Books published by Permanent Publications

Are you excited about permaculture but unclear how to put it into practice for yourself? Permaculture Design: A Step-by-Step Guide is just what you need! In this unique, full colour guide, experienced permaculture teacher Aranya leads you through the design process from beginning to end, using clear explanations, flowcharts and diagrams. Permaculture Design: A Step-by-Step Guide is based on course worksheets which have been designed, refined and tested on students over time. Linking theory to practice, Aranya places the ethics, principles, philosophies, tools and techniques directly into the context of the process itself. This guide covers: Systems and patterns, Working as part of a design team, Land and non-land based design, Design frameworks, Site surveying and map making, Interviewing clients, Working with large client groups, Identifying functions, Choosing systems and elements, Placement and integration, Creating a design proposal, Project management, Presenting your ideas to clients, and much more. While written for anyone with a basic grasp of permaculture, this book also has plenty to offer the more experienced designer.

This critically acclaimed and definitive permaculture design book was the inspiration that BBC22s Brigit Strawbridge (of It's Not Easy Being Green) needed to attend her first permaculture design course with Patrick Whitefield, setting her and her family off on a voyage of discovery which is helping to introduce and inspire others. Already hailed in the UK, Europe and America as definitive, and reprinted by popular demand, The Earth Care Manual offers an inspirational yet practical vision of a sustainable future invaluable to those new to the subject as well as to the experienced practitioner. The permaculture movement started in the 1970s as a sustainable alternative to modern industrial agriculture, taking its inspiration from natural ecosystems. It initially placed an emphasis on gardening, with proponents of permaculture since expanding on its principles; addressing all subjects vital to sustainability, from building and community design to food, energy, water, microclimate and shelter. All of these topics and more are addressed in The Earth Care Manual, demonstrating that permaculture is an interconnecting framework linking a diversity of green ideas. Its aims are a low input, high output efficient use of resources - and genuine sustainability. The Earth Care Manual gives a vision of a sustainable future and the practical steps we can take towards it, both large and small, urban and rural. Written by Patrick Whitefield, one of Europe's foremost teachers and practitioners of temperate permaculture, it explains in depth how to apply permaculture to any situation, from the smallest of buildings or apartments, to houses, gardens, orchards, farms and woodlands.

Learn how to grow, store and cook a wide range of nutritious and tasty beans for eating fresh from the vine, or to dry for warming winter meals. Susan Young shares 10 years of experimentation with growing a range of varieties from around the world.

Grounded tells the story of a gardening journey, transforming a bare field to food abundance in just over four years, from field to feast. An inspiring blend of practical tips and ideas with personal narrative, it will encourage you to take your first steps to self reliance - because this is more easily achievable than you had ever imagined.

Grow your own seasonal food in a low maintenance, nature friendly garden that feels like a woodland glade. Alan Carter shows you how to plan and plant a temperate forest garden for any sized plot, from small terrace or allotment to smallholding.

Anna Locke condenses years of her own hands-on experience to walk you through all the skills and techniques you need to design and plant a delicious, useful and thriving garden in both town and country that is also a haven for wildlife as well as for humans.

A comprehensive hands-on guide for builders - both self-builders and professionals - and an essential handbook for designers that includes many construction details. * Step-by-step instructions for many processes* Over 600 photos, drawings and diagrams* Materials, tools and building techniques* Plans for a practice straw bale building

That we need money to live - like it or not - is a self-evident truism. Right? Not anymore. Drawing on almost three years of experience as The Moneyless Man, ex-businessman Mark Boyle not only demystifies money and the system that binds us to it, he also explains how liberating, easy and enjoyable it is to live with less of it. In this book, Mark takes us on an exploration that goes deeper into the thinking that pushed him to make the decision to go moneyless, and the philosophy he developed along the way. Bursting with radical new perspectives on some of the vital, yet often unquestioned, pillars of economic theory and what it really means to be 'sustainable' - as well as creative and practical solutions for how we can live more with less - Mark offers us one of the world's most thought-provoking voices on economic and ecological ideas. Mark's original, witty style will help simplify and diversify your personal economy, freeing you from the invisible ties that limit you, and making you more resilient to financial shocks. The Moneyless Manifesto will enable you to start your journey into a new world.

If you want to introduce alternative power supplies around the home and garden or even live totally off-grid in your boat, caravan or yurt and need a practical introduction to solar power and 12 volt supplies, here is an essential guide to the subject. Not only will it save you money, it will show you how to run your lights, laptop, DVDs and music, and even your tools and household products, from a simple 12 volt system. Be in control of more of your home's own energy supply, develop a low impact way of living and be prepared for power cuts and for power down situations in the future! Do It Yourself 12 Volt Solar Power begins with a lesson in how electricity works and the main components of a DIY solar system. The author uses clear diagrams and terms. There is, of course, more technical information as the book progresses, but don't worry, this no-nonsense guide provides a useful, back-to-basics approach for the layperson. This is a reference book that will help you trouble-shoot and get the best value for money from what you can find hidden in the back of the garage. Quirky and humorous, it also shows you how to make a sun following system using just a bicycle wheel, a pallet and the motor from a CD player!

Grow your own fruit and vegetables, herbs, salads and sprouts, and then turn your produce into delicious, no-fuss vegan meals that are healthy for you and the planet.

Septic Tank Options & Alternatives is a user-friendly guide through the maze of selecting an eco-friendly sewage treatment option for your home.

Towards Zero Waste offers practical tools for change in your own kitchen, on your weekly shop and around your home, as well as in the wider world.

