The permaculture handbook

The urban landscape has swallowed vast swaths of prime farmland across North America. Imagine how much more self-reliant our communities would be if thirty million acres of lawns were made productive again. Permaculture is a practical way to apply ecological design principles to food, housing, and energy systems, making growing fruits, vegetables, and livestock easier and more sustainable. The Permaculture Handbook is a step-by-step, beautifully illustrated guide to creating resilient and prosperous households and neighborhoods, complemented by extensive case studies of three successful farmsteads and market gardens. This comprehensive manual casts garden farming as both an economic opportunity and a strategy for living well with less money. It shows how, by mimicking the intelligence of nature and applying appropriate technologies such as solar and environmental design, permaculture can:*Create an abundance of fresh, nourishing local produce *Reduce dependence on expensive, polluting fossil fuels*Drought-proof our cities and countryside*Convert waste into wealthPermaculture is about working with the earth and with each other to repair the damage of industrial overreach and to enrich the living world that sustains us. The Permaculture Handbook is the definitive practical North American guide to this revolutionary practice, and is a must-read for anyone concerned about creating food security, resilience, and a legacy of abundance rather than depletion. Peter Bane is a permaculture teacher and site designer who has published and edited Permaculture Activist magazine for over twenty years. He helped create Earthaven Ecovillage in North Carolina, and is now pioneering suburban farming in Bloomington, Indiana.

Abundance by design.

Foreword / by David Holmgren -- Part I. Attitudes: 1. Garden farming; 2. Who am I to farm?; 3. Gardening the planet; 4. Permaculture principles; 5. Learning the language of design; 6. A garden farming pattern language -- Part II. Elements: Case study A: Renaissance Farm, Bloomington, Indiana, USA;; 7. Land-- scales and strategies; 8. Labor-- can you lend a helping hand?; 9. Running on sunshine; 10. Water from another time; Case study B: Jerome's Organics, Basalt, Colorado, USA; 11. Soil -- the real dirt; 12. Plants, crops and seeds; 13. Setting plant priorities; Case study C: Old 99 Farm, Dundas, Ontario, Canada; 14. Animals for the garden farm; 15. Living with wildlife; 16. Trees and shrubs, orchards, woodlands and forest gardens; 17. Productive trees and where to grow them; 18: Structures, energy and technology -- Part III. Outcomes: Case study D: Radical Roots Farm, Harrisonburg, Virginia, USA; 19: Diet and food; 20. Culture and community; 21. Markets and outreach; 22. Making the change -- Appendix 1. Metric conversion table -- Appendix 2. Bee forage species -- Appendix 3. Nitrogen-fixing species and biomass producers.