Book Description
A practical and inspiring guide to the principles of Permaculture, an organic method of gardening based on using natures solutions to achieve abundance.This practice releases the gardener from much of the drudgery of repetitive tasks. The smart lateral thinking that underscores permaculture can be used by anyone and for any garden. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Efficient backyard vegetable, fruit and herb production
This is the best book Ive read to date on food production in the suburban (or rural) backyard.The author makes very clever use of many permaculture principles and comes up with an incredibley efficient, yet enivironmentally friendly and sustainable system of vegetable and herb production.

I also like this book as it balances the practical with the theory in a balanced and entertaining format.

My permaculture bible
Linda Woodrow's book has fast become my bible as I establish my own home permaculture garden. The concepts she presents are simple and easy to apply, and she writes with a delightful style which invites me back again and again. Whenever I introduce this book to friends, it only takes them a day or two before they are Linda Woodrow converts too! A 'must read' for any beginning permaculturalist.

Inspiring and Grounded, Wonderful to Read
This was the first permaculture book I have ever read and it was so wonderful to read, I have been inspired to create a Canadian version of Linda Woodrow's mandala garden.The book hits home to me because it is realistic.She tells us exactly how much time and work energy we will need to put in to this system to recieve bountiful gains, and she is a mother of two kids, not a research scientist telling us how to garden.
The book is enjoyably light to read and sometimes funny, not a boring technical gardening book.I recommend this book to everyone, it has become my bible. ... Read more

Book Description

"The Rhizome Collective is a force that gets stuff done. . . . A surprisingly effective model for connecting people with dreams to the resources they need."-Austin Chronicle

What does it take to live in a city?

Are urban centers merely giant sinkholes sucking in food, water, and energy and shipping out waste? Or can cities be affordable, sustainable places to live? With half the world's population now living in cities and that number rising, they have to be-and we need to start transforming them now!

That's where A Do-It-Ourselves Guide for Sustainable City Living comes in. Stacy Pettigrew and Scott Kellogg, two founders of the Rhizome Collective, have been experimenting with transforming cheap, salvaged, and recycled material into the building blocks of sustainable urban communities.

In easy to recreate examples, they describe the hows and whys of sustainable urban living. From microlivestock and aquaculture to wastewater recycling and bioremediation of the soil, readers learn how to implement these technologies in their own lives. The instructions are accompanied throughout by illustrations in the uniquely recognizable Beehive Collective style.

Stacy Pettigrew and Scott Kellogg are co-founders of the Rhizome Collective, a nonprofit organization based in Austin, Texas (www.rhizomecollective.org). Over the past six years and on a shoestring budget, they have transformed a burnt-out warehouse into a thriving educational center for community organizing and urban sustainability. This book developed out of R.U.S.T., the intensive weekend seminar in urban ecological survival skills they present. The Rhizome Collective has also received a $200,000 EPA grant to transform a ten-acre brownfield into an ecological justice park. Stacy and Scott publish frequently and give workshops on radical sustainability at universities and political gatherings across the country.

Book Description
A forest garden is a food-producing garden, based on the model of a natural woodland or forest. It is made up of fruit and nut trees, fruit bushes, perennial vegetables and herbs. It can be tailored to fit any space, from a tiny urban back yard to a large rural garden.
A close copy of a natural ecosystem, it is perhaps the most ecologically friendly way of gardening open to us.
It is also a low-maintenance way of gardening. Once established there is none of the digging, sowing, planting out and hoeing of the conventional kitchen garden. The main task is picking up the produce!
This highly practical, yet inspiring book gives you everything you need to know in order to create a beautiful and productive forest garden,

including:
* Basic principles
* Layout
* How to choose plants
* Details of over one hundred plants, from apples to mushrooms
* the most comprehensive account of perennial and self-seeding vegetables in print
* A step-by-step guide to creating your garden
* Full details of an example garden, and pictures of many more
Forest gardening is an important element of permaculture. This book explains in detail permaculture design for temperate climates and contains much of interest for anybody wanting to introduce sustainable practices into their garden. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

How to Make a Forest Garden
I made a mistake when I ordered this book -- I didn't realize it was centered in Britain and as a result it was less useful for me.I did learn a few things, but I don't plan to keep the book.I have since seen it referenced in other texts and suspect it is an excellent book for someone in the UK.

