Welcome Phil Williams author of Fire the Landscaper

Photo Source: Phil

This week Phil Williams will be joining us to talk about all sorts of topics regarding lawn care.

There are four copies of his new book, Fire the Landscaper up for grabs.

Phil will be stopping by on the forum over the next few days answering questions and joining in discussions.

From now through this Friday, any posts in this forum, ie the lawn forum, could be selected to win.

To win, you must use a name that follows our naming policy and you must have your email set up in Paul's Daily-ish email.

The winner will be notified by email and must respond within 24 hours.

Posts in this thread won't count, but please feel free to say hi to Phil and make him feel welcome!

Thank you Cassie for making me feel welcome. I will stop by at least twice a day. I look forward to talking with everyone!

As an aside, for anyone that reads the book, there is a chapter that details my current battle with local code enforcement, in regard to my permaculture property. It's been an eye-opening experience. The battle was unresolved when the book was printed. Coincidentally, I have a hearing tomorrow night with the Department of Making Me Sad. I will post how the hearing turns out. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Phil

Welcome Phil

Welcome Phil...good luck tomorrow and yes please do post how it goes

Yahoo..just bought it! Thank you

Welcome! Excited for more lawncare information the permie way!

Thank you Susan, Jeff, and Judy! And thank you Judy for your support. I hope you enjoy the narrative.

The book is on sale for .99 cents for Permies People, until Thursday afternoon.

Hi Phil! You are presented in my 'dailyish e-mail' as the author of a childrens book on permaculture. Please can you tell me where I can find more information on that childrens book?
I have the idea of writing a book for young people on gardening and permaculture, maybe I can find some inspiration in your book. Of course I do not want to 'steal' your idea

Inge Leonora-den Ouden wrote:Hi Phil! You are presented in my 'dailyish e-mail' as the author of a childrens book on permaculture. Please can you tell me where I can find more information on that childrens book?
I have the idea of writing a book for young people on gardening and permaculture, maybe I can find some inspiration in your book. Of course I do not want to 'steal' your idea

Inge,
The book can be found here: Amazon Link to Farmer Phil's Permaculture.

You can also see the book on Youtube as read by my lovely wife and co-author Denise.

Good luck with your book. I hope mine helps you.

Phil

Awesome! Was just connecting the dots
Have that book, love it; and great interview on TSP!
Good luck tonight!!! I will grab your book tonight when I have my amazon info.
Let us know how it goes!

Jeff Reiland wrote:Awesome! Was just connecting the dots
Have that book, love it; and great interview on TSP!
Good luck tonight!!! I will grab your book tonight when I have my amazon info.
Let us know how it goes!

Jeff,
Thanks for your support! I hope you enjoy the book.

Update on the Township Hearing:
I received correspondence from my attorney. The township wanted to dismiss the appeal because we had not paid the $500 that they are charging us for the appeal. My attorney had no intention of paying the fee, because he could not find any ordinance that requires the fee. And when he questioned the township about the fee he received what amounted to a "blank stare." He paid the fee, which means I will pay the fee, so the hearing is still on. The township solicitor urged my attorney to drop the appeal, because nobody has had tried to appeal in five years. That does not make me feel confident about tonight. I'll let you guys know what happens.

Phil

Thank you very much, and thank Denise too, for reading the book to me! I like it very much.
I see this is a totally different book from what I want to write, my idea is for teenagers, it's more like a do-it-yourself-book

Hi Phil,
Keep us informed as to your fight. I've been planting perennial drought tolerant shrubs in the curb strip. The city came out and informed me that no plants can be over 30 inches high. Ground must be level. I was going for water garden, sinking water into the ground instead of the gutter, from my home's runoff, yet the people could get to sidewalk on walkways over a pretend creek. Yet they make us pay for the street trees damaged and sidewalk repair. welcome to San Jose! Still tweeking to stay in their parameters. I hope you win your fight.

