Sepp Holzer farms steep mountainsides in Austria 1,500 meters above sea level. His farm is an intricate network of terraces, raised beds, ponds, waterways and tracks, well covered with productive fruit trees and other vegetation, with the farmhouse neatly nestling amongst them. This is in dramatic contrast to his neighbors’ spruce monocultures.
In this book, Holzer shares the skill and knowledge acquired over his lifetime. He covers every aspect of his farming methods, not just how to create a holistic system on the farm itself, but how to make a living from it. Holzer writes about everything from the overall concepts, down to the practical details. In Sepp Holzer’s Permaculture readers will learn:
- How he sets up a permaculture system
- The fruit varieties he has found best for permaculture growing
- How to construct terraces, ponds, and waterways
- How to build shelters for animals and how to work with them on the land
- How to cultivate edible mushrooms in the garden and on the farm
- and much more!
Holzer offers a wealth of information for the gardener, smallholder or alternative farmer yet the book’s greatest value is the attitudes it teaches. He reveals the thinking processes based on principles found in nature that create his productive systems. These can be applied anywhere.
Then people who identified as permaculturalists got really nasty with him, and he stopped identifying as a permaculturalist, which is fine and understandable. I wouldn't, either, if I was mistreated the way he was.
If you live on land, e.g., in the Appalachian or Rocky our Cascade or Coastal mountain ranges, or even in the Northeastern US (e.g. Maine) or Alaska for that matter, where you have the challenge of a short growing season in a relatively humid environment, you'll find lots of great tips here. Don't expect a ton of inspiration for arid or brittle landscapes, though. If you live somewhere that is primarily (or used to be) grassland (before it desertified), then you are better off learning from someone like Geoff Lawton. If you have a large broadacre context, then Darren Doherty's Regrarians and/or pure Holistic Management will work fantastically. The holistic decision-making aspect of Holistic Management can provide clarity of process for all permaculture design contexts.
Don't be dogmatic. Sepp Holzer isn't, which is how he attained the knowledge and wisdom he has to offer. But the people who drove him away from the permaculture movement were being dogmatic.
I would highly recommend this book.
This book covers a to z. Everything you wanted to learn about living with nature and profiting through a healthy relationship with the earth. Nature has great abundance to offer when we learn to live within her systems. Sepp discusses plant propagation, guilds, animal husbandry, and mushroom farming that you can do too!
I feel the book is not a complete work though. At times, things feel a tiny bit "lost in translation" (he is Austrian) and I am left wanting for more. And so, I'll *happily* buy his other books in the hopes of getting a fuller picture. Truthfully, I find this man to be so inspirational that his work will influence the future direction of my family. Higher praise than that, I cannot offer.
It is written in a personal, down-to-earth and very logical way. Everything that Mr Holzer wrote made total sense and aligned with my own observations.
This is a very practical book too. I've read (at least tried) many permaculture books, they tend to be very scholarly and somewhat detached from reality. This book is as practical as can be. It does not over-complicate anything
I've started implementing many things from this book and they do work in practice. Be warned though: this book is about working with the nature, not about using unnatural shortcuts, so things will take time. But eventually, you will end up with a thriving, stable and productive garden that doesn't require a ton of maintenance.
I want to thanks Mr Holzer for writing this book and sharing his knowledge with mankind!
I feel I have gleaned more practical advice from this book than from 'Edible Forest Gardens', 'The Green Straw Revolution', or 'The Resilient Farm and Homestead'. I've taken notes, and learned a lot from my other permaculture books, but it's Sepp Holzer's Permaculture that has actually improved my teqniques when it comes to grafting, pest control, mushroom growing, cover crops, and companion planting.
The author's book "Desert or Paradise" is just as wonderful, and goes into more depth about his experiences traveling to different countries to solve some of their problems than this one. It has really changed the way I think about the earths problems and what I can do with the land I own to improve it.
I would love to meet the gentleman.
Now this guy farms on the side of a mountain a thousand meters high. And it gets cold up there! Now I call that permaculture!
The illustrations are well done and many are beautiful. Photographs show how his work over decades on his family farm have produced attractive, productive, healthy land.