In Walking with Trees, Glennie Kindred takes us on an intimate and profoundly connecting walk with thirteen of our native trees

How to Permaculture Your Life is a resource book for anyone who wants to live a more environmentally-friendly lifestyle. It discusses: some of the most nutritious food and fodder plants, how to build gardens and improve our soils, strategies for rural properties, how to harvest, store, conserve and reuse water and energy, and much more!

Written by Ben Law, the woodsman who captivated the nation by building his woodland house on Channel 4's Grand Designs programme, The Woodland Way is a book for everyone who loves trees and woodlands. This completely revised and updated edition of the 2001 classic is written from the heart by an innovative woodsman who is deeply committed to sustainability. This radical book presents an immensely practical alternative to conventional woodland management. Through his personal experience, Ben Law clearly demonstrates how you can create biodiverse, healthy environments, yield a great variety of value added products, provide secure livelihoods for woodland workers and farmers, and benefit the local community. He argues the case for a new approach to planning, encouraging the creation of permaculture woodlands for the benefit of people, the local environment and the global climate. The Woodland Way contains: Woodlands from wildwood in the 21st century; The 21st century & the return of the forest dweller; Woodland assessment & management planning; Establishing new woodlands; Management of woodlands; From tree to finished product; Food from the woods; Woodland management and the law; and The future of woodlands. "e;Ben is a true pioneer and is, by example, quite simply creating a woodland renaissance in Britain."e; Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall

The thoughts and actions of people past and present have determined the current state of our planet. If we change our thinking, we can change the health of our own lives, and also the future state of our world. 7 Ways to Think Differently explores ways to address personal, social and environmental concerns in simple practical steps in our daily lives, helping us to make incremental, achievable changes. As well as addressing our internal landscapes, Looby explains how individuals and communities can work together to achieve positive change. She also explores the current political and mainstream paradigms and where they are leading us. Learn about: Abundance thinking, Solutions thinking, Systems thinking, Thinking like nature, Co-operative thinking, Thinking for the future, From thought to action. These ways to think differently are influential alternatives to the current mindset and can shift us to a better present, as well as setting us on a trajectory towards a better future. This is for anyone who wants to make a difference in the world. Looby offers potent medicine for a world full of challenges.

This fourth edition is fully updated with photo's and construction illustrations for one of the UK's most unique homes. Tony shares his many years of experience, skills and techniques used to build this unique and affordable low impact home. Always witty and inspiring, the author explains the process of visualising and designing a house through to the practical side of lifting the living roof, infilling the walls, laying out rooms and adding renewable, autonomous technology. Building A Low Impact Roundhouse has become a classic text sold all over the world. Tony's home and lifestyle have attracted much media interest and he and his partner continue to inspire many individuals and communities to seek out ways of living more sustainably. Now in its third edition, with a fascinating 10 year update including a major new section on the couple's marvellous strawbale den, Tony also includes sections on the physical design and he writes about the lifestyle required for living in a roundhouse. He offers advice on roofs, floors, walls, compost toilets, wood stoves, kitchens, windows and on planning permission. There are additional photographs of life in and around the dwelling and illustrations from the construction plans for one of the UK's most unique of homes. This true and captivating story covers the realising of a lifetime's dream as well as being a practical 'how to' manual for anyone who loves the idea of low impact living and wants to self-build an affordable, organic home.

Manifesto of the Poor shows how Fairtrade has evolved practical and tested solutions to alleviate poverty. Written by the co-founder of Fairtrade, Francisco Van der Hoff Boersma, read the inside story of how the campesino movement started, and see how they organised democratically run cooperatives and cut out the middleman. Today, as a result, a wide variety of Fairtrade products are sold directly to home and export markets worldwide at a fair price for both consumers and producers. Fairtrade makes perfect sense in an imperfect world. It transforms buying goods into an ethical and pleasurable experience. Fairtrade gives power back to the people, enabling us to develop a more ecologically balanced and less exploitative world. "e;In the midst of an economic crisis Father Frans van der Hoff asks us to occupy the market with solidarity and justice and create economies that work for people, not corporations. Creating living economies as part of Earth Democracy is not just possible; it has become necessary for peace justice and sustainability."e; Vandana Shiva, Recipient of the Right Livelihood Award, Ecofeminist, and author of several books including, Earth Democracy. "e;Weaving thirty years experience of working amongst the campesinos of Mexico with deep insights into the structural violence systemic in liberalism and globalisation, Father Fran's inspiring and thought-provoking Manifesto offers us a practical and essential solution to the inherent inhumanity of capitalism: the solidarity economy, where people and Earth - and not the corporation - have the allegiance of those they feed."e; Mark Boyle, author of The Moneyless Manifesto.

In 2003 Ben Law captivated the nation by building his woodland house on Channel 4's Grand Designs programme - the home was later voted the most popular Grand Design ever by viewers. The presenter, Kevin McCloud, loved the project so much that he has written the foreword to this book! A Grand Designs Revisited programme was aired on British TV in October 2005. Full of stunning colour photographs, The Woodland House is a visual guide to how Ben built his outstandingly beautiful home in the woods. It is also a practical manual, and the story of a man realising a lifetime's dream to build one of the most sustainable and beautiful homes in Britain. The Woodland House gives details of the evolving design process, the identifying of materials, costings, project management and the actual building. It proves that low cost, low impact and high aesthetics can go hand in hand and that it is possible to build green and affordably. As the pre-eminent UK example of building with wood and renewable materials this will also appeal to the growing number of people with environmental and green interests, as well as to the building community.