The following are an initial selection of useful resources (free unless stated otherwise), mainly to help teachers or organisers of permaculture courses.
We plan to expand this Resources section, retaining a primary focus on permaculture education (teaching and learning), rather than seeking to cover all aspects of permaculture practise. If you are a teacher or organiser, please let us know about an other particularly good education resources that would be valuable additions to this section.
IPEN Case Studies
IPEN Case Studies highlight successful, inspiring and innovative projects where permaculture and agroecology education has played a central role to a project's success, and where lessons can be drawn from their experience which may be of benefit to other projects. The case studies aim to highlight the educational elements that have been critical to a project's effectiveness and their relationships with other elements of that project's strategy or activity - such as farmer-to-farmer teaching, demonstration centres, village demonstration plots, interconnected research programmes and growing enterprise opportunities. We plan to expand the case study list and geographic spread over time, with the intention of having at least 12 good practice examples available by the end of 2018.
IPEN Case studies of Lush Spring Prize projects delivering peer-to-peer agroecological education on a signficant and effective scale, combining significant ecological, social and economic benefits:
Sustainable Agriculture Tanzania Case Study - large-scale farmer-led training with an 80Ha Farmer Training Centre linked to 52 Farmer Field Schools, that have brought over 3000 small-scale farmers into the agroecological farming movement - Lush Spring Prize Established Project Winner 2017 - PDF here: case_studies_-_sat.pdf
Soils, Food & Healthy Communities Case Study (Malawi) - large-scale farmer-led training and research network covering over 80 villages - Lush Spring Prize Young Project Winner 2017 - PDF here: case_studies_-_sfhc.pdf
Amrita Bhoomi Case Study (Karnataka, SW India) - 66 acre agroecology training centre and demonstration farms, pioneering Zero Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF) methods with an estimated 100,000 peasant farmers now practising ZBNF methods in Karnataka state - Lush Spring Prize Influence Award Winner 2018 - PDF here: case_study_amrita_bhoomi_final_sept2018.pdf
Timbaktu Collective Case Study (South Central India) - linking action-oriented education and demonstration projects with cooperatives as effective systems of organisation for the development of rural enterprise - Lush Spring Prize Established Project Winner 2017 - PDF here: case_studies_-_tc.pdf
IPEN Case Studies of Lush Spring Prize projects working with indigenous peoples rights, peasant farming right and agroecology:
La Via Campesina Case Study (global peasant rights organisation) - creative and persistent work to establish a UN Declaration for the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas through the UN Human Rights Council, linked to their agroecological and food sovereignty education work - Lush Spring Prize Influence Award Winner 2017 - PDF here: case_study_la_via_campesina_final_oct2018.pdf
CEJUDHCAN - a not-for-profit profit, NGO that provides educational programs, legal support and practical assistance to indigenous peoples and afro-descendant communities on the Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua, with a focus on identification and titling of communal lands and indigenous territories, and practical training in participation and agroecology. Lush Spring Prize Influence Award Winner 2018 - PDF here:
case_study_cejudhcan_dec2018.pdf
Other IPEN Case Studies of Lush Spring Prize projects:
SOIL (Sustainable Organic Integrated Livelihoods) Case Study (Haiti) - social enterprise delivering contained-based sanitation composting toilet service to over 6,500 people, supported by community education programmes - Lush Spring Prize Established Project Award Winner 2018 - PDF here: case_study_soil_final_oct2018.pdf
Soft Foot Alliance Case Study (Zimbabwe) - creative, innovative and regenerative solutions that reduce, prevent and avoid human-wildlife conflict - Lush Spring Prize Intentional Project Winner 2017 - PDF here: case_studies_-_sfa.pdf
La Bolina (Spain) - excellent project creating community with refugees, delivering permaculture education, employment and enterprise development, engaging strongly with the local community in depopulated rural areas (note: this case study may be updated shortly, and is planned to also be available in Spanish) - Lush Spring Prize Intentional Project Winner 2017 - PDF here: case_study_la_bolina_lsp2017_v3.pdf
Other Case Studies and Handbooks:
Children in Permaculture case studies - eight case studies about engaging children in permaculture, covering schools, kindergartens, an organic farm, and permaculture parenting. Each case study includes a description, top tips and highlights to support educators in similar circumstances to learn from their experience.
Retrosuburbia case studies - a selection of case studies showing how people are making positive changes by retrofitting their homes, gardens and habits. Retrosuburbia is a project and movement as much as a book, and is developing models of education to help stimulate and expand the many interrelated solution options that Retrosuburbia describes so well.
