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VERGE BLOG BOOK
FIRST EDITION BY ROB AVIS, P
.ENG
2
This document is licensed under the
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International license
All images attributed to Verge Permaculture unless otherwise noted.
Verge Blog Book - Rob Avis
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About Verge Permaculture
ROB & MICHELLE AVIS
Even starting out as engineers in Calgary’s oil fields, Rob and his wife and
business partner Michelle Avis knew their careers lay in creating solutions
that would heal the land….and after just 10 years, they have reinvented
themselves in a way many professionals only dream of doing.
Rob and Michelle left the oil and gas industry in 2008 and launched
Verge Permaculture,
now an internationally-recognized and award-
winning regenerative
design, consulting, and education center. Through
Verge they are leading the next wave of permaculture education, and
teaching career-changing professionals how to build successful businesses
combining technology with earth science and eco-entrepreneurism.
Leveraging their 20 years of combined experience in engineering, project management, ecological
design and sustainable technologies, Rob and Michelle Avis started their consulting firm,
Adaptive
Habitat
in 2015 – a unique and leading edge property design and management company.
As skilled Professional Engineers, they offer a depth of practical expertise in building science and
appropriate technology (solar, wind, combined heat & power), as well as rainwater harvesting, agro-
ecology, ecosystem engineering, soil regeneration and onsite wastewater treatment / septic design.
Rob and Michelle have studied regenerative design internationally, interning at the pioneering Nordic
Folkecenter for Renewable Energy in Denmark;
researching sustainable farms, eco villages, and
renewable energy installations from Calgary to Latin America; and completing three permaculture
certifications in the US, Australia and Canada. Rob later spent three months volunteering at the
Australian Permaculture Research Institute and became one of its first certified teachers. Since then,
he and Michelle have visited many of the world’s leading permaculture sites, and brought many
internationally-known teachers to present at Verge.
With ongoing training and practice in dozens of sustainable technologies ranging from natural building
materials to greywater systems, wind turbines to soil and wetland restoration, they’ve converted their
urban Calgary home into a living permaculture project complete with a front-yard food forest, water-
harvesting features, passive solar greenhouse, and energy retrofits on the house.
Since launching Verge, they’ve helped more than 1000 students and a growing number of clients design
and/or create integrated systems for shelter, energy, water, waste and food, all while supporting local
economy and regenerating the land.
In keeping with Verge’s mission to grow the permaculture groundswell, Rob donates much time as a
popular and passionate public speaker for community events, non-profit groups and businesses. He has
been invited to lecture at local colleges and universities, and to speak at both regional and international
conferences.
They have earned testimonials from permaculture’s bestselling author Toby Hemenway, dryland-
restoration guru Craig Sponholtz, and “beyond-organic farming” superstar Joel Salatin among others.
Leading permaculture designer/trainer Geoff Lawton calls Verge “one of North America’s premier
permaculture design and education companies!”.
Verge Blog Book - Rob Avis
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7 Things You Should Know About Permaculture ............................5
7 Tips For Passive Solar Greenhouse Design ..................................8
Swales:The Permaculture Element That Really “Holds Water”11
Top 8 Basic Home Design Flaws .....................................................20
Top 11 Awesome Appropriate Technologies For Your Home.....23
The Case For Earth Repair Businesses..........................................32
Buying The Right Property – Avoiding Tears And The High Cost
Of Getting It Wrong .........................................................................36
The Three Legs Of The Integrated Design Stool .........................39
Investing Like An Ecosystem ...........................................................44
Retrofitting A Small Town ................................................................47
Heating The Greenhouse Rocket-Style…
The Adventure Continues ...............................................................52
Verge Blog Book - Rob Avis
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7 Things You Should Know About Permaculture
7 Things You Should Know About
Permaculture
hat is permaculture? For those of you who’ve only heard of the term in passing, and ever for you
seasoned “permies” who struggle to explain this exciting (and sometimes life-changing) idea to
others, here’s the gist in 7 points:
W
1. Permaculture Is A Design System That Uses Ecosystem Principles
To Meet Human Needs
Permaculture is an ecological systems theory. As author Toby
Hemenway notes,
while conventional thinking asks how we can
meet our own needs, permaculture asks the broader question of
how we can meet our needs while also taking ecosystem health
into account.
Permaculture looks closely at how ecosystems work and
condenses those functions into twelve general principles.
These in turn inform our design decisions about shelter, food,
water, energy, and waste management. They also rest on two
fundamental assumptions:
1.
Humans are a part of the planet and cannot be separated
from it.
2.
Humans can be a positive force that leaves things better
than we find them.
If we are willing to learn from and work with nature, we can
make smarter decisions to inform how we live. These choices can
prevent the wasteful use of fossil fuels or the unnecessary need for
environmentally and economically costly foods. They can help us
avoid living in areas prone to fires, droughts, and floods. They can
help us tread more lightly on the environment while saving us
money and keeping us healthier and happier in the long-term.
“If we throw mother nature out
the window, she comes back in
the door with a pitchfork.” –
Masanobu Fukuoka, author of
The One Straw Revolution.
Photo credit: naturalfarming.org
2. Permaculture Regards Humans As Part Of The Solution
Human beings cannot live in a physical world without having an impact. We consume resources, generate
waste, and alter our surroundings. But what we can do, as an ethical and responsible species, is to optimize
that disturbance. As a global industrial society, we are very ignorant of the consequences of our actions and  are
causing a lot of damage. Permaculture offers us a framework and the tools to align our creativity with actions
that can repair and regenerate both the natural and human world.
Verge Blog Book - Rob Avis

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