 About a dozen Hatters came listen intently to Rob Avis of Verge Permaculture during a new workshop held Saturday at Medicine Hat College, to learn how to better integrate environmentally sustainable and sound practices into both their homes and the larger community. -- NEWS PHOTO PEGGY REVELL |
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A small group of Hatters hoping to plant the seeds for a more environmentally sustainable community had a crash course in permaculture this Saturday.
"Permaculture is a design system based in science, guided by ethics, inspired by nature to design sustainable habitat," said Rob Avis with Calgary-based Verge Permaculture, who led the full-day workshop attended by 13 locals at Medicine Hat College.
"Permaculture is not the roof, the rain barrel or the solar panel — but the connections between them. And the more effective those connections are, the more resilient of a design you have."
One of the big focuses of permaculture design is water, Avis noted.
It's an issue that not just Medicine Hat but Southern Alberta deals with, he noted, with the complaint of too much water in the spring, and yet running out of water by the end of the years and having crops struggle.
"So how do we take advantage of the water when it comes? And deal with it in such a way so that it averages out through the entire year?" he asked.
On a small scale, it could mean integrating rain tanks, planting certain types of gardens that reduce evaporation, he explained. On a larger scale it could be creating ponds, or water harvesting features like swalesÑa ditch with contours.
"I think I've sort of been doing permaculture for a while, but didn't really put a name to it," said Joy Rigby, one of the workshop's participants.
Rigby hopes to bring back some of the techniques learned at the workshop to her own garden and lawnÑtransforming her square garden into one with more patterns from nature, and more plants that can be harvested for food.
Meanwhile, Hatter Owen Nelson was inspired to attend the workshop from his interest in permaculture and developing sustainable environmentsÑone where he can grow his own food, and other materials as much as possible.
"It's nice to connect to other people who are interested, like-minded people," he said. "To make those connections so in the future we can trade skills or offer advice and that kind of thing."
And while composting, water harvesting and all sorts of techniques were touched upon in the workshop, what permaculture is really about is to "enable and empower the creation of community," Avis stressed.
"[It's] encouraging that communication between neighbours, encouraging community gardens, community events, [and] collectives."
For example, the Calgary Permaculture Community group has helped implement "Calgary Urban Harvest"Ñwhere people register their fruit trees and then volunteers going out harvest the fruit, and then sharing it between the homeowners, volunteers, and charitable partners.
The group also does "permablitzes," where homeowners can have their property designed to include "edible landscaping" — and then the community will come and install it after the homeowners have participated in two other installations in the community.