Title misleading
First I want to say that I very much agree with the approach to gardening presented in Mr. Whitefield's book.That said the title is very misleading. The reason for my 3 star rating. The book has little to do with actual "Forest Gardening". Multi-layer planting or poly culture, more accurately describes his approach.He does use these terms periodically to describe this way of gardening.Early on Whitefield makes a brief comment on the idea that if you don't have much room, you might try a "forest garden" in a container.Perhaps in England they have forests in a pot, but in the part of the U.S. where I live people maybe have several acres of actual forest to work with. He also tells the reader to be aware of full day shade caused by nearby buildings.Important information if your forest exists between two multi-story buildings. But that is not a concern in a forest.This book does offer some constructive information for those who have a city lot or small yard to work with and wish to have a fruit tree or two, some berry bushes, combined with a vegetable garden.What I did learn from this book is that for gardening in a real forest a fair amount of the fruit trees and plants suggest by Whitefield probably won't work due to the light condition created by the forest canopy. Also the reader should know the hardiness of some of his suggestions are defined in general terms like, "can withstand cold temperatures".He does mention ability to withstand frost relating to some plants. One will need to check with other sources for plant hardiness, as cold for someone in England may be different than for someone living in Wisconsin.If you are actually wanting to garden in a forest you would might be better off researching native plants that may already be in your local forest environment, do some experimenting with plants to check their light requirements, or checking with your state university.They may have information on agri-forestry or other alternative approaches for food production in a forest environment. Bottom line...If you are planning for your back yard you might consider this book as a good starting place.It will give you some good information and designs for a progressive way to produce your own food.If you are planning to co-existing in a forest setting, in a way that allows you to produce a variety of fruits and vegetables I don't believe this book is your best place for ideas.

Clear explanations of basic concepts.
I bought this book for my wife who is an avid gardener and who has been studying permaculture for several years.We wanted a good book that would explain basic concepts of "forest gardens" that we have only begun to study.She loves the book, and while traveling recently, she read the first two chapters to me.I found the author's explanations to be very clear and concise.He presented some ideas which got me thinking differently about the way we develop and use our small yard.We are anxious to try out many of the ideas he presented.Overall, we are both very happy with this book, and it well fulfilled our expectations. If there is one downside to the book at all, it is the fact that he bases his explanations on the circumstances and climate of Great Britain. We would love it if he had his forest garden here in our area, and mentioned plants specific to our area.That makes it a bit of a challenge to interpret the specific methods to our own climate, but the general principles are useful anywhere.Yes, we highly recommend this book!

Finally, a 'forest garden blueprint' for us all.
If you are looking for a book that will inspire you to make a forest / woodland garden then this book has everything and more.

When the realisation of low-maintenance gardening can produce such an incredible variety of produce, in such a sustainable way, it defies belief that this way of gardening is not implemented all over the world.

Absolute value for money, and, as the principals of forest garden can be easily applied to the smallest garden space, there is no excuse for anybody not to give it a go.

This book will give you all the help and guidance you need to make this vision a reality and the plants will just keep on giving. Truly inspirational.

I have this book
You will like it if the title interests you.Buy one now. ... Read more

Book Description
Ben Law is an experienced and innovative woodsman with a deep commitment to practical sustainability. Here he presents a radical alternative to conventional woodland management that creates biodiverse, healthy environments, yields a great variety of value-added products, provides a secure livelihood for woodland workers and farmers, and benefits the local community. The author views the separation of agriculture from silviculture as unnecessarily limiting and argues for a new approach to planning that will encourage the creation of sustainably managed woodlands for the benefit of people, the local environment, and the global climate. Although specific to Britain, the principles of The Woodland Way will be understood by foresters worldwide.This brilliant book covers every aspect of woodland stewardship from both a practical and philosophical standpoint. Ben Law writes from the heart after long years of struggle with a whole host of naysayers who tried to convince him by fair means and foul to give up his vision for a renaissance in the countryside. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Where's the Permaculture please?
I found the title to this book deceptive. I don't consider interplanting a few fruit trees and listing their habitat a permaculture design. While it might be an step towards a forest garden the book neglects the ground cover layer, various companion planting, the nutrient cycling, water cycling and co-management of animals.
The book is mostly dedicated to traditional woodland managment in the United Kingdom. The author successfully introduces the concepts of coppicing and various derivitives. He also breifly mentions various ways of making a living from the forest, such as charcoal production and furniture making. Although, if you wish to pursue either of those activities you will need to find another source, as the details of these operations are missing entirely.
Finally the resources listed in the book are only sepecific to the United Kingdom, again a let down for someone not culturally familar with the management of coppice stands that has been going on for hundreds of years in places. So to summarize, if you want to learn how to coppice, read this book, otherwise choose somewhere else.

