Permaculture News, Information, Forums, Courses and Worldwide Reports

Designing a Small Forest Garden

March 22, 2019 by Jake Rayson & filed under Design, General, How to

I really think that your small garden can be a forest garden, because to be a forest garden is more abut the principles than the size. To recap, the principles are: Productive Multi-layered Permanent ground cover Sustainable Low maintenance I’m working on a fantastic project in Llandeilo, a small south-facing front garden, in collaboration with the can-do Permaculture Tywi. I’m creating the design and then a crack squad of community-minded […]

Taking the hard work out of composting!

March 21, 2019 by Bonnie Freibergs & filed under General

It was a beautiful crisp misty morning in the Channon as the team from Compost Central who have developed the innovative new vermi-composting system Subpod came to visit us on Zaytuna Farm. The Subpod inventor, Andrew and his team, Saadi, Kathryn and Ky, arrived loaded up with their Subpod, bedding material of coir peat, worm castings and aerator to share with a bevy of international permaculture students at Zaytuna Farm, […]

The Question of Turning Back the Clock

March 18, 2019 by Tobias Roberts & filed under Alternatives to Political Systems, Community, Design, Ethical Investment, General, How to

I woke up this morning hoping to send some emails and get a bit of computer work done before heading out to take the sheep out to pasture, cut some greens for the ducks, and change the sprinklers. As has often been the case during the past couple months, however, the vortex of the internet has led me down the rabbit hole of seemingly endless reports and gloomy analyses relating […]

To predict droughts, don’t look at the skies. Look in the soil… from space

March 16, 2019 by pri02 & filed under Biodiversity, Compost, Desertification, General, Regional Water Cycle, Soil, Soil Composition, Soil Rehabilitation, Water, Water Conservation, Why Permaculture?

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. Siyuan Tian, Australian National University and Albert Van Dijk, Australian National University Another summer, another drought. Sydney’s water storages are running on empty, and desalinisation plants are being dusted off. Elsewhere, shrunken rivers, lakes and dams are swollen with rotting fish. Governments, irrigators and environmentalists blame each other for the drought, or just blame […]

Herbs of Zaytuna – Aloe Vera

March 15, 2019 by Amatullah Duniam & filed under Food & Food Support Systems, Food Forests, Food Plants - Annual, General, Medicinal Plants, Permaculture Projects, Plant Systems, Plants, Urban Projects

So here we are, on the Zaytuna Farm Herb Tour. We met Yarrow here and after him, the most multi-functional plant I know, is our next guest, Aloe Vera. Aloe is a family of over 500 species (most of which have not been researched for medicinal purposes) but the most commonly used for medicinal benefits is Aloe Vera or Aloe vera barbadensis although Aloe arborescens or Candelebra or Tree Aloe is […]

Theory In Practice : A Tour of Zaytuna Farm

March 10, 2019 by pri02 & filed under 15min-30min, Alternatives to Political Systems, Animals, Bio-regional Organisations, Biodiversity, Building, Community, Dams, Demonstration Sites, Design, Development & Property Trusts, Earthworks & Earth Resources, Eco-Villages, Education Centres, Energy Systems, Food Forests, General, Geoff Lawton, How to, Land, Livestock, Material, Networking Sites, People Systems, Permaculture Projects, Soil, Swales, Videos, Water, Why Permaculture?

Take a sweeping 20-minute tour of our 66-acre Zaytuna Farm property. Throughout, I explain specific features of the farm, how these things came together, and why the farm was designed as you see it. If some terms aren’t familiar, we have included a detailed explanation below and to learn, even more, check out my Permaculture Masterclass series, HERE Zaytuna Farm went into development in 2001 with earthworks for the mainframe […]

A Forest Garden With 500 Edible Plants Could Lead to a Sustainable Future

March 8, 2019 by pri02 & filed under Animal Forage, Biodiversity, Demonstration Sites, Design, Education Centres, Films, Food & Food Support Systems, Food Forests, Food Plants - Perennial, General, Medicinal Plants, Nurseries & Propogation, Permaculture Projects, Plant Systems, Plants, Short Films - up to 15min, Soil, Why Permaculture?

