Jessica Roder Robertson - owner

My passion for the natural world infuses all that I do. I am heavily influenced by childhood summers spent in a canoe in the wilderness of northern Canada, as well as work on my uncles farms. This calling led me to complete degrees in biology and outdoor experiential education from Queen’s University, and later a master’s in city planning at the University of Manitoba. Wild Craft Permaculture is the next step on my journey, and was started as a way of further merging my values with my work so that I can contribute to both grassroots personal sustainability, and community scale resilience. 

After wrapping up some community economic development work in good ol’ Winnipeg I was lured to the metropolis of Edmonton Alberta to work as the head planner and sustainability specialist at ONPA Architects. There, I was able to affect much positive change in the city both through an award winning urban revitalization project, The Quarters, in downtown Edmonton, and through my extracurricular legacy, Operation Fruit Rescue of Edmonton. Other exciting work conducted there was with ONPA’s sister company, Pivot. Through a National Research Council grant we were able to research and publish a book on regenerative design and develop an extremely complex matrix of indicators to test new community scale projects for sustainability on a variety of different factors from food security to water efficiency.

After applying permaculture principles to my work as an urban planner for over 2 years I took my Permaculture Design Certificate with Verge Permaculture in the summer of 2010. This incredible course made me reconsider how I spend the rest of my life energy. A desire to be closer to family led me back to Ontario and the birth of Wild Craft Permaculture ensued. I have felt very welcomed in my neighbourhood of Wortley Village, and love London’s river trail system, vibrant downtown, and Carolinian forest ecosystem. My dogs Coco, Cota Bear and Sheba and I can often be found foraging for wild edibles in The Coves near our home.

 

Wild Craft’s Guild of support

The following people are indispensible to Wild Craft. They help support our work as well as forging their own paths.

Matthew Robertson, aka The Handy Hubby

Having grown up surrounded by construction, Matthew has been fine tuning his talents for years. A specialist in salvaged and weathered materials, he rarely misses an opportunity to lend new life to aged lumber. Working with refurbished products deems a delicate planned approach - a cornerstone of Permaculture. Encouraging a good layout and design promotes efficiency while minimizing waste. Matt always receives a shiver of pride when a project comes to close, knowing it was built with the planet in mind. Recently he’s been given the chance to bring food production and green construction together, the perfect match! To add a beautiful and sustainable aesthetic to your garden or home, come to Matt with functional designs you would like custom built such as a raised wicking bed, a solar dehydrator, an herb spiral or anything you can dream up.

Robert Cordy, aka Farmer Bob

Robert Cordy was hooked on agriculture the first time he ate a cherry fresh off his grandparent’s tree. He finally followed his heart in 2009 when he spent a season as a craft intern at Ignatius farm in Guelph. He was so excited by these agriculture practices he couldn’t wait for the next Canadian farming season. Instead, he spent the winter at a biodynamic winery in New Zealand and a permaculture orchard in Australia. Robert is a graduate of Everdale’s Organic Farming Certificate program and its Farmers Growing Farmers course. He now teaches a gardening credit course at an alternative high school downtown and is starting his own farm business this year. Robert is an advocate of social justice and believes strongly in teaching communities how to grow food using sustainable practices.

Nathan Roder, aka 'lil bro

Nathan brings his strength of limb and strength of heart to Wild Craft. He has worked a variety of jobs, most recently with a landscape maintenance company in Toronto. He is a talented musician, having played first violin with the Oakville Symphony Orchestra and currently performs with the Corktown Chamber Group in east Toronto. When not involved in the above, playing at weddings, or throwing his weight around at a Wild Craft installation, he turns out hip hop beats and rhymes in his home studio.