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This is the official thread for Paul's beeaaautiful Permaculture Playing Cards, designed by Alexander Ojeda. Please post reviews in this thread.

To buy the cards
click here.




This complete deck of cards is beautifully illustrated with permaculture terms and imagery, and makes a great gift for people that are curious about permaculture and organic gardening.

This deck of cards is one of our favorite tools for spreading the knowledge of permaculture - give them to a friend, leave them on a bar, stash a deck in a forest service cabin - you can even buy them in bulk to sell in your own business!





The idea and inspiration behind this product was to create a simple, sort of bullet pointed version of the concept of permaculture, which we all know can be far-reaching and broad. This deck of cards gives people one concept at a time to learn about, and as a result, we think they're more likely to absorb the information.

Can we change the world with a deck of cards? Probably not, but we figure it can't hurt to try.

The details:

  • 55 cards per deck
  • 52 playing cards
  • 2 jokers
  • A bonus thank you card for the supporters of the Kickstarter and project


  • The Cards



    Ace of Spades: Polyculture;
    Ace of Hearts: Wofati;
    Ace of Clubs: Hugelkultur;
    Ace of Diamonds: Rocket Mass Heater;
    King of Spades: Sepp Holzer;
    King of Hearts: Bamboo;
    King of Clubs: Masanobu Fukuoka;
    King of Diamonds: Bill Mollison;
    Queen of Spades: Black Locust;
    Queen of Hearts: Comfrey;
    Queen of Clubs: Greening Deserts;
    Queen of Diamonds: Ruth Stout;
    Jack of Spades: Mike Oehler;
    Jack of Hearts: Willie Smits;
    Jack of Clubs: Allan Savory;
    Jack of Diamonds: Art Ludwig;
    Ten of Spades: Paddock Shift Systems;
    Ten of Hearts: Greywater;
    Ten of Clubs: Dandelion;
    Ten of Diamonds: Stinging Nettles;
    Nine of Spades: Sunchokes;
    Nine of Hearts: Fungi;
    Nine of Clubs: Jean Pain;
    Nine of Diamonds: Mullein;
    Eight of Spades: Natural Swimming Pool;
    Eight of Hearts: Mulberry;
    Eight of Clubs: Tefa;
    Eight of Diamonds: The Man Who Planted Trees;
    Seven of Spades: Chickens;
    Seven of Hearts: Pigs;
    Seven of Clubs: Pee;
    Seven of Diamonds: Replacing Irrigation with Permaculture;
    Six of Spades: Ben Law;
    Six of Hearts: Electric Tractor;
    Six of Clubs: Husp;
    Six of Diamonds: Honey Bees;
    Five of Spades: Food Preservation;
    Five of Hearts: Bugs, Weeds, Funguses & Microorganisms;
    Five of Clubs: Beyond Compost;
    Five of Diamonds: Wind and Berms;
    Four of Spades: Wildcrafting;
    Four of Hearts: Livestock Guardian Dog;
    Four of Clubs: Food as Medicine;
    Four of Diamonds: Mason Bees;
    Three of Spades: Food Forest;
    Three of Hearts: Rhubarb;
    Three of Clubs: Dry Outhouse;
    Three of Diamonds: Solar Food Dehydrator;
    Two of Spades: Rumford Fireplace;
    Two of Hearts: Cast Iron;
    Two of Clubs: Diatomaceous Earth;
    Two of Diamonds: Apple Tree;





    You can get bulk discount pricing directly from us here.




    Leave your reviews below and tell us how you like the cards!
    COMMENTS:
     
    pollinator
    Posts: 4715
    Location: Zones 2-4 Wyoming and 4-5 Colorado
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    I give these cards a 10 out of 10 acorns.
    The artwork is fantastic. Lots of hidden stuff to find and tons of information all in one place.
      I bought a bunch and gave them out as Christmas gifts to educate and entertain the members of my family.
     
    gardener
    Posts: 1295
    Location: Little Belt Mountains, MT
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    hugelkultur purity dog hunting chicken wofati
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    A neat feature of these cards is that there are contributors names hidden in the art on them! It's subtle and super tiny, here's a peak at a couple with Jocelyn's name in there
    cards-hidden-name-jocelyn.png
    [Thumbnail for cards-hidden-name-jocelyn.png]
    hidden-name-card.png
    [Thumbnail for hidden-name-card.png]
     
    Destiny Hagest
    gardener
    Posts: 1295
    Location: Little Belt Mountains, MT
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    Some cards from the deck:





     
    Destiny Hagest
    gardener
    Posts: 1295
    Location: Little Belt Mountains, MT
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    I give these cards 10 out of 10 acorns!

