Permaculture is my passion. I became interested by reading Permaculture One, which I found on my parents bookshelf. They had taken courses with David Coleman in the early 90's when our family moved to Perth, Western Australia.

Since then, I haven't looked back. I WOOFed my way around Australia in 2002 with the aim of learning about community living and Permaculture as it applies to land-use. I worked and learned with people like Julie Firth (Geraldton, WA), Robin Clayfield (Crystal Waters, QLD), Rick and Naomi Coleman (VIC) and Graeme and Anna-Marie Brookman (SA). This was my real introduction to Permaculture in practice.

I am a member of the Peacetree Community in Perth, Western Australia. I am the principal worker of Peacetree Permaculture and Edible Landscapes. My sister Bonnie Wykman and fellow communard Joshua Hobby work with me in this enterprise while developing their own expressions - respectively, The Compost Tea Company and Design to Produce.

Sepp Holzer: Words of a Master OR A Model of Holzerian Permaculture Action

“The most important thing is to learn from nature — if you do this everything will become very easy.” - Sepp Holzer

Introduction to Permaculture - Oxford, UK - July 2011

If you’re going to be around Oxford in July I’m going to be teaching an Introduction to Permaculture with Oxford local, Phil Pritchard. As the flyer says, call Phil on 01865 718980 or check out Oxford Permaculture for more information or to book your plac

The Urban Forest Gardens of Lisbon

Last week, on my way to a seminar with Sepp Holzer (more on that soon), I had the happy opportunity to spend some time in Lisbon, Portugal. On several occasions during my wanderings around this beautiful city I stumbled upon a little oasis amongst the mea

From Waste to Wall - An 'Urbanite' Story

The story of building a wall in 'urbanite'

Strategies for developing a (Mediterranean climate) Permaculture Plant Palette — Part II

Our goal is the development of a palette of plants which can be used to develop permaculture systems which are sensitive to the climates they are in. In the last post we looked at developing the scope of our palette. In this post we will look at ways to l

Plants have a Microbial Immune System

It is something that has been “known” or suspected for some time but it is wonderful to have this kind of hard science to show it. That is, that plants cooperate with bacteria (and other microbes!) for their protection and the microbes’ sustenance.

Perennial Veggies for Mediterranean Climates from the Master of Perennial Vegetables, Eric Toensmeier

Eric Toensmeier is one of my favorite people. He is a self-described plant geek. He has also come up with a list of perennial vegetables for Mediterranean climates. Being from the US, this is most relevant to California, but there are things of interest t

Natural Dryland Gardening and the Lessons of Semilla Besada

Very few people have a good understanding of what it takes to develop Permaculture systems (or any agro-ecosystem) in a Mediterranean climate. Someone who did was Aspen Edge of Semilla Besada in Granada, Spain.

Paul Wheaton talks to Maddy Harland about Sepp Holzer in Portugal (among other things)

You can hear Paul Wheaton, Sepp’s biggest fan, talking with Maddy Harland of Permculture Magazine UK about Holzer and the amazing work of regenerative permaculture he is undertaking at Tamera by visiting the link below:

Fellow Communard Jarrod Exploring Polyculture in Zambia for World Vision Australia

Jarrod McKenna, a member of the community of which I am a part, explores a fish, banana sweet potato polyculture in Zambia.

Household Ecology Database

A study which conducts a serious input-output analysis.

Seedballs and Masanobu Fukuoka in Greece — then and now

Seed balls in Greece - 1998 with Fukuoka and later on the Island of Paros.

Strategies for developing a (Mediterranean climate) Permaculture Plant Palette — Part I

The first steps towards the development of the palette of plants for a Mediterranean climate.