Permaculture for the Rest of Us

Adventures on the road to real-world self-sufficiency

Many of us want to increase our self-sufficiency, but few have access to the ideal 5 sunny, gently-sloping acres of rich, loamy, well-drained soil. Jenni Blackmore presents a highly entertaining, personal account of how permaculture can be practiced in adverse conditions, allowing anyone to learn to live more sustainably in a less-than-perfect world. With a rallying cry of If we can do it, you can too, she distills the wisdom of 20 years of trial and error into a valuable teaching tool.

The perfect antidote to dense, high-level technical manuals, Permaculture for the Rest of Us presents the fundamental principles of this sometimes confusing concept in a humorous, reader-friendly way. Each chapter focuses on a specific method or technique, interspersing straightforward explanations with the author's own experiences. Learn how to successfully retrofit even the smallest homestead using skills such as:

• No-till vs. till gardening, composting and soil-building
• Natural pest control and integrating small livestock
• Basic greenhouse construction
• Harvesting, preservation and more.

Ideal for urban dreamers, suburbanites and country-dwellers alike, this inspirational and instructional encouragement manual is packed with vibrant photographs documenting the author's journey from adversity to abundance.

Jenni Blackmore is a farmer, artist and writer who built her house on a rocky, windswept island off the coast of Nova Scotia almost twenty-five years ago and has been stumbling along the road to self-sufficient living ever since. As a successful micro-farmer she produces most of her family's meat, eggs, fruit and vegetables, in spite of often-challenging conditions. She is certified as a Permaculture Design Consultant from the Falls Brook Centre in New Brunswick and has published 2 fiction titles for children and one for adults.