The Transformation of our Urban Home

In August 2008, my wife Michelle and I returned to Calgary, Canada, after spending one year travelling abroad in search of sustainability solutions. With backgrounds in mechanical engineering, our “sabbatical” started off in Denmark – we were drawn there by the lure of technological solutions to energy issues. After several months of volunteering and filling our brains with information (wind energy, solar applications, passive buildings, biogas, plant oil engines... and more) we ended up back in North America prepared to explore the U.S. and Mexico in our plant-oil powered Westfalia.

We knew that something thusfar in our sustainability search was missing and were starting to suspect that the missing link might be permaculture (although we didn't really know what it was quite yet). Our travels brought us to several eco-sites, including an ecovillage near Mexico City. We stopped to do some WOOFing at a permaculture farm and then headed further south to visit the indigenous Mexicans of the Chiapas, interested to learn about their agricultural practices. An Earthship workshop and geodesic greenhouses in New Mexico and an education center and CSA project in Colorado to name a few other adventures. And to culminate this amazing year we signed up for a Permaculture Design Course at Bullocks Homestead in Washington. The entire experience was nothing short of amazing.

Next task – put all of this information to productive use! Oh boy.

Luckily, my mother-in-law is a good sport and agreed to allow us to use her home as an outlet for ideas and a test case for a permaculture transformation project. Our goal – grow as much food as possible on this urban site and retrofit the home to reduce fossil heating energy by 90%.

Our first task was to asses the property and get productive food systems up and running. We invited friends and family over for a workparty, sheet mulched the yards and planted over 100 plants in the front yard mimicing a forest ecology. As we were covering the yard with heaps of composted manure and cardboard the neighbours would slow down as they drove by in awe to see the vast quantity of materials and the number of people running around like ants building a nest. By the end of the day we had a fully sheet mulched back and front yard and a food forest ready to burst next spring.

In the spring we decided that our garden needed to have some swales and trails – shovel in hand we got to work digging. Within a day or so we had shaped our garden beds, filled the trails with mulch from a local arborist and got ready to plant the garden once we were sure that there would be no frost. Calgary has very limited precipitation (300mm) and only about 100 frost free days so we had to be on top of the garden as soon as we were able to make sure we didn't miss and inch or rain or a day of sun. In late Spring we covered the garden with 20kg of inoculated field pea shortly and planted the rest of our garden with seedlings started earlier in the year.

With the garden progressing on its own we started on the energy retrofits. Our primary focus was on improving the thermal envelope, heating appliance and thermal mass of the building as we had been inspired by a previous visit to the German Passiv Haus Institute while in Europe. The first project was to blow-in one meter thick of cellulose insulation into the attic. Although the salesman thought I was crazy (new built homes usually have 20-30 cm), I wanted to meet the Passiv Haus Standard with an R-value of R70. Also, cellulose is relatively inexpensive and is an easy “do it yourself” project.

Next we went straight to work on siding of the house. Being that the home was built in the 70's the wall insulation was approximately 1.5” thick fiberglass insulation (R8) and leakier than a sieve. We first removed the siding, sheathing, old mouldy insulation and vapour barrier to expose the studs and plywood inner wall. Next we blew-in high density foam into the cavities between studs. To prevent thermal bridging from occuring through the studs we added a layer of 2” rigid foam sheathing before replacing the siding. And it only seemed fitting that the new siding color be green! The steps above reduced our air infiltration over 5 times and brought our net R-value from 8 up to 31.

We then installed triple glazed low emissivity & insulated fiberglass frame windows. These windows have a net R-value of R7 which means that they act as a thermal appliance and allow more energy in than energy lost per annum.

Another project we managed to squeeze in was the basement. The basement has also always been very cold in the winter in part due to the lack of insulation in the floor. We attacked this problem by laying a subfloof or rigid insulation.

Based on these upgrades, I calculated that we could replace our 29 kW furnace for a 3 kW one. However, when researching furnace options, the smallest available on the market is a 95% efficient 15 kW. This certainly illustrates how poorly we build our homes!

