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.
Get full access to Cormac Harkin at cormacharkin.substack.com/subscribe
