Our 1st Zoom Meeting Was a Great Success!
Thank you to our presenters (bios below) who introduced the concept of permaculture, and how to apply permaculture principles into regenerative backyard design and local food production. We had a wonderful dialogue about these topics in the context of COVID-19 and the climate crisis. The presenters covered topics such as veggies beds, water (re)use, fruit trees, chickens, backyard herbal medicines and more! The Backyard Permaculture Guild is a select group of Permaculture experts that collaborate to design, implement, and maintain permaculture inspired backyards.
Click here to view their presentation.
Our Presenters’ Bios
Nina Gordon-Kirsch believes that building community around shared local resources and tending to the earth are some of the most effective tools for climate resiliency. She earned her Permaculture Design Certificate at Occidental Arts and Ecology center, after which she envisioned the Backyard Permaculture Guild (BPG)! Nina is the BPG water woman – installing Laundry-to-Landscape (L2L) greywater systems and envisioning rainwater catchment designs. She apprenticed with Greywater Action in Oakland for 3 years before becoming trained as a CA Professional Greywater Installer. When not installing greywater systems, she spends her time educating folks on where their water comes from and how to restore human relationships with the land, waters, and other humans. Moving forward, she’ll be following the call of the Waters and backpacking her way from Oakland to the Headwaters of the Mokelumne River, where EBMUD sources our East Bay tap water from. Sign up here to follow her journey!
Helen Cowart grew up on a Christmas tree farm in central Vermont and has been chopping firewood and pruning trees since she was a kid. After graduating with a BA in Environmental Studies from Vassar College she found herself continually wanting to be working hard in the dirt outdoors (not in an office!). She worked on small, organic, vegetable and flower farms for several years and then founded a few farm projects. Finding herself drawn to the synthesis of design aesthetics and outdoor work with plants she founded Solscape Ecological Design in 2015. Helen has been designing and tending native plant gardens, veggie gardens, pruning fruit trees ever since. She joined the Backyard Permaculture Guild in 2019 to share knowledge and inspiration with a group of like-minded earth tenders. She is also studying forestry and land management and has a passion for returning healthy fire to local landscapes. In her spare time Helen is a primitive skills enthusiast, mythologist and artist.
Alejandra Vargas-Johnson (Ale) completed her permaculture design course in Chile in 2010. She lived in Brazil between 2014-2018 where she helped organize agroecological events for rural, working class communities. She currently works for a non-profit health care reform think-tank and gardens in Alameda and Oakland with Nina and her mom Holly Johnson, ABG Board Member.