Zero Budget Natural Farming methods- detailed information on core ZBNF methods & practices see: La Via Campesina case study on ZBNF in India -http://www.fao.org/3/a-bl990e.pdf
Refugee Week Fighting Inequalities Handbook - produced by La Bolina in Granada province, Spain, an inspiring project that is linking permaculture education and practice to both creating homes and livelihoods for migrants and refugees, and tackling depopulation in rural areas of Spain. La Bolina organised a Refugee Week to address key issues we are facing today as a species, linking these to 7 SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals): refugee_week_2018_handbook_fighting_inequalities_web_version.pdf
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Introductory, PDC and Forest Garden Teachers Guides & Resources
Probably the most comprehensive range of guidance and resources (timetables, course guides, learning pathways, etc) is available from the website of the European Permaculture Teachers partnership project, which is an excellent example of how international collaboration can help accelerate the development of teachers and national education systems.
Download a copy of the hugely experienced Rosemary Morrow's Permaculture Teaching Matters
Example of an Introductory Course timetable from the UK Association with many useful Introductory course resources for teaching and organising a course.
Permaculture Facilitators Handbook by IDEP Foundation Indonesia, a facilitators guide especially for tropical countries that compliments the Tropical Permaculture Guidebook from Timor-Leste (East Timor) which is linked to in the next section below.
Permaculture Teachers Guide (from working with 35 UK teachers), covering Introductory course and PDC - cost £35 including post to Europe or £44 to Rest of the World.
The Forest Garden Training Center an excellent resource (Africa focused) hosted by Trees for the Future.
Teaching Permaculture Creatively manual packed with years of experience by Robin Clayfield and Skye
7 Learning Styles (or modes) for the importance of integrating them into permaculture teaching - a very good graphic here - and a useful overview here where you can click on eaxh style to learn more about them.
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Tropical Permaculture Guidebook
A gift from Timor Leste, the Guidebook is a comprehsensive resource of permaculture design, food sovereignty and environmental regeneration strategies, and a practical guide towards strong, resilient and sustainable communities. The Guidebook is downloadable on a 'pay what you can' basis, with all income used to further develop the project - by the end of 2018 there have been over 39,000 TPG downloads.
The Tropical Permaculture Guidebook is available in a variety of ways:
The Complete Guidebook - all 1,111 pages
Volume 1: Permaculture and People - 6 chapters + extras, 304 pages
Volume 2: House and Garden - 6 chapters + extras, 376 pages
Volume 3: Regenerative Agriculture - 6 chapters + extras, 431 pages
Any of the 18 Chapters can also be downloaded individually.
Work is underway to make the full guide available in other langauges, including Tetum (the language of East Timor), Spanish and others.
Still available in English and Tetum, the original tropical Permaculture Guidebook from Timor Leste, updated in 2008, is a 400 page practical reference guide for implementing permaculture that is specific to Timor Leste’s needs and the tropical climate.
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Other Useful Resources
Multiple resources are available from the Blueprint Network site at http://www.blueprint-alliance.org/resources, including:
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5 volumes of the Farmers Handbook from the Himalayan Permaculture Project, Nepal;
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Permaculture in Refugee Situations (UNHCR) and Southern Alliance for Indigenous Resources (SAFIRE)
Children in Permaculture - an innovative international cooperation project bringing together educators from different settings to cross-fertilise, share and synthesise ideas, in order to develop, test, adapt and implement best practices in engaging children in permaculture through creating various resources within the CiP website resources menu.
Community Gardens Guide – an extensive PDF guide to starting and nurturing community gardens (from South Australia)
Permaculture Radio and Podcasts - a big selection of Sustainable World Radio podcasts and 21st Century Permaculture podcasts to enrich your listening and learning experience - and here are what are described as 10 Completely Inspiring Permaculture Podcasts
Tree crops - "Tree Crops: A Permanent Agriculture" by J. Russell Smith can be downloaded here (PDF ebook) - https://t.co/sOZoDSx7mB - the Soil & Health Library states: “A list of the most important books ever written about sustainable agriculture (and human health) would include Tree Crops, as well as the books by Sir Albert Howard, the publications of William Albrecht and [Weston] Price’s Nutrition and Physical Degeneration.”
Container Based Sanitation systems- model approaches to Container Based Sanitation systems - the SOIL Guide to EcoSan is available via: https://www.oursoil.org/resources/the-soil-guide-to-ecosan/ - the guide has been shared over 1,300 times across 97 countries