Welcome to the Permaculture Association Blog

You can find a wealth of news and knowledge that follows the work of members and partners.

Waste Not, Want Not

Christmas is a time of year for inward reflection and outward generosity. Merging as it does with the ancient celebration of oncoming winter and marking the darkest days of the year, we have the opportunity to think back on the year that has been, to learn lessons, to appreciate our successes and joys and to put the year, metaphorically and physically to bed.

It is also the time in which we often reunite dispersed and busy family and friends and enjoy — usually — each others company over good food and good times. And of course, it’s a time for giving.

Festive

Permablitzes, plant swapping and writing on tables in South Wales

This was the first meeting about a new permaculture network for Swansea and Neath, organised through Permaculture Ambassadors Local Gathering funding. Peter Stopp (coordinator of the South Wales Paramaethu Cymru Network) had already been planning to set up a regional network. It had become increasingly difficult to manage a single network for such a large area so he brought more people on board to help, including Shaun and Nicola from Café Make in Pontardawe.
ambassador
Wales

David vs Goliath in the Publishing World

Everyone loves a David versus Goliath story and that is what has just happened in the highly competitive world of book publishing.

Against all the odds, independent publisher Permanent Publications have just slugged it out with industry giants and won the main prize at the 2017 Garden Media Guild Awards (GMG). Their No Dig Organic Home & Garden book by Charles Dowding and Stephanie Hafferty beat major industry supported celebrity titles to the prestigious Peter Seabrook Practical Book of the Year at the annual event held at The Savoy Hotel, London.

Zen in the Art of Permaculture Design - a book review by Laura Gibbs

Laura Gibbs ponders the art of quiet observation in her review of Stefan Geyer's book, Zen in the Art of Permaculture Design.

Zen in the Art of Permaculture Design opens with a quote from a Zen teacher:

“For Zen students a weed, which for most people is worthless, is a treasure,” and just like the Zen student, permaculture students also have the ability to see the potential in an ordinary weed, and so stands to learn a lot from Zen teachings.

Another way of learning - by Graham Bell

Graham Bell reflects on the huge impact Permaculture Design Courses have had on participant's lives and their journeys of 'unlearning' and 'learning'. After thirty years of engagement with Permaculture it never ceases to amaze me how the Permaculture Design Course (PDC) changes peoples’ lives. This brilliant understanding of how to meet peoples’ needs, without working so hard, and at the same time learning to minimise waste was crafted by Bill Mollison and David Holmgren before I came along to connect with it. I’m also hugely aware that it has always been a fantastic effort of trawling wisdom from all across the planet contributed by unknown numbers of people.