Not quite sure what I expected
Something to tell me exactly what to do with my Tennessee woods, I guess.And no British book is going to do that.

Last year a British on-line acquaintance told me that those tales of the early settlers in Tennessee being able to drive their ox-carts through the forest without getting stuck in the trees meant that the Indians were grooming the forest, had put a lot of thought and energy into making sure that the forest could sustain them.I wasn't sure what he meant.This book tells me.How he rotates his crops--cut some of the willow for artist's charcoal, a couple of years later, for rustic furniture, then let it come back from the stumps.In the meantime, blackberries can grow and fruit in the clearing, and a fairly rare bird just loves to nest there.The birds can move on to the next patch of cut back to the stumps by the time the blackberries are in too much shade and the willow is about ready to be cut a little bit for artist's charcoal.

So I'm now busily wondering how I apply this to my woods. ... Read more

Book Description

The decline of cheap oil is inspiring increasing numbers of North Americans to achieve some measure of backyard food self-sufficiency. In hard times, the family can be greatly helped by growing a highly productive food garden, requiring little cash outlay or watering.

Customer Reviews (14)

Dirty Fingernails
After reading this book, I can hardly wait for spring. As a self-taught gardener, I can appreciate the many solid examples, instructions, and anecdotes that weave a robust thread. Clearly, Steve Solomon is a man who loves his work and the sharing of his decades of hard-won knowledge. Whether good times or hard times, there are a lot of fine gardening tips and rules here for improving any garden. The section on making your own fertilizer and how to apply it is worth the price of the book alone. The book would have benefited from a few more drawings, but that is a small complaint.

Gardening When it Counts
This book is an exciting addition to books on vegetable growing- so much so, that many
others become unnecessary. The author covers in detail everything about the art- from seed buying,
his own complete organic fertilizer recipe, preparing the soil, simple tools, planting and watering etc
His long experience and total integrity and commitment shine through and make it a must for those
wanting to seriously feed themselves.

Mostly good - with attitude
This book was highly recommended to me and I bought it hoping to learn some techniques to help in growing food plants and vegetables for our home use.Since the author lives in a very distinct growing area, if I lived in a maritime New Zealand area it would probably be a perfect book.Many of his techniques would only work in his specific climate and for a full time gardener, which I am not.Sigh.The section on growing and storing each individual type of food is excellent if you can adapt it to your own climate.I was not too happy with the preachy, arrogant, "Everyone else is an idiot and only I know how to do it right" attitude which extends the lenght of the book by quite a bit.Overlooking that, there are a few helpful tidbits but there are other books that I think are more helpful.

best garden guide i've found
after looking through a lot of gardening books, i can confidently say that this book provides the best basis of knowledge for starting a garden.My garden is in only its first year, but with the info in this book, I'm already making money selling organic produce through two different coops.

Great for first time gardeners
I will be starting my first garden this summer and this was the first book on gardening I read. It makes for a great introduction. Solomon goes into detail about how plants grow and what they need from the gardener. He has a good formula for Organic Fertilizer. He has a good list of what tools you need and what to look for when buying them. He has a great section is the back of the book that goes vegetable by vegetable and explains how to grow and harvest them. He also has a great bibliography in the back that points you to a lot of additional reading.[...] ... Read more

Book Description

Over the coming years we will need to move from a global culture addicted to cheap, abundant petroleum to a culture of compelled conservation, whether through government directive or market forces. The Post-Petroleum Survival Guide and Cookbook provides useful practical advice for preparing your family and community to make the transition.

This book takes a positive, upbeat, and optimistic view of "the Great Change," promoting the idea that it can be an opportunity to redeem our essential interconnectedness with nature and with each other. The many rifts that have grown up since oil became the world's prime commodity can be mended: between cities and their food sources; the design of the suburban built environment and its car-oriented sprawl; runaway greenhouse warming, clearing of forests and toxification of rivers, oceans, and land. Topics covered include:

• Rebuilding civilization
• Changing your needs
• Water and waste disposal
• Energy and transportation
• Equipment and Tools
• Food storage and First Aid

Also including light-hearted, playful recipes -- some using basic, wholesome foods, some illustrating food growing or preservation, and all emphasizing organic, flavorful and locally grown produce that readily substitute one for another -- this book is about having your catastrophe and eating it too.

