Find permaculture information, courses, practitioners, centres and organisations in Australia.

Permaculture - from "permanent (agri)culture" - is about developing sustainable agricultural and gardening methods based on the way natural ecosystems work. It seeks to get away from "industrial" agricultural techniques such as monocrops that drain nutrients from the soil and depend on large inputs of chemical pesticides, herbicides and fertiliser.
   Instead, the emphasis is on treating your garden or veggie patch as a mini-ecosystem full of biodiversity - an edible "forest garden". Instead of chemical inputs, permaculture uses natural techniques such as companion planting and encourages beneficial bugs and micro-organisms such as worms and pollinating insects. Wastes are naturally recycled as compost and mulch to provide nutrients. Animals such as chickens are integrated into the garden's ecosystem, feeding on bugs and weeds and providing manure for fertiliser. A permaculture garden will include layers as in a forest, from a tree canopy down to shrubs, ground cover and below-ground root crops.
   For many proponents, permaculture is more than just a gardening system, but a whole philosophy
of life based around living sustainably in harmony with the natural environment.
   Permaculture was developed in Australia by Bill Mollison and David Holgrem, and has since spread around the world.