Sepp Holzer's Permaculture: A Practical Guide to Small-Scale, Integrative Farming and Gardening

Mr. Holzer's book was fantastic, my husband and I are reading it together, we are almost finished. When we bought our farm, we had a clean slate, the land had not been farmed in many years, we are doing just about everything on it either with a tractor or by hand, including fencing the entire thing in with a "by hand" post hole digger. We have been searching for information on how to make this a "multipurpose" "self-sufficient" farm. A farm with the main goal of being able to help feed the less fortunate & feed our family, we did not want to use any chemicals! We have prayed over our land even before we bought it, that God would use it in a big way! We feel God led us to read this book, we had NEVER heard of permaculture, though my husbands family had farmed for many years & as we have learned in this book, some of the reasons my husbands Grandfather did things the way he did them was for the very reasons that Mr. Holzer farms the way he does!! We are so excited as we plan to build "earth shelters" around our farm, and there is several areas where the "terraces" he spoke of will do so much good for us! The only downfall I have found so far is that Mr. Holzer's book The Rebel Farmer is not available on the Kindle! We are going to have to order a "real book". Other reviews I read said he did not go into enough detail.. OH YES HE DID! The details are fantastic! And he does state in this book that he has even more detailed information in The Rebel Farmer! I plan to order it right away! Thank you Mr. Holzer for sharing your very important information with all of us! And thank you that is was available on the Kindle!! What a fantastic find the Lord has led us too! There will be many many people that will benefit from our farm for years, God willing, thanks to YOU Mr. Holzer!! Our Farm in named aptly "Matana Farm", Matana is a Hebrew word for "gift". This farm was a gift from God and we plan on passing the gifts on for many years to come!! Thank you Mr. Holzer & Amazon & Kindle!!

Sepp Holzer developed and used principles of permaculture design independent of the permaculture movement, simply through a life of careful and open-minded observation and interaction with his landscape. That's really what it requires at its core, and that's the core of his message: observe and interact with an open-minded curiosity about what's really going on, and you will learn how to work with your land effectively, over time.Then people who identified as permaculturalists got really nasty with him, and he stopped identifying as a permaculturalist, which is fine and understandable. I wouldn't, either, if I was mistreated the way he was.If you live on land, e.g., in the Appalachian or Rocky our Cascade or Coastal mountain ranges, or even in the Northeastern US (e.g. Maine) or Alaska for that matter, where you have the challenge of a short growing season in a relatively humid environment, you'll find lots of great tips here. Don't expect a ton of inspiration for arid or brittle landscapes, though. If you live somewhere that is primarily (or used to be) grassland (before it desertified), then you are better off learning from someone like Geoff Lawton. If you have a large broadacre context, then Darren Doherty's Regrarians and/or pure Holistic Management will work fantastically. The holistic decision-making aspect of Holistic Management can provide clarity of process for all permaculture design contexts.Don't be dogmatic. Sepp Holzer isn't, which is how he attained the knowledge and wisdom he has to offer. But the people who drove him away from the permaculture movement were being dogmatic.

I've read a large number of the permaculture books available, and I've thought most of them were very good. This book sets itself apart from the rest, however, in one way that I think is very important -- most of them have so much detailed information that it's easy to get lost in it and suffer from what I call "paralysis of information." There are so many little things to know that it seems like you can never just go do something because it might not be optimal. This book does not suffer from that problem. While it does have less detail than most, it has sufficient detail to get the basic ideas across, and it does so in a way that really encourages you to get out there and do something so you can really start learning from experience. The presentation here is less prescription and more exploration. Where the Designers' Manual is encyclopedic in its scope to the point where it can feel like every possible situation is covered, this one leaves more room for individual adaptation and experimentation. The detail will come, and the other books will be invaluable when you need them. However, I expect that I'll be turning to Sepp's book most often in the initial phases of getting my own property turned around.Having said that, I'd still recommend getting another permaculture book in addition to this one, as the additional ideas and information are really helpful as well. Try Mollison's Introduction to Permaculture, or Morrow's Earth Users Guide to Permaculture; both are very good. When you're ready to really go hard core, get the Designers' Manual and prepare to spend some hard study time internalizing it.

scritto con amore e tanto conoscenza attraverso l'esperienza pratica. e una fonte ricco di informazioni su come leggere e intervenire con la natura

This book is really a great read. It's well written engaging and informative. Once I started reading I struggled to put it down. Its full on innovative ideas and really solid informative information on how to live with and from your land and your animals. You will not be disappointed buying this. You will only be disappointed it wasn't bigger when you finish reading! Great book!

Amazing

Excelente historia de Sepp Holzer y su observación de la naturaleza. Sin duda es un libro de cabecera para todos aquellos interesados en permacultura y agricultura a pequeñas escalas.

Easy to read and excellent data. I have numerous books on permaculture, organic gardening and this one is the simplest and most useful. I highly recommend. Its simplicity tells the tale - one can actually do it. Some of the books I have are so complex as to not be able to get through them... too deep into technical subjects that aren't really necessary to get the job done and lead to dropping the book. I read this one in a few sittings and I've got what I need to do and have started rolling.