Much of the material on this site is the result of a permaculture diploma thesis published in 2011. The thesis work is a series of Journals, originally called the permaculture practitioner, which document experience’s and lessons learnt gained in the development of an orchard on the slopes of the lower North Island of New Zealand that I no longer own.
Since that time I’ve added to the journals with The Sacred Groves of Aotearoa, a case for Permaculture that I hope provides some context to permaculture in light of the global challenges we all face as a species today.
Building onto the journals additional experiences have been documented in A Community Orchard in Wellington where most of the imagery on this site was taken. Plus the Annual Waiheke High School Tour where the journals are serving some purpose in supporting a worthy school program that deserves attention.
I have always been wary of preachers who have no dirt under their nails. So, unless I see good reason to, I only cover aspects that I have direct experience with. I’ve made too many mistakes not to share them, these writings are very much about sharing and learning from my mistakes and experiences as an aspiring permaculture practitioner. I hope they can be of some value to you.
There are a number of ways I can suggest how you might best leverage this content – [1] You can read these sections one after the other and they will provide you a stepping stone approach to exploring permaculture.
As a journey into Permaculture
Following The Sacred Groves of Aotearoa, a case for Permaculture we examine what I like to call ‘keystone design’ elements, that if explored provide insight into nature as the master of design, as ecosystem engineers we ultimately look to nature to guide our designs. They include Tagasaste, Comfrey and Seaweed. We then move to a number of techniques, systems and practice’s that can be leveraged as part of permaculture design for healthy orchards. They include Aerated Activated Compost Tea, Orchard Understory and Biodynamics. And then we bring all of these elements together into a ‘whole’ design for an orchard system – A design for soil remediation.
Note the journals are presented here one section after another, however for a number of years they have been leveraged as standalone bodies of work. While I am tempted to weave them together as one I don’t believe that will add to the learning, so have decided not to do so.
As a field guide
[2] I’ve included a field guide for permaculture practitioners that includes topics list, with descriptions, so you can easily locate material while in the field, I tend to do this allot these days.
As a reference
[3] Also permaculture ethics and principles are pointed out where they are applied in practical examples, and of course references to further learning are highlighted where appropriate.
Unless otherwise stated this material is freely available for you to use licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit this website or send a letter to Creative Commons, 171 Second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA
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