About Permies.com
Permies.com is the
largest permaculture forum on the net. It was
founded in 2005 by
Paul Wheaton, who is a certified master gardener and permaculture designer, as well as a former software engineer. Permies is
moderated by a large team of dedicated volunteers, and it hosts discussions, and resources about permaculture and related topics like homesteading, low-technology, organic gardening, community-building, fiber arts, sustainable living, and more.
Over the years, Permies has become a hub for finding and sharing detailed advice and information. Permies is also home to a
digital market where community members can buy and sell their own goods such as ebooks, videos, and even physical products. The team at Permies work hard to grow the community by
promoting content creators who cater to homesteaders, agrarians, and permaculturists. Permies is also host to forums to connect community members with each other, including
job listings, an intentional community forum, and the popular permaculture singles forum.
Wheaton started his blog at
richsoil.com in 2003 to share information about permaculture topics like lawn care and hugelkultur, and later founded Permies with the goal of sharing and growing knowledge about permaculture. He eventually
founded Wheaton Labs in 2011, a large acreage in Montana where he hosts
events and courses, as well as a "bootcamp" where aspiring permaculturists can get hands-on knowledge around everything from permaculture earthworks, to natural building, to food preservation, to alternative energy.
Supported by the Permies community, Wheaton has run
12 successful Kickstarter campaigns, authored numerous books, as well as producing podcasts, and documentary-style and educational films, with the goal of
building a better world by “infecting minds with permaculture”. He has devised many strategies to achieve this, including things like
SKills to Inherit Property (SKIP), educational tools like permaculture playing cards, and his many resources on
rocket mass heaters, and other rocket heat technology. With particular interest in natural building, Wheaton has even developed a style of home called a
wofati that uses 90% natural (and cheap or free) materials, which lead to the later development of concepts for a truly passive greenhouse that can grow year-round with no heating or fans needed, and a freezer that uses thermal mass so it requires no energy input.
What is Permaculture?
The term “permaculture” was coined in 1978 by Bill Mollison and David Holmgren to describe a whole-system approach to agriculture, land management, and life. Permaculture primarily looks at approaches to farming that take inspiration from nature in order to eliminate the need for pesticides, herbicides, and other potentially toxic and labour-intensive methods for crop management. Permaculture also involves things like natural building, appropriate technology, and intentional community to create thriving ecosystems that work with, rather than against nature.
More about Paul Wheaton
Paul Wheaton is a powerful advocate of permaculture. He was dubbed the "Duke of Permaculture" by Geoff Lawton and Sepp Holzer, and the "Bad Boy of Permaculture" by Occupy Monsanto. Paul is the owner of permies.com, coderanch.com, richsoil.com, and Wheaton Labs. He has produced over 600 podcasts, 200 youtube videos and a dozen feature-length films. He has presented at over 100 events around the US, and has written dozens of articles and 2 books on topics ranging from luxuriant environmentalism to homesteading skills. The events he hosts at his property, Wheaton Labs, have resulted in the development of rocket stove and rocket mass heater technology, massive earthworks featuring extensive hugelkultur, solar dehydrators, lots and lots of round wood timberframe structures like a truly passive earth-bermed solar greenhouse and a mega-cheap and luxurious home design called the Wofati, as well as many, many other permaculture innovations.
Nurture nature and nature nurtures us all
-Paul Wheaton, Building a Better World in Your Backyard - Instead of Being Angry at Bad Guys
A lot of really smart people are trying to engage the bad guys on a rigged playing field. I try to find the solutions to world problems in my backyard, and the backyards of a few others.
If I share these solutions prolifically, these ideas might spread.
Then the bad guys and their bad things shrivel up and blow away.
-Paul Wheaton
For me, nearly all of our problems are solved with a recipe composed mostly of homesteading and permaculture.
-Paul Wheaton
Interview with Paul Wheaton for Return Magazine - 2022
Joe Gardener on Paul Wheaton and Hugelkultur - 2021
Paul Wheaton on saving energy for TEDx - 2014
Montana Kaimin on Paul Wheaton and sustainably slacking - 2013
Paul Wheaton on lightbulbs for The Missoulian - 2011
Results of Paul Wheaton's lightbulb experiments for The Missoulian - 2011
Paul Wheaton on handwashing dishes on LifeHacker - 2011
Paul Wheaton on home heating on Lifehacker - 2011
Hugelkultur on Lifehacker - 2011 
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