The retrofit is almost done with a few minor exceptions. This summer we will be installing a solar hot water system to heat all of our domestic water. With the siding off earlier in the year we also took the opportunity to install connections for a future grey water system to feed our new garden.

And so, we have learnt some great lessons from our transformation project and are excited to see how the house perfoms over the winter. Most exciting of all - our neighbour has requested that we extend our front yard food forest into his yard (he never did like cutting grass). Perhaps we will inspire many others in our neighborhood to do the same.

Gull Lake Permaculture Design Certificate Course

Ravis Sustainable teamed up with Pacific Permaculture to offer our inaugural Permaculture Design Certificate Course in central Alberta.

It was an amazing experience - in fact hard to put words to. I will default to feedback and comments received from our students:

"Fantastic Experience. Life Changing. Thanks!" Martin Scholz, Red Deer.

"I knew that this would be a life changing course going into it and it hasn't disappointed. I will carry this energy, memory and community into however I practice permaculture. I have valued the ethical emphasis and commitment, the intensity of the overall course. Thank-you, Thank-you, Thank-you!!!" - Ken MacLeod, Saskatoon.

"I absolutely feel like I learned enough to warrant the fee. The food and site was fantastic too."

"Thank you, this was the boiled down, simple, straight forward specific path to sustainable living and development" Maurice Samm, Camrose.

"The PDC was incredibly well organized and the level of education, amazing. Thanks for the experience!" - Carissa deJong, Edmonton.

Clean Calgary Introduction to Permaculture

We are very excited about our new partnership with Clean Calgary and the first Introduction to Permaculture course that Rob facilitated for their organization.

Clean Calgary is an urban environmental organization with a mission to empower Calgarians to create healthy homes and communities through environmental education, products, and services.

The course spanned six Thursday evenings, with the last evening of theory a hands on lecture in our back-yard (pictures shown above).

We also replaced some lawn with a food forest in one of the students front yards; I'll have photos in a subsequent post.

Overall, the course was a grand success and Clean Calgary has requested that we continue the partnership for next summer.

I'll think that you'll agree based on the feedback we received from our students:

"Rob is a very good presenter, knowledgeable, articulate and organized"

"The course was exceptional value, 6 two hour classes plus homework plus a food forest instal day. I think it was a great deal [...] I am thinkin about my yard and gardens in new and exciteing ways and am already trying new things. Thank you, this course was a great experience."

"GREAT COURSE"

"Rob was amazing! His knowledge and his presentation was impeccable. It was also great that we had an implementation project! It was great way to get to know the people in the course and to implement what we learned."

Grass is sooo 80's!

Another food forest installation in Calgary - yipee!

The group of students from our Springtime Introduction to Permaculture class taught through Clean Calgary got together one beautiful Saturday and helped turned fellow classmate, Barry Clements, front yard grass into an ecological and permaculture inspired garden.

The goal - replicate, as much as possible, the forest ecology. Forest ecologies are robust, self reinforcing, non-polluting and sustainable. Lawns are a highly inefficient use of space, water & money and significantly contribute to the degradation of our environment. Lawns instill isolation, gardens create community.

Empowered with knowledge gained from their course and eager to make positive change this group set out to create a space that provides food, sanctuary, creates community, inspires us to reconnect to the earth and context ourselves as a part of, not separate from, nature.

Thanks to everyone for your hard work!

Also - check out this article published by The New Resilient about Barry's food forest install.

The Bownesian Urban Permaculture Project

This past week-end, we set out to help Rob Sinclair & Lauren Mangion transform their urban Bowness lot into a permaculture-inspired oasis & garden. Lauren took my “Intro to Permaculture” course in January and was inspired to take some next steps….. I offered to help them out with the design and implementation.

With some basic principles in mind we wanted to create a place where conscious garden design has been melded while respecting nature’s most basic principles.




