussed the importance of clients understanding the likely costs before work begins. Materials, plants, labour, machinery and specialist trades can quickly increase the price of a full-yard installation. In British Columbia, she has also experienced rising labour and material costs, while island projects can involve substantial shipping costs because supplies may need to travel on two ferries.

Maria also gives clients the option of participating in the work themselves. In those cases, she can teach them while they work together rather than hiring a larger crew to complete everything.

For people wanting to make larger installation projects part of their business, Maria recommended getting help with the business side through mentoring or coaching.

Continuing to Learn After a PDC

The conversation returned to the training Maria pursued after completing her PDC. She distinguished between completing the course, gaining practical experience by putting designs on the ground, and learning from people who had accumulated experience in particular areas.

After returning to British Columbia, Maria trained with several other designers and encountered different specialties and approaches. She also described learning about winter greenhouse design, including sun angles, insulation and minimally heated greenhouses in temperate climates.

Maria began with gardens and smaller projects before moving towards projects with greater scale and consequence. She described this as working her way up in terms of the scale of the work she was undertaking.

Herbal Medicine and Permaculture Gardens

Herbal medicine became another area of Maria’s work. She has specialised to some extent in the crossover between medicine gardens and permaculture and has incorporated medicinal plants into client gardens.

She discussed planting tea and medicine gardens and using plants that may have several roles within a garden. Yarrow, comfrey and nettle were among the examples discussed. Maria described yarrow as a perennial, relatively drought-tolerant plant used in food forests for beneficial insects while also being used medicinally.

At her brother’s property in Victoria, Maria filled part of the understory with medicinal plants. She listed valerian, angelica, agrimony and meadowsweet among the plants now growing there.

Cormac asked how someone might begin adding medicinal plants to an existing food forest. Maria suggested first looking at what is already growing locally, including plants found in nearby hedgerows, before considering what might be suitable for the herbaceous layer.

The discussion also covered nettles and other plants already growing around a property, with Maria suggesting looking at what is thriving naturally around the edges of a yard when considering potential medicinal plants.

Working with Permaculture Canada

Maria joined Permaculture Canada when Lindsay Brandon started it a couple of years earlier. Their first project together involved Maria researching a design proposal for the Kwiakah Nation near Campbell River.

The proposal covered a five-acre site being considered as a village site closer to town. Maria carried out research and a site visit, while Lindsay later travelled to the area and completed a full site visit.

Maria also discussed work taking place within the Nation’s traditional territory, including regenerative farming and forestry research and a marine research project. She described work examining possible kelp farming and other future economic activities.

A Community Food Forest on Cortes Island

Maria also described a project taking place in her own community on Cortes Island. A local non-profit housing society had secured funding for an affordable rental housing development on a five-acre site planned to eventually contain nine duplexes.

Maria joined the team consulting on and helping to establish an almost one-acre community food forest associated with the development. A community planting day was held in the spring, with 35 different fruit trees planted.

The planting includes pomegranates and feijoas, which Maria said are technically outside the local growing zone.

Teaching in the Community

Maria is also moving into more teaching. She described plans for three free community classes over the summer covering a combination of regenerative gardening, an introduction to permaculture, FireSmart landscaping and herbal medicine gardens.

She and Cormac also discussed teaching as another part of her current work alongside design, installation and her interest in medicinal plants.

Closing

The conversation covered Maria’s route from discovering permaculture as a teenager and completing her PDC in New Mexico through more than three decades of designing, landscaping and continuing education.

It also covered the practical business of delivering design and build projects, working with clients and temporary crews, incorporating herbal medicine into gardens, her work with Permaculture Canada, and current projects involving a First Nation design proposal and a community food forest on Cortes Island. Maria said she has recently completed several design and build projects across Vancouver Island and Cortes while continuing to develop her teaching work.

Permaculture Roundtable: Context, Water, Soil and Designing on the Ground

In this episode of The Permaculture Vine Podcast Cormac and Graham are joined by Michael Wardle of Saviour Soil Permaculture.

The conversation covered what each had been working on, permaculture design and site visits, the use of large language models, water management across different climates and soils, soil testing and contamination, weeds and ground preparation, and the practical work involved in consulting, designing and installing permaculture systems.

Who’s at the Table

Graham Towerton is based in Michigan, where he works with permaculture clients and manages his own seven-acre property. At the time of the conversation, he was carrying out spring installation work for customers, growing seedlings for client gardens, completing design work and continuing his engineering work.

Michael Wardle works across Southeast Queensland and northern New South Wales in Australia. He is a full-time permaculture consultant, designer and educator through Saviour Soil Permaculture and said he has been doing this professionally for about 13 years. He is currently based in Ipswich and travels from there for his work.

Spring Work in Michigan

Graham had just returned from his fourth day of spring installation work for customers in Michigan. With the weather moving beyond the expected final frost date, he had started planting some of the more frost-tender annuals.

He was also returning to gardens that had been established three or four years earlier. At one client property, perennial plants were already emerging, plants were flowering and strawberries were developing.

On his own seven-acre property, asparagus was emerging, raspberries were leafing out, strawberries were flowering and around 1,500 garlic plants were in the ground.

Graham had started seeds in January using trays under lights and on heating pads in his basement. This year, that had allowed him to take his own seedlings to customers rather than buying them from nurseries. He had ten customers in Michigan for ongoing work and expected to visit the remainder over the following weeks.

Current Work in Southeast Queensland

Michael had recently completed his 15th PDC as a student, this time with Robin Francis. He described this as part of his professional development and continuous learning.

After returning, he had been catching up with his existing client work. He was also restarting his own nursery after several local nurseries he had previously used for client plants had closed. He had begun propagating perennial plants, although he expected it would be around four months before they were ready.

Michael was also involved in a 12-month project with Permaculture Australia involving around 60 participants across Australia. Participants would record information including what they were growing, how much they were growing, pests, water use, tools and techniques, and expected yields across different climate zones.

Alongside this, he was involved in a three-year bioregional project. Work already underway included a local seed library, schools and free community workshops.

Large Language Models and Permaculture Work

The conversation moved into the use of large language models and the difference between accessing information digitally and observing what is actually happening on a site.

Michael discussed their limitations in research and education. He described PDC students who had attempted to use large language models to complete design work but found that the resulting designs could be disconnected from the landscape, climate and landform.

Graham had used large language models for specific engineering research tasks, including finding research papers that he could then investigate himself. He also tested them for permaculture design and plant selection.

When he asked for plants suitable for his Zone 6 climate in Michigan, he said the resulting list contained less than 10% of the plants he already knew could grow there.

Cormac also discussed remote design. From his own experience, he said his view had shifted from seeing the completed drawing as the final product towards working with the client and considering installation and the work taking place on the ground.

Remote Design and Site Visits

Graham discussed his experience completing remote designs and working with installers. In his current local work, an initial consultation may establish what a client wants to achieve, their budget and basic information about the property, but he now places greater emphasis on visiting the site.

Looking back at the designs where he had personally visited the property, he said those visits allowed him to see things he would not have identified remotely, including variations in soil that were not visible through soil databases.

Michael described a suburban project that demonstrated another part of this process.

The initial ideas included a herb garden at the front of the property for a client who was a naturopath. A soil test subsequently showed chromium 6 at a level Michael described as 3,000 times higher than safe limits.

The design had to change. Removing the contaminated soil would have been extremely expensive, and its position at the top of a hill also created concerns around disturbance and erosion. Instead, the area was planted with native plants and turned into habitat.

The conversation also covered maps and other digital information. Michael described arriving at sites with assumptions based on available data and then discarding those assumptions after observing conditions on the ground.

Water Across Different Climates

Water became a substantial part of the roundtable as Graham and Michael compared experiences from different locations.

Graham described living in Western Australia in an area receiving around six inches, or 150 millimetres, of annual rainfall, sometimes arriving in only three rainstorms. That required different approaches to rainfall and rainwater harvesting.

He now lives in Michigan, where annual rainfall is close to 1,000 millimetres, but he still stores rainwater. During his 14 years there, he had experienced periods of six to eight weeks with almost no rainfall.

He has around 10,000 litres of stored rainwater and uses it for activities including watering seed trays and newly planted trees. He also has a well but said it was primarily intended to supply the household rather than irrigation.

Michael discussed drought conditions in Australia, including a period when an area that normally received around 700 millimetres of rainfall dropped to around 250 millimetres.

The conversation then moved into the relationship between water and soil.

Michael described the heavy plastic clay at Robin Francis’s property. In those conditions, he said water management was not simply about trying to sink water into the soil but could involve moving it across the landscape and storing it elsewhere for later use.

He contrasted this with friable soils and sandy soils where water can drain quickly.

Graham’s Michigan property sits on very sandy soil. He had attempted to dig a pond but found that it would not hold water, and he was considering converting the excavation into a subterranean greenhouse.

His approach to the sandy soil includes applying six to ten inches of mulch to help hold water above the soil surface.

Soil Testing and Contamination

The chromium example led into a wider discussion about soil testing.

Michael said he encourages clients to organise soil testing because of the history that can be present within a property. He discussed several patterns associated with older Australian suburban properties, including lead paint around house drip lines, possible contamination beside roads and verges, chemicals previously used for termite control and the locations of former incinerators.

Graham also encourages soil testing before design work.

Sometimes the results show that the soil is better than its appearance suggests. In other cases, the results can change what is planted or how it is grown.

He gave the example of clients wanting blueberries where the soil pH was around 7.5 to 8. His own Michigan soil is sandy and alkaline, and he said he had been unable to lower the pH sufficiently for blueberries. As a result, his blueberries are grown in pots.

Dandelions, Thistles and Soil Disturbance

Cormac had been experimenting with dandelion microgreens, which led into a discussion about dandelions and other plants growing across their properties.

Graham described Canadian thistles on his seven acres. He had seen them grow strongly in areas where he had improved the soil with compost, manure and mulch.

He had also repeatedly observed Canadian thistles appearing after major soil disturbance. Dandelions, plantains and other broadleaf plants would then follow.

The discussion became more directly practical when Cormac explained that he was considering rotavating his front garden to remove the grass.

Graham said he had previously used a rotavator but had stopped because it brought weed seeds to the surface and disturbed the soil structure.

His current method is to cut the vegetation to ground level and then cover it with six to ten inches of wood chips or mulch. He said this had been about 95% successful at removing grass and most weeds on the sites where he had used it.

Cormac then added that his front garden is sloped and needs to be terraced. Because the soil would need to be moved to create the terraces, he said he would probably rotavate it, terrace it and then mulch it.

Listening to the Client

The discussion about Cormac’s slope moved into the conversations designers have with clients.

Michael described working with a client who initially talked about wanting a food forest. During their discussions, something the client said led him to question whether that description matched what they actually wanted.

He suggested something closer to a holistic orchard based on monastic traditions and showed the client examples. The client responded that this was what they wanted.

Michael described listening to clients as part of the design process, including recognising when what they are describing may differ from the terminology they initially use. Time, soil, water and budget were also mentioned as factors affecting what can be designed.

Work for the Coming Month

Michael had five new clients he expected to visit during the coming month. His initial visits are three-hour consultations that provide ideas and context before discussing a larger scope if the client wants to continue.

He was also continuing his bioregional project, working with existing clients and carrying out educational work.

Graham’s immediate work included finishing spring planting for his ten repeat customers, completing design work and writing reports from recent site consultations.

His engineering work was also moving into an agricultural study involving biochar produced from waste material containing chromium. The planned study would use soil testing and plant tissue analysis to examine what happened to the chromium when the biochar was placed into soil mixtures.