    Whenever I buy a gift for someone, I'm always reluctant to buy the usual junk - I want something unique, that leaves a lasting impression.

    I bought a few decks of these a couple years ago to pass out as gifts, and they were a huge hit. The art is just stunning, and each card is loaded with information. Living in Montana, land of bars and gambling, everyone keeps a deck of cards on hand. It's kind of fun to put one of these decks in your bag, go to a bar, and then just casually leave them behind. Inevitably, they'll get used, and you spread a little knowledge along the way

    Funny story - I have a neighbor up the road a ways I got to know a couple years ago when we bartended together, and the year I passed these cards out, I brought a deck to her house to give to her. She laughed and said she had bought me the same thing

    Seriously, these are just great little stocking stuffers, and it's a nice way to drop a little permaculture knowledge bomb on some friends and family, without intimidating them with a big thick book or something. They're curiosity-inducing!
    Photo-on-10-8-16-at-12.23-AM.jpg
    permaculture cards action shot
    permaculture cards action shot
     
    Posts: 79
    Location: Aside the Salish Sea
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    They are indeed beautiful.  Being a bit of a board game aficionado, I've been casually trying to figure out how they might fit into a permie-based board game.  Sophisticated games these days have cool mechanics like engine-building, which is.. well.. pretty much like starting a system.  It's also reasonably easy to simulate weather using modified dice rolls.  
     
    Posts: 162
    Location: NE ARIZONA, Zone 5B, 7K feet, 24" rain
    4
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    I have about 6 decks of cards...  I love the idea of these cards.  I love the pictures... and I love the text.  I wish they were in a print I could actually read... you know, bigger.  The whole idea was brilliant.  The art beautiful, the outpouring of volunteer work... but they are just printed too tiny for many people I love to read them.  I've not handed them out and I feel just horrible about that.  This may be a good lesson for advertising in the future.  So much was trying to be accomplished that the impact became really miniscule... just too tiny.  Some food for thought I hope...
    Peace, Out.
     
    Posts: 8
    Location: Colorado
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    We missed the Kickstarter for these beauties, but glad we eventually learned about them. We love them, though its hard to play cards when everyone is admiring them and conversing about Permaculture. Definitely going to be grabbing more for gifts and enjoying them ourselves.
     
    pioneer
    Posts: 549
    Location: North-Central Idaho, 4100 ft elev., 24 in precip
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    I give the playing cards 10 out of 10 acorns!

    Nothing else like them that I've found that is so subtle and convenient for opening a dialog about Permaculture.  The art is superb and it's fun for the entire family to pull out a deck and just start reading and finding the hidden names, etc.  
     
    steward
    Posts: 3705
    Location: Moved from south central WI to Portland, OR
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    I give these cards a 9.7 out of 10 acorns!  They are close to perfect.  I got a bunch and gave them out as Christmas gifts after the Kickstarter.

    My favorite thing is that every single card has unique and awesome content.  My favorite author just finished Kickstarting a deck of cards where the face cards have characters from his books, and that's cool, but the number cards are just number cards.  This permaculture deck of cards has got the content of a coffee table book, put onto cards.  

    The only quibble is that old folks have to get out their reading glasses to get all the fine print.

    The permaculture cards are a way to introduce people to the ideas of permaculture, one game at a time.
     
    steward & author
    Posts: 37873
    Location: Left Coast Canada
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    I give these cards a 10 out of 10 acorns.

    It's like having permies in your pocket.  These cards are jam-packed full of good advice and exciting tidbits.  

    I learned lots of interesting things reading these cards, some of them I'm eager to try like "tefa" on the 8 of clubs.  If it can grow lemon trees in Montan, I bet I can use it to grow orange trees in Western Canada.  

    The artwork is amazing and I'm torn between playing with these or hanging them on the wall.

    permaculture playing cards in action


    Who would love these cards?  Anyone interested in homesteading, pioneer skills, permaculture, back to the land, natural living.  I know more than a few people who would enjoy these as stocking stuffers.  

     
    steward
    Posts: 21508
    Location: Pacific Northwest
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    I give the digital permaculture playing cards 9.5 out of 10 acorns.

    I love the rustic background of the playing cards, as well as the digital watercolor of the illustrations. Speaking of the illustrations, there are so many little hidden aspects of each card that I can spend a long time inspecting them, and still find new things to appreciate. Not only are their names hidden on some of them, but the art really shows a clear understanding of each idea or plant. For example, the dandelion doesn't just show a dandelion flower, it illustrates the long tap root with it's fine roots branching out from it, the seed head, the toothed leaves and how they cover the ground, as well as the yellow flower. The hugelkulture card has the trees roots growing into the mound, the mount being formed with dirt between the sticks and logs, the various root lengths and widths of all the plants growing on it, as well as the placement of the fruit tree at the base and side of the mound, rather than growing out of it. Each card not only illustrates, it informs--and not just in words but also in art.

