Establishing A Food Forest

Geoff Lawton is a permaculturist’s permaculturist. As one of the first ‘wave’ of designers and teachers in Australia, he has been implementing and thinking about permaculture for many years, and has become internationally recognised as a repairer of landscapes, and a creator, even in the most unpromising ecosystems, of food forests and abundant, productive landscapes. This film offers an inspiring and enlightening immersion in his work and thinking, and also a moving look at just how productive permaculture systems can be if they are sufficiently well thought out and designed.

The Edible Garden

Alys Fowler attempts to avoid shop-bought fruit and vegetables and live off her own home-grown produce. It's no easy task because Alys doesn't want to turn her garden into an allotment, so she's growing her fruit and vegetables among her flowers.

Alys will focus on different foods and show how anyone can grow, cook and eat from their own garden - even if they live in a city.

Intentional Communities In France

Ecolonie (Vosges)


Through the starting points and vision of ECOlonie, we wish to express our view that life is a continuous, unifying experience. Founded in 1989, ECOlonie houses a vibrant, ecological association still very much in development.

Ecology (the thesis of ecological thinking and acting) at ECOlonie goes beyond healthy and organic gardening and building. Ecology is a philosophy that includes all aspects of life - both physical and spiritual. 'Eco' is derived from the Greek word oikos , meaning to feel at home. To feel at home somewhere simply means 'to feel at ease, to be able to be yourself'.

At ECOlonie, creativity and spirituality inspire the development of this vision to include environmental sustainability and the daily experience of nature. Each individual can define their own spirituality, as we focus on being undogmatic, down to earth and practical.

Website: Ecolonie




Lothlorien (Haute Marne)

Lothlorien is the name of the Golden Wood in Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings”. It literally means “Flower of the Golden Wood”, a place where rest, peace and harmony prevail and where travellers can seek good advice and find strength.

Centre Lothlorien is a small community and course centre. The basis is living and working in harmony with nature, respect for everything that lives, giving an active contribution to create a human togetherness. It is an international, ecological and spiritual centre that offers a helping hand to every seeking person, everyone who is on the path of life. The centre presents courses, activities and a resting place where you can find your unique Self in order to go on with your life.

Website: Lothlorien



Carapa (Cévennes)

Website: Carapa 



Some other communities:

Green Community (Languedoc Rousillon)
Douceur et Harmonie (Serralongue, Catalonia)
Eco Chateau  (Saint-Privat, Corrèze)
L'Ecovillage du Périgord (Sarlande, Dordogne)
Oasis de Lentiourel (Saint-Affrique, Aveyron)
Taizé (Burgundy)
Goshen (Burgundy)
Peace Factory (Montolieu, Languedoc Rousillon)

Valhalla Movement

Valhalla is a movement hell-bent on making sustainable communal living mainstream. Together we will create the beautiful world our hearts tell us is possible. Superhuman goals can be accomplished when individuals with a common goal come together. Together, we are stronger than the sum of our parts.

We strongly believe many of the world’s ills can be solved through sustainable communal living. Thus we are building a network of 100% off-the-grid communities, the first of which in Montreal, Canada. We are documenting the entire process to teach others how to do the same AND to show the world that sustainable communities are:
- Awesome: This is not only great for the planet, but also a fantastically fun and free way to live.
- Feasible: You can do this too, and we’ll show you exactly how to do it.
- Necessary: Even if this wasn’t fun or easy, this is what we need to do right now.

We are the solution, not the protest.
Unlike other ‘hippie communities’, we are not shutting ourselves off from the world. We are doing everything possible to make this lifestyle universally appealing. We will be as loud as possible so that we’re either loved or hated, but never unheard of.

Website: Valhalla Movement

Wartime Farm (BBC Full Series)

Wartime Farm is a historical documentary TV series in which the running of a farm in the Second World War is reenacted. It was made for the BBC by independent production company Lion Television in association with the Open University; it was filmed at Manor Farm Country Park close to Southampton and it began broadcasting on BBC Two on 6 September 2012. The farming team consists of historian Ruth Goodman, and archaeologists Alex Langlands and Peter Ginn.

