JANUARY 2017 • COUNTRY LIFE IN BC Born to teach


Aspiring young farmer earns permaculture teacher certificate by FRANJA JEDWAB


COWICHAN VALLEY – Sierra Robinson may the youngest certified permaculture teacher in North America. The 14-year- old is the oldest of six siblings, an avid home-schooler and president of her local 4-H club. Her passion for farming finds focus on her family’s Many Hands Farm, a


permaculture farm school for families that teaches a variety of skills such as planting and harvesting, permaculture principles, swales,


HugelKultur, mapping, animal husbandry, beekeeping, farm safety, soil, cob building and many other farm-related skills. “I’ve always liked being outside and working with animals in nature. I wanted to find a way to help


endangered species, address environment issues, teach people of all ages, as well as learn from and help my family. Permaculture encompasses all of these different things that I wanted to do all tied into one that I could learn from and help implement on our family’s farm,” Sierra explains. At the age of eight, Sierra attended a one-day


‘Introduction to Permaculture’ course with Javan


Bernakevitch. When asked about the definition of permaculture, everyone has a different response because permaculture can be viewed through many different lenses. When asked about what her definition of permaculture was, eight-year- old Sierra promptly stood up on her chair and shared that to her it meant “more of what you want and less of what you don’t want.”


To this day, Bernakevitch uses Sierra’s definition in his training sessions across Canada and the US. Sierra was offered an opportunity to attend a Permaculture Design Certificate course, a 17-day program held at the


EcoVillage in Shawnigan Lake. Sierra received her permaculture design certificate just a couple of days before her thirteenth birthday.


At 13, Sierra decided to take the six-day permaculture teacher’s training with Jude Hobbs and received her permaculture teacher’s certificate. Sierra commented that while there have been


others around her age who have done the design certificate course, her instructors commented that Sierra may be among the youngest in the world to receive the full permaculture teacher’s certificate. “I loved learning how to work with others and learn their various learning styles in order to best learn to optimally teach. It is hard to teach at this young age because some adults have a challenging time learning from someone like me who is so much younger.


“I had to learn different ways of teaching to adults to help them to learn to listen and to learn from me. I feel so passionate about


permaculture and want to share and teach it to anyone, as it makes so much sense.” Sierra currently teaches permaculture weekly to a group of children and youth at her family’s Many Hands Farm. The farm classes she teaches cover many topics, such as growing and harvesting food and working with cows, pigs, ducks and chickens while learning how to incorporate them into permaculture design and systems. She teaches many concepts and principles through experiential activities, such as teaching bee-keeping to children and youth by bringing to life the many challenges of the honeybee by setting up an obstacle course, in which spraying, heavy rain and natural predators are simulated while the student “bees” must find their way to collect pollen and return safely to their hives. “Sierra was initially motivated to find ways of improving the lives of her chickens while increasing their laying productivity,” says Sierra’s mom, Kim Robinson, about her daughter’s motivation to begin permaculture training. Sierra explains the many ways in which permaculture design has helped increase productivity in her chickens. “By providing chickens with everything they need, it can help increase laying, health and the overall wellbeing of the chickens. We have moved chickens under an orchard in a chicken tractor, which enabled them to seek shelter under the trees, keep the weeds back, eat pests or bugs that would normally harm the


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A desire to share her passion for farming has inspired 14-year-old Sierra Robinson to pursue a teaching certificate in permaculture. MANY HANDS FARM PHOTO


trees, fertilize and build quality soil, and eat fallen apples. Not to mention, regular movement and rotation of chickens also breaks the parasite cycle in


the birds,” she says.


Sierra also commented on her pig, lovingly named Pete. Considering Sierra is allergic to most domestic animals, Pete has become the dog of


her dreams. Pigs, she says, are among the smartest animals in the world, and she has already taught the young, 100-pound hog a variety of tricks.


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