Cormac was working from his recently completed shed studio. On his own property, his immediate work included starting more lettuce, clearing beds and continuing work in the garden.

Closing

This episode of The Permaculture Vine Podcast brought Cormac Harkin, Graham Towerton and Michael Wardle together for a roundtable covering their current work in Northern Ireland, Michigan and Australia.

The conversation moved through spring planting and client work, large language models and remote design, site visits, water management, different soil conditions, soil testing and contamination, weeds and ground preparation, and the conversations involved in working with permaculture clients.

In episode 121, Cormac chats with John Metcalf from Sow and Grow Regenerative about How a Permaculture Designer Builds Gardens, Community, and Regenerative Projects from Scratch

John is a permaculture designer, teacher, and regenerative practitioner with several years of experience. Their work includes designing gardens, teaching, and building community projects focused on growing food and working with nature.

Early Exposure to Gardening and Allotments

The journey began through helping on an allotment and eventually getting a personal plot. The allotment provided a dedicated space for growing food and experimenting with different approaches.Allotments are described as allocated land spaces where individuals can grow food, often rented annually.

Discovering Permaculture and Education

Permaculture was first encountered years earlier but only pursued later through a course.Studying permaculture provided a structured framework that made existing practices clearer and more intentional.Additional learning included soil-focused education and reading influential books.

Designing for People First

A key theme is designing gardens based on the person using them.Factors like available time, energy, age, and family situation influence how a garden is designed.The approach is described as contextual, adapting to each individual situation.

Observing Nature and Plant Health

The discussion explains how plants behave based on their environment.Weak plants are more likely to attract pests due to stress signals.This shifts perspective from fighting pests to understanding plant health and ecosystem balance.

Rethinking Pests and Ecosystems

Insects and animals are described as part of a natural system rather than enemies.They act as a “cleanup crew,” removing weaker plants.This perspective reduces frustration and encourages working with natural cycles.

Small-Scale Growing and Accessibility

Growing food is presented as accessible to everyone, regardless of space.Examples include balconies, windowsills, and small raised beds.Starting small is encouraged as a practical entry point.

Community and Food Systems

The conversation highlights the importance of local food systems and community.Historical examples of small holdings and shared growing are discussed.There is an emphasis on reconnecting people with food production and local relationships.

From Personal Practice to Professional Design

The guest describes moving from personal gardening to designing for others.Opportunities came through connections and community interactions.Projects expanded from small plots to larger spaces, including a one-acre site.

The Walnut Project and Community Space

A current project involves developing land into a permaculture-based space.It includes elements like a market garden, forest garden, and shared facilities.The goal is to create a community-focused growing space.

Design Process: Digital vs Hand-Drawn

Both digital tools and hand-drawn designs are used.Hand drawing is described as a more tactile and connected process.Digital tools are useful for precision and larger-scale planning.

Building Community Through Platforms

The conversation explores building communities around shared interests.Online platforms are used to connect people interested in permaculture and nature.These spaces allow for sharing knowledge, courses, and collaboration.

Future Plans and Regenerative Projects

Future plans include expanding projects and creating educational content.There is a focus on interviewing people involved in regenerative practices.The aim is to explore connections between soil, health, and environment.

Final Message

Listeners are encouraged to take action and start, even on a small scale.Trying something new is framed as low risk with potential benefits.The focus is on enjoying the process and engaging with the present moment.

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https://www.sowgrowregen.co.uk

https://www.youtube.com/@sowgrowregen

In episode 120, Cormac chats with Lindsay Brandon and Hue Man form Permaculture Canada about their recent Central American Permaculture Tour.

Starting a Permaculture Project in Mexico

The journey begins in Puerto Vallarta where land was secured near hot springs. The goal is to create a community-focused space centred on growing food and shared living.

Plans include multiple lots with different purposes:

* A communal building for gathering and storage

* A shaded living area using existing trees

* A showcase build designed to inspire others

The intention is to create a long-term hub while using other plots for future development and potential sale.

Designing for Community and Long-Term Use

The project is structured to support ongoing use rather than quick turnover.There is a focus on:

* Shared infrastructure

* On-site management

* Spaces for friends and collaborators to stay

The idea is to ensure someone is always present to maintain the land and gardens.

Challenges with Land and Water

Across Mexico, a recurring issue is poor water management.Key observations include:

* Limited interest in water catchment systems

* Lack of storage for dry seasons

* Failed planting efforts due to no water access

Simple solutions like cisterns and seasonal storage become essential for any viable project.

Common Mistakes in Land Investment

Many buyers are drawn to cheap land but overlook practical realities.

Issues observed:

* No road access or degraded access routes

* Lack of tools, materials, and workforce

* Long delays waiting for infrastructure

Some projects are abandoned while owners wait years for development to catch up.

Building with Limited Resources

The approach shifts toward simplicity:

* Using local materials

* Building basic structures

* Working within existing conditions

This reduces reliance on external systems and makes projects more achievable.

Learning and Teaching in Guatemala

At Lake Atitlán, the focus moves to education and hands-on design.

Activities included:

* Teaching permaculture design courses

* Mapping land using physical markers and drones

* Applying design concepts directly on-site

The model blends learning with real implementation rather than theory alone.

Community Networks and Collaboration

Multiple groups operate in close proximity but remain loosely connected.

Observations:

* Independent projects sharing knowledge

* Visitors moving between sites

* No unified system linking opportunities

There is potential for more coordinated collaboration across projects.

Living Systems in Nicaragua

On Ometepe Island, the environment supports continuous growth.

Key features:

* Year-round food production

* Strong microclimates

* Established permaculture farms

The abundance of fruit and water creates a stable and productive system.

Community Culture and Simplicity

At a local gathering, systems were intentionally simple:

* No phones or digital devices

* Shared meals from local production

* Daily schedules created in person

This created a strong sense of presence and participation.

Larger System Challenges

In Panama, discussions highlight broader issues:

* Pressure from corporations

* Displacement of local communities

* Water risks and environmental damage

There is a gap between permaculture solutions and large-scale systemic problems.

Returning to Canada: A Contrast

Returning home brings a sharp comparison.

Challenges include:

* Increased regulation

* Higher building costs

* Limited material choices

A project that could cost tens of thousands abroad may cost hundreds of thousands in Canada.

Final Reflection

The journey reinforces a clear direction:

* Simpler systems are more achievable

* Smaller-scale projects are more resilient

* Practical, hands-on solutions are needed

There is a strong pull toward environments where building, growing, and living can happen with fewer barriers.

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In episode 119, Cormac chats to Michael Wardle from Saviour Soil Permaculture about his journey from discovering his first Permaculture book to full-time consultant: Learning, Teaching, and Building a Practice.

Discovering Permaculture in a Library

The journey began with finding permaculture books in a neglected library section. The ideas immediately appealed, leading to early experimentation, but not full commitment. Life priorities delayed deeper involvement until later.

Learning Through Trial and Practice

Initial learning came from testing ideas directly on land. Techniques like digging swales, composting, and observing water movement were explored. The focus was on seeing what worked in a specific landscape rather than relying on theory alone.

From Informal Learning to Formal Training

Formal education came much later through a series of courses taken in a short period. This included a PDC, market gardening, and hands-on experience on-site. The PDC revealed gaps in knowledge and expanded understanding significantly.

Starting a Consulting Career by Accident

A consulting opportunity came immediately after completing the PDC. Despite feeling unprepared, the work began with simple designs and careful listening to clients. Word-of-mouth led to more projects without active marketing.

Keeping Designs Simple and Client-Focused

Early work focused on simplicity and understanding client needs. Emphasis was placed on aligning the landscape with the client rather than imposing ideas. This approach built confidence and trust over time.

Expanding into Education

Teaching developed alongside consulting work. Running courses started after recognizing a lack of local education opportunities. Practical experience from consulting informed teaching content.

The Role of Multiple Courses and Perspectives

Completing many PDCs and other courses provided exposure to different approaches. The goal was not certification but understanding varied perspectives and applications. This helped refine tools and improve design decisions.

Teacher Training and Developing Skills

Teacher training programs introduced methods for presenting information in different ways. They emphasized adaptability, especially when conditions change. These skills supported both teaching and client communication.

Moving Beyond Design Handover

Early consulting involved delivering designs without follow-up. This evolved into longer-term engagement with clients, including education and co-creation. The focus shifted to helping clients understand and manage their systems.

A Three-Year Client Process

The current approach involves working with clients over several years. This includes design, education, and implementation support. By the end, clients can manage systems independently.

Changes in Students and Learning Trends

Students now often arrive with prior knowledge from online sources. The key value of courses is providing structure and a framework. There is increasing interest in social and internal aspects rather than just gardening.

Shifting Toward Community-Based Systems

Personal growing systems have shifted toward community-focused work. Efforts now include supporting shared spaces and local initiatives. The goal is to distribute production and responsibility across communities.

Rethinking Food Production at Scale

Instead of centralized systems, distributing small actions across many households is explored. Examples include planting one tree per home or diversifying crops across groups. This reduces risk and workload while increasing output.

Building Resilience Through Shared Effort

Encouraging people to grow different crops and share results creates diversity. This approach supports resilience when individual efforts fail. It also strengthens community connections.

Ecovillage Tours and Real-World Learning

Jason describes ecovillage tours as structured experiences lasting around nine to twelve days.Participants travel in small groups, visiting multiple communities and engaging directly with founders.Each visit includes presentations, Q&A sessions, and site tours.The experience combines education, travel, and group interaction.

Comparing Communities in Practice

Visiting several communities in a short period allows participants to compare models.Questions evolve as participants move between locations and learn from each visit.Group discussions expose perspectives and questions individuals may not consider alone.This process increases understanding of differences between projects.

What Community Actually Means

Community is described as more than land ownership or shared property.It is defined through interactions between people.Both physical and digital communities are acknowledged as valid forms.Different structures exist, from highly collaborative to more independent setups.

Decision-Making and Sociocracy

Jason explains sociocracy as dividing responsibilities into focused groups or circles.People participate in areas where they are most involved or interested.Decisions are made through structured processes rather than broad voting.Consensus focuses on reaching outcomes people can accept, even if not ideal.

The Role of Agreements

Clear agreements are presented as essential in community development.They help manage expectations, conflict, and responsibilities.Without agreements, differences in expectations create issues over time.Examples include disagreements about behaviour, land use, or shared resources.

Common Early-Stage Mistakes

New community projects often focus on positive ideas and possibilities.They avoid addressing potential conflicts or failures.Key questions about disagreements, responsibilities, and exits are often not discussed.This leads to gaps that create problems later.

Structured Development Process

Jason outlines a process involving worksheets, discussions, and research.Teams first outline ideas, then identify gaps in their thinking.Later stages involve refining governance, roles, and policies.The outcome is a structured document for legal and operational use.

Bioregional Networks and Local Connection

The conversation expands beyond individual communities to regional collaboration.Connecting neighbours, sharing resources, and building local networks are emphasized.This includes mapping skills, needs, and resources within a region.The goal is to strengthen local resilience and cooperation.

Types of People Joining Tours

Three main groups are identified:

* Some are looking for a place to live.

* Others are researching or building their own projects.

* A third group participates for the travel experience.

Different Community Models

Community models vary from independent landowners to highly integrated systems.Some prioritize autonomy, while others emphasize shared living and collaboration.Expectations differ depending on the structure and agreements in place.Finding alignment between people and models is essential.

In episode 117 of the Permaculture Vine Podcast, Cormac Harkin is joined by Graham Towerton from Permaculture Canada. Graham chats about the Recircled project, working with waste from the textile industry, and developing processes that turn carbon-based materials into fuel, electricity, and biochar.

