When I first heard about Permaculture I thought it was for large acreages in the sub tropics. My first visit to David Holmgren’s and Su Dennett’s place in 1989 entirely changed my thinking. Here was a passive solar house and a food production system on one hectare, in a cool climate, in a town. It worked: the house was warm in winter, cool in summer and the land provided all the vegetables and most of the fruit for the family!

Throughout the 10 year history of the project, David has kept detailed records and photos, which have been collated into a very unusual book. It has A3 size landscape pages, so at a single opening it covers your desk! Each spread has a theme- such as house design, orchard, or animals with maps, plans photos and text.

The book was written inside the property it is describing - it’s a kind of autobiography. It was written over a five year period, and with property now “established”, the text has been revised with the benefits of hindsight. It is ideal for anyone seriously interested in sustainable living - both at a practical level and with a good dose of Holmgren holistic thinking.

The meticulous detail allows the reader to trace the development of the property from the purchase of a steep weed-infested site, through the early stages of blackberry slashing, dam construction and tree planting to the “finished” product of family home, office, workshop, greenhouse, and integrated living systems with perennial plants and a range of animals fulfilling many functions.

Hepburn is in central Victoria, 470 metres above sea level, in the Great Dividing Range, north of Melbourne. It is an arboretum for cool climate Permaculture and the book has an extensive species list (over 170 listings)

Twenty years on from the first draft of “Permaculture One”, this book shows that Permaculture works….“