Customer Reviews (11)

A necessary "cookbook" for every household

This book is beyond words. Finally I have found a book that I feel I have written, a person who sees the possible futures as I do. He actually states in his writing the theories set by many of how we cause our own future by merely deciding it will come.This is, of course, something I greatly believe in. HOWEVER, we must take into account that if the masses continue to act as they do with out reverence for what their actions are causing, then we are walking towards impending doom. Every action has a reaction or as many have said before me, every cause has an effect. When we walk mindlessly along the path and we do not contemplate our effects then they are free to wreak havoc as naturally drawn. If we decide our possible fates, and make an active change to steer away from a damaging future, as is one possibility described in this book, then we make a chance shot for a "happy ending" or I guess you would say in this case, no ending.

Please, PLEASE, read this book and/or any like it. Know the possible future and take action to protect yourself from it, while contemplating a better way we can live. The age of Oil is over, it's time to accept it and move towards the coming age as the dawn reaches Aquarius.

A Mind-Opening Treasure Trove
I really love this book. It approaches the end of civilization as we know it with a big, humorous, smart smile on its face. It presents such a range of ideas and facts and little-known powerful knowledge, and so much uncommon "common sense" that it manages to make me feel good about the coming mess (the "Great Change"). According to the author, Albert Bates, after the "Crude Awakening," Step 1 is to "Rebuild Civilization." By book's end, you'll reach the 12th step -- "Utopia by Morning." Lots of interesting, eclectic sidebars. Plus, the recipes are really excellent.

Excellent intro level book, full of useful advice
This book is great intro to all the issues relating to peak oil and our other looming crisis; water, food, transportation, economics, etc., with hints, tips, sidebars, recipes, quotes, so it's not really heavy going.In a fairly non-apocalyptic way, it covers all sorts of stuff, for example: bug out bags, various alternative fuels, lists of things to stockpile, ecovillages and community, humanure, chart of bean cooking times, a first aid guide.Nothing in a huge amount of depth - it's just one book; but mostly practical and down to earth information, and while I don't agree with everything (he's too optimistic about ethanol, and that compost tea will be anaerobic) on the whole it seems balanced and accurate.

For anyone who's just coming to learn about peak oil, especially in the early panic stages, I particularly recommend this book; there are so many books that will just scare and overwhelm you, while this book has a practical and less we're-all-doomed approach.If you're a peak oil old-timer and have been simplifying your life for a while it is probably all stuff you know already.

A Readers Digest version of the book I was seeking
This is a lightweight gloss on an interesting topic. To take just one example, the chapter on food storage does not broach the concept of long-term food storage, which may turn out to be the most important topic of all when surviving a post-petroleum world. Nitrogen purging of containers is not mentioned. CO2 purging is mentioned, but not as a way of stopping oxygen-linked food deterioration, but only as a way of fumigating grains. The need for food-safe containers is mentioned, but an exact discussion of the forms of plastic (HDPE, PP, PETE, LDPE, PVC etc) is not given. The simplest web search gives more information than this book on almost every topic. Another example: a illustration is given of a solar dehydrator, but not the plans to make one, and the diagram of the dehydrator is not even sufficiently labelled so that you'd have some idea of how to make one. Again, turn to the web for proper information. Lastly, people living outside the USA will not be pleased to see everything denominated in inches, Fahrenheit, gallons and pounds. The book is essentially a primer and overview of a lot of topics without any satisfying detail. An appetizer, not a main course, the book is indeed like the "Swiss Army knife" it styles itself as, and like my largely unused Swiss army knife, it's not the tool of choice for any particular need.

Return to pre-industrial society?
The author asserts that the world will return to a pre-industrial society as a result of peak oil, and we must be able to grow our own food, as well as be closer to nature.
I fail to see the logic that such a future is the most likely outcome of peak oil.
... Read more

Book Description
This digital document is an article from Countryside & Small Stock Journal, published by Countryside Publications Ltd. on March 1, 2003. The length of the article is 3851 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Permaculture in the garden. (Notes from the Northwoods).
Author: Sue Robishaw
Publication: Countryside & Small Stock Journal (Magazine/Journal)
Date: March 1, 2003
Publisher: Countryside Publications Ltd.
Volume: 87Issue: 2Page: 64(5)

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Book Description
This digital document is an article from New Internationalist, published by Thomson Gale on July 1, 2007. The length of the article is 1869 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: 10 DIY permaculture ideas.(do it yourself)
Author: Maddy Harland
Publication: New Internationalist (Magazine/Journal)
Date: July 1, 2007
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Issue: 402Page: 16(2)

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Book Description
Edible Forest Gardens is a groundbreaking two-volume work that spells out and explores the key concepts of forest ecology and applies them to the needs of natural gardeners in temperate climates. Volume I lays out the vision of the forest garden and explains the basic ecological principles that make it work. In Volume II, Dave Jacke and Eric Toensmeier move on to practical considerations:concrete ways to design, establish, and maintain your own forest garden. Along the way they present case studies and examples, as well as tables, illustrations, and a uniquely valuable "plant matrix" that lists hundreds of the best edible and useful species.