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The Scale of Waste in the Fashion Industry

Graham shares that his work with Recircled began after being invited to join as a consulting engineer, later becoming director of engineering. The project focuses on the large volume of waste produced by the fashion and textiles industry, which he explains is around 93 million tonnes per year globally . This includes overproduction, manufacturing waste, and materials like cotton, wool, leather, and synthetics.

From Labour-Heavy Recycling to Molecular Breakdown

The conversation explores how earlier efforts to recycle clothing by taking items apart and repurposing them were technically possible but not financially viable due to the labour involved . This led to a shift toward breaking materials down further into their original molecular components. The current approach uses high-pressure and high-temperature processes to convert carbon-based waste into usable outputs.

Turning Waste Into Fuel, Gas, and Biochar

These outputs include liquid fuels, gas for electricity production, and biochar. Graham explains that a significant portion of the process yield can be liquid fuels, which can be refined into different fuel types used in transportation . Another key output is biochar, which is produced when working with biomass-based materials such as cotton or leather.

Biochar as a Functional Output

The episode goes deeper into the role of biochar and its applications. It is described as having many uses, including soil improvement, water treatment, and nutrient retention. The discussion highlights how biochar can absorb nutrients and microbes when combined with materials like manure, allowing it to act as both a fertilizer carrier and soil amendment .

Processing Waste at the Source

There is also a focus on how these processes can be applied at the point where waste is generated. Rather than transporting waste to landfill, systems can be integrated directly into production sites. This allows waste to be converted into energy and other outputs on-site, reducing disposal costs while creating new value streams.

The conversation highlights that these systems can generate revenue through fuel production, electricity, and biochar, alongside smaller contributions from carbon credits. Graham notes that systems like this could potentially pay back their investment within a relatively short timeframe compared to traditional industrial projects .

Economics and Scalability of the System

The discussion also touches on scalability. The technology can operate at different scales, from smaller facilities processing limited waste volumes to much larger operations handling thousands of tonnes per day. However, it is noted that the systems are not yet suited to small residential use.

Limits of the Process

Limitations are also outlined, with the system only working on carbon-based materials. Materials like glass, rocks, and metals cannot be processed and must be separated beforehand. This leads into a broader point about sorting and handling waste streams before they enter the conversion process.

Overall, the episode focuses on turning large-scale waste problems into usable resources. It connects industrial processes with permaculture principles by emphasizing the idea of using waste as a resource, reducing landfill, and creating systems that produce multiple outputs from a single input stream.

Indigenous Knowledge and Lived Practice

Due to confusion over daylight savings time changes, toward the end of the episode, Lindsay and Hue Man join the conversation from Panama after attending a tribal gathering. They describe spending time with tribal communities from across Central and South America, where people shared their ceremonies, food, music, and practical knowledge of the land . The discussion highlights how these communities identify plants and seasonal changes through patterns in the environment, such as animal behaviour, rather than formal classification systems.

Language, Framing, and Permaculture

They also reflect on the challenges these communities are facing, including pressure from larger external forces affecting their land and way of life . This leads into a discussion about the relationship between permaculture and indigenous knowledge, and how much of what is now described as permaculture is rooted in long-standing practices.

The episode closes with a reflection on language and framing. There is a discussion about how terms like permaculture, regenerative practices, and ancestral knowledge overlap, and how these ideas are being communicated today . The conversation ties this back to applying permaculture principles beyond land-based work, into everyday life, systems, and decision-making.

In episode 116 of the Permaculture Vine Podcast, Cormac Harkin is joined by Permaculture Canada and special guest Jeremy Fellows. They speak to Jeremy about building water catchment systems, working with extreme seasonal rainfall patterns, and developing decentralized water filtration projects in a lakeside community facing untreated wastewater challenges.

Jeremy shares his journey from Massachusetts to Lake Atitlán, where he has been living for around fourteen years. Over that time, he has focused on hands-on projects, particularly around water systems. His work began with building practical solutions such as permanent water systems and catchment setups, shaped directly by the environmental conditions he encountered.

A key theme in the conversation is the sharp seasonal contrast in water availability. For part of the year, there is no water, followed by six months of consistent rainfall. This cycle creates both scarcity and abundance, requiring systems that can store and manage water effectively across the year. Jeremy explains how this challenge opened up opportunities to design systems that respond directly to these conditions.

The discussion also explores the development of In episode 116 of the Permaculture Vine Podcast, Cormac Harkin is joined by Permaculture Canada and special guest Jeremy Fellows. They speak to Jeremy about building water catchment systems, working with extreme seasonal rainfall patterns, and developing decentralized water filtration projects in a lakeside community facing untreated wastewater challenges.

Jeremy shares his journey from Massachusetts to Lake Atitlán, where he has been living for around fourteen years. Over that time, he has focused on hands-on projects, particularly around water systems. His work began with building practical solutions such as permanent water systems and catchment setups, shaped directly by the environmental conditions he encountered.

A key theme in the conversation is the sharp seasonal contrast in water availability. For part of the year, there is no water, followed by six months of consistent rainfall. This cycle creates both scarcity and abundance, requiring systems that can store and manage water effectively across the year. Jeremy explains how this challenge opened up opportunities to design systems that respond directly to these conditions.

The discussion also explores the development of https://www.granjatzikin.com/ a permaculture farm located in the valley of San Marcos on Lake Atitlán. This site acts as a central hub for ongoing projects and experimentation, supporting the practical work Jeremy describes.

From there, the conversation shifts toward current efforts in decentralized water filtration. These projects are being developed in response to increasing pressure on the lake due to population growth. As more people settle in the area, the impact on the local water system becomes more visible.

One of the core issues highlighted is the lack of wastewater treatment. Wastewater is entering the lake without processing, contributing to environmental degradation. This creates an urgent need for localized, practical solutions that can be implemented at a community level.

Jeremy also points to a gap in understanding around water reuse. There is limited awareness that water can be reused after treatment, which slows adoption of alternative systems. Addressing this perception is part of the broader challenge.

The episode stays grounded in real conditions, focusing on what is actually being built and tested. Rather than abstract ideas, the conversation centres on systems that respond directly to the constraints of place, climate, and community.

Overall, this episode looks at how water challenges can drive practical design work. It highlights the role of decentralized systems, local action, and adapting to real environmental patterns., a permaculture farm located in the valley of San Marcos on Lake Atitlán. This site acts as a central hub for ongoing projects and experimentation, supporting the practical work Jeremy describes.

From there, the conversation shifts toward current efforts in decentralized water filtration. These projects are being developed in response to increasing pressure on the lake due to population growth. As more people settle in the area, the impact on the local water system becomes more visible.

One of the core issues highlighted is the lack of wastewater treatment. Wastewater is entering the lake without processing, contributing to environmental degradation. This creates an urgent need for localized, practical solutions that can be implemented at a community level.

Jeremy also points to a gap in understanding around water reuse. There is limited awareness that water can be reused after treatment, which slows adoption of alternative systems. Addressing this perception is part of the broader challenge.

The episode stays grounded in real conditions, focusing on what is actually being built and tested. Rather than abstract ideas, the conversation centres on systems that respond directly to the constraints of place, climate, and community.

Overall, this episode looks at how water challenges can drive practical design work. It highlights the role of decentralized systems, local action, and adapting to real environmental patterns.

Free Site Observation Guide → https://vinepermaculture.com/start/Learn how to understand your property before you plant, build, or spend money.Buy a design from Permaculture Canada:https://permaculturecanada.world/shop/?ref=etcvdgzjIn this LIVE episode, we delved into Permaculture Design Certification Courses (PDCs). Discover how these courses equip individuals with the skills to create sustainable and self-sufficient ecosystems. We explore the core principles of permaculture, the hands-on learning experiences offered, and the global impact of PDCs in fostering environmental stewardship. Whether you're a seasoned gardener or a curious beginner, this episode will inspire you to embrace permaculture as a pathway to a more sustainable future.00:00 Introduction and Guest IntroductionsMeet Neal Hegarty, Lindsay Brandon, and Graham Towerton as they share their backgrounds and experiences with PDCs.03:45 What is a PDC?An exploration of the Permaculture Design Course, its structure, and its significance.[10:20] The Balance of Theory and PracticeDiscussing the importance of both theoretical knowledge and hands-on experience in PDCs.[18:30] Global Impact and Regional AdaptationsHow PDCs are tailored to different climates and regions, with examples from Guatemala and Canada.[25:50] Professional Pathways in PermacultureInsights into how PDCs can lead to careers in permaculture design and consulting.[32:15] Choosing the Right PDCTips and considerations for selecting a PDC that fits your goals and interests.[40:00] Challenges and Opportunities in PDCsDiscussion on the challenges faced by PDC participants and the opportunities these courses present.[50:30] Conclusion and Final ThoughtsReflecting on the value of PDCs and closing remarks from the hosts.

In episode 115 of the Permaculture Vine Podcast, Cormac Harkin speaks with Lusi Alderslowe about her background in permaculture, how she came to teaching, and the different ways permaculture design can be applied to education, community work, and working with children.

Lusi begins by introducing herself and explaining that she lives in South West Scotland, in Dumfries and Galloway. She notes that she has mostly lived in Scotland, including time spent living in Glasgow and Edinburgh, before settling where she is now. She describes herself as a permaculture educator and shares that she has been practicing permaculture since 2005, when she first studied a permaculture design course.

Before studying permaculture, Lusi completed a master’s degree in human ecology. She explains that this felt like the academic side of permaculture and included concepts such as head, heart, and hand. One of the modules she studied was eco-psychology, and she explains that her interest has always been strongly connected to nature and how people relate to it.

Lusi first heard about permaculture through a friend who was studying in Newcastle. This happened after she had been living and working in Africa, where she experienced living in community and living off-grid. She reflects on how this experience helped her realise how wealthy people are in industrialised countries, how much is already available, and how much is not actually needed. She describes permaculture as offering positive solutions to global problems through everyday actions.

She went on to complete her permaculture design course in 2005, shortly after the birth of her son. She explains that she attended the course over weekends and brought her baby with her, completing the course in person. A few years later, she began teaching permaculture herself, moving into education alongside raising her children.

After completing her design course, Lusi enrolled in the permaculture diploma. She explains that the diploma involves completing ten designs and that these designs can be varied. She describes working on designs related to parenting, community gardens, personal sustainability, and garden design. One of her early projects was Nurture in Nature, an outdoor playgroup for parents and young children living in an inner-city environment. She ran this group for six years as part of her diploma journey.

Lusi explains that one of the strengths of the diploma is that it supports people to do projects they are already motivated to work on. She describes the diploma as a way to receive feedback on designs and develop confidence, while also allowing flexibility in how work is presented. Writing is not the only option, and she discusses alternatives such as presenting work verbally or through recorded conversations.

As the conversation continues, Lusi explains what motivated her to start teaching permaculture. She describes noticing that there were no permaculture design courses being taught in the cities where she lived. Rather than waiting for someone else to fill that gap, she decided to organise courses herself. This led her to complete teacher training and to organise permaculture courses by bringing teachers to her location rather than travelling elsewhere.

She talks through how she developed as a teacher by co-teaching, assisting more experienced tutors, and building session plans over time. She explains that this approach helped her gain confidence and made it possible to eventually lead full permaculture design courses herself. She later became the lead tutor on two-week courses in Scotland and Ireland, as well as running long-running weekend-based courses in Glasgow.

Lusi describes how her permaculture design courses have evolved over time. More recently, she has developed a hybrid model that combines online materials with in-person practical days. The online content allows participants to revisit videos and tools when working on future designs, while the in-person days focus on outdoor learning, visiting community gardens, and seeing different systems in practice.

