Land and nature stewardship

Although permaculture is now defined as 'permanent culture', incorporating all areas of human life, it was originally defined as 'permanent agriculture', and was firmly focused on land stewardship and living in harmony with nature. Land stewardship remains a central part of most people's permaculture experience.

This section covers a range of land stewardship techniques which maximise yields and environmental benefits, while reducing inputs, costs and labour.

In this category...

Aquaculture

Aquaculture is the growing of human food, both plant and animal, in water. It may also refer to the conscious creation of aquatic environments.

Food for free

UK woodland has plenty to offer with exciting ingredients for soups, sauces, desserts and tipples found in abundance.

Bluebells 7, by catimages on Flickr, shared under CC BY 2.0

Forestry / woodlands

It is hard to envisage any system of sustainable land management that does not involve extensive use of trees.

Gardens and orchards

Using a permaculture approach to design and grow a garden or orchard can realise a functioning ecological system, composed of many parts, each contributing to the overall stablility, health and res

Managing animals

Animals have a key role to play in truly sustainable food systems.

Un-used assets are all around us!

Waste minimisation

The permaculture principle 'produce no waste' stands in marked contrast to our throw-away society in which millions of tons of 'rubbish' are simply dumped in huge holes in the ground each year.

Wildlands and biodiversity

Biodiversity is fundamental to our survival. Every living thing has a place in what we call the 'balance of nature', and upsetting that balance can have untold effects.

Broadscale Agriculture

Broadscale agriculture refers to field management techniques at the landscape scale.

View of soil horizons in landscape showing top layer of peat mixing with lower layers of stone

Soil management

As permaculture designers we need to be designing rich, healthy, living soil. Geoff Lawton has described permaculture as "ethical design science", and we need to ethically and scientifically design our soil.

Related resources...

Organisations
World Peace Gardens Network
Runach Arainn Food Forest Garden
Heston Action Group
Edibles
The Gaia Foundation
Earthcare Permaculture Design (Ireland)
The Sustainability Centre, Hampshire, UK
Whitefield Permaculture
Shift Bristol CIC
WOCAT - World Overview of Conservation Approaches and Technologies
RegenAg UK
Low Impact Living Initiative (LILI)
Quinta Vale da Lama
Websites
Food Systems Academy
REVITALISATION : Journal of Urban, Rural and Environmental Resilience
FAO Agroecology Knowledgebase Portal
Innovative Farmers Webinars
The Inkpot
Soil and Health
Forest Research Urban Green Space and Green Infrastructure Portal
ARTICLE : Nature, biodiversity, ecosystem services and well-being
Dr. Elaine R. Ingham on YouTube
Article : Green Infrastructure Planning: Recent Advances and Applications
Report : Cities Alive – Rethinking green infrastructure
Article : Estimating the Economic Value of Green Infrastructure: Economic Valuation Models
Permaculture Association LAND Visitor Centres
Videos
Detroit's Urban Farming Revolution
Aquaponic systems
Designing and managing regenerative farms and smallholdings
IPCUK 2015 Graham Bell Te Answer lies In The Soil Permaculture Conference
IPCUK 2015 Naomi Miller Karen Inwood International Permaculture Converence London
IPCUK 2015 "Smallholder Farming in Asia and Australasia" International Permaculture Conference
IPCUK 2015 “Water”, International Permaculture Conference
IPCUK 2015 “Smallholder Farming in Africa” International Permaculture Conference
IPCUK 2015 “Permaculture in India” International Permaculture Conference
Rosemary Morrow, Cutting Edge
Global Gardener with Bill Mollison
Life in the Soil with Dr. Elaine Ingham Part 1 Introduction
Publications
Benefits of Green Infrastructure - Report by Forest Research
How to Read the Landscape
The New Complete Book of Self-Sufficiency: The classic guide for realists and dreamers
Farmers' Handbook
Permaculture Design : A Step-by-Step Guide
JOURNAL ARTICLE : Agroecology and Permaculture: Addressing Key Ecological Problems by Rethinking and Redesigning Agricultural Systems
Ecological Farming: The seven principles of a food system that has people at its heart - Greenpeace's Food and Farming Vision
Green Infrastructure - Training Manual for Trainers
JOURNAL ARTICLE : Exploring connections among nature, biodiversity, ecosystem services, and human health and well-being
JOURNAL ARTICLE : Permaculture for agroecology: design, movement, practice, and worldview. A review
ARTICLE : Soil Biology : The Soil Biology Primer by Elaine R. Ingham
A Resource Book ~ for ~ PERMACULTURE Solutions for Sustainable Lifestyles
Green Infrastructure: Smart Conservation for the 21st Century
Permaculture: A Designers' Manual
The Basics of Permaculture Design