This book gave me the encouragement and creative thinking needed to venture beyond the Colorado frost hardy brassicas, salad greens and staple herbs and try my hand at more fruit bushes (and maybe trees!) and warmer climate medicinal herbs as well as pollinators and mycelium. While this book will be a hard sell to the more traditional landscape gardener, those that wish to have a better understanding of cultivating natural, organic microclimates and polycultures will gain plenty of inspiration from this book. It is just as much a read for the naturalist as it is for the backyard gardener.
the earth" is an overlooked way of living. the author describes the observing, experimenting, patience,that being an engineer
to the earth and life around us require. In pop culture and main stream media we are force fed "quick fix" is the cheap answer to
every aspect of life. when we buy into that mentality we live shallow, ghost lives always wondering why we experience so much emptiness and frustration.
We are led to believe that the "gods" of technology have all the answers, so we buy into another quick fix, that ultimately fails us again.
This thoughtful way of living with earth is the responsible answer. To live a life of this kind of truth is to live a life of dignity and self respect. A person living this way is powerful in the real sense.
He is outside the box and there is no end to it.
scale farming in our increasingly dangerous world of profit-first agribusiness. It is refreshing to read how someone has used the best of traditional rural practices to come up with innovative ideas. I've come up with my own as a result. I was particularly interested in his solutions for ponds and terracing on steep slopes, since I have very little level land and erosion is a serious concern. Now I just need a mini-excavator.
If you are a Permie, this is a must have.
All the pieces together form a whole - humans, animals, plants and environment living together in symbiotic relationships. It is my belief that to achieve excellent spiritual and physical health, one must be able to do what this man has done. We have a deep connection to earth and all living things and modern society separates us from that connection. If you would like to feel more connected to your food and where it comes from this is a good book to help you. If you are interested in finding ways to integrate plants, animals your environment, home and yourself into a happy union, this book is an excellent resource. Sepp Holzer is full of unconventional ideas that he has researched and found to work well. His experience comes through in the book. This can work for a small yard or a whole farm.
The downside of the book is that the methods aren't very applicable to most of us. Holzer's techniques are uniquely suited to high elevation Europe (approximately equivalent to zone 5 in the US), and require the use of lots of heavy machinery and large acreages.
That said, some of his tips might just happen to fit your homestead, if you read with a critical eye. The book is definitely worth reading, though won't be stay on my bookshelf with the classics.
Having said that, I'd still recommend getting another permaculture book in addition to this one, as the additional ideas and information are really helpful as well. Try Mollison's Introduction to Permaculture, or Morrow's Earth Users Guide to Permaculture; both are very good. When you're ready to really go hard core, get the Designers' Manual and prepare to spend some hard study time internalizing it.
I loved his premis for keeping animals: would you be happy if you were expected to live like your animals? If not, make the changes immediately to their enviromment and feeding. Fascinating that the ancient breeds of animals know how to feed and get about, whereas new breeds simply perish if left out in the environment: if a new breed cow slips and falls onto its back it gives up and dies - not so the ancient breeds.
A wonderful book - write in even greater depth about it all, Sepp! And buy it, it is absolutely worth it.
He talks about permaculture, principles that he has been applying even before the term was coined. He has some great ideas, and you only have to see the pictures of his farm to know that they really work.
What I didn't like about it was that although he tells us what he did on his farm, he doesn't give enough details on how he does them. He whets your appetite for his methods, but then doesn't tell you enough. For example, he says stuff like: "I use foxglove to improve the health of the soil, among other reasons". It only leaves me wondering, what are those reasons?
He keeps telling that he has been watching the nature for 40 years, but he doesn't give the recipes for his plant mixtures. Instead, he suggests that one should observe nature and experiment for oneself.
I bought the book precisely to learn from his experiences, instead of having to spend years observing nature myself.
But overall it is a fascinating read, especially if you want an introduction to permaculture. It is a great lesson on thinking outside the box and succeeding against all odds. You can feel his love and respect for nature and for his land.
Sepp is a rebel farmer born in a family of a traditional farmer. He has more than 50 years of hands-on experience of successful medium-scale farming using permaculture approaches.
In this book, Sepp summarized his extensive and priceless experience, as well as his philosophy and life lessons that helped him to succeed.