Inge Leonora-den Ouden wrote:Thank you very much, and thank Denise too, for reading the book to me! I like it very much.
I see this is a totally different book from what I want to write, my idea is for teenagers, it's more like a do-it-yourself-book

You're welcome! I'm glad you liked it. The book is definitely for the little tikes, but if you wrote a permaculture childrens book for the same age group, I'd be happy about it. I don't think it would hurt my book at all. If anything I think sales would be better for both books. I think your idea is a very good one. I wish I had learned about permaculture as a teen.

Good Luck,
Phil

Jan Cooper wrote:Hi Phil,
Keep us informed as to your fight. I've been planting perennial drought tolerant shrubs in the curb strip. The city came out and informed me that no plants can be over 30 inches high. Ground must be level. I was going for water garden, sinking water into the ground instead of the gutter, from my home's runoff, yet the people could get to sidewalk on walkways over a pretend creek. Yet they make us pay for the street trees damaged and sidewalk repair. welcome to San Jose! Still tweeking to stay in their parameters. I hope you win your fight.

Jan,

I'm glad to hear you're fighting the good fight. I think too many people simply give in as soon as they get a threatening letter. There's so much storm water runoff in the cities and suburbs, you'd think they'd encourage what you're doing.

Phil

Hi Jan,

Good luck with educating the city to alternatives. Everyone please keep in mind that many of these rules had some basis of value under them. I nearly lost my son when he was in Grade 2 when a mother was backing her van out of her driveway and couldn't see him as he was shorter than the shrubbery. I was yelling at him to STOP! STOP! but he was a space cadet in those days. Luckily, the mother's 2 year old heard me and mimicked me yelling, "Top, Mummy Top". The shrubs were cut down within two days and the site lines improved and later lower ground cover (not grass) was planted. We need to plant better things than grass, but many people associate openness and flatness with safety and that is only true under certain circumstances. A dip or mound to capture an out of control car could save a pedestrian, pleasant flowers and edible berries can encourage neighbors to socialize and spend time in the street making it safer for everyone, trees give shade to cool the neighborhood which again encourages people to be outside, and the use of rain gardens to protect our groundwater (and in our area, salmon streams) is more and more vital to the larger environment. I guess part of what I'm saying is, try to view this as an educational opportunity rather than a fight or conflict in the hope that words like "healing the environment" and "what compromises would get us to a starting point" or "will you permit a two year trial?" will get people to actually open their minds to an alternative view of the world.
Good luck!

Exactly! Safety is 'people care' and to show that you realize the intent of the code, but feel it could be more inclusive can bridge the gaps in understanding (but not always, and not always right away).

I got all excited about the book being the effects of fire in the landscape. Good thing I read some of the comments and the subtitle first!
But now I'm really curious to read a different book entitled "Fire, the Landscaper."

So I ran the winner picker app in the forum software and we have 2 winners.

Matthew Groves
and
John Wolfram

Congratulations Matthew and John!

I sent you an email to ask for the email address of the person that first referred you to Permies.com. That person (if qualified) will also get a copy of the book and a permies care package.

Great to hear Matthew Groves and John Wolfram won the book!!! you'll be receiving it in a bit, and I'd like to ask you something.
As you know we're a big community here on permies, being nice and sharing are very important for all. I don'tm know if you have ever been to the books forum, well thats where many of us share their impressions on books we've read, short reviews, so others can think about buying a copy or taking it form the public library, etc.

There is this nice page Paul has managed to get going that puts many of the books that have been reviewed on the forum in a easy consulting way: the book review grid

So why, once you've read the book, don't you share your impressions under the summary at this link: fire the landscaper by Phil Williams
It would be so nice. remember to use tha acorn scale to give a vote on the book using the magical words: "I give this book ... out 10 acorns" as explained by Cassie on the page how many acorns would you give this book

Thanks hope you'll love reading and share your thoughts.