Who have been the guides on your permaculture journey?

This is a thread for us to share and thank who has influenced us and how. I'll start with the first people that come to mind!

Joel Salatin~ My husband and I watched Food, Inc and were so impressed by Salatin's animal rotation that I thought, "Hey, we could do that!" In researching him, I found out about permaculture.

Jack Spirko~ After searching high and low for a comprehensive introduction to permaculture, I found his youtube videos.

Paul Wheaton~ Who made this forum that kept popping up in my search results when I was trying to learn about permaculture, and for his awesome Richsoil articles. I'm pretty sure I found the chicken one first, thought "This website is GOLD" and read most--if not all--of the articles on there.

Joseph Lofthouse and Carol Deppe ~ For getting me interested in squash, potatoes, and plant breeding. I've learned so much from Joseph!

Tyler Ludens~ For getting me thinking about staple crops in a much more comprehensive way.

R Ranson and Travis Johnson ~ For teaching about sheep and how I wasn't ready for them yet. And for R's awesome fiber stuff that always makes me want to drool and my hands itch to hold yarn.

Bryant RedHawk ~ For teaching me so much about soil and nutrients and being there when I was totally clueless as to what was going wrong in my garden.

John Saltveit ~ For all his advice on how and what to grow in our corner of the world!

Burra Maluca ~ For keeping this place ticking with so much unseen work. Without her work, I couldn't have learned from so many of the above.

Tracy Wandling ~ Her amazing garden thread inspired and guided me in my own garden-making.

Dale Hodgins ~ For teaching me to be resourceful and think out of the box, how to use coffee grounds as mulch, and how to make a garden in just three days.

Erica Strauss ~ Her awesome blog comforted me when I my son was colicky (I'm not alone, and she could survive it, so could I!), for her gardening guides that I rely on every year to make sure I get the seeds in the ground at the right time, her advice on what to grow here, and for being the deciding factor into me getting ducks. I love my ducks!


Man, my list is long! And, I'm sure there's more people I need to add to it. But, I'll stop now and let other people post (you know you want to )

I like short lists — unsurprisingly mine overlaps with Nicole’s

1. Paul Wheaton: for this site and his great articles and posts
2. Joseph Lofthouse: who helped me understand what I had been trying for and showed me how to do it
3. Alexia Allen: permaculture living
4. Steven Edholm: amazing gardener and arborist
5. Zhuangzi: the music of nature, the use of uselessness, the power of perspective

Great thread Nicole! I’m only a handful of years into my journey of really pursuing this homesteading lifestyle. It wasn’t until I was in my mid 30’s that I figured out what I wanted to do with my life. Here’s my list of people to date that have influenced me:

John Seymour: his book The Guide to Self Sufficiency was the first book I read about this kind of living that kindled my fire.
Gene Logsdon & Wendell Berry: These guys are on my short list of the smartest people to have lived in the last 100 years. The philosophy and wisdom of these two gentlemen really inspire me.
William Albrecht: soil scientist extraordinaire
Sir Albert Howard: organic farming pioneer and one of the first to recognize soil as something other than an anchor for roots.
Eliot Wigginton & his students: the Foxfire books!
Joel Salatin: his inspiration that it can be done
Paul Wheaton: for providing this place where I find good people with like minds
Bryant Redhawk: his sage advice are my favorite readings here in these forums

Special thanks to the volunteer staff of Permies for constantly keeping this place clean of spam, blatant lies and rude posts; and also the numerous other good people here on Permies who give me perspective on subjects I otherwise wouldn’t have. Thank you, and I mean that.

One path led to another for me.

Joel Salatin- his YouTube videos were totally eye opening for me. How his fields and his philosophy led to beautiful landscapes, productive farming and ranching practices. all natural and making profit to boot.

Geoff Lawton- I think it was his greening the desert video that led me to look furthur into permiculture a term I had never even heard before. This was probably only 3 or 4 years ago.

Permies - Thanks to Paul Wheaton for creating In my opinion, the best permiculture site on the interwebs for creating and allowing many views and attracting great minds to share their  knowledge and experiences.

Permie contributors - in particular - Bryant Redhawk, Nicole alderman, r ransom, Joseph Lofthouse, and many, many others here as well.

I am learning more and more everyday and though I've only been on my property a year now had never before put permiculture into action. That has all changed. I finished my 1st swale yesterday, have a worm bin, huge compost pile, collected seeds, planted trees. Next projects will all be guided by many of the threads and help from my fellow permies.

Kola Nicole, thank you for starting this thread, I think it's a great way for us to thank those who inspire us.

My list is of those who helped me decide to share knowledge;

Gray Owl,  my medicine path mentor, he taught me that knowledge unshared is knowledge wasted.

Paul Wheaton, When I found this site I was inspired, I had found a place with people seeking knowledge and many who had the knowledge that I needed to fill the gaps. I have learned much from Paul and others here on permies.

Joseph Lofthouse, one of my cherished kola and fellow teachers who teach what they do.

Jeoff Lawton, a friend and another one who is getting the knowledge out for all to learn.

Bill Albrecht, one of those teachers you never forget.

