Self-Sufficiency and Survival Foods… Are You Prepared?
Consumerism, Courses/Workshops, DVDs/Books, Food Forests, Food Plants - Annual, Food Plants - Perennial, Food Shortages, Global Warming/Climate Change, Health & Disease, Medicinal Plants, Society, peak oil — by Isabell Shipard July 6, 2011
Planting a garden with food potential is one of the most valuable things we can do. Will we always have a free country with unlimited food supply? Could a major calamity or drought affect the supply and the price of food? Could rolling strikes disrupt electricity, water, telephone, transport and other amenities to shops and our homes… and how would no petrol affect every household? We need to encourage one another to be as self sufficient as possible… now… in our gardens, as this is the most nutritious fresh food… and is the cheapest way to live in these times of rising prices. Growing our own food is very satisfying as well as beneficial to our health and well-being.
Australia has truly been a ‘lucky country’ — plentiful food, running water in our homes, sewerage systems which take away our wastes, comfort and luxuries in our homes. We truly are blessed. However, it may not always be this way in the future. Would families be prepared if a catastrophic disaster struck?
Comments (6)A New Permatecture Toolbox! (From Nikos A. Salingaros)
Building, DVDs/Books, Eco-Villages, Society, Village Development — by Oyvind Holmstad June 19, 2011
The goal of permaculture is to reunite man with nature and man with man through design systems, and here patterns play an important role. Still, patterns can only reunite humans with natural systems and with each other, not with the geometry of the universe. Surely in what I like to call permatecture, better known as biophilic architecture, biotecture or neurotecture, patterns are crucial. But for the creation of wholeness and life we need a whole range of tools.
Comments (5)When “A Pattern Language” was first published in 1977, architects immediately assumed that it was a design manual, and used it to generate some very interesting buildings. Those buildings, despite their positive human qualities, lack an overall coherence, and people did not understand why this was happening. The reason is that the Patterns provide essential and necessary constraints, and not a design method in itself. The actual design algorithm was developed by Alexander, but only many years later. – Twelve Lectures on Architecture, by Nikos A. Salingaros, page 106
The Timeless Way of Building
Building, Consumerism, DVDs/Books, Eco-Villages, Land, People Systems, Society, Village Development — by Oyvind Holmstad June 17, 2011
This timeless book from Christopher Alexander was released back in the seventies, and it’s just as much a book on philosophy as on architecture. Still, the main purpose of the book is as an introduction to A Pattern Language.
Alexander’s architectural writings at the same time develop a philosophy of nature and life. He proposes a more profound connection between nature and the human mind than is presently allowed either in science, or in architecture. Alexander sees the universe as a coherent whole, encompassing feelings as well as inanimate matter. This strongly Taoist viewpoint was first developed in his book The Timeless Way of Building (New York: Oxford University Press, 1979).
To some readers, this is a book on architecture written in a philosophical style; to many others, it is a book on philosophy with architectural examples. A large number of people have embraced the philosophy of the Timeless Way of Building, finding in it universal truths on how man interacts with the world. Towards the end of his life, the philosopher and teacher J. Krishnamurti enjoyed having sections from the Timeless Way read to him each evening. – Nikos A. Salingaros
For this reason another name on the book could just as well have been The Timeless Way of Living.
Comments (6)Sepp Holzer’s Permaculture – a Review
DVDs/Books — by Harry Byrne Wykman June 15, 2011
Sepp Holzer’s Permaculture is the work of a man of unique sensitivity and imagination. Holzer has combined a lifetime of practical experience with clarity of expression and intellect to produce a book which will satisfy a practically-minded farmer or gardener as well as the student of agroecological design. With gentle strength, Holzer would make designers and practitioners of us all and entrust to us neither task unless we join him in the school of nature.
He makes us want to join him in that school. He describes the techniques of what he calls "Holzer Permaculture" with surety born of concrete success and the observation of ecological health but without the urgency of someone trying to convince us that he is right. Any urgency the work possesses beckons us to join with the author in the "joy of cultivation" which comes from working together with nature.
