I used to subscribe to a number of nature and gardening magazines, but dropped them one at a time. Now all or almost all (I still purchase an occasional real paper book) reading is done on my iPad. My love of nature and gardening have been combined with permaculture. Learning about better practices for myself and my yard has been enlightening. I have become aware of local projects and it has been fun seeing the changes in gardening and watching the development of a neighborhood food forest at a community garden. I found one organization that provides lots of articles on permaculture from around the world. If you are interested in thesubject here is the site. http://permaculturenews.org I've been enjoying the newsletter and some of the articles. I believe they are based out of Australia. If you know of any other organizations don't hesitate to let me know about them.
Hi Jewell, I too have just become a lot more interested in Permaculture. I tried posting a link to Geoff Lawton's site whereby he has a collection of free very informative videos on permaculture design. However, the moderators took the posting down, saying the site advertised a service. However, the videos are free if you subscribe. Also John Liu's what if we change videos on youtube also show some amazing examples of permaculture in action. Particularly in the Loess valley in China, something amazing transformations.
Permaculture is an interesting subject, Jewell. A few years ago I was at a gardening exposition and stopped at a stall to look over their seed collection. Next to this stall was a permaculture stall and my bride became engaged in conversation there. Once I had made my seed purchases, I went to join her. We had a good conversation with the booth occupier. It turned out that a few of the aspects of gardening that I practice is in line with the permaculture philosophy. I had no idea that my method of gardening had a name. hahaha. At any rate there are some aspects of this gardening philosophy that are worth looking into. I do not know much about the nuts and bolts of permaculture, but I do know what works for me in this part of the world. My impression of "Permaculture"is that if one can understand what the natural balance of soil, plants, water and animals are....and the gardener adapts to this rather than try and combat it or change it in a negative way, they can be a successful gardener.
I have looked at Lawton's link, but not yet subscribed. Will give it a try when I have some time for the videos. You've peeked my curiousity. Some of the projects in Africa and the Southwest US have been inspiring. I hadn't heard of John Liu so look into him also. Sjoerd, like you it has been interesting finding my leanings toward gardening practices have a name. I just never liked bare ground/dirt and have always preferred an eclectic mix of native plants, flowers, fruit and vegetables. It is some how comforting that others don't view my 'invasive plants' as necessarily bad. After 30 years of living with bamboo and ivy hedges I've found they take a bit of maintenance once a year. It isn't much considering that they provide me with great mulch and garden fencing I wouldn't otherwise have access to. Not to mention great screening and total privacy from neighbors in the back yard. My invasive species were planted years before when they were considered great ornamentals and highly recommended. Now they are even picking on my sweet woodruff. I find the gardening purists to be a bit fickled. I know what works for me wouldn't work other places, but doing my way sure brings joy to my gardening day.