A significant part of Lusi’s work focuses on children and education. She discusses teaching teachers, working with schools, and developing projects that combine outdoor learning with subjects such as maths and literacy. She describes writing booklets for parents and carers that introduce outdoor activities linked to curriculum learning, as well as working on materials designed directly for children.

Lusi also reflects on large-scale projects she has been involved in, including funded programmes that reached thousands of people through outdoor learning activities. She explains how permaculture ethics are embedded into all of this work and how concepts such as earth care, people care, and fair share are introduced in practical, accessible ways.

Towards the end of the conversation, Lusi shares her perspective on why this work matters to her personally. She explains that permaculture gives her energy and a sense of meaning, even after long days of work. She describes finishing work feeling excited because she knows she has helped people see things differently and supported them to take their next steps.

The episode closes with a look ahead to upcoming teaching, courses, and projects, as well as a reminder that permaculture ethics can be applied to every part of life, from education and work to home and community.

In this episode of The Permaculture Vine Podcast, hosted by Cormac Harkin, we focused on permaculture events. The conversation brought together guests from Permaculture Canada, Creasol Permaculture, and Candlelit Tales to discuss their direct experiences with attending, hosting, and creating events connected to permaculture, education, and collaboration.

The discussion covered personal experiences of events, challenges in organising them, the role of storytelling within event spaces, and a detailed outline of a forthcoming permaculture design course and gathering in Guatemala.

Who’s at the Table

Lindsay Brandon Lindsay joined the conversation from San Pancho, Mexico. She described her role working with Permaculture Canada and her current context of travelling, speaking at conferences, and participating in meetings with regenerative consultants focused on off-grid living and recycling initiatives.

Hu Man Hu Man appeared alongside Lindsay as part of Permaculture Canada, also speaking from San Pancho, Mexico. Their participation was framed within the same on-site context of visiting a recycling centre and engaging with regenerative consultants.

Neal Hegarty Neal joined from Lake Atitlán, Guatemala. He spoke about his background learning and teaching permaculture through events, his work in project management and design, and his current involvement in hosting and organising a permaculture design course and event series based in Guatemala.

Aron Hegarty Aron joined remotely and described himself as a storyteller and actor with a background in creating and hosting storytelling events through Candle of Tales. He explained his connection to permaculture through attending courses run by his brother Neal and his role in bringing storytelling and performance into collaborative events.

Experiences of Permaculture Events

The conversation began with participants sharing their personal experiences of permaculture events. Cormac noted limited experience with in-person events, describing attending Permaculture Ireland and finding the format challenging for his preferences. Others described a mix of in-person and online events, including conferences, design courses, farmer-to-farmer trainings, festivals, and retreats.

Lindsay described being involved in a wide range of events, often as a speaker within broader conferences not exclusively focused on permaculture. Neal outlined how events were central to his early teaching work, particularly in rural and agricultural contexts, before stepping back due to the stress of organising them. Aron discussed his long-term experience producing live storytelling events and festivals, including the logistical and emotional demands of event creation.

Learning and Collaboration at Events

Several speakers described events as spaces where learning happens through direct interaction. Neal discussed peer-to-peer learning as a key feature of in-person gatherings, contrasting it with online formats. He described how group settings allowed participants to share ideas, collaborate, and complete practical work together.

Lindsay and Hu Man shared examples of informal and spontaneous events, including gatherings created while travelling, where meeting local people led to the exchange of practical information. Aron described his own event format combining shared meals, discussion circles, and performance, noting how participants connected skills and resources directly through those gatherings.

Storytelling in Event Spaces

Storytelling was discussed throughout the episode as part of how events are structured and experienced. Aron described storytelling as central to his work and explained how it is incorporated into events through performance, improvisation, and shared narratives. Neal connected storytelling to how people frame projects and personal goals within permaculture contexts.

Lindsay spoke about listening carefully to individuals to understand their motivations and goals, both in human interactions and in site observation. She described reading “the story of the land” through observation during site visits, noting similarities between working with people and working with landscapes.

Challenges of Hosting and Attending Events

The group discussed practical challenges associated with events. These included travel distances, infrastructure capacity, food provision, water access, sanitation, and managing participant energy. Several speakers highlighted food as a critical factor in maintaining morale and effectiveness during longer gatherings.

They also discussed the organisational effort required to host events, including the stress of planning and promotion, and the need to develop additional skills beyond teaching or facilitation.

Speaking and Teaching at Events

When asked how people become speakers at events, Lindsay explained that she actively applies to events and also receives invitations through professional networks and online visibility. Neal described being invited to speak locally in Guatemala, while also noting the difference between being invited and organising one’s own event. Aron added that creating one’s own events was often the most direct way to begin teaching or performing publicly.

The Guatemala Permaculture Design Course and Event

A significant portion of the episode focused on a forthcoming two-week permaculture design course starting on January 4th in Guatemala. Neal described it as a fully certified permaculture design course hosted between his farm and Love Probiotics, in collaboration with Permaculture Canada and Candle of Tales.

The course structure includes participants bringing their own projects, which may be land-based, lifestyle-focused, or business-related. Practical activities discussed included planting a food forest, building a composting chicken system, working with fermentation, gardening, mushroom cultivation, and natural building. The course also includes storytelling, improvisation, music, and evening gatherings around shared meals and fires.

Neal explained that the event is being offered using a gift-economy approach, with participants covering accommodation and food while contributing skills or support to the event itself.

Closing

This episode of The Permaculture Vine Podcast explored personal experiences with permaculture events, the realities of hosting and attending them, and the ways learning, collaboration, and storytelling are incorporated into event settings. The conversation also detailed the structure and intentions behind an upcoming permaculture design course and gathering in Guatemala, as described directly by those organising and participating in it.

Learn how to understand your property before you plant, build, or spend money.

Free Site Observation Guide → https://vinepermaculture.com/start/

In episode 113 of The Permaculture Vine podcast, Cormac chats with Colin Crawshaw, who lives on a steep farm in Switzerland between 860 and nearly 1,000 metres in elevation. The land had been fallow for 70 years and previously supported families for centuries. Colin frames his move there as part of a commitment to contribute to practical ecological solutions.

Colin completed a Permaculture Design Certificate with Geoff Lawton in Hungary. He highlights teachers and participants he met there, including people working on projects in France, Romania, and Austria, as well as practitioners focused on animal care, mapping, cob building, and rocket-stove systems. Several instructors and classmates are identified as influential to his ongoing work.

Significant personal changes followed the course, including the end of his marriage and an active legal process to determine whether he will retain responsibility for the land. His stated intention, if granted full responsibility, is to establish a permaculture foundation on the site and create space for a long-term community of at least eleven residents.

Recent developments on the property include expanded grazing, increased animal numbers, creation of 13–14 water catchments, new terraces, additional tree planting, and access agreements with neighbouring landowners. Colin identifies sun exposure, predictable winds, water management, and windbreak establishment as major environmental challenges. Attention has shifted toward completing Zone 0 and Zone 1 areas due to public visibility from a hiking trail crossing the property.

Colin commissioned mapping work from designer Ben Missimer and uses the resulting set of maps to plan access, water flow, and future infrastructure. While awaiting legal decisions, he continues essential daily work such as grazing management and animal care and is learning design software to prepare plans for presentation to local authorities.

Long-term plans include a connected pond system inspired by mountain-based projects, expansion of grazing across up to 50 hectares, development of on-site processing facilities, a restaurant serving farm-grown produce, educational areas, community gathering spaces such as a peace circle, visitor infrastructure, and workspaces for more than two dozen people.

Practical topics in the conversation include terracing methods, material options, strategies to limit wasp nesting near structures, and the importance of habitat creation. Colin emphasises the realities of physical land work, the value of showing mistakes openly, and the need for more hands-on practitioners in permaculture. He also comments on navigating local bureaucracy, including examples of retrospective approvals and ethical civil disobedience in ecological restoration.

In episode 112 of The Permaculture Vine podcast, Cormac chats withpisode features Marty Ware, horticulturist, long-time gardening educator, and founder of the Garden Creator Hub. Marty began sharing small-space growing, worm farming, and composting online more than 15 years ago while raising his daughter as a single parent. His background includes agribusiness, horticulture, organic production, and early exposure to biodynamics.

Marty encountered permaculture concepts during his agricultural studies in Australia, where ideas from Bill Mollison and David Holmgren were already circulating. Initial exposure focused on food-forest regeneration and perennial ecological systems. Over time he incorporated no-dig methods, companion planting, worm integration, composting, animal systems and closed-loop cycles into his own approach.

His current property in Mullumbimby (800m²) includes an emerging food forest containing lemon myrtle, macadamia, mulberry, guava, mango and edible groundcovers such as betel leaf. Biomass inputs like sugarcane mulch support system health. Chickens contribute fertiliser, scratching, and heat through a deep-litter system. Multiple worm systems feed directly into his composting operation, forming the basis of a small local compost business.

Practical observations from poultry keeping include:

* new chickens settle best when confined for several days before free-ranging,

* integration of two flocks often requires separate housing,

* elevated feeders prevent contamination,

* chicken tractors are effective for fertilising new ground.

Quail management is also covered, including the issues caused by receiving mostly males, the behavioural problems that resulted, and the improved results from hand-reared female quail sourced later.

Worm-integrated composting forms a major part of Marty’s work. Worms accelerate decomposition, increase nutrient availability, and improve compost structure. Connected piles allow worms to move into favourable temperatures, and vermicomposting becomes a cornerstone input across the garden. Marty has used these methods for years while supplying compost locally and is considering new educational offerings around composting inside his community.

Guidance for new gardening creators includes keeping production simple, avoiding the pressure to appear as an expert too early, using a phone and basic microphone, and letting audience questions determine early content. Problem-solving, clear value, and authenticity matter more than heavy editing or algorithm chasing.

The Garden Creator Hub is presented as an education and community space built on Skool. The structure includes free and paid tiers, grow-together challenges, cohort-style progress, and direct coaching for premium members. The platform enables stronger interaction than typical social media, supports skill development, and links directly to Marty’s composting work and brand.

Starting points for new gardeners emphasise very small, manageable steps: microgreens and baby-leaf crops for fast success, followed by simple crops such as cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, and container-based growing. Gradual expansion prevents overwhelm and improves long-term consistency.

The Garden Creator Hub

https://www.skool.com/the-garden-creator-hub-3162

In this week’s episode of The Permaculture Vine Podcast, Graham Towerton from Permaculture Canada discussed a recent tree-planting project at a solar farm in Adrian, Michigan, and the broader concept of agrivoltaics—incorporating agriculture within solar farms.

The Tree Planting Project

Graham’s team recently completed a $325,000 contract to plant 1,122 Black Hills spruce trees around a solar farm. The project took six weeks and involved replacing trees that a previous contractor had planted, more than half of which died within the first year.

The trees are required by local ordinance to create a 150-foot buffer zone around the solar farm. They must be evergreens, planted at 10-foot intervals, and six feet tall at installation.

The team included Graham’s daughter Lily, Azura, farm manager Julia, and several other participants. The work involved removing dead trees, digging holes, planting new trees, removing cages and burlap, and mulching.

The Ordinance Issue

The local township ordinance requires that all vegetation inside the solar farm be kept under 12 inches in height year-round. This requirement was causing unintended problems.

Graham observed that monarch butterflies and other insects were abundant on the property when the clover and other plants were allowed to grow. After the required mowing, the insects disappeared because their food source was gone.