    The fonts chosen are also wonderful. I love how the title on each card is a beautiful medieval script--while the information on each card is in a nice, handwritten-style font that both looks good and is easy to read. The cards really do a fantastic job of mixing vintage and new fonts and artistic styles. I think this is especially wonderful because permaculture itself is a blend of old techniques and new science that compliment each other, just as the artistic styles on this card compliment one another.

    The only reason I only gave it 9.5 out of 10 points is because, well, it's a digital copy, rather than physical, and every time I look at them, I wish I had physical ones in my hands to play with and teach my children with! That kind of intense longing is hard to handle! One advantage to the digital over the hard copy is that you can really zoom in and inspect the card, finding all those nifty little secrets and hidden names that might be hard to see on a small card. Also, you print your own posters and pictures to decorate your house--these really are works of art!
     
    out to pasture
    Posts: 12439
    Location: Portugal
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    I give these cards 9 out of 10 acorns.

    I have both the digital and the physical versions of these cards and I use them very differently.

    For my own personal use, I love the digital version.  I like being able to browse them one by one and enlarge the image so I can hunt for the hidden names, really taking my time to think deeply about each one.  I'd actually love for there to be an app for viewing them as some kind of 'card of the day' meditation, or to be able to lay out several in a spread to help me brainstorm a problem.  

    For sharing permacultue ideas with other people though, the physical cards are a must-have.  They are so tempting to pick up, are small enough to fit nicely into the hand, and once there it is almost impossible to resist ruffling through the cards to see what gems are lurking there.  The range of subjects is really wide, from famous permaculturists, to useful plants, making compost, the rumford fireplace, methods of food preservation and building wofatis or rocket mass heaters - I can't imagine anyone not finding something to spark their imagination, and the cards are wonderfully designed to give them just enough of a taster to leave your friends hungry for more.  The subject of each card is written in big enough letters so that it is instantly obvious, the illustrations are incredibly well designed so that they draw you in and gently educate you, and there is just enough text in bite-sized pieces to thoroughly whet your appetite.  I'm a bit of a hermit and rarely mix with people, but I've had all my spare packs snapped up eagerly by anyone who has laid eyes on them and I'm jealously guarding my last pack.  I might have to stock up with a brick or two so I can hand them out to any other visitors we have...

    So why only 9 out of 10 acorns?  Because my name is hidden on one of the cards and it felt kinda wrong to give a perfect score to something I was associated with.  But really, these should be a full ten.  

    Why not treat yourself to a digital version to see what all the fuss is about?  It is available for only $3, or one slice of pie as an instant download.  
     
    steward
    Posts: 809
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    I give these cards 9 out of 10 acorns

    Permacultrue knowledge needs to expand exponentially if we want to make a change in this world. What a better idea of getting out to the public with a set of cards that one can use for normal games with firends or family but at the same time sharing a treasure of knowledge?
    Put together two minds that use creativity in a different way, Paul Wheaton and Alexander Ojeda, and you will get a great result. The drawings are awesome, I've even brought the t-shirts Alexander designed, his art is great.

    I must say I use them mostly to play patience beacuse I love reading every card that passes through my fingers.
    I guess a new set could be designed to play card games that need a double set and to get out even more information.

    All in all this card set is a great gift and a great way of getting the word out there.
     
    pollinator
    Posts: 4328
    Location: Anjou ,France
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    I give these cards 9 out of 10 acorns for entertainment These  cards are really  great but I have a problem every time we use them the games are so slow as everyone keeps asking me questions about the topics on each card. ( although I can make a good guess at what cards my opponents are holding from the questions they ask folks have not worked that out yet )
    So as cards mmm but as a gift nine  out of ten acorns .
    Maybe could also be sold as posters/ pictures ? Or even a book to go with the cards to give more details on each subject .
    Maybe another set to go with this set so we can play tarot? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_tarot

    David
     
    gardener
    Posts: 1179
    Location: Eastern Tennessee
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    I'm going to go ahead and give these the coveted 10 out of 10 acorns. Here's why.

    Of course they do what cards are supposed to do, so already they fulfill the most basic function as well as every other deck I've ever owned. Where they excel is that the place I do most of my card playing is when I am out camping or hiking (often with the local scout group). Invariably, the cards become a topic of discussion around the table as we play. One card or another will catch the interest of someone and they will ask about it. If the person interested is one of the youth, they are known to start working on a merit badge for the subject of the card.