Episode Synopsis: Wartime Farm

Episode 1 - 8 (Autoplay)



YouTube Link:
Episode 1
Episode 2
Episode 3
Episode 4
Episode 5
Episode 6
Episode 7
Episode 8
Wartime Farm Christmas

Tales From The Green Valley (BBC Full Series)

Tales from the Green Valley is a historical documentary TV series in 12 parts, first shown on BBC Two in autumn 2005 and it follows historians and archaeologists as they recreate farm life from the age of the Stuarts. They wear the clothes, eat the food and use the tools, skills and technology of the 1620s. The series recreates everyday life on a small farm in Wales in the 1620s, using authentic replica equipment and clothing, original recipes and reconstructed building techniques. Much use is made of period sources such as agricultural writers Gervase Markham and Thomas Tusser. The series features historians Stuart Peachey and Ruth Goodman, and archaeologists Alex Langlands, Peter Ginn and Chloe Spencer. IMDb Rating: 8,8.

Episode 1

September: Ploughing with oxen, baking in a hearth.



Episode 2

October: Gathering pears, thatching the cowshed roof with a bracken undercoat and a wheat thatch, period clothes and boots, driving pigs to forage.



Episode 3

November: Slaughtering and butchering a pig, building a daub and wattle wall, harvesting meddlars, salting a table, combing thatch and pegging it down, making hog's liver pudding.



Episode 4

December: Building a hovel (a woodshed), period clothing, peas, preparing for Christmas.



Episode 5

January: Preparing period medicines, wood gathering, and hedge laying.



Episode 6

February: A heavy fall of snow, rebuilding a lavatory, checking the sheep in preparation for lambing, musical instruments, preparing a meal of fish and bagged puddings for lent.



Episode 7

March: Preparing the garden for sowing, wheat threshing, brewing March beer, pig yokes, fun and games, egg and pear pie with stewed salt cod.



Episode 8

April: Spring cleaning, rebuilding a dry stone wall, a new baby calf.



Episode 9

May: Preparing a new field for spring sowing, making charcoal, and butter.



Episode 10

June: Washing and shearing sheep, cheese making, and mid-summer revels.



Episode 11

July: New harvest from the garden (beans and gooseberries), making hay, clothes washing.



Episode 12

August: Fattening geese, goose pie and carrot puree, wheat and straw harvest, reed lights.

Edwardian Farm (BBC Full Series)

Edwardian Farm is an historical documentary TV series in twelve parts, first shown on BBC Two from November 2010 to January 2011. It depicts a group of historians trying to run a farm like it was done during the Edwardian era (1900-1914). The farming team was historian Ruth Goodman and archaeologists Alex Langlands and Peter Ginn. IMDb Rating: 8,9.

Episode 1

The trio establish their domicile, scrubbing flagstone floor and cleaning out a clogged chimney. They put up hay, hire a stonemason to make a trough, learn to thatch, make rag rugs, begin keeping chickens and sheep. Ruth cooks a sheep's head stew.

Episode 2

Alex and Peter milk goats and train the plowhorses. They begin a market garden of strawberries. Ruth pickles apples, salts a ham, and smokes bacon. Alex and Peter press apples to cider (skrumpy), freighting first the apples, then the barrel on the river. They visit a cooper and make lime putty. They read government agricultural leaflets, collect eggs, make chicken stew, and celebrate Halloween Edwardian style.

Episode 3

Ruth prepares for the arrival of the farm's pigs and works on the privie, while Alex and Peter compare ploughing with horses to ploughing with the world's oldest working tractor. Peter begins a trout hatchery. In order to repair the hedgerows, Alex takes a trip to a water-powered blacksmithery for a billhook. Ruth makes sloe gin for Christmas and entertains with a grammophone.

Episode 4

As winter sets in, the three farm dwellers must look further afield to earn a crust. Peter and Alex fish for crabs while Ruth hires herself out for domestic work. Ruth rides a bicycle and tries period cleaning techniques, including early vacuums. They separate growing calves from their mothers. Alex finds out how leather is made. They celebrate Christmas modesty, as poor farmers might have, and listen to a Methodist Christmas message.

