Eric bigge

Hi Cody I love your youtube channel. My wife and I have watched many of your videos, you're a good fit here, your knowledge of tools and especially old tools is so valuable for Permaculture!!! much of the problem today is a throw away society and old tools were never meant for that (I know you're a lot more than just knowledgeable about tools too), Thanks for doing such good work.

Hi Jacqueline, I'm super excited about your book and glad you're out here, I have loved every time you've been on with Paul's podcasts and your website is great Thanks

Thanks for the reply Tina and Michael, Michael is right on the money with the term "anti-fertilizing" my wife and I plan relatively soon 1-2years moving out of this house. For resale we are going to leave the grass and continue our gardens which is where I like to spend my time outside and not mowing grass. So if this sawdust experiment is effective I could have been doing it for years actually 14 years, and if that would save me 50% speculated mowing, it would save many many dozens of hours of work and running polluting inefficient mowers, this could also be effective for seniors and anyone not obsessed with lawn aesthetics.

I have hated mowing grass ever since I was a young man tasked with the job. I have blown up at least a dozen mowers spent endless hours trying to fix them and end up angry and smelling of gas, just the futility of it is maddening for myself wasting all this energy and time has never made sense to me. Years ago pre permaculture, I dreamt of killing all the grass and having maybe cement or some rocks lol, (my father actually did this at his house) while watching youtube videos I watched a gentleman misinterpret an idea and spread sawdust on his land for his row crops "surprise" nothing grew much there at all, it got me thinking I cannot be the only one who hates wasting time and resources mowing grass. My Hypothesis would be the sawdust(high carbon) locked up the nitrogen and massively slowed down the growth of his crops,
Experiment
spreading sawdust onto/into lawns could it slow down the grasses growth? eliminating maybe 50% of mowing? would equal less wasted hours and much less emissions hurting the earth and save everyone some money?
If this has been done or talked about or I'm in the wrong place feel free to remove this post, I'm new here thanks

Hi Everyone I give the Art of fermentation 9 out of 10 acorns. My wife and I are food people/geeks. Prior to purchasing this book, we were making traditional Kefir and the odd batch of yogurt. I've always loved full/half sour pickles (kosher style) and naturally ferment sauerkraut and for years wondering about the complexities of making these with old world knowledge and mystery. I read the Art of fermentation cover to cover minus all the parts on alcohol (not really our thing) and found the depth and breadth of information tremendous. Any question that you have on fermentation can be found in this book. From the art and science of fermenting to simple guidelines and trouble shooting, this is a book that will be able to fill your fermenting needs. This book fits with permaculture so well, and is a good lesson just as in permaculture there is no exact recipe just some parameters to guide you. Back to the pickles, they could not be any easier to make: salt, water, garlic, and observation. That is all it takes. We would pick cucumbers from our garden and make gallon after gallon. YUM YUM YUM PICKLES!!! I work with pickle aficionados and been told they are the best they have had. You can literally ferment anything that your garden/farm provides. This year alone we made 5 gallons of fermented hot sauce,10 gallons of various sauerkrauts, fermented radishes, carrots, squash, onions, greens, cauliflower, green cherry tomatoes, corn... the list goes on. This book also encouraged us to make yogurt with a mesophilc culture, so no incubation just milk with a little yogurt on the counter next day its all yogurt. Less work, more YUMS. Half our fridge right now is fermented food. It is January and we're still eating from our garden (we are zone 6). This book will give you the confidence and a place to start fermenting. I never got around to reviewing this book on amazon and felt guilty but would much rather share this review here. As permaculture people, we all have lots of surplus in the garden and fermentation is a great way to explore more depths of flavour, while preserving the harvest.

I give this book 10 out of 10 acorns!

Hi my review of Gaia's garden is that this book is amazing. This book would be suitable for beginner 'premies' and seasoned ones alike. I stumbled upon Permies months ago and have watched so many videos and read so much online and have listened to most the podcasts on iTunes, that I was in search for a good book on permaculture to read to gain insight, cultivate ideas and expand the possibilities for my family. Paul Wheaton's suggestion of this book encouraged me to buy it. I thought I understood a good amount already, but my mind was constantly being blown away page by page. I found that my perspective kept changing allowing me opportunity to critically analyze the world/garden around me. In addition, the concept of ecological gardening was especially insightful and helpful to place a framework on what balancing the garden actually means. Not to mention the realization of all the constant connections in nature. I never realized, bugs, birds, habitat and everything truly working together. It really hit home the story of the chiletepin being next to the hackberry bush and the chile tolerant birds spreading the seeds next to other hackberry bushes showing nature is in such harmony. I've told other coworkers of mine that story. This book is really about taking a step back, observing in nature and applying principles of balance, common sense and practicality to anyones garden. There are useful tips, tools, techniques and like the 'chiletepen' story a place for discussion. I was talking with my wife about this book and she stated that this book has principles that cross over into her field of social work. Every living being (plant, bug, bird or human) working together as nature intended to create an ecosystem that compliments one another. Not working against one another as commercial farming/gardening will have you believe. It is a book that would be a good field manual, a casual read or a textbook really. There are many tables, diagrams and pictures that help illustrate the concepts. This is especially helpful for quick reference when designing and searching for the rich information it provides. More of these illustrations could be helpful to help identify some of the plants that Toby is talking about. Finally, it would be nice to have a few blank pages at the end of each chapter for notes, ideas and conceptualizations. This would make this book into even more of a field manual. Overall this is a great book to begin your journey into permaculture, or to bring conventional gardeners closer to a permacultural world.