The Vegetable Gardener's Guide to Permaculture

The book I'd like to begin with is "The Vegetable Gardener's Guide to Permaculture" by Christopher Shein with Julie Thompson. This was the second book I read on my permaculture journey. Where the first text was confusing, I found that the vegetable gardener's guide did well to ease newcomers into the permaculture world.

What's great about this book is how easily it lays out concepts and guides, making it quite readable. It is written, as the title implies, for your average vegetable gardener who may be inclined to use a few plants in the corner of the lot. It then walks you slowly through the concepts of permaculture, giving you images and explanations.

There is no shortage of colorful pictures in this book, showing the beauty that an edible yard can produce. From vined trellises to diverse alley crops, and packed greenhouses, the images give you a view of what a functioning system can provide at home. There are also several drawn diagrams explaining garden features like herb spirals, sheet mulching, and even seed balls.

The beginning of the book is structured to give a basic permaculture crash course. In comparison to other books, it's an excellent source of information in easy to read bites. The sections on the three permaculture ethics are concise, giving adequate information without overwhelming a new reader. The permaculture principles are similar, giving a helpful breakdown of the information in manageable, numbered paragraphs.

Several conceptual designs included describing features and uses as well as materials for construction. These include examples of a hügelkultur mound, raised bed, herb spiral, and even an A-Frame level for your landscape! These are helpful for gardeners who are having trouble grasping some of the more general permaculture techniques.

The book breaks down various fruits, vegetables, herbs, flowers, and even edible weeds, providing options and uses for each. This list includes a chart of dynamic accumulators, which can be used to fill in your yard and act as either compost or beneficial insect attractors.

Overall, this book is easy to read and full of useful information for beginners. With a fairly average cost, I found that this book provided adequate information for the price point. It makes a good coffee table read because of its numerous photos and lends itself to being a great conversation starter.

Permaculture A Designers' Manual

The third book I would like to recommend is Permaculture A Designers' Manual, by Bill Mollison. It is an informative book, but don't be fooled, this is a dense textbook. I would not recommend this book for your foray into permaculture. The designers' manual is an excellent option after you've read a few books, watched some videos, and want to get into the specific functions of permaculture. The designers' manual will inevitably become a part of your library one day if you're looking to design large systems.

The table of contents reveals permaculture theories and concepts labeled into chapters and subchapters. While Mollison touches on permaculture ethics, it differs from other texts. You'll find the details of the ethics and principles in this book focuses more on the theory behind them.

Several sections touch on traditional knowledge, which translates to skills, designs, and hypotheses drawn from First Nations, Native American, and Aboriginal Australian customs. The art and craft of reading tree rings to determine fire history in a fire-prone site, for example, gives you the information on what direction to expect fires. Tracking the 19-year moon cycle, using petroglyphs alone, can provide great details of how nature responds to our lunar companion. Even looking at how early sea-farers used to specialize in niche skills to ensure success, shows how close humans once were to nature.

This book gives focus to larger design systems, including large scale aquaculture that encompasses several pond systems. These are designed in a way to mimic nature's patterns and enhance them to support humans. The chapters on landscape can vary from humid tropics to cold climates, including dryland habitats, to aid designers in multiple strategies for each environment.

This book does well to examine permaculture on a global scale and how individual climates function differently. Mollison explains that there is no "magic fix" for our current climate crisis but lots of small changes that create a considerable impact.

This book can be challenging to read but makes up for it in the wealth of information it provides. Look at it more like a university textbook that you may read over once but keep around because it's useful. The price point on the book is a bit high, but the amount of information contained makes it worth the purchase. The designers' manual is an excellent book if you're a landscape designer, architect, or any professional looking to develop sustainable systems for your property.