On May 5, Cultivate Cochrane Society hosted Rob Avis of Verge Permaculture at the Cochrane Public Library where he spent an hour talking on Backyard Passive Solar Greenhouses to an avid group of 50 people. Following Rob’s amazingly informative talk, 24 of us piled into two tour vans and visited three backyard passive solar greenhouses ranging in size from 100 to 500 sq. feet. Along the way we learned about green building, climate and financial resiliency, alternatives way of growing food and community and of more hopeful paths for the future. We want to thank Rob, our sponsors (see below) and all of our participants who came for a successful and inspiring launch event for Cultivate Cochrane Society.

Below are further readings, information and video links related to the greenhouse talk and tour for anyone interested in the possibility of building, or having built, a functioning backyard greenhouse.

These are the three greenhouses we visited on the tour:

500 sq foot Passive Solar Greenhouse on School grounds.

Rob Avis’ Green House and the Three Mistakes he made on his passive solar greenhouse design.

Jeremy Zoller’s Micro Backyard Greenhouse.

For fun, Rob also has a video on a low cost (less than $1000 Geodesic Dome style greenhouse) that is worth checking for the DYI types out there.

Designing Your Own Backyard Greenhouse

If you’re really keen on learning as much as you can about greenhouses and want to avoid costly design mistakes, then we highly recommend three resources from Rob Avis below:

Verge’s FREE Design Your Own Passive Solar Greenhouse Like a Professional video course.

Verge’s Passive Solar Greenhouse Case Studies package for $97 USD

Verge’s Passive Solar Greenhouse Design DIY package for $247 USD

Partners to Design and Build Your Passive Solar Backyard Greenhouse

The following companies can help you design and build a high functioning greenhouse for your yard.

• Jeremy Zoller and Sunshine Earthworks for micro passive greenhouses.

• Bruce Kay and the team at Ongrowing Works in Cochrane for custom designed greenhouses.

• Rob Avis provides greenhouse design consulting services through Adaptive Habitat.

For anyone who wants a life transforming adventure, we highly recommend taking a two-week Permaculture Design Course (PDC) from Verge Permaculture. Three of the board members of Cultivate Cochrane Society all have PDC’s from Verge and the life knowledge we gained is the inspiration for us to establish a passive solar community greenhouse hub in Cochrane. Highly recommended!

Thanks again to our wonderful sponsors for making our launch event a resounding success!

Verge Permaculture, OnGrowing Works, Cochrane Environmental Action Committee (CEAC), and The Noble Fox Coffee.