Permaculture Case Study

Can people please recommend some books, videos, articles, etc. that show/explain a case study of permaculture taking a raw, unimproved piece of land and transforms it into a forest garden or some other productive permaculture space? It would also be great if the case study not only showed in detail the improvements that were made and how, but also why. I'm interested in trying to get a sense of how to look at a piece of ground, that has its own unique characteristics, and determine how to implement different permaculture techniques in ways that are most condusive to the land as it is pre-permaculture. Thanks very much.

What you are describing is something Bill Mollison talked about at length in The Permaculture Designer's Manual. It's a big book, expensive, and somewhat heavy reading. I'm working my way through it now.

I have only found poor or superficial documentation of permaculture site development.  Most reports appear to be more promotional than analytical.

I have a 5 year old site on 1 acre, 6 miles out of a mid sized western town, developing with minimal labor and inputs.  I have all sorts of conceptual design work and revisions, as well as pretty good photo points at multiple locations, and plenty of mistakes.  I also have a full time job and a family and struggle to do the writeup.  I can only assume it is the same for others.  But the lack of strong documentation and analysis of actual sites is I think unfortunate.

Sustainable Living at Melliodora Hepburn Permaculture Gardens: A Case Study in Cool Climate Permaculture 1985-1995 by David Holmgren may be what you are looking for. I don't own it but I flipped through a copy the other day and it seemed very thorough.