Episode 5

The continuing winter forces Alex and Peter down a tin mine, while Ruth makes lace. The tin mine is the King Edward Mine, Camborne, Cornwall, and the lace-making is at Honiton.

Episode 6

Six months into their year, Ruth, Alex and Peter explore the daily lives of the Edwardian Farmers. This episode has a slightly different format to the rest of the series; instead of covering a whole month's changes, it is subtitled A Day in the Life and uses a framing device of Ruth writing a letter describing the more mundane aspects of daily life on the farm.

Episode 7

Spring arrives with the lambs and the potato crop planted with manure. Daffodils are harvested and sent by train across the country.

Episode 8

April arrives and time is divided between the land and the sea.

Episode 9

Summer brings the tourists, so the farm provides strawberries and clotted cream.

Episode 10

June arrives so the sheep go up onto the moors of Dartmoor with Alex and Peter guiding, leaving Ruth to run the farm, mixing and spraying "Bordeaux" on the potato crop. Alex and Peter try their hands at sheep-shearing and dry-stone walling, and observe sheep-dogs at work. Ruth makes her own cheese and visits an early wool mill. Finally, they have an Edwardian picnic with a vintage auto and then go rambling and letterboxing on the moor.

Episode 11

July brings the harvest, cherries and potatoes. Ruth goes salmon fishing on the River Tamar with a seine net. Peter and Alex pick cherries from tall ladders and Ruth prepares cherry preserves. They try out Edwardian potato digging devices and employ child labor. The annual day holiday at Lynmouth is a welcome distraction.

Episode 12

August brings to an end the year on the farm, weather dictates the harvest and the seaside brings much needed fertilizer.

Victorian Farm (BBC Full Series)

Victorian Farm is a historical documentary TV series in six parts, first shown on BBC Two in January 2009, it recreates everyday life on a small farm in Shropshire in the mid-19th century, using authentic replica equipment and clothing, original recipes and reconstructed building techniques. IMDb Rating: 7,7.

Episode 1

The would-be farmers move into a disused cottage. This requires much renovation: replacing the coal-burning range, cleaning the chimney and refuelling from a narrowboat on a nearby canal; cleaning the bedroom by removing dead birds, disinfecting against bedbugs with turpentine and salt, restoring the lime plaster and redecorating.

In accordance with custom, they assist in the threshing of the previous year's crop of wheat, using a steam-powered thresher. A field is ploughed, harrowed and sown with the next year's crop using horse-drawn implements of the era. Apples are picked, milled and pressed to make cider while other fruits and berries are preserved as a spicy chutney. A flock of Shropshire ewes is acquired and the first meal is cooked and eaten - a leg of boiled mutton.

Episode 2

As winter draws on, animal fodder and shelter is provided. Mangelwurzels are stored in a clamp and then chipped with period machinery to feed the cows. A pigsty is built upon a foundation of bottles to provide insulation and three young Tamworth pigs and a pregnant Gloucestershire Old Spot sow are housed there upon completion.[17] A ram is added to the sheep flock and marked with raddle to ensure that he impregnates all the ewes so that they will lamb in the spring. A shire horse, named Clumper, is also added to the livestock and training in his use as a draught animal is performed.

Domestically, the weekly laundry is done in a Victorian style. Stain removal is first performed, for example, using milk to remove an ink stain. Then the clothes are hand-paddled, mangled and ironed over a period of several days. Christmas is celebrated with a church service; the Victorian novelty of a Christmas tree; a plum pudding and a roast turkey; and presents are exchanged such as some hand-made braces.

Episode 3

New Year arrives and the farm needs emergency repairs. So the team go back to DIY basics, with the help of the woodsman, the blacksmith and the basket maker. Ruth has a go at some traditional potions and remedies. When the wheat crop comes under attack, it is time for some pest control, Victorian style, as Alex and Peter join a pheasant hunt. Alex goes out catching rabbits with a team of Victorian poachers. And with spring around the corner, the first baby animals are ready to be born.

