Book Review – Permaculture in a Nutshell

Book Review by Alex Todd – NetZero Homestead

Permaculture in a Nutshell by Patrick Whitefield (copyright 1993)

If I had to express my feelings about this book in as few words as possible, I’d have to say:  Fantastically eye opening. 

From the get go you’ll see that the author has his own viewpoint on things.  While there might be varying opinions on Global Warming, use of fossil fuel

and such concerns, the author makes a definite case which one can at least put some consideration into.  But that said, it also gives context to the passion he obviously has for this subject.

This 75 page book is laid out very much on an absorbable basis.  Having recently gotten into this subject in the last year, and never actually done any physical part of it, I was struck at how easily the author was able to bring home the core concepts of this subject.

What I think most novices will be surprised by is that this book is not just about gardening.  The principles laid out before the reader include:

Garden Design – A collection of tried and tested ideas on how to lay out a garden so that all aspects feed each other resulting in greater productivity, food quality, less waste and less work!

Soil Care – What is the importance of soil health and how does it affect what you are growing? How does taking care of soil relate to the greater picture of industrial farming?

Yield Improvement – The simplest of actions that will make your garden more

harmonious and prolific in its produce.  How to improve yield without negatively affecting your land and at the same time improving the nutrition of your food.

Social Networking – How building a network is intrinsic to Permaculture.  The value of this in improving the reach of your outputs, variety of your inputs and the betterment of your local systems.

Community Interaction – Why would you want to involve the community in your permaculture adventure?  And what are some examples of how it’s being done already?

Livestock – The benefits of livestock to a permaculture system.  This section gives some interesting examples of how this can be applied on any scale.

Financial Systems – Provides you with several different systems of working the ideas of permaculture into the financial systems of groups of various sizes.  I found this particularly interesting.

Farm Conversion – If you already have a farm or are interested in assisting in the conversion of commercial farming to a more sustainable system, here are ideas and examples of those who are already doing it.

Urban Vegetable Growing – Even in the smallest of spaces one can create quite a bit of produce and doing it with an eye to permaculture increases the success rate.  Don’t have a garden?  Take a look at this section and you’ll be surprised what you can accomplish.

And the list goes on.  I don’t think you could easily read this book without finding multiple avenues of application to your lifestyle.

Additionally, the amount of resources provided throughout the book and locations of actual application of the methods described (particularly if you live in the UK) are a catalyst to the reader to get started and get involved with like-minded people.  You are immediately welcomed to the community.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in becoming more self-reliant, self-sufficient or who has a passion for working with nature instead of against it.

I came upon this book courtesy of Carl Mintern of the Self-Sufficient Hub Homestead Podcast and selfsufficienthub.com.

Thank you Carl, you are planting seeds in so many ways.