Comments (10)Geoff Lawton 4-DVD Set – Special Offer
DVDs/Books — by Bonnie Freibergs April 11, 2011
Click the image to order and get your 10% discount!
Urban Permaculture Gets Redesigned
DVDs/Books, Developments, Land, Urban Projects — by Ecofilms February 22, 2011
He looks like a rangy cowboy, but it’s not a six gun that he carries, but rather an artist’s pad and a felt pen marker. In his mid 50s and on a hot muggy Monday morning, Geoff Lawton and fifteen permaculture interns stride into a suburban home located in Lismore, NSW.
The owner turns to me and asks “Who are all these people?” I whisper to her while loading the video camera that these people are all permaculture interns from around the world — Canada, the United States and Europe. They’ve all descended on her little country town to get first hand experience with permaculture and what Geoff has to teach.
Comments (5)Permaculture International Journal Magazine Sets – 40% Off!
DVDs/Books — by Bonnie Freibergs January 31, 2011
Book Review: Unplanning – Livable Cities and Political Choices
Building, DVDs/Books, People Systems, Society, Village Development — by Oyvind Holmstad January 6, 2011
In this book Charles Siegel explains the history of city planning, where we are now, and most importantly, where we need to go.
Many environmentalists believe the huge problems of today’s cities are a result of lack of planning. The opposite is true — urban sprawl, traffic congestion and shopping malls are a result of exaggerated top-down planning. To solve these problems we should replace planning with political choices and the engagement of ordinary citizens, to move away from top-down planning made by ‘experts’.
What we need are generated cities, not fabricated! The fact is that more planning might increase unsustainable growth, the spread of suburbia and car dependency.
Comments (5)Ecofilms 2011 – What Are We Working On?
Animal Forage, Animal Housing, Animal Processing, Aquaculture, Bird Life, Breeds, Courses/Workshops, DVDs/Books, Developments, Fish, Food Forests, Food Plants - Annual, Food Plants - Perennial, Land, Livestock, Plant Systems, Presentations/Demonstrations, Urban Projects, Village Development — by Ecofilms January 2, 2011
We’re planning a number of exciting new titles to be released in 2011.
Urban Permaculture DVD
One of the complaints we often get from people living in the city is that we focus a little heavily on Permaculture titles that require a large scale farm to get the most benefit from practicing Permaculture.
So we are happy to announce that in 2011 we will be working on the Urban Permaculture DVD with Geoff Lawton.
Actually, we really started shooting a lot of footage already that we were going to include in the Permaculture Soils DVD that we completed, but for various logistic reasons we found the segments would work best in a video that focuses in detail on adopting Permaculture techniques in small scale domestic environments instead.
From courtyards to backyards to places where you thought you could never do anything with, we want to make this DVD a Permaculture techniques DVD where people can be inspired by what is really possible.
Here’s an example of the kind of thing we mean. It’s a sneak preview of Geoff Lawton visiting a beautiful Mandala garden in an urban permaculture garden. It shows permaculture can be aesthetically pleasing to the eye with a richness of patterns as well as a productive food source:
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PRI at The Channon Market
Community Projects, DVDs/Books, Markets & Outlets, Social Gatherings, Village Development — by Bee Nagle December 27, 2010
Recently, on Sunday the 12th of December, following a lengthy absence and despite the un-seasonally heavy rains predicted, the Permaculture Research Institute returned to the local monthly Channon market.
Permaculture DVDs on IMDB? Are We Going Mainstream?
DVDs/Books — by Ecofilms December 13, 2010
A couple of months ago we got an email from Todd Moody who wrote to us, “Earlier this year I began an endeavour to submit all released permaculture documentaries to IMDb.com (the Internet Movie Database). I later expanded that effort to include documentaries about other topics related to sustainable living, social issues, and ecological awareness. To date, I’ve successfully registered dozens of documentary films.”
