Permaculture your life (book)

How to Permaculture Your Life: Strategies, Skills and Techniques for the Transition to a Greener World by Ross Mars 

This book is a great resource for everyone interested in Transition, permaculture and more self-reliant and satisfying lifestyles. It is packed with information on permaculture design principles, soil building, nutrient-dense food growing, including top plant and tree selections for all climatic zones. Coverage extends to rainwater harvesting and irrigation, human waste management, and strategies for rural properties plus a unique focus on applying permaculture to small urban spaces. Also covered are hand tools, food preservation, energy production, and low-carbon housing and a plethora of nearly forgotten skills such as soap making, basket weaving, seed saving, and rope and candle making, and more

Net zero energy building (book)

The New Net Zero Leading-Edge Design and Construction of Homes and Buildings for a Renewable Energy Future

The New Net Zero Leading-Edge Design and Construction of Homes and Buildings for a Renewable Energy Future - See more at: http://www.chelseagreen.com/bookstore/item/the_new_net_zero:hardcover#sthash.XU2d0nim.dpuf

The new threshold for green building is not just low energy, it’s net-zero energy. In The New Net Zero, sustainable architect Bill Maclay charts the path for designers and builders interested in exploring green design’s new frontier.
Designers and builders will find a wealth of state-of-the-art information on such considerations as:

• air, water, and vapor barriers;
• embodied energy;
• residential and commercial net- zero standards;
• monitoring and commissioning;
• insulation options;
• costs;
• and more.
  

The comprehensive overview is accompanied by several case studies, which include institutional buildings, commercial projects, and residences. Both new-building and renovation projects are covered in detail.

The New Net Zero Leading-Edge Design and Construction of Homes and Buildings for a Renewable Energy Future - See more at: http://www.chelseagreen.com/bookstore/item/the_new_net_zero:hardcover#sthash.XU2d0nim.dpuf

Farmer designed organic systems (#journal)

Farmers and agronomists design new biological agricultural practices for organic cropping systems in France

Current innovations in organic farming such as non-inversion tillage with cover crops are promising, but investigations usually do not take farmers views into account. Therefore, research work should include farmer participation to maximize success. The authors developed a method to help farmers in designing innovative cropping systems, involving several design workshops with farmers.  The farmers generated 14 system prototypes, which differed radically from current practices because they used biological rather than mechanical methods. Cover crop use was almost four times more frequent than in current systems, moldboard plowing and mechanical weeding frequencies respectively two and eight times lower. The main benefits are (1) the involvement of volunteer farmers in the design process, (2) the combination of farmer knowledge and scientific knowledge, and (3) the use of various methodological supports.

Intro to system science and permaculture (online)

Thinking Systematically: Achieving Sustainable Systems

A simple introduction to systems science and its links to permaculture:

• Systems science provides a means of analyzing and understanding complex processes based on a few basic principles
• Complex systems behave in complex ways and may change over time
• When problems emerge there is an underlying positive feedback loop that may not be evident
• Such problems cannot be solved using linear causality thinking
• True sustainability involves whole systems thinking and design
• Permaculture is the application of systems thinking to the design of living arrangements

Shelter belt design guide (online)

The Principles of Using Woods for Shelter

This Information Note describes the physical principles that determine the impact of woodlands on shelter provision. The importance of the woodland height, porosity, width, length, orientation and shape on the area and level of shelter are discussed. Three generic shelter wood types are identified (‘windshield’, ‘windbreak’ and ‘hybrid’) together with their most
appropriate applications. The Note points to the crucial need to understand the reasons for creating shelter in order to determine the most effective design.

Introduction to soil health principles (video)

'The Soil is naked, hungry and running a fever!'

Ray Archuleta, a conservation agronomist with the National Resource Conservation Service, spoke at the National Conference on Soil and Cover Crops in Omaha this year. Ray delivered an authoritative and inspirational address to the conference about agroecology and the importance of holistic design in landscape management. You can watch a 25 minute video of his presentation here.

Edible permaculture for back gardens (book)

Edible Landscaping with a Permaculture Twist: How to Have Your Yard and Eat it Too

This is a how-to manual for the budding gardener and experienced green thumb alike, full of creative and easy-to-follow designs that guide you to having your yard and eating it, too.

With the help of more than 200 beautiful color photos and drawings, permaculture designer and avid grower Michael Judd takes the reader on a step-by-step process to transform a sea of grass into a flourishing edible landscape that pleases the eye as well as the taste buds. With personality and humour, he translates the complexities of permaculture design into simple self-build projects, providing full details on the evolving design process, material identification, and costs.

Aesthetics in green design (book)

The Shape of Green: Aesthetics, Ecology, and Design 

Does going green change the face of design or only its content? The first book to outline principles for the aesthetics of sustainable design, The Shape of Green argues that beauty is inherent to sustainability, for how things look and feel is as important as how they’re made.

Permaculture Design by Aranya (book)

Permaculture Design

This book gives you everything you need to apply permaculture garden design. It links theory to practice and places the ethics, philosophies, tools and techniques directly into the context of the design process itself. The book is based on Aranya's own teaching resources for the Permaculture Design Course and provides a clear, easy to use manual for the entire garden design process.