Episode 4

It is spring and there are lambs and pigs to be delivered - which means Alex and Peter need to master animal midwifery. A prized ewe is in danger and a lame horse may jeopardise vital work on the farm. The team witness the birth of many chicks and ducklings, along with 8 (originally 9) piglets from the pig Princess.

The team turns to Victorian science in a bid to save their struggling crops. If they succeed, they will have something to celebrate at the May Day fair. If they fail, all their hard work will have been in vain. It is make or break time on the Victorian Farm.

Episode 5

In this episode, the team embarks on a trip by steam train, Ruth begins a tough task in the dairy, Alex tries his hand at beekeeping, the sheep get sheared using the latest time-saving technology, and the lengthening summer days allow Alex and Peter to try out the new Victorian sport of cricket. It is also time for the hay harvest, weather permitting.

Ruth makes cheddar cheese in the dairy with her daughter, Eve Goodman, with milk from the cow Forget Me Not, using the rennet from a neighbour's male calf. The sheep shearing is a life saver because it turns out that the sheep have severe fly strike. It is Alex's birthday and Ruth makes him a cake and a picnic, while Peter buys him a book of apiary. The boys make a predator-proof cover for the landlord's raspberry patch.

Episode 6

It is the end of their year on the farm. They sell off the pigs and sheep they successfully bred and raised. Ruth learns straw plaiting and makes a hat and cooks a Victorian style curry. Everything is now focused on the wheat harvest. Peter and Alex get the dray and a reaping and binding machine repaired and brew beer for the harvest. The harvest is completed just before the rain comes with Ruth harvesting the last corn. Once the wheat is dried and stored they ring the church bells, enjoy a harvest festival and reflect upon their time on the farm. They hand over the key to their landlord and depart the farm.

YouTube Link:
Victorian Farm Christmas - Episode 1
Victorian Farm Christmas - Episode 2
Victorian Farm Christmas - Episode 3

Agafia's Taiga Life

In 1936, a family of Russian Old Believers journeyed deep into Siberia’s vast taiga to escape persecution and protect their way of life. The Lykovs eventually settled in the Sayan Mountains.

Two children were born during the isolation. They ended up in a dwelling in the taiga, in the Abakan river basin (Khakassia), 250 kilometres from any settlement.

In 1978 their location was discovered by a helicopter pilot, who was flying a geological group into the region. The geologists got in contact with the family, but the Lykovs decided not to leave the place. Karp’s wife Akulina died of hunger in 1961. Three of his children died in 1981. Karp died in 1988. He is survived by his daughter Agafia Lykova who continues to live in isolation in her Abakan fastness. Today, she is the last surviving Lykov, remaining steadfast in her seclusion. VICE crew travels to Agafia to learn about her taiga lifestyle and the encroaching influence of the outside world.

O.U.R. Ecovillage (Canada)

O.U.R. Ecovillage in British Columbia is aiming to create a self-sustaining community where they live in balance with the land, the animals and the environment. This is likely the most well developed eco community in Canada and is used as a model for similar sites all over the world.

Website: O.U.R. Ecovillage

From their Zero Mile Meal Eatery to zoning and financing innovations, O.U.R. Ecovillage in BC, Canada has paved the way for many communities worldwide. For co-founder Brandy Gallagher, the story on the planet right now could be a shared ethos of caring: "Everyone is fed. Everyone is taken care of." Asserting that "No is just an uneducated Yes," Brandy shows how a village mindset can transform individuals, preserve land, reduce resource use, apply permaculture principles, change laws, and even the way money works.

O.U.R. stands for "One United Resource," expressing how interdependence and inclusion undergird this 25 acre demonstration sustainable community on Vancouver Island. This model ecovillage comprises natural buildings, a school, long- and short-term residences, extensive gardens, greenhouses, and even a bed & breakfast. Brandy Gallagher MacPherson describes how they created an entirely new zoning category by building relationships with regulatory agencies that go beyond "us versus them".

Ringing Cedars Books

Anastasia will have you dancing with delight and squealing with excitement as you re-discover you - in all your glory! Like waking from a dream, you will find yourself suddenly remembering who you really are! Her soft-spoken words will go straight to your heart - like nothing you have ever read!