Conventional agriculture & gardens

Our conventional industrial agriculture approach is the result of the farmer asking himself: “What can I get from this Land?”. This question arises unsurprisingly from our societal-view of the environment and natural resources as something to be conquered. Once the commodity is decided upon we then use copious amounts of external inputs such as fossil fuel, fertilizers & human labour to maximize this yield.

Our conventional gardens often mimic this industrial straight-line approach. Our gardens require tilling, fertilizing, and dreadful weeding! If our typical gardener stopped weeding the garden (i.e. external input) unwanted species would likely colonize the black soil between the garden rows eventually taking over and choking out much of the garden. To keep pests away, chemicals are used and to replenish depleted nutrients, synthetic and polluting fertilizers are sprayed.

“When the needs of a system are not met from within, we pay the price in energy and pollution.”
- Bill Mollison

The permaculture-inspired garden

Permaculture design starts with a different premise: “What does this land have to give if I co-operate with it?”. This subtle wording difference actually results in a completely different world-view than the previous question of “What can I get from this Land?”.

The first step in this new approach is to consider nature’s most obvious and important teaching: interconnectedness creates robust, resilient, non-polluting and sustainable systems.

To illustrate, consider a natural forest-system. Strong & redundant connections among plants, insects, soil & other animals form a resilient & natural web. The forest system produces its own fertilizer, and the “waste” streams from one element are used up by another. In addition to not needing any external energy inputs to maintain itself (other than the sun!), take one species out and another species will fill the void & function. This balanced system is also inherently resistant to diseases and pests.

In ecological-garden design (& permaculture), the goal is to replicate, as much as possible, the forest ecology. We want to take cues from the way nature works and stop considering nature as an enemy or something to be conquered or restrained.

A few principles to consider in ecological garden design

Nature abhors a vacuum. Bare soil is perfect habitat for weed seeds. Weeds are really just pioneer species that have evolved to quickly cover bare ground, extract nutrients from the soil and repair nutrient-deficient soil. By planting cover crops, such as field pea we provide several essential functions to the garden. We outcompete the “weeds” and leave them no place to fill in, and by choosing a nitrogen-fixing species we condition the soil and fertilize using nature’s way.

Nature doesn’t usually mono-crop. Planting only one species either in large fields or in isolated garden blocks is a definite signal to pests and diseases. There’s no question that plants work in relationships with one another, particularly with other plant species. Guild planting is a technique, which has been used by centuries by indigenous peoples, where mutually beneficial plants are planted together. When Michelle & I visited the Zapatistas in Mexico, we learnt about their tradition of planting corn, beans & squash together in a field.

Nature can be the gardener’s ally. With clever design, micro-organisms can work to benefit us, minimize our labour & maximize the productivity of the landscape. For instance, why till, add fertilizers and other chemicals, when worms perform these very functions? Why not plant things that attract beneficial insects and predators that will minimize pests? The truth is that we’ve been conditioned to only see elements as performing one function and in isolation from each other. Put on your “Permaculture glasses” and think about things holistically.

Rob & Lauren’s Design

I sat down with Rob & Lauren over a month ago to give them some ideas and get them started on their design. My goal is not to design people’s garden, but to provide them with the tools to do it themselves and provide feedback and suggestions.

Rob & Lauren came up with a lovely layout including curved edges and numerous “key-hole beds”.

The good news about living in a four season region is that everyone is just itching to get their hands dirty in the spring time. A great group of friends and volunteers showed up at Rob and Lauren’s on Saturday to cut up sod, mark out paths, dig out swales, build up garden beds, and shovel mulch. We even braved hail in the afternoon and were so eager to finish that almost no one stopped working!

I’ll have to get some more photos of their yard as the summer progresses.

Rob and Lauren have designed more than a garden. This is a place for insects and habitat for animals. It will provide food to nourish them and inspiration to guide them and connect them with Mother Earth.

The Biodome- Combining aquaculture and gardening is so smart!

The Biodome is a large dome located here at the Folkecenter that combines a hydroponic greenhouse with an aquaculture system. It utilizes an integrated approach to water and nutrient reuse, heating resulting in organic fish and plant food production. Inside, enough food to feed seven families can easily be produced.