    They are beautiful to look at, full of little points of interest and it can be entertaining hunting down what's been hidden in the pictures. I can't think of any complaints at all. I was originally worried that they wouldn't hold up well, but so far, they are staying strong. If you're considering getting a deck, I would say go for it! I can't imagine you would regret it.

     
    Posts: 323
    Location: Pittsburgh PA
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    These playing  cards get 10 out of 10 acorns.
    Paul and Alexander out did them selves on this project. At first I was afraid that the playing cards would be a novice gimmick. Not the case at ALL. The cards are beautifully illillustrated and pack full with information. Wether you are a beginner gardener, just exploring permaculture, a novice, or a full blown practicing permaculture farmer, these playing cards hold value. I, myself a PDC graduate and active farmer... really appreciate these cards. I can very well see these cards being used as an educational tool. Definitely buying a brick or two for holiday gifts. I give this a 9.99 acorns (10). Only because there needs to be a larger version for those hard of seeing, and to celebrate the amazing artwork.  Edit...talk about stacking function... what better way to educate than with playing cards.
     
    Nicole Alderman
    steward
    Posts: 21508
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    I got my physical deck of cards in the mail just now, and I give them 10 out of 10 acorns!

    These things are freakin' awesome, and fun for all ages. My three year old saw the dandelion card and won't let it go (the kid LOVES dandelions, especially eating their flowers). My 10 month old fell in love with Jean Pain, and also would not relinquish the card...Jean is now a bit bent out of shape, but he survived her affections without any rips or tears. My husband is excited that they are "normal" cards, so we can play Go Fish and War and all other sorts of card games. My whole family loves these! And, like I said in my review of the digital download, the information and illustrations on these cards are top notch.

    Thank you for creating such beautiful, informative, and versatile cards!
     
    gardener
    Posts: 1331
    Location: Miami, 11a, Am, apartment dweller
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    I give these cards 10 out of 10 Acorns

    I received my physical deck a few days ago, and I love them. After sorting them so the Aces are atop the face cards for each suit, I've gone through and fully read each 'rank' (all the Aces, all the Kings, etc.) to better grasp the hierarchy expressed in the cards. I'm surprised how frequently I return to them to reference individual cards, such as the Q♠ (Black Locust), or the 9♦ (Mullein) while watching Paul's videos or listening to the podcast.

    As I wrote in my Amazon review of the Permaculture Playing Cards, they are simply great. The art is gorgeous, the words are insightful and inspiring, and they're a good weight cardstock with a nice linen finish.

    Next I'm going to buy several to 'seed' into the "little libraries" sprinkled around my neighborhood.


    PS, I was crushed to hear that the cards were stolen and pirated. Anyone know which seller on Amazon has the bad stuff so we can avoid them?
     
    author and steward
    Posts: 51856
    Location: missoula, montana (zone 4)
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    It seems when I had about 50 reviews on amazon the average was 4.9 stars!  Yay!   And then slowly it went down to 4.4.  Thanks to some recent reviews it is up to 4.5 now.   But I think it would take dozens of five star reviews to get it back to where it was.  

     
    Ash Jackson
    gardener
    Posts: 1331
    Location: Miami, 11a, Am, apartment dweller
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    My best friend's sister's boyfriend's brother's girlfriend heard from this guy who knows this kid who's going with a girl who said Ferris Bueller Amazon messes with the ratings.

    Judging from the breakdown of the star reviews (91 5⋆, 10 4⋆, 9 3⋆, and 2 2⋆), a basic average would give it 4.7⋆ out of 5.

    But yeah, people here could also go and review the product on Amazon, too.
     
    paul wheaton
    author and steward
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    Location: missoula, montana (zone 4)
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    I have dropped the price at amazon and the price for two bricks (tis the season).
     
    paul wheaton
    author and steward
    Posts: 51856
    Location: missoula, montana (zone 4)
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    more cards images ...
    permaculture-cards.jpg
    permaculture playing cards
    permaculture playing cards
    permaculture-cards-360.jpg
    [Thumbnail for permaculture-cards-360.jpg]
    permaculture playing cards - a bit smaller
     
    paul wheaton
    author and steward
    Posts: 51856
    Location: missoula, montana (zone 4)
    hugelkultur trees chicken wofati bee woodworking
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    need this a little smaller ...
    permaculture-cards-280.jpg
    [Thumbnail for permaculture-cards-280.jpg]
     
    paul wheaton
    author and steward
    Posts: 51856
    Location: missoula, montana (zone 4)
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    paul wheaton wrote:somebody gave a 4 star review, so it dropped us down to 4.5 stars.

    3 new 5 star reviews, including 2 today!  Still at 4.5 though.



    I suspect that the next 5 star review will take us back up to 4.6.
    gift
     
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