When Graham presented this observation at a township board meeting, board members were receptive to discussing changes to the ordinance. He plans to work with them to revise the rules to allow for deeper vegetation and more diverse plantings.

What Agrivoltaics Means

Agrivoltaics refers to incorporating agriculture into solar farms. The specific options depend on the design of the solar installation.

Graham’s neighbouring solar farm has panels mounted 5-6 feet off the ground on north-south rotating bars that track the sun from east to west. This design limits what can grow directly underneath.

Some other solar farm designs are more accommodating:

* Dutch solar farms mount panels 30-40 feet high, allowing tractors underneath

* Some newer panels are translucent, allowing light through for vegetation

* Circular tube designs that rotate while following the sun

Michigan State University has developed guidelines for grazing sheep in solar farms. Sheep don’t climb on panels like goats do, making them a better option for vegetation management.

Buffer Zone Opportunities

The solar farm has about 25 acres of buffer zones outside the fence that are currently just pasture. The company has told Graham they’re open to ideas for using this space.

Potential uses include:

* Community gardens

* Tree farms to grow seedlings

* Regenerative pasture with livestock grazing

* Perennial crops like raspberries and asparagus

* Wildflower meadows along stream beds

The solar company requires that any vegetation be planted no closer than 3X its maximum height from the nearest panel (to avoid shading). This only applies on the east and west sides of the arrays, not north and south.

Farm Land and Solar Development

The conversation touched on concerns about solar farms taking up agricultural land.

Graham noted that in Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio, farmland is disappearing under both urban sprawl and solar farms. The particular 160-acre section that became the solar farm next to his property sold for approximately $2.5 million before the solar development.

However, he pointed out that much US farmland isn’t producing food for human consumption:

* 97% of corn (100 million acres) is GMO and goes to animal feed and ethanol

* 96-97% of soybeans (100 million acres) are GMO, crushed for biodiesel oil and animal meal for livestock

* Wheat (80 million acres) is the main grain crop still grown for direct human consumption

The traditional Midwest farming model—where a family would grow diverse crops and raise animals on 80 acres—largely disappeared in the 1940s-50s, replaced by large-scale monoculture production.

Future Plans

The tree-planting project has opened doors for Graham’s team. The solar farm manager has invited them to bid on mowing 440 acres across multiple solar farms, and other solar companies in the region have expressed interest in working with them.

Graham plans to develop a proposal for Permaculture Canada to design and implement agricultural systems in the buffer zones, potentially including community gardens with public access and educational components.

Azure suggested creating an information centre at the solar farm where visitors could learn about how the panels work and what they produce, helping address misinformation about solar energy in the community.

The full podcast includes additional discussion about rural depopulation, distributed vs. centralized energy systems, and the team’s upcoming travels to Central America.

Join The Permaculture Vine free Skool community for connection and learning: https://www.skool.com/vine-permaculture-7207/about

In Episode 110 of the Permaculture Vine podcast Cormac, Lindsay and Graham chat about their harvest yields and upcoming design work while addressing a growing concern about artificial intelligence in their field.

Physical Labour and Tree Restoration

Graham’s autumn has cantered on an intensive tree replanting project at a solar farm adjacent to his Michigan property. The job involves correcting improper installation work—1,122 trees were planted with metal cages and burlap left intact around root balls, causing widespread tree death. His team has been working 13-14 hour days removing dead trees, digging new holes, and properly installing replacements. By the recording date, 350 trees were planted and tagged, with Graham noting the physical challenge of keeping pace with Azure, Lindsay’s 36-year-old partner who’s been operating the heavy machinery.

The project illustrates a common problem in large-scale installations: contractors unfamiliar with proper tree planting techniques can create more problems than they solve. The burlap and wire cages, meant to be temporary supports, prevented root expansion and essentially strangled the trees.

Harvest Outcomes

Graham reported exceptional yields this year, attributing much of the success to having additional help on the property. His harvest included first-time production from aronia berries, honey berries, and golden raspberries—all bearing fruit in their first year in the ground. His asparagus bed, planted with 1,000 crowns, exceeded expectations by producing thumb-thick spears in its second year rather than the pencil-thin stalks typically expected. The plants even produced an unusual fall flush following late-season rain and fertilization.

Other significant harvests included several hundred pounds of garlic, a couple hundred pounds of potatoes, 40-50 butternut squash, and abundant fruit from seven-year-old cherry trees. Graham’s experiment with Cabernet Sauvignon wine grapes succeeded despite conventional wisdom that Michigan’s climate wouldn’t provide sufficient heat for proper flavour development.

Lindsay’s harvest was constrained by an impending move—her parents are selling their property in spring, so she and Azure excavated her entire food forest and potted the plants. She processed beets into kraut and preserved garlic in vodka for tincture. With her daughter moving out and plans to spend extended time in Central America, she’s not planting for next season.

Cormac in Ireland reported a “mast year”—a term for exceptional nut production—with abundant chestnuts and apples, though his pear harvest came late.

The Winter Design Window

Winter represents prime design season for northern permaculture practitioners. Graham explained that from mid-November through mid-April, outdoor work essentially stops in Michigan as the ground freezes two to three feet deep. This period allows designers to focus on client projects, planning, and indoor work.

Current design prospects include two campus health clinics seeking to produce food for their communities, potential projects in the US Virgin Islands and Bahamas, and continued work on intentional community development. Lindsay is developing business structures that bridge traditional corporate models with private membership associations, researching share structures and sociocracy for community projects.

She’s also exploring new technology for design presentation, particularly VR and 3D modelling using LIDAR mapping. The goal is to show clients not just what a design looks like initially, but how it will develop over time—a challenge Graham identified as one of the hardest aspects of design communication.

The AI Problem

The conversation took a pointed turn when discussing artificial intelligence in permaculture. Cormac raised concerns about AI-generated content appearing in permaculture circles, citing examples of guilds showing apples and strawberries fruiting simultaneously—an impossibility since strawberries fruit in early season and apples late. He also encountered Facebook groups using AI bots to stimulate conversations, essentially training AI systems on human responses without participants’ knowledge.

Graham was direct: “I’m sorry, I don’t want to teach a robot how to do my job anymore. I want to keep what I enjoy for myself and my friends in permaculture.”

Lindsay added that AI imagery in project presentations immediately raises red flags for her—it signals conceptual work that may never materialize rather than grounded, practical plans. She’s positioning her upcoming permaculture design certification course as explicitly “written by a human” to distinguish it from AI-generated content.

The group agreed that AI has limited appropriate uses—Graham finds it helpful for meeting notes and action item lists—but its application to design work removes the human element that’s central to permaculture’s second ethic: people care.

Design Contact Information

Winter design services are available through Permaculture Canada (permaculturecanada.world), Permaculture Adventures Michigan (permacultureadventuresmi.com), and through Cormac’s strategy sessions for clients seeking guidance on whether they need consultations or full designs.

Graham and Lindsay work internationally with no geographical limitations beyond Antarctica, while Cormac focuses on in-person designs within Ireland and client liaison work for international projects.

Buy a design from Permaculture Canada:

https://permaculturecanada.world/shop/?ref=etcvdgzj

Book a Free 30 minute strategy call with Cormac:

https://zcal.co/vinepermaculture/30min

The Unexpected Path to Permaculture

Not every permaculture journey starts in a garden. For Marina and Alexander, founders of Thistle Thorne Permaculture, it began in the sterile halls of medicine—with a growing sense that something was missing.

As Marina recalls, “After we were already medical doctors, we were unsatisfied with our career. And we wanted something that we could really dedicate our lives to that was meaningful.”

Alexander’s search for meaning led him down an unexpected path. “I was searching about health and the systematic or universal aspects of health. And I came across about these discussions and research about soil health and human health.”

This curiosity introduced him to Masanobu Fukuoka, the Japanese farmer and philosopher whose revolutionary “One Straw Revolution” challenged everything he thought he knew about agriculture.

“I read his books and I was amazed. And I was wondering, like, that’s amazing. How can we go? How can I do it?”

Fukuoka’s work opened the door, but it was Bill Mollison’s comprehensive permaculture texts that provided the roadmap. “When I researched further, I found Bill Mollison’s book. Because Bill Mollison, especially in introduction in Permaculture 2 and 1, he talks a lot about Fukuoka,” Alexander explains.

Soon they were watching recordings from 2002: “There is an old PDC course recorded by Bill Mollison and Geoff Lawton. Yeah, with a young Geoff Lawton. And we did this course first.”

The couple made a decision that would change everything: they would leave medicine behind and become permaculturists.

Education and Reality

Marina and Alexander enrolled in Geoff Lawton’s year-long online PDC course. While they found it valuable, they quickly realized something crucial about the limitations of theoretical learning.

“We did the online PDC one year course. It was very, very good. Like we learned a lot,” Marina shares. “Maybe we had another expectation. We thought it would be more practical, but it’s very theoretical and very based on the book.”

She continues, “We really think that you can only understand the important points when you really need theory in daily life. So we really had clear to us that we should start something so that we could really learn.”

This realization led them to Austria for a three-month internship at what they believed would be a permaculture farm. The experience proved eye-opening—but not in the way they expected.

“Actually when we came there, it was really organic, but it was not permaculture anymore,” Marina explains. “The owners, they did a permaculture course a long time ago and they didn’t implement actually many, many permaculture principles.”

Fresh from their PDC training, Marina and Alexander could see countless opportunities. “As the course, the PDC was so fresh in our heads, we could see so many opportunities to implement permaculture systems.”

Marina reflects on the experience: “They had so much work that in our vision was unnecessary and they could really implement systems that would work for itself like flywheels.”

The experience taught them a valuable lesson about resistance to change in traditional farming communities. As Alexander observed, “We learned that people from the countryside, they are very rooted in old ways. So many times they have difficulty to break free from these old patterns.”

Rather than seeing this as a setback, the couple recognized an opportunity. “Then we decided, OK, maybe we need to do our own stuff. Like we don’t have to wait for someone to do it so that we can learn. We can just start by ourselves,” Marina concludes.

The Backyard Revolution

After their internship, Marina and Alexander faced a practical question. “That takes us to a very important question, like how do you afford life while you change careers and plans,” Alexander notes. “Of course, we had like savings from our previous life and we had a plan, like if we needed to, we would search for a part-time job.”

More importantly, they had to decide their focus. “We were thinking about how do we want to go about permaculture,” Alexander recalls, listing various possibilities from conservation to large-scale farming.

“But we decided to go about the backyard,” he states simply.

Why backyards? “We based on Bill Mollison and Geoff Lotto as well, they say basically that backyards are a golden opportunity. Like they start with small trials and expand.”

The couple had learned about research supporting this approach. As Alexander explains, “There is this research about how productive a site is. And they found out that between, I think, 100 meters and 5,000... they say that’s the most productive size of a farm because you can have the input, the human input, to create the interaction, interactions between the elements, to multiply the yield.”

Marina adds context about their philosophy: “Like we see the garden as an ecology that sustains itself and it’s like a modular element. And if you think of a farm, like many modular elements together that are all self-sustaining, you can make like a wonderful project.”

They even reference Fukuoka’s claims: “Fukuoka said in his book that 200 square meters is enough to feed one person,” though Alexander notes, “it’s a very specific system, like with rice and like this Japanese style.”

For over two years now, they’ve been practicing what they preach. Marina emphasizes this point: “Since the beginning we we knew that we had to do it for ourselves so that we know that it works and that we can tell how people can do this. And then that’s why we like since the beginning since we moved here we found a place to garden here and we did our own garden.”

