Having spent a lot of time in the great out-of doors, I was aware of the synergy that the web of life provides, but I never gave much thought about the inter-relations within the home landscape. Jack Spirko, and his TSP podcast, helped enlighten me to principles of Permaculture.
I’ve been hooked on Permaculture research ever since. From watching videos on YouTube, reading books and web forums, listening to Podcasts, and most recently watching distance learning college classes on iTunes U, I can’t learn enough quick enough.
This has totally up-ended my plans to expand our landscape. I had some loose plans I wanted to accomplished this summer, but they are all on hold until I have a better understanding of what we already have. There’s a lot of established landscaping here at the new homestead, but a lot is in semi-neglected or stressed state.
To help educate myself, I’m reading the following books-
“Gaia’s Garden- A Guild to Home Scale Permaculture” by Toby Hemenway (a great book- I’m planning on posting a review when I’ve finished)
and-
“Permaculture- A Designer’s Manual” by Bill Mollison (I’m still paging through this monstrous hard bound book)
I purchased both of these books via Abebooks.com, for less than $100 delivered! That might sound like a lot, but I’ve seen new copies of the Principles online for nearly $200.
I like Abebooks because you are often purchasing from smaller, independant bookshops.
Another great Permaculture resource is the iTunes U class “HS432- Introduction to Permaculture” from North Carolina State University. This is the distance learning course taught by Will Hooker. There are 36, one-hour long, videos in the series. They are very informative and inspirational. Will has really opened my mind to how complex, or simple, Permaculture can be.
This class isn’t the easiest to find. You can find it is through the iTunes store- search for HS432. It’s a free video series. Google searches don’t seem to find it.
So much to learn, but it’s so much fun….
Do you have any suggestions for other Permaculture resources, etc? Please post a comment letting me know.
Hey thanks for mentioning TSP in this post. I also want to thank you for mentioning where to find the iTunes Permaculture course. I had no idea that existed, I am downloading it now and will mention it on the show next week. Of course I will give you credit and perhaps it will generate some interest in your blog for you.
Thanks Jack!
I originally heard about this in the TSP forum 🙂 This is one more example of how you can get a PhD from the TSP forum.
For a quick look at Will Hooker’s homestead, named The Bitty City Farm, check out lecture 5. The whole lecture is a tour of their 50x150ft homestead with Will, his wife Jeana and son.
They have quite a setup on a 1/5th acre city lot- chickens, fish, veg, fruit, herb, verma, mushrooms, etc.
Very inspiring stuff!
Cool find. To make it easier here is a
<a href="
http://deimos3.apple.com/WebObjects/Core.woa/Browse/ncsu.edu.1365999913.01365999916
"HS 432 direct link
I also found Explorations in Permaculture podcast which I just started listening to, it seems to be a student radio type thing.
<a href="
http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/explorations-in-permaculture/id268463650
" iTunes direct link
I went to the iTunes store but when I searched for HS432, it said nothing was available.
I just checked again and they were there. You may want to give it another try.
I’m glad I found this blog (I’m a NYC guy) and I agree about TSP and Will Hooker’s series. Thank you!
Hi, I just read Gaia´s Garden too and am (still 😉 working on Mollison Designers Manual – great books, but i additionaly recommend Dave Jacke/Eric Toensmeier´s “Edible Forest Gardens I&II”: it is extremely detailed and practical (especially volume II – I is mostly theory) explaining every step towards an edible permaculture forest garden.
Stefan, Thanks for the recommendations! I’m looking forward to checking out the Edible Forest Gardens books.
Hey,
Thank you for the kind words on my 2003 permaculture course that is on iTunes U. Just in case you’re interested, I’ve re-recorded that course this past semester, and have added some significant new topics. You might be interested in some of these. Here is the link: http://mediasite.online.ncsu.edu/online/Catalog/pages/catalog.aspx?catalogId=f5a893e7-4b7c-4b79-80fd-52dcd1ced715
I will be posting this to iTunes U this coming Spring as well.
Good luck to you and everyone in our advocacy!
Will Hooker
Will,
Thank you for your continued contributions to the Permaculture community and the link to your new course videos!
I am very excited to begin watching these new videos and have already begun downloading them.
Warmest regards,
Steve.
BTW, I Dave Jacke just spent the night at my wife’s and my house, and I very much agree with Stephan. His books are a worthwhile exploration. I may even make them texts in my course in the future. “Edible Forest Gardens, Vol. 1 & II”