Grow, Harvest, Eat: An Urban Permaculture Workshop

Discover simple ways to grow more resilience, food, beauty and wildlife in your city garden

Join us for three hours of practical, inspiring learning within Koren’s small city permaculture garden in Tarntanya / Adelaide (which opens to the public just once a year).

You’ll explore this real-life permaculture demonstration site, a green oasis that boasts more than 120 edible plants and fruit trees, plus chickens and bees, and local native plants and flowers to support biodiversity.

We’ll share tried-and-tested techniques for designing your own city garden and growing nutritious food using permaculture principles, no matter how small your space.

This workshop blends permaculture design theory with practical skills and a casual morning tea, with plenty of time to ask us questions, share knowledge and chat permie dreams with like-minded locals — all in a city backyard shaped by permaculture thinking.

 

 

What you’ll learn

DIY urban permaculture garden design

• Learn the basics of urban permaculture design, including zones, sector mapping, function stacking, WASPA and more.
• See real examples of permaculture in action throughout Koren’s garden.
• Discover how permaculture extends beyond the garden, into your kitchen and neighbourhood.

Organic food growing and cooking techniques

• Learn key concepts to grow more food with less effort: companion planting, self-seeding, green manures, perennial crops and more.
• Discover what grows best in Adelaide’s climate and how to build a garden that feeds you all year round.
• Get tips on harvesting, storing and eating what you grow (plus how to cook with weeds).

You’ll also receive

• A printed handbook full of resources and helpful info
• A homemade morning tea and refreshments
• The chance to help yourself to seeds from our home collection
• 50% off Kym’s organic plants (available to purchase on the day)
• A relaxed, friendly environment where no question is too small

 

This workshop is for you if:

✅ You’re curious about permaculture and want a practical, small-scale entry point.
✅ You live in a suburban or urban area and want to grow more food in your garden.
✅ You’ve done a Permaculture Design Certificate (or not!) but aren’t sure how to apply it all.
✅ You feel overwhelmed by choice or unsure where to start.
✅ You want to be more self-sufficient, connected to nature and community.
✅ You love the idea of eating what you grow — but aren’t sure how to make it work.

It’s probably not a good fit if:

❌ You live on a large rural property.
❌ You’re an experienced permaculture designer or advanced food grower.
❌ You just want to tour a garden (this is an interactive learning experience).

 

About the garden

Set on a 479-square-metre block just five kilometres from Adelaide’s CBD, Koren’s urban permaculture garden is a practical example of what’s possible for city-dwellers, even those who may have limited time and energy.

Out the front is a local native butterfly garden, honesty stall and several fruit trees, strategically placed to maximise community picking and sharing.

Out back, a mini urban food forest, annual veggie production area, flower garden, chicken pen and Warré beehive.

Koren has built the garden herself (with help from friends and family) over the past four years. She cares for it as a solo homeowner, dedicating about two hours to gardening each week and focusing on lower-maintenance systems that can cope with Adelaide’s often-harsh growing conditions.

 

About the workshop hosts

Koren Helbig is an urban permaculturist, journalist and ethical digital marketing consultant for purpose-led small businesses. From her small home in Tarntanya / Adelaide, Koren explores ways to live more lightly in the city. She regularly teaches and writes about urban permaculture, small-space food gardening, ethical marketing and gentle business practices, inspiring fellow city-dwellers to cultivate sustainability across every area of their lives.

Kym Ormond is a permaculturist, community educator and trained chef who teaches skills in food preserving, permaculture gardening and music with councils, schools and community groups across Tarntanya / Adelaide. He’s also a learning facilitator at Youth Inc, an alternative school for 17-24-year-olds who refuse to settle for ordinary education. Kym’s goal is to share forgotten skills that he’s learnt over the years and return them from ‘uncommon sense’ to common sense life skills.

 

The key details

When: Saturday, October 17, 2026
Time: 9am-12pm (3 hours, includes morning tea)
Where: Private urban permaculture garden in Adelaide (address shared after booking)
Extras: Printed handbook, veggie seeds, 50% off plants
Tickets: $120
Spots available: Maximum 15

We’re keeping this small so you can ask questions and learn in a supportive space. Book early to secure your spot… last year’s first-time event sold out pretty darn quick.

Food and dietary info

Morning tea will be vegetarian and made from scratch by us using yum things from the garden. A gluten-free option will be available. We’ll also have a selection of herbal teas, made from homegrown garden produce.

 

 

Frequently asked questions

Is there parking nearby?
Yep — there’s free street parking right near the garden, plus a train station and bus stops close by. We also have space to chain up your bike.

Is the garden wheelchair/mobility accessible?
Partially — there’s some uneven ground throughout the garden, so it’s worth keeping that in mind. If you have specific accessibility questions, please get in touch before booking, and we can help clarify.

Can two people from the same house share one ticket?
Unfortunately not — it’s one ticket per person. The garden’s quite small, so we can only fit a maximum of 15 workshop participants, and ticketing is how we ensure we end up with the right number of people on the day.

Can I bring my children?
This one isn’t really set up for littlies, so we’re not able to offer tickets or entry for toddlers or young children.

What happens if it rains?
This workshop will go ahead rain or shine, so come dressed for whatever weather Adelaide throws at us on the day. We do have an area under cover that we move to if it’s really bucketing down, but fingers crossed we’ll be blessed with blue skies.