Makes permaculture easy to understand and implement, even for the semi-enthusiasts.
Feature image credit: Murdoch Books
Wondering about the title of this book? Milkwood is not a new branch of permaculture, and so the concepts within are not new. Rather, it is the name of a permaculture farm in New South Wales that is dedicated to teaching and sharing permaculture skills to students and teachers around the world. These lessons are available on-site, online, and now, thanks to part co-founder of the farm and author Kirsten Bradley, in print.
“We inspire and enable households to take action to cultivate resilient communities and ecosystems,” the website reveals. “We energise individuals to engage with the social and environmental challenges we all face.”
The book is highly accessible and designed so that you can do a little bit, or a lot. I have found in the past with some of these lifestyle books, the concepts and ideas may be fantastic but feel unreachable. Author Bradley bypasses this issue by providing multiple practical tools which are listed as habits. These habits allow readers to approach the material incrementally, making the concepts more achievable and manageable. The approach taken in this living handbook thus suits all audiences.
This green lifestyle text focuses on self-sufficiency, sustainability, living in the local, and community engagement. It is split into twelve main parts, listed as principles, with each principle (or part) providing you with five habits to take up in order to embed the principle in your life.
Principle one, observe and interact, is all about sensing what is around you, and seeing new ways of interacting with your environment. It encourages you to identify and use wild plants in your area, research the life cycle of something you use daily and learn about your local waterway systems. It offers a balanced mix of academia and practicality.
Principles two and three are very focused on self-sufficiency and taking a step away from supermarkets, the over-reliance on convenience, and consequently, balancing lifestyle with work. Principle four goes further into embedded consumerism. Titled apply self-regulation and accept feedback, it is about relying only on the local community, rehoming, privilege, communication, and being wise with water.
Principles five and six are very much about reducing, upcycling, or eliminating waste. Principles seven and eight mainly involve larger-scale projects within your home, your garden, or collaborating with friends, family, and the local community.
Principle nine is full of small and slow solutions which are easily attainable and as such likely to remain ongoing. Principle 10 is similar, however all the five habits recommended in this part require a large investment of your time in the preliminary stage, with two of them requiring your neighbours. For example, habit 48 which is listed in principle (part) 10, is to install a gate in your side fence. This involves being friendly enough with your neighbour such that you are comfortable for them to enter your backyard to collect produce, and vice versa.
This type of concept may seem foreign to some, however I can attest that it exists, as my fence backs onto a few properties. Two of the adjoining neighbours have been here for 50 years or more, and they share a gate, so that one of them can access the neighbour’s laundry line, as she doesn’t have one in her backyard. Therefore, it is about revisiting an old concept and making it new again.
The final two principles 11 and 12, with the exception of one habit listed (which is learning to identify and use local seaweeds), are about being more involved with the community. It encourages you to take proactive steps at a community level, and within yourself as personal development to benefit the wider community.
This is a brilliant publication that can be enjoyed over time as your habits become engrained, eventually leading you to fully embrace permaculture living. Whether it takes you one month or five years to complete, the book’s advice is timeless.
Reviewed by Rebecca Wu
The views expressed in this review belong to the author and not Glam Adelaide, its affiliates, or employees.
Distributed by: Murdoch Books
Released: August 2023
RRP: $45.00
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