Our Founder’s Story

JOSHUA CLAE WAGLER

Founder and Lead Designer

Joshua Clae Wagler is the founder and lead designer of Edible Landscapes Design Ltd., where he has been designing biodiverse food gardens for over fifteen years.

His connection to land and food began early, shaped by time spent on his grandparents’ farm and through backcountry camping expeditions from a young age. These experiences cultivated a deep attentiveness to seasonal rhythms, working landscapes, and the role food plays in connection, care, and family life.

As he grew older, this orientation matured into formal study. Joshua pursued university education focused on cities, land use, and social systems, earning a degree in Urban Studies. In 2012, he completed his Permaculture Design Certificate and began applying ecological principles through hands-on garden design, landscape installation, and long-term garden care.

Joshua’s work is grounded in the belief that biodiverse food gardens thrive when they are designed as living systems, shaped by soil, plants, climate, and water, as well as the real rhythms and capacities of the people who tend them. Rather than pursuing short-term results or ornamental perfection, he focuses on gardens that settle into place, grow more resilient over time, and remain realistic to care for.

Beyond cultivated gardens, his understanding of food systems has been deepened through years of backcountry travel, paddling, fishing, and wild food harvesting. These experiences reinforce an ethic of observation, restraint, and reciprocity that continues to inform how he designs gardens meant to endure.

His approach is also influenced by long-term martial arts training, which has reinforced the importance of patience, adaptability, and learning through direct experience. Together, these practices shape how Joshua thinks about health, resilience, and relationship for both people and the landscapes they inhabit.

At the heart of his work is a desire to help people grow biodiverse food gardens that support personal wellbeing, ecological health, and meaningful connection. Whether guiding a long-term design, supporting a DIY project, or helping someone gain clarity about their next step, Joshua’s role is to bring steadiness, perspective, and care to the process.