Mark Shepard, a friend and teacher of unimaginable worth to me.

Dr. Wayne Dorband, a friend and one of the people who made me realize I had lots to offer to others.

Wolf, my wife, who lets me spend time here to share my knowledge.

Burra Maluca,  who has been a wonderful guide and helps me greatly when it is needed.

Dr. Elaine Ingham, who is also a colleague and such an inspiring soul on a mission.

All the staff members on permies, where would we all be with out such wise and helpful people, I am indebted to all of you.

There are far to many to list so I limit to those I hold in my heart as Kola (friends)

Redhawk

Joseph Lofthouse, Carol Deppe, and one not mentioned yet:
Ruth Stout.

Aside from the obvious greats in this space, so many to count, and without wishing to leave anyone out, I'd like to thank Everyone who's ever put any effort into moving permaculture forward.  Innovators, teachers, organizers, artists, eccentrics, scientists, story tellers, the purple and the brown, the engineers and the coders.  Thank you all.  Most importantly perhaps, I say thanks to my family for sticking with me on my crazy permie journey.  I've led them down a lot of rabbit holes and they've stuck with me the whole way with no complaints.  They stick with me in the lean years, when I've got more failures than successes, knowing that I'm we're ultimately heading in the right direction.  I'm lucky to have all that I do, and I have many people (most of which I'll never get the chance to meet in person to thank) who have been such a great help along the way.

I'd also like to recognize my own growth and development in my abilities to work with the natural processes and to trust my instincts. Observation and interaction is SOOOOOO crucial to this journey, so never discount your own role and growth in the process.  

Hooray to all! on all of you successes and growth this year.  

Mine started with Mike Reynolds back in the 70s. Then Mike Oehler. Then with the dawning of the internet I'd have to say Bill Mollison and Geoff Lawton. Lately it's been Paul Wheaton cuz he's really on top of the new innovations. And I have to mention the Primitive Technology YouTube Videos! They're amazing! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAL3JXZSzSm8AlZyD3nQdBA.   Uncle Mud (Chris McLellan) and Sigi Koko I saw at the Mother Earth News Fairs in Pa and they conveyed invaluable building information. Wonderful people in this world! I'll be eternally grateful for what they teach us all.

Thanks for the thoughtful thread. I'd like to give gratitude to YUMI - York Unifying Multicultural Initiative, a community garden on the edges of the historical city; particularly Helen the professional gardener there - I spent many days learning with her at the gardens. That piqued my interest in gardening and food and international cuisine.

I was then led to get involved in an experimental Incredible Movement group, aiming to bring together different disciplines across community, arts, food, & business. I met Viv Chamberlin-Kidd, then a trustee of the Permaculture Association Britain - who had immense knowledge and is very willing to share.

Andy Goldring is a real force behind many initiatives and movements and I'm very pleased to have met him and to be working with him.

Hannah Thorogood is an inspirational farmer, owner and manager of the Inkpot permaculture farm in Lincolnshire - with a forest garden, cows, sheep's, turkeys, goats & hens, as well as running courses. Her site is a real show of what can be achieved by extraordinary people with determination.

Milkwood permaculture have in my opinion one of the best online presences of any permaculture practitioners worldwide - I love following their adventures in self-reliance through their blog and instagram.

Joe Atkinson, resident at LILAC cohousing and former colleague, taught me on a PDC with Paul 'Neckie' Paine, at the beautiful St Ann's allotments, Nottingham.

There have been many other inspirational people along the way and there's bound to be many others too in the future. If you're in the UK and don't recognise the names above, I urge you to Google them.

A couple of local Home Orchard Society guys here in Portland: Vern Nelson and Ted Swenson.  

Norris Thomlinson a hard core permaculture guy who lived in Portland, but unfortunately moved to Hawaii.

Elaine Ingham, for detailing what is actually going on in the soil.

Paul Wheaton, obviously, for running this site, that brings together so much of what can help us.

Bryant Redhawk, for explaining something insightful and informative nearly every time he posts.

John S
PDX OR

I'm not on my main PC so I'm probably gonna forget some. I'm more of an agroforestry / gardening type guy so:


Masanobu Fukuoka and Akinori Kimura: Gave me the inspiration to follow my crazy dreams and to try unorthodox methods while always learning from nature.

Agroforestry.net "The overstory" - Awesome website that has amazing articles with good sources, it focuses on the role of trees in agroforestry systems and has helped me with designing some of my first "inventions".

Sepp Holzer - I haven't been able to read up more on him but I really dig (pun unintended) his style of using terraces and aquaponics systems in a way that is tune with nature and that actually makes good money.

Charles Dowding on Youtube - Great simple info on no dig, no till gardening, composting, etc.

Geoff Lawton with his Greening the Desert series definitely made me believe in the power of using permaculture to transform the desert and I will soon try to do the same on a hostile plot of land.

Fouch o Matic on youtube, they really nail what its like going off the grid and give valuable info.

Mike Autumn wrote:I'm not on my main PC so I'm probably gonna forget some. I'm more of an agroforestry / gardening type guy so:


Masanobu Fukuoka and Akinori Kimura: Gave me the inspiration to follow my crazy dreams and to try unorthodox methods while always learning from nature.

