The Earth Care Manual

This critically acclaimed and definitive permaculture design book was the inspiration that BBC2’s Brigit Strawbridge (of It’s Not Easy Being Green) needed to attend her first permaculture design course with Patrick Whitefield, setting her and her family off on a voyage of discovery which is helping to introduce and inspire others.

Already hailed in the UK, Europe and America as definitive, and reprinted by popular demand, The Earth Care Manual offers an inspirational yet practical vision of a sustainable future invaluable to those new to the subject as well as to the experienced practitioner.

The permaculture movement started in the 1970s as a sustainable alternative to modern industrial agriculture, taking its inspiration from natural ecosystems. It initially placed an emphasis on gardening, with proponents of permaculture since expanding on its principles; addressing all subjects vital to sustainability, from building and community design to food, energy, water, microclimate and shelter.

All of these topics and more are addressed in The Earth Care Manual, demonstrating that permaculture is an interconnecting framework linking a diversity of green ideas. Its aims are a low input, high output efficient use of resources – and genuine sustainability.

The Earth Care Manual gives a vision of a sustainable future and the practical steps we can take towards it, both large and small, urban and rural.

Written by Patrick Whitefield, one of Europe’s foremost teachers and practitioners of temperate permaculture, it explains in depth how to apply permaculture to any situation, from the smallest of buildings or apartments, to houses, gardens, orchards, farms and woodlands.


Book details

Published: Originally published: 2004, revised edition 2011
ISBN: 9781856232791
Size: 297 x 210mm
480 pages
Format: Hardback
£49.95

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Patrick Whitefield, temperate permaculture teacher and pioneer

About the author: Patrick Whitefield

The late Patrick Whitefield (11th February 1949 – 27th February 2015) was an early pioneer of permaculture, adapting Bill Mollison’s teachings for a temperate climate.

Read more about Patrick Whitefield