She continues: “This is already like more than two years that we’ve been gardening for ourselves, raising all the seedlings, making all the compost, all the mulch, all the design, like planting the trees, perennials, everything that we talk about in our newsletter, we do for ourselves.”

“Our own little small gardens have revolutionized our lives,” Marina reflects.

Building Community on X (Twitter)

The couple chose to build their platform on X (formerly Twitter), where they actively share their gardening experiences and permaculture insights at @ThistleThorn_TT.

“For example, now we have as our social media, we’re a lot on Twitter and we post a lot about our own gardens also there,” Marina explains. “This is our case study for all that we talk about in our newsletter.”

Looking ahead, Marina shares their expansion plans: “We are really planning soon to start a YouTube channel. We have a project for next year to implement a new home garden for someone we know here in the region so we are really planning to start a Youtube channel to show how we will start from point zero like how to start a backyard.”

The Newsletter: Recipes for Regeneration

At the heart of their work is the Thistle Thorne Permaculture newsletter, where they share practical, step-by-step guidance.

“We start the newsletter... as a meta for a business model, how to reach people, how to serve people,” Alexander explains.

The approach is deliberately practical. “We decided to start a newsletter to talk about, to write and show people how to do it in an easy way, pragmatic way, like a recipe. Like you have a base recipe that you can try and it’s proven because someone did it. And based on that, you learn the principles and iterate on top of that, like an experiment.”

Their teaching philosophy emerged from gaps they discovered in their own learning. Alexander shares an important realization: “We noticed that in Bill Mollison’s book, I think there are some stuff that for them it’s obvious... And for them, it’s very obvious. But for someone who comes from the city, it’s not obvious.”

Marina illustrates with examples: “Like, how do I pick up a small plant? Or how do I harvest plants? How do I prune a tree or... How do I mulch? Like, okay, so I just cut some grass and is that mulch? Like, what should I do?”

Alexander uses an analogy to drive the point home: “That is, like, very complete. Very nice. Just like this, like, basic... Like, basic in the sense, like really the first steps... Like for example, when you learn how to drive and, oh, turn on the car, like, oh, but how, how do you do that?”

Living in Austria’s Dairy Country

Marina and Alexander settled in Vorarlberg, Austria’s westernmost state. “We now live are based in Austria. We live here,” they explain in their introduction.

The region has a unique agricultural character. “We live in the state of Vorarlberg. This is in the region where it’s share the limits with Switzerland, Germany and Italy. It’s the West side. It’s a mostly rural area with a lot of milk production and cheese,” Alexander describes.

Marina adds with a laugh: “It’s funny here because they have a really strong milk culture and cheese culture. And grass culture. And grass, yeah, of course. But I think like 90% of the production, like food production is milk and cheese. Here. And 10% is everything else.”

While this monoculture mindset presents challenges, it also offers unexpected benefits. “We were really looking for a healthy environment for ourselves and for our gardens. And this is a place we really can’t say anything about because water is amazing. We drink tap water, it’s the best water we’ve ever had. The air is amazing,” Marina enthuses.

Alexander explains why: “They really don’t use pesticides because of the cows. Of course, they fertilize the grass and so, but with manure.”

The region’s dairy focus has also sparked innovative thinking. Alexander shares an interesting statistic: “I think 90% or 99% of the cheese produce in Europe comes from milk, from cows, of course, that are given silage... Only 10% or 1% of the milk is from... grass fed... And here, from this 10 or 1% of this cheese from Europe, 90% come from here.”

This creates an opportunity they’re excited about: “We were thinking about like building a pond, a pond, which like this nitrogen rich water would come and create azola and that could be used to make compost or like anything with the nitrogen fixing tree.”

Alexander adds: “We talk about this fact with many farmers and this nitrogen leaching out has already become a problem... And that is like one of the things that we love about permaculture thinking about outside the box and creating flywheels or systems that in each revolution make the results easier to achieve.”

The Philosophy: Modular, Scalable, Anti-Fragile

Marina articulates their core approach: “Our newsletter is really focused on how to create these flywheels in your backyard that are scalable, mobile, modular and anti-fragile, as we call it, because we really believe that you do not need a farm to start a revolution. You can start small in your backyard.”

She continues: “Doing permaculture is the much better way to start because it is sustainable. It considers the ecology and it’s not only a theory that like a theory for gardening, it’s a prototype for life. So it’s a whole system, a whole system.”

From Medicine to Meaning

Looking back on their journey from medical doctors to permaculture educators, Marina and Alexander have found what they were searching for.

“This is really what makes us happy and inspired,” Marina says of their work. “We really see how meaningful it is and how, how much potential it has to really, change, for the better. So that’s, that’s really what, that’s really part of our life mission. That’s why we’re here.”

In their opening introduction, they sum it up simply: “This is really what makes our hearts beat faster.”

Connect with Thistle Thorne Permaculture:

* https://x.com/ThistleThorn_TT

* Newsletter: https://thistlethorn.at/blog

In this episode of the Permaculture Vine Podcast, host Cormac Harkin sits down with Grant Payne, the innovative mind behind Christine Acre Farms. Grant shares his inspiring journey from a high school graduate to a passionate farmer embracing permaculture principles. Discover how he creatively utilizes IBC containers for sustainable farming, balances commercial and personal agricultural goals, and navigates the challenges of starting a farm from scratch. Tune in for a deep dive into the world of permaculture, resilience, and the future of sustainable farming.

Join The Permaculture Vine free Skool community for connection and learning: https://www.skool.com/vine-permaculture-7207/about

www.cultural-emergence.com

In this episode of the Permaculture Vine podcast, host Cormac Harkin chats with Looby Macnamara, renowned permaculture teacher, author, and co-founder of Applewood Permaculture Centre. Looby shares her inspiring journey from discovering permaculture as a student to becoming one of the UK’s most influential teachers, authors, and cultural change facilitators.

We explore her pioneering work on People and Permaculture, the development of the Design Web, and her latest book Design Adventures. Looby also introduces Cultural Emergence, a framework for creating thriving, regenerative cultures that go far beyond gardening and land-based design. This conversation is packed with wisdom for anyone seeking to apply permaculture to their lives, communities, and the wider world.

Key Takeaways

* How Looby discovered permaculture and her path to becoming a teacher.

* The importance of teaching styles, collaboration, and community in permaculture learning.

* Looby’s journey in writing People and Permaculture, Seven Ways to Think Differently, and Design Adventures.

* The origins and purpose of Cultural Emergence.

* Practical advice for finding and caring for land with permaculture principles.

* Why permaculture is more than gardening—it’s a way of redesigning our culture.

Chapters00:00 – Introduction01:05 – Looby’s first encounter with permaculture02:39 – Discovering community, creativity, and fun in permaculture06:00 – Becoming a permaculture teacher10:00 – Teacher training and empowering new educators12:39 – Developing Applewood Permaculture Centre20:00 – Advice for finding land with permaculture principles24:28 – Looby’s book writing journey26:00 – People and Permaculture & the Design Web27:22 – Seven Ways to Think Differently28:26 – From Social Permaculture to Cultural Emergence30:00 – Design Adventures and designing as an ongoing practice33:28 – Designing for people and culture35:00 – Making permaculture mainstream and accessible39:02 – Why permaculture is more than gardening40:00 – Cultural Emergence and shifting culture44:04 – Strengthening networks and collective wisdom46:02 – Final reflections and invitation to start your own design adventure

Looby Macnamara

Looby Macnamara is the co-founder of the global Cultural Emergence movement. She is an author, designer, gardener, song leader, mother, and artist. She is the author of five influential books: Design Adventures, People & Permaculture, 7 Ways to Think Differently, Cultural Emergence, and Strands of Infinity, and creator of the CEED -Cultural Emergence Empowerment & Design card deck.

Looby is a visionary thought leader who inspires thousands with her creative approaches to regenerative change. People & Permaculture is the first book globally to translate permaculture to people-based systems. Her latest toolkit Cultural Emergence brings together innovative models for behavioural and cultural change, weaving together systems thinking, cultural awareness, design, and nature connection.

Looby runs Applewood Permaculture Centre in Herefordshire, UK, with her partner Chris Evans, where they facilitate courses and demonstrate both land and people permaculture.

Looby is an active member of the Permaculture Association Britain and has been chairperson and trustee. She is currently a senior tutor. Looby is on the expert panel for the design council. She is one of the founding partners of the international Mother Nature project.

Sign up to her newsletter to get the Cultural Emergence colouring book for free.

For signed copies all Looby’s books, resources, global community and online and in-person courses see www.cultural-emrgence.com

Join The Permaculture Vine free Skool community for connection and learning: https://www.skool.com/vine-permaculture-7207/about

In this episode of the Permaculture Vine podcast, host Cormac Harkin interviews Brandon Cooper, a permaculture designer and homesteader. They discuss Brandon's journey into permaculture, his experiences living off-grid, and the challenges he faced while transitioning to a landscaping business. Brandon shares insights on homesteading, community involvement, and the importance of sustainable practices. He also offers advice for newcomers to homesteading and discusses his future plans for community development and larger-scale projects.]

https://coopermountaincontracting.com/

https://www.youtube.com/@Mybackyardpantry

Takeaways

* Brandon has been on a transformative journey in permaculture.

* Living off-grid provided valuable life lessons.

* Permaculture design courses are crucial for practical knowledge.

* Mistakes in landscaping can be costly and discouraging.

* Homesteading is about producing rather than consuming.

* Community involvement enhances food production.

* Understanding permaculture basics is essential for success.

* Planning and budgeting are key to effective homesteading.

* Brandon aims to influence larger community projects.

* Interpersonal relationships are vital in intentional communities.

Chapters

* 00:00 Introduction to the Permaculture Vine Podcast

* 07:06 Permaculture Design Course Insights

* 16:14 Building a Landscaping Business

* 23:43 Creating a Food Forest and Community Impact

* 28:54 Sharing Surplus and Community Engagement

* 36:07 Business Goals and Community Development

* 41:12 Advice for New Homesteaders

In episode 104 of The Permaculture Vine Podcast, inside the Cresol Mastermind Group, Cormac Harkin chats with Neal Hegarty and his siblings Aron and Sorcha from Candldelit Tales. They talk about:

* Land use in Irish Mythology

* Storytelling from a Cultural Perspective

* The Importance of Storytelling

Join our free Skool community for connection and learning: https://www.skool.com/vine-permaculture-7207/about

In this episode of The Permaculture Vine Podcast, Cormac Harkin sat down with Steve Kuntz to explore a fascinating side of food production that goes beyond the garden bed—indoor, soilless growing systems. Steve has been working with hydroponics, aeroponics, and especially tower gardens for over a decade, helping schools, families, and communities reconnect with how food is grown.

From Grandma’s Cactus to Indoor Lettuce

Steve’s love of gardening started young—his first plant was a cactus given to him by his grandmother. Years later, in 2012, he was introduced to the tower garden, a vertical aeroponic growing system. The experience of cutting fresh lettuce in the middle of a snowy Indiana winter was a turning point, sparking a passion for indoor gardening.

How Tower Gardens Work

Tower gardens use water, nutrients, and light—no soil required. A pump circulates nutrient-rich water to plant roots that are suspended in air. This makes them compact, efficient, and easy to manage indoors or outdoors. Steve explained the differences between:

* Hydroponics: roots grow in water.

* Aeroponics: roots are misted in air.

* Aquaponics: combines fish and plants in a symbiotic system.

For beginners, Steve recommends smaller countertop systems like the LetPot Mini (about $60), which can grow herbs or lettuce in a kitchen or dorm room.

