Gaia's Garden by Toby Hemenway

Question, I heard that in chapter 5 of Gaia´s Garden he talks about how to keep water underground. I have a field in an arid area that I visit once a year and I am curious about any system that may include digging a trench and filling it with rocks, and how to do this effectively. Any hints?

I give this book 8 out of 10 acorns. It is one of the first books on my shelf that I reach for when I'm looking for information and it often provides what I am looking for. This would be a great book to give to someone that is just starting to show interest in permaculture, or someone already knee-deep into it. I like the style of writing and the inclusion of case studies of successful applications of the techniques described in the book. Most importantly though, I have watched enough videos of Toby that my brain has been programmed to hear his voice when I'm reading his words. He had a very calming, reassuring and encouraging way of speaking that I'm quite happy to remember so clearly.

I give this book 9 out of 10 acorns.  To cover areas I have not encountered in previous posts, while it is extremely informative as other have mentioned, I find it seems to be slanted towards the western states. This is not to say that it’s content does not pertain to other areas.  While is is not a difficult read ...it is not easy either. It reads somewhat like a text book.  But to stress, this is an excellent book.

I give this book 8 out of 10 acorns.

An oft-cited introduction to permaculture, Hemenway’s book provides a philosophical model for gardening the permaculture way. While I caution readers away from the irresponsible use of known invasive plants in your gardening schemes—a rather bewildering practice on the part of permaculturists like Hemenway—there’s enough else here to make the read worthwhile, not the least of which is a soaring symphony to soil in “Chapter Four: Bringing the Soil to Life,” which will forever alter how you think about dirt. Bonus: This book is 35% off in publisher Chelsea Green's year-end sale for 2022.

Addendum: If you're interested in more book recommendations, check out my list, "For gardening bookworms."

I give this book 10 out of 10 acorns!

If you are new to permaculture, this book lays out the systems and how they work together in nature. The more our systems mimic nature, the easier they are to maintain and the more sustainable they are. For example, a forest always has layers (for many reasons) unlike a yard with clean cut grass.

We will be implementing compost with everything coming from our yard: leaves, grass, chicken poop, annual plants that have died). The goal is to work WITH nature and eliminate waste. I learned a lot about rain catching and swales. It also has a lot of information on creating a food forest - which we will hopefully do when we get more land!

I give this book 8 out of 10 acorns.

Gaia's Garden by Toby Hemenway is an excellent book that takes someone with minimal knowledge of permaculture principles and starts teaching them what there is to know. The author is thorough in their task of building upon prior learned knowledge and creating a depth of knowledge for the reader to retain. Some things I knew already but I was pleasantly surprised to be educated and corrected in different regards. Some segments feel like they were long and I personally lost focus and had to reread to understand what was trying to be conveyed. Getting through those parts reward the reader with excellent snippets of knowledge that really help connect the dots between how different parts of the ecosystem work hand in hand.

Overall, I would recommend this book to my friends.

I give this book 10 out of 10 acorns.

It is my very favorite Permaculture book, and the second one I ever read (because "Food Not Lawns" was the first one I read, and Hemenway wrote the foreword to that one!). There is a lovely dynamic to this book: Permaculture is a non-linear, interconnected web of principles and actions, although a book has to work sequentially. I love how Hemenway was able to present the information sequentially in the chapters, and yet be ever building on them throughout the book, so that it was like a web of information and ideas at the same time. I have not had quite the same experience with the organization and flow with other Permaculture books, and it is why I am constantly pulling it off my shelves just to enjoy it, besides look up information.

I have the second edition, and appreciate the section devoted to urban gardens, which is my scenario. Hemenway was a reader as well as a writer, and you can tell this by his literary sense of humor and his almost poetic prose. I appreciated his warmth, knowledge, hope, and idealism on every page of every chapter. I felt like he understood the way to see things, the way I wish to see things, and I will refer to this great book all my life.