But every Permaculture DVD submitted by Todd got rejected from the submission process. It seems the problem wasn’t that IMDB staff hated Permaculture or Geoff Lawton but a technical mix up with the name of the production company producing the films resulted in the application being rejected. Now getting ourselves listed on the IMDB wasn’t a major consideration for us at Ecofilms as we’ve always considered our work outside the mainstream media anyway. But was this in fact a mistake to think this way?
Todd had proved to be the catalyst for us to investigate the matter further. So a few weeks later we are now recognized by the IMDB as being “official” and all of our films are now listed or in the process of being listed on their site.
So where do you come into the picture?
Well if you have viewed any or all of the Permaculture DVD titles with Geoff Lawton, consider logging onto the IMDB site and rating the films (honestly) and help by writing a short or lengthy review. You’ll need to first register with IMDB before you can either cast a vote or leave a comment.
Please keep your criticism objective and explain where we got it right and where we failed to address your concerns. Let’s get Permaculture out of the fringe and into the mainstream spotlight and start competing against popular Hollywood Blockbusters!
Links to our Permaculture DVDs on IMDB
Harvesting Water the Permaculture Way
Introduction to Permaculture Design
Comments (1)Guardians of the Seed
Biodiversity, DVDs/Books, Food Shortages, Seeds — by Michel Fanton December 1, 2010
This is a trailer for a much longer film on the same topic that Seed Savers
produced over three years, the one-hour documentary , “Our Seeds”, available here
Our food plants originate in areas of the world where the poorest people now live. They domesticated wild plants over the last 10,000 years. Let’s honour, assist and join those who continue to develop and maintain the genetic diversity of tomorrow’s food.
Comments (3)Permaculture or Industrial Agriculture? An Excerpt from the New Permaculture Soils DVD
DVDs/Books — by Craig Mackintosh PRI Editor November 18, 2010
In this excerpt from the new Permaculture Soils DVD, Geoff Lawton explains how we’re eeking out an existence on increasingly lifeless soils — where industrial agriculture takes rich fertile soils and steadily converts it into nothing but an inert medium for placing plants. This is not a process that can continue for much longer. In contrast, permaculture systems take dead soils, and steadily transforms them into a nutrient- and life-rich environment that plants, and people, can thrive in.
Further Reading:
Comments (7)PRI Store Update – Kay Baxter’s Books Now Available
DVDs/Books — by Bonnie Freibergs November 16, 2010
Permaculture Soils DVD Now Shipping!
Compost, DVDs/Books, Fungi, Rehabilitation, Soil Biology, Soil Composition, Soil Conservation, Structure — by Ecofilms November 12, 2010
Geoff Lawton’s Permaculture Soils DVD is now shipping. A special thanks go out to all the people that pre-ordered this disk and waited patiently for their DVD to arrive. If you haven’t received them already, your DVDs are now in the mail and will arrive very shortly.
We had a few issues with transport delays which were outside our control but supplies are now all fixed and flowing normally.
The DVD starts with a short introduction to modern industrial chemical fertilisers (NPK) and how monoculture has destroyed the bio-diversity of many living soils.
Geoff seeks to redress this problem through adopting Permaculture management systems, showing you a number of techniques you can use to redress this imbalance.
With probably the most comprehensive instruction on compost creation, using animation and various manures and inoculums, Geoff spends the first 30 minutes explaining the composting process and shows you ways to reintroduce rich bio-diverse organisms back into your soil that feed the plants and actively help build soil. Whether you want to favour tree plantations like food forest systems or green leafy vegetable crops, Geoff will show ways to create the right kind of compost.
Part two of the DVD focuses on building a Permaculture Kitchen garden using small animal systems like worms, ducks and chickens to return nutrients back to the soil.
Part three takes us into broader pasture management techniques from using cattle and chickens together, cell grazing techniques and re-mineralization strategies for pasture management.
The DVD also explains ways to turbo charge larger main crop gardens using biological compost teas. Every step is explained in Geoff’s unique hands-on approach, right in the field.
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