Customer Reviews

A phenomenal work! Review by Graham Burnett

Review

Some critics have said that permaculture is all very well and good for tropical or desert conditions, but isn't suitable for a cool temperate country such as the UK. Indeed, many of the major permaculture texts published up until now have been Australian in origin and thus contained large sections that have been at best irrelevant to us Brits. At worse they have led to disillusionment when advice intended for climates far more hot or humid than ours has been slavishly followed and resulted in failure. However, all that is set to change with the publication of The Earth Care Manual, the first fully comprehensive permaculture designers handbook specifically written for British conditions.

And what a phenomenal work it is! Seven years in the making, experienced permaculturalist Patrick Whitefield has assembled a truly encyclopedic work covering virtually every aspect of the physical design of the world around us.

He leads in with two chapters defining permaculture and it's ethics (earthcare, peoplecare, fairshares) and principles before looking in depth at the elements of soil, water, microclimate, energy and materials. The second part of the book focuses on application- how working with nature can provide all of our food, shelter and comfort needs in order to live abundantly and sustainably. In his very readable yet highly knowledgeable style he covers gardens (everything from the window box and conservatory up to allotments and community gardens), buildings, woodland, orchards, farms, local food links (box schemes, food co-ops, CSA, farmers markets, etc) and biodiversity. Using copious amounts of facts, figures, tables, diagrams, photos and case studies Whitefield illustrates solutions for every situation whether urban or rural, looking at mulching, rainwater harvesting, windbreaks, perennial vegetables, pond construction, biotecture, forest gardening, coppicing and wildlife gardening to name but a few examples. The last section of the book is devoted to design skills, providing a step by step guide to actually putting all this wonderful knowledge together in our own homes, gardens and landscapes.

One chapter I found pertinent was that on farming and food links. Whitefield isn't vegan himself, but respects the vegan point of view. He acknowledges the inefficiency of the animal-based diet, pointing out that only around 10% of the food consumed by farm animals is available as edible meat when they are killed. He also highlights the untenability of the vegetarian stance, ie, that it is OK to eat milk and eggs but not meat: "What happens to the bull calf or male chick which cannot be used for milk or egg production, or the cow or hen when they are too old to produce an economic yield? Of course, they are fattened up, killed and eaten. It's impossible to eat animal products without contributing to the death of animals"? He does go on to look at the keeping of livestock such as pigs or poultry within permaculture systems, but this is not a large part of the book and can easily be skipped by the vegan-organic reader. Or you could actually read it: I found it very interesting, and it clarified that animal husbandry within a permaculture context is a million light years away from the industrialised factory pharms that currently supply the sterile little packages on the supermarket shelves. Whitefield's own position is "What matters to me is how much the animal has suffered? Purely from an animal welfare point of view I'd rather eat an organic steak than drink a pint of conventional milk". He also looks at green manure based stockless systems, acknowledging the work of Elm Farm (although unfortunately doesn't mention VON), and explores the possibilities of leaf curd as a protein source for vegans that avoids importing pulses.

Also of particular interest to Growing Green readers will be the section on fruit and nuts. Along with vegan pioneer Kathleen Jannaway, Whitefield recognises that although nuts are not widely grown in the UK at the present time, they have enormous potential as a staple food crop; "there's no reason why tree crops should not replace annual field crops as our main food source. That would revolutionise not just our agriculture but our landscape too. Gone would be the open fields of cereals and grass replaced by orchards and edible woodlands, with perhaps as many clearings as we now have woods. Our landscape would cease to be an imitation of the prairie or steppe, and become an imitation of what it was before we turned it upside down: woodland". A vision for the future maybe, but one backed up here with cutting edge research and practical details on pioneering crops such as hazels, walnuts, chestnuts as well as acorns (Whitefield advocates selective breeding for edibility), beech, pine and monkey nuts. For my money the book is worth the admission price for this chapter alone.

Where the book is less strong is in the area of what in permaculture circles are sometimes called the 'invisible structures'. In other words, the fabric of social interactions and human connections that will need to be redesigned if we are to create truly sustainable future societies. Whitefield does acknowledge that economics (the 'fairshares' ethic of permaculture) is not his forte, instead directing readers to Richard Douthwaite's excellent 'Short Circuit'. However, despite some valuable acknowledgement of the importance of developing real 'listening skills' and touching on inclusive community development techniques such as 'Planning For Real', I would also liked to have seen a section going into some more depth regarding 'peoplecare'- or how we are to look after both ourselves and each other properly. Producing sustainable food, water, medicines, buildings, forests and landscapes is only half of the battle for survival in the new millenium. To my mind the real challenge for the 21st century permaculture movement is how to create the 'social glues' that are needed to effectively bind together our communities. Not just the intentional communities of eco-villages and progressive land share projects, but also retro-fitting the towns, cities and rural settlements that most of us inhabit today either through choice or circumstance. But I'm probably quibbling- the title of this book is after all the 'Earth Care Manual', and maybe as time goes on we will see equally mature works addressing these other aspects of permaculture design. In fact I should be grateful, for if this were any bigger than it already is it would only cause my bookshelf to collapse?

(this review originally appeared in the Vegan Organic Network's 'Growing Green' magazine
(Posted on 02/06/2011)

Patrick has created a manual with which we can repair this beautiful jewel of a planet which we are fortunate enough to inhabit, and in so doing has given us a truly precious gift. Review by Rob Hopkins

Review

The Earth Care Manual, put simply, is fantastic. It is what I have been waiting for for years, and it is what those of us in temperate climates have urgently needed. Patrick's considerable experience in the fields of woodlands and fruit growing shine through especially strongly, but the whole book is rich with vision and experience. What it offers is common sense solutions rooted in the culture and climate of these islands. This book is a clear and unarguable road map to where we need to go, an A-Z to sanity and common sense. Patrick has created a manual with which we can repair this beautiful jewel of a planet which we are fortunate enough to inhabit, and in so doing has given us a truly precious gift. (Posted on 30/06/2010)

A few sentences in and I realised I was in the company of one of the world's great teachers. Review by Reforesting Scotland

Review

A few sentences in and I realised I was in the company of one of the world's great teachers. Patrick Whitefield writes as if he were speaking directly to you. (Posted on 30/06/2010)

A visionary, yet practical book. Review by The Garden Journal of the Royal Horticultural Society

Review

Just occasionally a book is published that fully justifies its title and can even change the reader s perspective on life. This is one of those rare and inspiring landmark events. A visionary, yet practical book. (Posted on 30/06/2010)