The geodesic 5/8th dome construction has a high volume-to-surface area which minimizes construction materials and is structurally very strong and therefore less susceptible to wind damage than a conventional rectangular shape. The spherical shape also maximizes the solar gain no mater where the sun is in the sky and minimizes heat losses throughout the year. What results is a Mediterranean-like climate created here in Denmark where a large variety of plants that can be grown over an extended growing season: grapes, figs, papaya, numerous varieties of tomatoes, chilli peppers, herbs and so much more.

There are three levels in the dome, the ground floor has 15 sqm of plant beds and two 23 sqm ponds (in above ground swimming pools). The first floor contains 44 sqm of plant beds and the 2nd floor contains 45 sqm of plant beds.

The two ponds currently contain some estimated 400 fish: grass carp, common carp, gold fish, silver carp, rudds, and koi carp. On the surface of the pond numerous floating and rooted water plants grow: duck weed, water lettuce, water hyacinth, water cress and water parsnip among others. These plants naturally reproduce and live off of the nutrients in the water, sunlight, and CO2 provided by the fish. In return they oxygenate the water and serve as food for the fish. In fact, no additional external feed is required. On this vegetarian diet the fish grow by about 300 grams for every 3 kg of plant matter consumed after 10 months.

The fish and the greenhouse plants also form a symbiotic relationship. First off, the fish provide CO2 into the air, which is important in the photosynthesis process. The water from the bottom of the ponds, which contains fish excrement and high levels of nitrates and ammonia, is pumped up to levels 1 and 2 and into the growing beds. This natural fertilizer provides rich nutrients for the plants. The plant roots strip the nutrients from the water as it trickles through the soil and back down to the ponds, arriving clean and full of oxygen for the fish.

The Biodome is very inexpensive to operate and easy to maintain. The only inputs into the system are the sun, some water and a small amount of power, which is required to run a few timer-activated pumps. The sun naturally provides light and heat and no additional heating infrastructure is used. Here at the Folkecenter the required power is provided by the wind. Rain water is collected in a trough surrounding the dome and is pumped into the fish tanks as required. This makes the dome very energy and water efficient.

Other important advantages of incorporating aquaculture within a greenhouse are: (i) the body of water acts as thermal storage and helps to regulate the internal temperature by dampening temperature swings, both high and low, (ii) the ponds provide evaporative cooling in the summer, and (iii) the resulting supply water for irrigation is warm.

Hydroponic greenhouses are commonly used to produce many of the fruits and vegetables found in our supermarkets due to the high yield and short growing time. The addition of a nutrient-rich solution (typically based on hydrocarbons) and sometimes industrial CO2 is required. Additionally without thermal storage (in the potential form of aquaculture tanks) the greenhouse can not take advantage of passive solar heat gains and therefore require additional fossil fuel inputs.

Aquaculture without plant production equally has its drawbacks. Without the use of plants the fish farm operator has to provide mechanical filtration methods to filter debris, remove nitrates and ammonia, and oxygenate the water- all of which require energy. In addition, fish feed is often unsustainable as it is harvested and extracted from far-away ecosystems (ie. sardines from South America dried and shipped to Canada). This causes protein imbalances in the natural ecosystems.

The Biodome provides an effective way to produce organic food inexpensively, with a low energy input, in a small space. Fish contain important vitamins and minerals including healthy omega-3 fatty acids and because Biodome fish are low on the food chain there is no concern with accumulated toxins generally associated with some fish species such as tuna.

Robs parents left yesterday after spending three days with us here at the Folkecenter. They were so impressed with the Biodome that they were already discussing with us options to build one back home. We believe that the trick to building a biodome that can operate year around in Canada will be to incorporate thermal insulating panels that can be installed on the northern hemisphere of the dome during the winter months. We will certainly plan to further investigate our options and maybe even visit some dome manufacturers in the US next year when we are traveling. We will keep you all posted.