Bringing Growing Systems Into Schools

In 2015, Steve began introducing tower gardens into schools. With grant funding, his local district installed 15 units. These have become powerful educational tools, teaching children not only how food grows, but also reinforcing science, math, and healthy eating.

Steve shared stories of fifth and sixth graders teaching younger students about nutrition—complete with a salad party featuring their own harvest. Partnerships with Purdue University and community wellness educators have expanded the program across Indiana and beyond.

Benefits and Challenges

The systems are compact (about three square feet for a 28-plant tower) and work year-round. While some sceptics worry about taste or authenticity compared to soil-grown produce, Steve says one bite usually changes their minds. The biggest challenges? Occasional pump clogs, algae build-up, and the need to maintain proper light and water cycles.

Indoor Growing vs. Large-Scale Farms

Cormac also asked Steve about the scalability of indoor farms. While some large warehouse projects have struggled with energy costs, Steve sees promise in rooftop gardens, greenhouses, and small-scale community models. For him, the priority remains accessibility and education rather than industrial farming.

Seeds of the Future

Beyond tower gardens, Steve is also experimenting with permaculture ideas. Recently, he planted peach trees around his retirement community and has been slowly nudging neighbours toward replacing lawns with wildflowers and food crops. His story about growing a giant sequoia seedling—before donating it to a school greenhouse—shows his passion for the magic of seeds and growth.

Steve’s Advice: Just Start Growing

Steve’s closing message is simple but powerful: just start. Whether it’s a pot of herbs on your windowsill, a tower garden in your kitchen, or seeds in the soil, gardening is about learning, experimenting, and enjoying the process.

Learn More

* Steve’s book: Growing to Teach (available on Amazon)

* Website: keepitwatered.com

Indoor gardening may not replace soil and sunshine, but as Steve shows, it’s a brilliant way to grow food anywhere, anytime—and to inspire the next generation.

Join our free Skool community for connection and learning: https://www.skool.com/vine-permaculture-7207/about

In this episode, Cormac sits down with Dave Spicer to explore his journey through permaculture, earthworks, and design. From his early experiences training with Bill Mollison and Geoff Lawton to years of practical work on farms and landscapes, Dave shares hard-won lessons on water, access, surveying, and the realities of broadacre design.

This conversation has insights for beginner and professional designers alike — from starting small with “baby steps, baby mistakes” to scaling up into large-scale projects that truly shape the land.

Key Points from the Conversation:

* Journey into Permaculture: Dave discovered permaculture after leaving school early. He was inspired by Bill Mollison's "Global Gardener" video and took a PDC with Mollison in Tasmania in 1999. He then gained practical experience working with Geoff Lawton at Tagari Farm.

* Philosophy and Approach:

* Start Small: He emphasizes "baby steps, baby mistakes," advocating for people to begin with small projects like a home garden to learn through observation and interaction.

* Design to Reality: His design philosophy focuses on simplicity and practicality. He prioritizes creating a "basic mainframe" cantered on Water, Access, and Structure Position. He argues this creates the "skeleton" of the design, upon which the rest evolves.

* Water is Fundamental: The primary element of any design must be water harvesting and retention. He stresses observing where water comes from (e.g., roads as catchments) and how to slow it, sink it, and store it in the landscape.

* Access is Interaction: A major theme is that "good access is good interaction." If a site is difficult to access, people won't interact with it, observe it, or learn from it. This is why he now prefers terraces over swales on large scales, as they provide better access for people, animals, and machinery.

* Observation is Key: The most important skill for a designer is developed through patient observation of one's own site.

* Advice for New Designers:

* Begin with small-scale projects and make mistakes there.

* Focus on water first in any design.

* To move into larger-scale/broadacre design, learn surveying (e.g., using a laser level). Understanding how to map contours on the actual land is crucial because maps are often inaccurate.

* If doing earthworks, find and learn from an experienced machine operator.

* Broader Views:

* He promotes the "lifeboat" concept: creating resilient, productive systems (food, water, trees) around homes for sanity, real food, and demonstration purposes. He connects this to practices like Japanese "forest bathing," highlighting the mental and physical health benefits of engaging with nature.

* Action and Demonstration: The most powerful tool is action—demonstrating what works on your own land is more effective than just talking about it.

What resonated most with you from this episode? Drop a comment below!

Where to Find Dave:

* Website: www.docspice.life

* Instagram: @docspice_permaculture

* Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@docspice_permaculture?lang=en

Chapters00:00 – Introduction02:00 – How Dave discovered permaculture04:20 – Training with Bill Mollison & Geoff Lawton07:00 – From PDC to practical experience10:15 – Building confidence as a designer13:20 – Why water is the foundation of good design18:00 – Moving from urban to broadacre projects22:00 – Swales vs. terraces & lessons from earthworks30:00 – Designing to reality, not just pretty pictures36:00 – Surveying, mapping & reading the land44:30 – Learning resources & next steps52:00 – Final thoughts & advice for new designers

New Episode: From Fear to AbundanceLast week I had a fantastic conversation on the Permaculture Vine podcast with Lindsay Brandon, and Graham Towerton about turning Shiras gardening anxiety into thriving abundance.Key highlights from this episode:How working with a designer transformed Shira's initial fear into confidenceWhy the collaborative design process makes permaculture accessible for beginnersThe power of community support in permacultureReframing "failure" as valuable learning opportunitiesBuilding relationships that foster knowledge sharing and abundanceShira's journey shows how the right support system can make permaculture accessible to everyone, regardless of experience level.Whether you're just starting your permaculture journey or you're a seasoned practitioner, this conversation offers valuable insights into design processes, community building, and creating resilient food systems.Inspired to start your own permaculture journey? Like Shira, many people find that working with an experienced designer transforms overwhelm into confidence. If you're ready to explore what's possible for your space, let's chat about bringing abundance to your garden.

Join our free Skool community: https://www.skool.com/vine-permaculture-7207/aboutWhat resonated most with you from this episode? Drop a comment below!

Permaculture is more than just a gardening method—it’s a way of designing systems that work in harmony with nature. In Episode 100 of The Permaculture Vine Podcast, hosts Cormac, Lindsay, and Graham chat about what is permaculture, what problems does a design solve, why hire a designer, and the design process.

Defining Permaculture Design

At its core, permaculture design is about creating sustainable relationships between people and the land. As Lindsay explains:

"Permaculture design considers all the systems—water, climate, land, topography, soil, flora, fauna, fungi, the finances of the people, and the community involved—and creates something where you’re building a relationship between people and the land they inhabit."

Graham adds historical context, tracing permaculture back to its roots in Australia, where Bill Mollison and David Holmgren coined the term as a combination of "permanent agriculture" and later "permanent culture." The focus was on shifting away from destructive annual monocropping toward perennial systems that protect and regenerate soil.

"The premise was using perennial crops to avoid the annual tilling, spraying, and erosion that destroys soil. It’s about providing food, medicine, and pollinator habitat without disrupting the earth every year."

What Problems Does Permaculture Solve?

Permaculture isn’t just for farmers or homesteaders—it’s a solution for anyone who wants to work with nature rather than against it. Some key problems it addresses include:

1. Food Security & Self-Sufficiency

2. Water Management

3. Community Building

4. Mental Wellbeing & Empowerment

Why Hire a Permaculture Designer?

You could learn everything from YouTube or a Permaculture Design Course (PDC), but hiring a designer offers key advantages:

1. Avoiding Costly Mistakes

Lindsay points out that soil type, water flow, and plant selection aren’t always obvious to beginners. A designer helps you:

* Choose the right plants for your soil (e.g., blueberries need acidic soil, which Graham learned the hard way).

* Place elements (like ponds or windbreaks) where they’ll be most effective.

2. Saving Time & Effort

Designers bring years of experience—Graham has completed over 70 designs across multiple climates, while Lindsay specializes in regenerative and artistic landscape integration.

3. Access to a Network

Permaculture Canada (Lindsay and Graham’s team) connects clients with installers, nurseries, and educators who align with ethical, sustainable practices.

4. Customized Solutions

Every property is unique. A designer tailors plans to your goals, budget, and timeline—whether you need a small urban garden or a large-scale farm.

The Permaculture Design Process

If you’re considering a permaculture design, here’s what to expect:

1. Initial Consultation

* Discuss your goals (food forest? water retention? wildlife habitat?).

* Assess your land’s potential and limitations.

2. Site Analysis & Design

* Designers evaluate sun, wind, water flow, and soil.

* Draft a plan (often with multiple revisions).

3. Implementation

* Some clients DIY, while others hire installers (like Graham’s team).

* Phasing is common—start small and expand over years.

4. Ongoing Support

* Permaculture is a long-term relationship. Designers check in, adjust plans, and help troubleshoot.

Ready to Get Started?

* Need help figuring out what’s right for your property?Book a 1:1 consultation with Cormac: https://vinepermaculture.com/product/consult/

* Looking for full design services?Visit Permaculture Canada: https://permaculturecanada.world/shop/?ref=etcvdgzj

Final Thoughts

Permaculture design isn’t just about planting trees—it’s about creating systems that regenerate land, nourish communities, and empower people. Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced gardener, working with a designer can help you avoid pitfalls, save time, and create a thriving ecosystem.

What’s your biggest permaculture challenge? Let us know in the comments!

In this roundtable, Kerry Brown, Christopher Nesbitt, Cormac, Matt & Bronwyn Monger get into the weeds about sheep!

Need help figuring out what you need for your property? Book a 1 hour consultation with Cormac — He'll help you assess your site, clarify your goals, and connect you with the right professionals for your context. https://vinepermaculture.com/product/consult/

Book a free call with Neal: https://zcal.co/nealhegarty/30min

Wild Irish Fundraiser: http://fundrazr.com/wildirish

Attend free event 28th June at Diarmuid's property with Neal and Cormac: 

Mitch Rawlyk went from studying earth systems science to developing Landscope—a tool that automates permaculture land mapping. In this episode, we cover:

00:00 - Intro

02:15 - Mitch’s journey from meteorology to permaculture

08:40 - Homesteading in Alberta’s extreme climate

15:20 - Biggest beginner mistakes (and how to avoid them)

22:10 - Water management hacks (swales, ponds, rainwater)

30:45 - Why Mitch created Landscope

38:00 - How Landscope works (demos & case studies)

45:30 - Advice for new homesteaders and designers

Landscope: https://waitlist.landscope.earth/

Mitch on LinkedIn:   / mitch-rawlyk  

Cormac, Lindsay and Graham are joined by indoor garden specialist Steve Koontz for the monthly live with the Permaculture Vine monthly live with Permaculture Canada. . Please join us with your indoor gardening and permaculture questions.

With special guest Neal Hegarty

Cormac chats to Neal Hegarty of Cresol Permaculture.

Neal Hegarty is a regenerative designer, educator, and founder of CreaSol Permaculture. He considers himself fortunate to have been part of the creation of a real-life eco-community on the shores of Lake Atitlán, Guatemala, where he helped neighbours design and build their homes using permaculture principles. What began as a small farm-to-table restaurant, Granja Tzikin, evolved into a thriving local ecosystem rooted in collaboration, food sovereignty, and community resilience.

Now, through the CreaSol Permaculture Design & Business Incubator, Neal helps nature lovers around the world turn their passion into purpose-driven careers—designing regenerative farms, building ecological businesses, and creating abundance for themselves and their communities. He’s especially passionate about showing people that business, when done right, can be a tool for healing.

https://www.instagram.com/creasolpermaculture/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/neal-hegarty-creasol/
https://www.instagram.com/granjatzikin/

Regen World 2024 Highlights + Spring Planting Tips!

