Reddit reviews Permaculture: A Designers' Manual

There are some great resources to read over the winter.

Bill Mollison was the guy who started Permaculture. A great start would be to read his Design Manual.

This will give you a framework to think about Permaculture. You could spend years following the aspects that fascinate you whether it is landscape design or grey water systems or rocket stove heaters, mob grazing, natural swimming pools, or a million other directions you can take it. It's good to have an overview first.

About making a living, there were a couple aspects that never made sense to me. First if I wanted to make living on a permaculture farm full time, how was I supposed to eat apples all year? I like the idea of perennials, but I was confused. Then I met Mark Shepard in Wisconsin at his farm. He explained that it's more than just fruits. He grows hazelnuts for oil, chestnuts for carbs, and veggies between the rows. That made more sense to me. Mark has a permaculture design course that he calls Restoration Agriculture where he talks about how to purchase the land, how to structure your business, etc.

The second area of confusion for me was how to make a living teaching design courses. In any given area, there is a finite number of people interested in Permaculture. For you to teach courses and continue to get enough people to make a living, you need to be a big name like Geoff Lawton. So I thought about falling back on design. Even fewer people have the money to pay you to design their property. Meanwhile more and more people want to do this for a living.

Basically, I'm still struggling to figure out how to realistically pay my bills just doing permaculture. I hesitate to say this because I don't want to discourage you. Permaculture is amazing.

They wouldn't claim to be scientists, more like ecological engineers, but there are tons of writeups. They write a lot of books; there are a lot of "test sites" around the world.

Gaia's Garden: A Guide to Home Scale Permaculture --> most accessible guide for the layperson
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1603580298/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1603580298&linkCode=as2&tag=postapocaly06-20&linkId=PARY4RJKHWLQYGER

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0908228015/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0908228015&linkCode=as2&tag=postapocaly06-20&linkId=NSVF65UXGPBESS3D --> Permaculture: A Designer's Manual, by Bill Mollison --> the textbook for the so-called "permaculture design course"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permaculture

Some famous demonstration sites:

Zaytuna Farm, Australia - http://permaculturenews.org/2012/06/01/zaytuna-farm-video-tour-apr-may-2012-ten-years-of-revolutionary-design/

Bealtaine Cottage, British Isles - http://bealtainecottage.com/before-permaculture/

Agroforestry UK - https://www.agroforestry.co.uk/

It's quite a rabbit hole! Good luck exploring!!

It's Permaculture: A Designer's Manual by Bill Mollison.

It's big. It's black. It's expensive.

I would check out David Holmgren and Bill Mollisons Books. They are both co-originator of what we know as permaculture today. Bill's book is more of a reference book, which is what it sounds like your after. Also Gais Garden is generally recommended.

Not really that hard to get information and there are a plethora of free videos on Youtube that cover everything you need to know.
Some things to get you going on Youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/user/permacultureVOICES
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOSGEokQQcdAVFuL_Aq8dlg
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCL_r1ELEvAuN0peKUxI0Umw
https://www.youtube.com/user/urbanfarmercstone
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzWccp_i_qzC34-a0tmYoEg
https://www.youtube.com/user/survivalpodcasting
https://www.youtube.com/user/wholesystems

Some good books:

Essentially a textbook: https://www.amazon.com/Permaculture-Designers-Manual-Bill-Mollison/dp/0908228015/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1479709226&sr=8-1&keywords=bill+mollison

Cold Climate Info: https://www.amazon.com/Resilient-Farm-Homestead-Innovative-Permaculture/dp/1603584447/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1479709474&sr=8-1&keywords=ben+falk

Keep in mind that with the move into electronic media, the books and whatnot that had to be paid for, moved as well. I would want to make something for my time and effort as I am sure you would as well.

However, I do disagree with asking money for something someone else came up with if you don't have something significant to add.

I dare say, I hope it is not a fad considering the 40 year history of the system as well as the time and effort I am putting in on my 5 acres.

Ray Mears is the man to watch and read if you are thinking about long term sustainable survival.

If you are thinking about eventually getting out of the primitive I would suggest adapting the practices of permaculture for your situation (and the cheaper condensed version though just as good!).

Things like a compost toilet and digesting methane for fuel might be things you'd like. There's the Humanure Handbook which I have read from front to cover several times and I highly recommend it. I also experimented with humanure and have nothing but good things to say about it. Anyway, I don't want to talk to much so Google permaculture, there's a /r/permaculture subreddit, read, research, think a lot about what you're going to do before you do it and good luck.

EDIT: here's a good book about a permanent shelter you might like

Thanks! This is really helpful advice. I'll look into "forest gardening."

Is this the book you mean? http://www.amazon.com/Permaculture-Designers-Manual-Bill-Mollison/dp/0908228015

https://www.amazon.com/Permaculture-Designers-Manual-Bill-Mollison/dp/0908228015

Ultimately trial and error will be your best friend. Don't be afraid to experiment. You will know your land better than anyone else. It truly is rewarding.

http://www.amazon.com/Permaculture-Designers-Manual-Bill-Mollison/dp/0908228015

It's this one.

Here is the only book you will need.