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This critically acclaimed and definitive permaculture design book was the inspiration that BBC2's 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.
"The Earth Care Manual, put simply, is fantastic. It is what I have been waiting for for years, and it is what those of us in temperate climates have urgently needed. Patrick's considerable experience in the fields of woodlands and fruit growing shine through especially strongly, but the whole book is rich with vision and experience. What it offers is common sense solutions rooted in the culture and climate of these islands. This book is a clear and unarguable road map to where we need to go, an A-Z to sanity and common sense. Patrick has created a manual with which we can repair this beautiful jewel of a planet which we are fortunate enough to inhabit, and in so doing has given us a truly precious gift."
– Rob Hopkins, Co-founder of the Transition Movement
"Just occasionally a book is published that fully justifies its title and can even change the reader's perspective on life. This is one of those rare and inspiring landmark events."
– The Garden Journal of the Royal Horticultural Society
"A visionary, yet practical book. A few sentences in and I realised I was in the company of one of the world's great teachers. Patrick Whitefield writes as if he were speaking directly to you."
– Reforesting Scotland
