Permaculture in Bavaria, Germany

Hi there, I am into growing veg and own fruit trees in my 650sqm garden in Bavaria. I am only just starting to wake up to the ideas in permaculture and am finding it so far mind blowing! Creating guilds under apple trees, keyhole beds and herb spirals have me reeling with possibilities.

I live just an hour or so north from Sepp Holzer's Krameterhof farm and will be trying to convice my wife we should visit the place.

Just wanted to say hello and will be here often now seeking advice and maybe helping in any other way I can. I'm an old GIS man turned stay at home Dad so am familiar with CAD and GIS - did it for 15 years before changing diapers/nappies became my life.

Maybe it would be easier to convince her if you show her the videos.

Good idea! Just linked up some old speakers to the PC, Searched Youtube for Sepp Holzer and even found a German version!

Is it some kind of accident by which I become interested in Permaculture and find I  live near to one who seems to be the Godfather of the craft?

Borrowed a copy of Gaia's Garden and I find it sets off what I call "mindbombs"! It sent my head spinning with talk of guilds, zones and swales.

I've just been into the garden and taken pics of what I have for a landscape. I'll put this onto my blog and solicit opinions from those more experienced than I.

EDIT: I've just set up a Wordpress blog to chronicle my new direction in gardening. Check it out at my profile page.

I feel the same excitement!  The world bristles with possibilities.

It would be fun to see some open-source software tools to map appropriate swales onto a landscape.  If you end up writing anything to help you design for your own terrain, please consider sharing it!  I understand there are already software tools to build contour maps from photographs.

Take a look at http://www.richsoil.com/sepp-holzer/sepp-holzer-permaculture.jsp

I found an excellent looking app called GardenCAD tonight which may be an entry level for those looking to computerise their operations. I was impressed at first glance but had to chance to go much deeper with the kids getting on my nerves as usual!