Consulting
Resilient Systems Design
Practical tools for creating a regenerative and resilient life.
Forest Gardens offers consulting for farms, homesteads, and land-based projects working to build resilient, regenerative systems — including property purchase inspections, whole-farm design, soil building, irrigation, and perennial plant systems. Drawing on years of hands-on experience designing and building off-grid, food-producing landscapes, we work to understand your context and co-design systems that are practical, resilient, and elegant.
Services
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Thinking of buying property and want to know if it will support your vision? We evaluate the land and its existing infrastructure in relation to your needs and vision — assessing water capture and storage, growing systems, building placement, energy systems, and how the site functions as a whole. The right land will support your vision for decades; the wrong site can quietly work against even the best plans. An inspection helps you know, before you commit, whether a property can truly become what you imagine.
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Whole-farm design and development planning, from vision to implementation. We get to know the land, your goals, and your constraints, then weave your soil building, irrigation, perennial, and annual production systems into one coherent design — identifying the connections between them to maximize productivity, resilience, and ecological health. We also help you navigate the complexities of zoning, permits, and regulations, and develop a phased plan that grows with you.
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Design and establishment of soil building systems, including composting, vermicomposting, biochar production, compost tea brewing, and cover cropping — tailored to your scale, inputs, and goals.
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Design and specification of irrigation for food gardens, food forests, and market gardens, including drip irrigation, micro-sprinklers, gravity-fed systems, and water-harvesting earthworks.
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Food forest design and establishment: species selection, layering, guilds, and succession planning for productive, low-maintenance perennial landscapes.
How We Work Together
1.
Tell us about your project
Complete the enquiry form below with as much detail as you like. The more context you share, the better we can assess fit.
2.
Exploratory Conversation
We'll reach out by phone or email to learn more about your project and discuss whether it aligns with what we offer. If it's a good fit, we'll agree on a scope of work before proceeding.
3.
Site Visit & Consultation
We begin with an initial site visit, working with you on the land to observe, ask questions, and develop recommendations. Consulting is charged at $60/hour from the start of the site visit.
Meet Nick
Nick's aspirations are to help lay the foundation for future generations to thrive on earth. His core focuses are spiritual growth, community building and regenerative agriculture. Co-creating a homestead and farm, teaching Permaculture Design, and collaborating with the community to build a healthy culture, are how Nick stands against the injustices of colonization & the insanity of infinite growth on a finite planet.
Yearning for the skills and knowledge to be able to live in harmony with nature, Nick completed his first Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) in 2012 in the Kootenays. Inspired to learn more he embarked on a pilgrimage to practice with farms and communities. This journey culminated in 2015 with an apprenticeship in Regenerative Agriculture where Nick completed his second PDC.
In 2016 Nick and his family moved into the forests of Mt. Tuam (Tsu-ween) on Salt Spring Island (Chu'an, the ancestral and unceded territory of the Hul'qumi'num and SENĆOŦEN speaking peoples) to create a homestead and farm. This ongoing collaboration invites a space of conservation, teaching, and living in balance with the Earth.
A decade of learning from the land and community has taught Nick that he needs to stay humble and ask questions. To balance the hands-on education of off-grid living and farming, Nick began a Diploma in Permaculture Design through the Permaculture Institute in 2017. Under the guidance of his friend and mentor Delvin Solkinson, Nick completed the Diploma in 2021 with a specialization in Education and Site Development. Nick completed a Permaculture Teacher Training Course in 2021, and taught his first Permaculture Design Certificate that summer. He recently completed a second Permaculture Teacher Training Course at OUR Ecovillage, Through the Permaculture Institute of North America.
A lifetime's long practitioner of Buddhism, Nick tries to balance his quest for world harmonization by spending time with his family and newborn baby son.
Get in Touch
If you're interested in working with us, complete the form with a few details about your project. We'll review your message and get back to you soon.