Instructor Bios

Lisa Atkinson
Lisa Atkinson has raised poultry for 16 years including running a heritage breed hatchery for several years in Langdale. She takes pride in raising healthy and happy chickens and turkeys for sale and for her table.

Alain Bergeron
Alain Bergeron found The Promised Land on the Sunshine Coast in his late twenties after completing literature studies at cegep du Vieux Montreal and an eclectic sojourn to foreign lands and tree planting throughout British Columbia.
Alain has created a sustainable, permaculture-oriented market garden upon which he bases his livelihood and raises his children. Alain has discovered that each element of his land has a symbiotic relationship with other elements. His job is to put the pieces of the puzzle together for maximum purpose and utility.

Chris Berrio
Chris Berrio taught organic farming in his native Columbia. He spent much time working with aboriginals, peasants and poor communities, learning from them and gathering information in order to spread that specific knowledge to people starting sustainable communities and lifestyles. He now lives in Vancouver.

Cymba
Shortly after arrival to British Columbia, a series of events led to Cymba living on a traditional elders’ land in Coast Salish territory (Southern Vancouver Island). Along with carving and a study of ethnobotany, Cymba was initiated at this time (using the local resource of native knowledge from co-operative locals). Since this, workshops have been conducted in various locations, both in the cities of Vancouver and Victoria, and in the bush around BC.

Lyrae Emerson
Lyrae Emerson, BSc, Honors, Environmental Sciences, is a biodiversity specialist and self-taught healer (through research) who learned to use wild medicinal herbs to heal her body after several western style medical doctors had given up on her and told her there was nothing more they could do for her. Now she shares her knowledge and experiences to help others see that there is always hope.

Diane Falvey
Diane Falvey is an Agroecologist, Permaculture Designer and a certified permaculture instructor. Diane participated in the Findhorn Community She has taught and assisted at permaculture workshops in the Vancouver area since 1994, and assisted at the two week intensive at The Kootenay Permaculture Institute in Winlaw BC, 2005. She is presently co-teaching courses for back-yard food production called “Urban Food ”. In her time off, Diane is a fine arts conservator and has been preserving culture for 35 years.

Chris Hergesheimer
Chris Hergesheimer holds a B.A. in Anthropology from Simon Fraser University and is a new resident to the Sunshine Coast. He is the founding member of the Local-Grain-Initiative and his current research focuses on participating in small-scale grain production and processing as symbolic action. Through participatory dialogue about the ‘culture of grain’ and its role in shaping a distinct set of social arrangements, Chris hopes to explore how locally based ‘grain-chains’ can be used as a tool for activism and community building.

Steve Henry
"I've been eating and living organically for over 25 years. I started using greywater when the state I grew up in experienced a serious water shortage. The part of the state I lived in was a desert which survived on water stolen from the north to the detriment of fish there. I didn't like this so I took action and started using greywater to water the garden. I live simply and try to incorporate simplicity in all aspects of my life including the things I build."

Harry Hill
Harry Hill recently received a Certificate in Garden Design from UBC and is working as a garden designer on the Sunshine Coast. He was editor of Menziesia, the quarterly newsletter of the Native Plant Society of BC, for seven years. Harry has run a home-based native plant nursery in Roberts Creek, and given slide/talks on native plants to ElderCollege and many garden clubs. For more information, visit www.greenmangardendesign.ca

Garliq
Garliq is the founder of the Living Medicine Project, a non-profit, community healing practice in Vancouver that aims to bring the healing of plant medicines to people, families and community through treatment, education and social justice work. He is a Clinical Herbalist, Educator and Community Organizer. His training includes wholistic systems such as the Chinese 5 Elements and the Ayurveda. His studies at the North East School of Botanical Medicine and at the Blue Deer Centre have given him a strong and balanced skill set. He resides in Vancouver

Gregoire Lamoureux
Gregoire Lamoureux is a permaculture designer, consultant and teacher. He is the director of the Kootenay Permaculture Institute and has worked with permaculture systems for over 16 years and taught many Permaculture courses in different parts of the country.His work experience includes market gardening, greenhouse production,orcharding, ecological land restoration using bio-engineering techniques, small-scale nursery management, landscaping, aquaculture and forestry work. He has written articles on Permaculture for some publications in Canada. And he has been a guest lecturer at many conferences including the BC Organic
Agriculture Conference and the Guelph Organic Agriculture Conference.

Peter Light
After a year at UBC and time spent in the Peace movement, in the late 60's, Peter Light dropped out and headed for the woods. He raised a family in a hand built cabin and learned much about food and building processes from his many years homesteading. His later discovery of Forest Farming and later yet, of Bill Mollinson, gave him a name for what he had been integrating into his life - "Permaculture". Peter has returned to semi-rural Roberts Creek, where he continues to observe, teach and refine.

Val Lugar
Val Lugar was born in Australia. She came by her skills "the real way" in the aftermath of WWII, as her family began to clear brush to create food gardens. Val moved to Roberts Creek 21 years ago, bringing her farm skills with her. She owned our co-op cow, and made cheese and icecream as well as annual canning, pickling, and making basic medicines and salves for livestock and friends.

Michael Maser
Michael Maser is a local sciencey-avant-gardener-with a serious interest in the world of fungi; he has been identifying and foraging for wild mushrooms for 8 years and growing his own for 6. Below is a pic of a recent flush of Michael’s shiitake logs.

Robin Wheeler
Robin Wheeler is owner of Edible Landscapes. She is founder of the One Straw Society, the Sunshine Coast’s organic growers group. She writes "Coming to Ground", a column for Momentum Magazine and wrote "Gardening for the Faint of Heart" for Raincoast Books. She teaches gardening skills to children and adults.

Notes to instructors