In this lively episode of The Permaculture Vine Podcast, hosts Cormac Harkin (Vine Permaculture), Lindsay Brandon (CEO, Permaculture Canada), Graham Towerton (COO, Permaculture Canada), and special guest Travis Holzem (Food Forest Design Minnesota) discuss:

Regen World Experience – The team shares highlights from attending Regen World in Austin, Texas, including networking with permaculture leaders like Matt Powers, Julia from Thriving Roots, and Rebecca Birdwell. They discuss the event’s focus on regenerative business models, AI in sustainability, and quantum discussions.

Client Lessons & Design Challenges – Cormac reflects on a lost client due to pricing miscommunication and balancing client preferences vs. optimal permaculture design. Graham and Lindsay share insights on flexibility in guild designs and soil health strategies.

Spring Planting & Zone Updates – The group discusses climate zone shifts, microclimate strategies, and early-season planting (despite unpredictable spring weather in Minnesota and Michigan).

Travis’s New Platform – Travis introduces Food Forest Design Network, a CRM and lead-generation tool for permaculture designers/installers, aiming to streamline business operations and expand food forest projects nationwide.

Upcoming Projects – Lindsay and Graham tease a large community land project in Indiana, soil consulting, and California designs, while Cormac promotes local seed swaps and community tool-sharpening events.

CHAPTERS / TIMESTAMPS

0:00 – Intro & Welcomes

0:08 – Regen World Recap (Austin experiences, AI, and panels)

12:05 – Client Design Challenges (Cormac’s pricing lesson, balancing client needs)

20:33 – Climate Zone Shifts (USDA updates, resilient plant strategies)

30:47 – Spring Planting Plans (Travis’s Minnesota snow woes, Graham’s greenhouse starts)

40:12 – Travis’s Food Forest Design Network (CRM tool demo, installer collaborations)

50:55 – Upcoming Projects (Indiana land project, California designs, soil consulting)

58:30 – Final Thoughts & Community Events (seed swaps, tool sharpening) 💬

Comment: What’s your biggest spring permaculture challenge? Let us know below!

Cormac chats to Rob Avis of 5th World and Verge Permaculture. https://vinepermaculture.com/podcast/rob-avis/

Cormac Chats to Prema Walker of Prema's Permaculture and Composting

Learn digital design and how to start permaculture consulting at www.PDC2PRO.com

Prema Walker is the founder and CEO of Prema's Permaculture & Composting, a Palm Springs-based organization dedicated to integrating permaculture principles into urban life. Her mission focuses on promoting a green economy through energy-efficient practices, composting, cultivating food forests, and providing hands-on permaculture education to empower communities. Prema is also actively involved in the community composting movement. She has expressed the need for greater support and attention from governing agencies to enhance the impact of community composters. Through her work, Prema aims to make sustainable living practical and accessible, fostering prosperous and environmentally conscious urban communities.

For all our episodes go to: https://vinepermaculture.com/vinepodcast/

Cormac Chats to Alex Popp of Permaculture Party. Learn digital design and how to start permaculture consulting at www.PDC2PRO.com Alex Popp, an entrepreneur and permaculturist, designs regenerative systems for food, waste, and energy. Founder of PermaCulture Party and a consultant at EDEN Energy, he transforms landscapes and waste into regenerative, abundant solutions for communities. Alex believes humanity's brightest days are ahead of us and that our path to societal regeneration is through the power of community. https://www.linkedin.com/company/permaculture-party/?viewAsMember=true https://www.instagram.com/permaculture.party.alex/ https://www.instagram.com/permaculture.party/ https://www.youtube.com/@PermaCultureParty https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61562390966160

Join Cormac of Vine Permaculture and Lindsay from Permaculture Canada in this insightful episode of the Permaculture Vine Podcast! In this live stream, Lindsay shares updates on her work with Permaculture Canada, including their upcoming participation in Regen World in Austin, Texas, and her thoughts on permaculture design, education, and community projects. Learn digital design and start permaculture consulting at www.PDC2PRO.com Chapters: 0:00 - Introduction 0:02 - Welcome and Live Stream Setup 0:32 - Travis’s Absence and Graham’s Work at Purdue University 1:58 - Lindsay’s February Updates and Regen World in Austin, Texas 4:36 - Thai Massage Training in Puerto Vallarta 6:00 - Permaculture Design Innovations in Michigan 9:43 - Plant Shortages and Starting Backyard Nurseries 12:31 - The Role of Free Education in Permaculture 18:07 - Professional Permaculture Certification and PINA 22:29 - Setting Up Permaculture Associations 24:04 - Cormac’s Diploma with the UK Permaculture Association 26:13 - California Design Projects and Fire-Resilient Landscapes 27:46 - Podcast with Steve Bonnell and Audio Editing Tips 30:32 - Streaming Platforms and Expanding Reach 32:42 - Sheep and Wool Pellets in Permaculture 34:36 - Alpaca Farming and Fertilizer Innovations 37:24 - TRU Arboretum Project and Storytelling in Permaculture 42:53 - Children’s Education and Policy Meetings in Alberta 44:38 - Video Documentation and Storytelling in Permaculture 46:02 - New Leaf Farms and Vertical Grow Systems 48:46 - Robotics, AI, and Permaculture Education 50:43 - Regen World and Community Building in Texas 51:38 - Seed Swaps and Community Engagement 54:11 - Working with Landscapers on Permaculture Projects 57:03 - Creating a Customer Portal for Permaculture Clients 1:03:44 - Future Plans and Wrap-Up

Cormac is launching his new local design and install business Vine Permaculture Ireland. He is joined by experienced pros Travis Holzem and Graham Towerton who will guide him through the process of becoming a Permaculture Installer. Join us and we can also answer your questions live!

Cormac chats with Marjory Wildcraft and Graham Towerton about designing yourself into community. PDF resource coming soon!

Mohammad Saleh, based in Jerusalem, has a background in Psychology and Musicology. His journey into sustainability took a significant turn when he lived in and later on managed an off-the-grid ecological educational center in Turkey. Immersed in hands-on learning, he deepened his understanding of sustainable living, alternative education, and regenerative design. This transformative experience led him to establish Mostadam Eco-Design upon returning to his home country, where he has spent the past decade designing, teaching, and implementing ecological and urban gardening systems tailored for the Mediterranean climate.

As a certified Permaculture teacher and designer accredited by the UK Permaculture Institute, Mohammad has trained thousands of people of all ages, empowering them with practical tools for sustainable living. He specializes in Urban-gardening, aquaponics, raised beds, water-saving gardens, water harvesting, Geodomes, earthworks management, rooftop and vertical gardens, greenhouses, dry toilets, mandala gardens, composting, and bioremediation. His designs offer solutions for landless individuals, eco-activists, students, gardeners, and small-scale farmers, blending creativity with ecological resilience.

Beyond design, Mohammad collaborates with organizations worldwide, from NGOs and schools to art centers, companies, and farms. He offers permaculture design courses (PDCs) and works with diverse groups, including teachers, students, professionals, and farmers, guiding them in regenerative practices. His multidisciplinary approach bridges academic knowledge with practical experience, making sustainability accessible to different communities.

In addition to his work in permaculture, Mohammad is also an eco-artist, using nature as his medium to raise environmental awareness. His projects include Refugee camps' Gardens, Upcycled Refuge Garden, healing gardens designed with sound frequencies, bioremediation research for detoxifying land.

From ecological landscapes to immersive learning experiences, Mohammad’s work is a testament to the power of sustainable design in transforming both environments and mindsets.

https://www.facebook.com/MostadamEcoDesign/

https://www.instagram.com/mostadam_eco_design/

Ryan is passionate about building regenerative and resilient homesteads. He first started down the rabbit hole of homesteading when he faced a health crisis in his 20s. At the time, he had to make a choice: either make major changes or live a life of illness, as doctors told him his condition was unavoidable. When he began researching the food system on his path to healing, he realized that modern agricultural practices are damaging both human health and the land. While it now seems simple to him to grow his own food and build a more fulfilling, resilient, and healthy life, that wasn’t where he started. Ryan’s journey from learning how broken our systems are to building his own has not been a perfectly straight line (he’s still building), but it has been a thrilling journey that has taught him so much. He is extremely excited to partner with others on their unique journeys toward greater independence, resilience, and a healthier, happier lifestyle.

Youtube.com/‪@thehomesteadconsultant‬​

https://www.thehomesteadconsultant.com

https://x.com/Thehsconsultant ​

https://www.tiktok.com/@UCHTwlrGozvUt_lkfdqlVKKw

Cormac Chats with Filippo Ceschi

Join Cormac Harkin of Vine Permaculture with guests Lindsay Brandon and Graham Towerton from Permaculture Canada, and Jamon Mysliwiec of TIAG (The Independent American Gardener) for a lively discussion on permaculture innovations, tackling food tariffs with indoor growing, winter gardening tips, and building resilient communities. Discover how to design your homestead for success, connect with local networks, and embrace self-sufficiency!

0:00 - Introductions & Welcome 0:10 - What’s New with Lindsay (Permaculture Canada) 2:12 - Graham’s Winter Projects & Nursery Collaborations 3:47 - Jamon’s Update on TIAG’s Hub & Community Vision 11:23 - Solutions to Food Tariffs: Indoor Growing & Bioregional Resilience 18:48 - Indoor Growing Setups: Tips for Seed Starting & Vertical Farms 23:18 - February Gardening Tasks: Pruning, Seed Timing, & Cold Frames 24:07 - Orchard Management: Protecting Trees from Frost & Biodiversity 34:05 - Spotlight on TIAG: Building Self-Sufficient Communities 40:51 - Life on the Road: Permaculture Travel Stories 50:04 - Final Thoughts: Avoiding Overwhelm & Designing for Time 1:00:04 - Shoutouts & Upcoming Events (Regen Week, Florida Trips & More)

Cormac Harkin chats with Marjorie Wildcraft from The Grow Network

0:00

00:31 Marjory Wildcraft Introduction

01:11 Inspiration to grow food 

04:32 The influence of Rich Dad Poor Dad

06:00 How to start growing food

07:33 Rabbit challenges

10:06 The Grow Network 

16:29 What do aliens eat?

19:12 Politicians Lie!

20:16 Solutions and building community

22:37 Soil Detox 

28:33 Water Waste

31:14 Humanure & Biodigester

35:49 Courses on the grow network

37:02 Growing Medicine

39:34 Myths in backyard food production

43:46 Outro

​

Cormac @vinepermaculture chats with Annette Argabright @Permayouth and Lusi Alderslowe  @lusispermaculturecourses5560  about Children In Permaculture. Brought to you by https://www.pdc2pro.com For all our episodes go to: https://vinepermaculture.com/vinepodcast/ https://www.buymeacoffee.com/vinepermaculture Chapters: 00:00 Introduction 00:56 Lusi Alderslowe Introduction 03:00 Annette Argabright Introduction 05:33 Children in Permaculture 07:51 Pedagogy 10:31 Teaching Permaculture as a Parent 12:37 Getting Kids Outside 15:06 The use of Language 26:49 Taking your Time With the Kids 31:42 Risk Aversion in Nature 34:19 Teaching as a Permaculture Professional 39:14 Permaculture Teacher Training 43:22 Crystal Heier's Special Education course www.vinepermaculture.com/specialed

Cormac from Vine Permaculture hosts Lindsay and Graham from Permaculture Canada for Januarys livestream! Join us and we chat about: *What we've been up to *Wildfires and permaculture solutions *Ask us anything! *What's in the pipeline for next month We may also have a special guest joining us. The Survival Podcast Episode 3610 - Megafires from a Permaculture Perspective https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGlxzgzhuLI&t=3026s