National Geographic in this short film shows us an example of forest gardening of food forests from the UK. Martin Crawford’s forest garden is 25 years old, first established on a flat field in 1994, now it’s a forest full of fruit and nut trees, shrubs, herbs, vines, and perennial vegetables mimicking a natural ecosystems and natures patterns. The land serves and as an education demonstration site showing what might […]

The battle against bugs: it’s time to end chemical warfare

Does it really pay to spray? Dmitry Syshchikov/Shutterstock

March 7, 2019 by Salah Hammad & filed under Animals, Bees, Biodiversity, Design, General, GMOs, Insects, Why Permaculture?

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. Lizzy Lowe, Macquarie University; Cameron Webb, University of Sydney; Manu Saunders, University of New England, and Tanya Latty, University of Sydney Insects are important wildlife often overlooked in urban habitats. What we do notice are the cockroaches, ants and mosquitoes in and around our homes. All too often we reach for the insect spray. […]

Ramps: Saving Our Wild Edibles

March 5, 2019 by Jonathon Engels & filed under Food & Food Support Systems, Food Forests, Food Plants - Perennial, General, Medicinal Plants, Plant Systems, Plants, Soil

Since moving to North Carolina a couple of years ago—my, how time flies—Emma and I have developed a minor obsession with foraging. We’ve learned to confidently identify over a dozen types of edible wild mushrooms here, dining on choice varieties as chanterelles, maitake, chicken of the woods, and comb tooth (Hericium coralloides), a relative of the highly medicinal lion’s mane. We’ve also frequently enjoyed wild plants such as chickweed, dandelions, trout […]

Herbs of Zaytuna Farm – Yarrow

March 2, 2019 by Amatullah Duniam & filed under Animal Forage, Biodiversity, Demonstration Sites, Education Centres, Food & Food Support Systems, Food Forests, General, How to, Medicinal Plants, Plant Systems, Plants, Recipes, Why Permaculture?

Plants have secrets that science is only just discovering, but that traditional herbalists, healers and farmers have known about for millenia. On the first stop of our herbal tour of Zaytuna Farm we met Rosemary, that ancient remedy for memory and concentration. This stop is with my mate, Yarrow. He’s been called a lot of different names over time, and his scientific name is Achillea millefolium. At Zaytuna you’ll find […]

Melbourne’s TRANSITIONS FILM FESTIVAL is Screening ” A Living Earth”

February 28, 2019 by pri02 & filed under 15min-30min, 30min-60min, Alternatives to Political Systems, Bio-regional Organisations, Community, Eco-Villages, Events, Resources & News, Feature Films - Over 1 hour, Films, General, People Systems, Permaculture Projects, Short Films - up to 15min, Social Gatherings, Village Development, Why Permaculture?

The 8th annual Transitions Film Festival returns to Cinema Nova, Melbourne this February with another inspiring line-up of world-changing films. Showcasing local and international documentaries aimed at empowering audiences to build a better world, the films in this year’s program cover a broad range of meaningful themes including: creative and technological innovation, the future of food, gender equality, online privacy, climate change, animal welfare, renewable energy, social justice and the […]

Still Greening the Desert

February 26, 2019 by Geoff Lawton & filed under 15min-30min, Aid Projects, Bio-regional Organisations, Demonstration Sites, Design, Education Centres, Films, Food Forests, Food Plants - Annual, Food Plants - Perennial, Geoff Lawton, How to, Permaculture Projects, Videos, Why Permaculture?

To learn more about Geoff Lawton and the Permaculture Masterclass series! I’ve been working in Jordan since 1999, and it is one of the most water-scarce countries on earth. The Dead Sea Valley, at 400 meters below sea level, is also the lowest place on earth, so the climate has Mediterranean weather with subtropical heat. The soil and water are the saltiest I’ve ever worked with. In the past year, […]