Official Website: Ringing Cedars of Russia
UK Website: Ringing Cedars
Canada Website: Anastasia
New Zealand Website: Space of Love
Ringing Cedars Monthly News: The Earth

About writer Vladimir Megre & his books



Book 1 (complete)

Grow Food, Not Lawns

'I would like to see our culture change so that keeping up with the Joneses means you're more sustainable.' says Heather Flores, the founder of Food Not Lawns. They are a non profit organization that promotes the idea of growing food instead of wasting resources on grassy lawns.

'Lawns are the single largest agricultural sector in the country. They are responsible for more fertilizers and pesticides and herbicides and toxins into the river, erosion, run off, water waste, you name it. Petrochemicals. There's really nothing good that lawns are doing for the environment. It seems like it would make a lot more sense to use your land for something that benefits you as an individual vs. surrounding yourself with something that's poisoning you and your family.' she adds.

She estimates that for every 100 square feet, you can generate 100 lbs of food. She says: 'Food Not Lawns is a challenge to the homogenous monoculture of lawn after lawn after lawn'.

Growing Edible Fruits and Vegetables in your Front Yard



The Edible Backyard Barrel Garden



Creating a Food Garden in a Front Yard



Part 2

Life Under Palm Trees

The ecovillage Sieben Linden is a community of 50+ adults plus children who plan to build a new village in a rural, conservative part of Germany with high unemployment and little cultural infrastructure. Som 300 people are supposed to live an ecologically and socially oriented life there one day.

Website: Sieben Linden

Off The Grid In Lasqueti

Imagine an island so secluded there's no electricity, there are no paved roads and in many cases, no plumbing. That island - called Lasqueti - is home to 400 people and less than an hour away from Vancouver (B.C. - Canada). Come see what it's like to live off the grid.

Seeking The Good Life

Like many of us, Joy is not content with the high consumption modern lifestyle we live in the United States. So she journeys to three different intentional communities - places where people have chosen to share land and resources in all kinds of creative ways - and documents her experiences. The result is a fun and engaging crash course in sustainable living, thinking outside of the box, and finding positive solutions in an increasingly challenging world.

Featured communities are:

Light Morning
Twin Oaks
Acorn Community



Part 2



Part 3



Part 4

One Million Gardens

Find out why the backyard gardener is the hero in the struggle to save the planet. Narrated by Dr.Vandana Shiva, this video offers a simple and practical solution to climate change and local food security. Opening your eyes to the impact of our dependence on cheap oil in our industrial food system, you will discover why growing your own edible garden is the key to a sustainable world.

Join the Revolution in your own backyard.

Permaculture Course

You can solve the worlds problems in a garden!

How to survive the coming crises with permaculture

An video by Geoff Lawton, world renowned permaculture teacher, designer and consultant.

Simple Solar Homesteading

How to have a home with no house payments and no monthly utility bills! This is an introduction to simple solar homesteading that provides information on how to find cheap land, build an inexpensive home, and use solar power to eliminate monthly utility bills. What would you do if you had no house payment and no monthly utility bills ? Well watch the video and I will show you how it is done easily and with very little money.

Watch a video how to built a 14x14 solar cabin for under $2000.

Atamai Village

The Atamai permaculture community was set up on the principle that it takes a village to live sustainably - it is too difficult to do it on your own. Members of this community have come together to deal with the impacts of climate change, energy shortages and the social and economic challenges that are likely to follow these changes. "You don't want to wait until the signs are so obvious because then it is too late."

Website: Atamai Village (New Zealand)

Kin's Domain & Kin's Community

This is the first of a series of videos on how to build a kins domain by actually documenting building two Kins domains in Dolan Springs, Arizona. A Kins domain was popularized worldwide from a 10 volume series of books by Vladimir Megre called The Ringing Cedars Series.

Website: Eco-Harmony Kins Domain
Website: Ringing Cedars Of Russia

See Also:  Creation - Das Dies - Co Creation Of Do No Harm Communities