Agroforestry.net "The overstory" - Awesome website that has amazing articles with good sources, it focuses on the role of trees in agroforestry systems and has helped me with designing some of my first "inventions".

Sepp Holzer - I haven't been able to read up more on him but I really dig (pun unintended) his style of using terraces and aquaponics systems in a way that is tune with nature and that actually makes good money.

Charles Dowding on Youtube - Great simple info on no dig, no till gardening, composting, etc.

Geoff Lawton with his Greening the Desert series definitely made me believe in the power of using permaculture to transform the desert and I will soon try to do the same on a hostile plot of land.

Fouch o Matic on youtube, they really nail what its like going off the grid and give valuable info.

With you until the last one there... on the Fouches, check out:
https://permies.com/t/73899/Dealing-community-drama-part

I did hear something about that. It's so sad to hear that those things happened since they seem like such nice people but oh well, I still learned things from them.

There are so many.

Definitely Fukuoka, Mollison, Lawton are near the top of my permie influences.

But then I get other folks who have done a lot to influence my way of gardening or thinking in permaculture terms or in one aspect of it.

Emilia Hazelip for her heavy mulched raised bed, no till garden technique.

Paul Stamets who has done so much to bring the fungus among us, and Peter McCoy for taking it so deeply on as well.  

Alan Savory definitely deserves mention for building a whole and completely amazing design system on his own, and his groundbreaking observations on ungulate landscape/plant interaction.  

Sepp Holzer for his incredible practical implementation, making an biogeographical playground for his mind.  

Elaine Ingham for plunging so deep down the rabbit hole of what is to have living soil.  

Paul Wheaton for forcing me to think differently on lightbulbs and heat and lots of other stuff--I like the way his brain works and how he gets so fully into something.  

Art Ludwig for his work on water harvesting.  

Beverly Gray, for her book "The Boreal Herbal".

Nancy J Turner for her massive influence on the world of edible and medicinal indigenous plants of the North West Coast.  

Brad Lancaster for his work on drylands water harvesting.  

Gary Nabhan for his work on indigenous food plants, and dryland food in general.  

Peter Tompkins and Christopher Bird for writing the Secret Life of Plants.  

Eliot Cowan for writing Plant Spirit Medicine.  

Ben Falk for his work in Zone 3 and making me believe in things like Asian rice growing in northern temperate areas.  

Tony Rinaudo for his ground breaking FMNR technique.

Mors Kochanski for his book Northern Bush Craft.

Then I also get into people who first introduced me to simple living, people like my grandparents and old trapper/hunter guys I knew as a kid.  I first heard the world Permaculture from my friend Cody Skog , Candians who traveled around France on his bicycle with his partner Susan Miskelly.  I helped them build a two story stone and cordwood house.  I was first told that I needed to go to Permies.com by one of my best friends, Keith J Piper.  I first heard of Fukuoka from a primer on herbal medicine called Growing and Using the Healing Herbs.    

Indigenous American peoples and tribal people's globally played a huge role in formulating in my mind concepts of what is possible to live in a truly sustainable way on this planet with low energy demands.  The back to the land movement, for their commitment to break the cycles of technological and political dependency and regain a sense of balance with human's relationship to the planet.  The modern primitive movement for giving me a glimpse of what I can do with stone, bone, antler, shell, hides, and plants, especially the instructors at Rabbit stick and Winter Count.  Boulder Outdoor Survival School for a three seasons of practical bush time/knowledge in one year. The old time pioneers and the many new style homesteaders who innovate and survive with less technology.

The ancient people who created Terra Preta, and those who created chinampas, and rice paddies, and terraces, and swales.    

There are probably many on this site who deserve some mention, but I would not want to leave any out, so I will refrain and simply say the Permies Community.   There are so many youtube channels and websites that I could mention, that again I wont mention enough of them but might add a list here in the future.  The Permaculture Research Institute deserves a nod though, for sure.  

There are so many on here that contribute, and it is impossible to name a few. I would thank the "unseen" people who make this work. Without them I don't think this is possible, or even counterproductive. There are so few places that subject matter experts can be found in a gentle place, and let them spread such tremendous wealth of knowledge. I would never have interacted with these giants without you (and you know who you are). You are the mycorrhyzae that make the whole forest thrive.

Burra, you are fierce!

I'm not good at remembering names. Probably because I never take all information from one person or one side. I like comparing the points of view seen from different directions and then experiment to find my own way. I like wandering in my search for paths to follow (a short distance on this path, a longer distance on that path, etc.)

So the 'guides' for me are people showing the different paths, different directions, different possiblities to make a choice from. F.e. on youtube the Rhodes family on their Great American Farm Tour (I would like to see a European family doing that in North-Western Europe).

The entire Permies Forum is a guide like that too! Not just a few names, but all 'permies' in the forum together.

I would have to echo Nicole's list and add Dr. Elaine Ingham as I like what I have read that she has written.

I would like to thank all of the staff members and the volunteers here on permies.