Taken together, the two volumes of Edible Forest Gardens offer an advanced course in ecological gardening-one that will forever change the way you look at plants and your environment.
What is an edible forest garden?
An edible forest garden is a perennial polyculture of multipurpose plants. Most plants regrow every year without replanting: perennials. Many species grow together: a polyculture. Each plant contributes to the success of the whole by fulfilling many functions: multipurpose. In other words, a forest garden is an edible ecosystem, a consciously designed community of mutually beneficial plants and animals intended for human food production. Edible forest gardens provide more than just a variety of foods. The seven F's apply here: food, fuel, fiber, fodder, fertilizer, and "farmaceuticals," as well as fun. A beautiful, lush environment can be a conscious focus of your garden design, or a side benefit you enjoy ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

These two books could keep you busy for quite some time...
It's really amazing how much information the authors have compiled on the subject matter they cover. Which, by the way, has to to with creating forest gardens, but with so much more as well, and in incredible depth.
These two books can provide one with material to study for a long time and be a reference source forever.

PermaCulture for Temp. climates!!
This book is a must for anyone who wants a future on this planet, especially in temperate climates

Excellent for anyone hoping to get a handle on sustainable agriculture
As a graduate of a Permaculture Design Course, organic farm worker and someone generally interested in virtually all aspect of sustainable ag, I found this book incredible.Now, I've only read the first one (about to start on volume number 2), but the quality of information in the first volume in outstanding.Volume 1 is concerned with the theory behind forest gardening, but with a keen eye towards using that information in the second volume (which includes detailed information on actually creating a forest garden).David Jacke does a great job of covering everything from invasive plants to forest succession to what a guild is and how to build one to underground microbes and why we should care about them.Full of informative figures, graphs and sidebars, this book does an excellent job of filling a niche that has been otherwise missed by many permaculture and sustainable ag books - what to do in the more temperate, rainy parts of the world.I'd recommend this book over Patrick Whitfield's great book if you live in the U.S. because it suggests a variety of plants native to the U.S. and has a larger number of useful species for people who live in the U.S. and are dealing with colder temperatures than those seen in Britain.Overall, I'd recommend this book to anyone with the slightest interest in creating an edible landscape on a piece of property.

Permaculture Tour-de-force!
If you are a home gardener who has ever stopped to wonder whether permaculture was useful to you, you need to read these books. If you are an intermediate to advanced permaculturist, you will revel in these books. If you want to understand how a single individual with a garden can make the world a better place, you need to read these books.

Jacke and Toensmeier lay out an incredible vision in Volume I for the potential that permaculture holds for gardeners in the northern US. And they lead the reader through an eye-opening education in the scientific theory which supports that vision. In Volume II, they walk the reader through the process of creating their own unique vision for the reader's own permaculture design. Then they lay out, step by step, how to progress from vision to reality.

Along the way, they range from the theoretical to the highly practical, from how many miles of fungal strands are in a teaspoon of soil from the forest floor, to exactly how to plant a tree so that it not only survives but thrives.And they do it in a voice which is both learned and whimsical, enthusiastic and serious -- and downright fun.

I'm buying a second set of these books. I need to keep one set with me as I build my garden; I learn new things every time I turn the page, knowledge I need on a "how to" level. But I need a second set, so that I can lend it to my friends who would get tremendous insight from reading these books...my order for my second set is going in today!

Full disclosure: I am a very pleased client of Dave Jacke's design practice. ... Read more

Book Description
This digital document is an article from New Internationalist, published by Thomson Gale on July 1, 2007. The length of the article is 933 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: The ethical heart of permaculture: Maddy Harland argues that the design system can bring about social change.(ETHICS)(Column)
Author: Maddy Harland
Publication: New Internationalist (Magazine/Journal)
Date: July 1, 2007
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Issue: 402Page: 6(2)

Article Type: Column

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Book Description
This digital document is an article from New Internationalist, published by Thomson Gale on July 1, 2007. The length of the article is 2110 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Global common sense.(INTERNATIONAL)(permaculture)
Author: Gale Reference Team
Publication: New Internationalist (Magazine/Journal)
Date: July 1, 2007
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Issue: 402Page: 18(2)

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