When you’re getting started in permaculture, watching actual permaculture practitioners is a great way to learn.
If you type “permaculture videos” in a search engine, you’ll find thousands of results. But let’s be honest, nobody likes poor quality, shaky recordings. When it comes to video, quality is key.
Finding high quality video with useful content can be hard, I know from experience.
So I compiled my three favorite video resources that have helped or inspired me along the way. Each suggestion has lots of free, high quality content to watch, as well as some paid content if you’re looking to dive in a little more.
Enjoy!
The Permaculture Circle
This an amazing free resource for beginners and permaculture enthusiasts alike.
Launched in 2017, The Permaculture Circle (TPC) is a collection of educational videos and farm tours by Geoff Lawton, a world-renowned permaculture designer based in Australia who studied under Bill Mollison (co-founder of Permaculture).
There’s a whole 9-video Permaculture Quick Start series containing over 6 hours of video showcasing Geoff’s Ted Talks, snippets from courses, and tours of systems he’s implemented. After gong through this series, you’ll have a much better understanding of what permaculture is and how it can be implemented in a variety of climates.
At the time of writing this article, Geoff has made selections of his online Permaculture Design Course (PDC) available for free. There’s also an assortment of other useful course content as well as video Q&A sessions where Geoff answers questions from students asked throughout his online PDC.
Geoff is also uploading new videos on a regular basis covering topics including worm farming, compost toilets, chicken tractor systems, and much more.
On top of all that, the online community in TPC is great. If you post questions below the videos they are answered pretty quickly by either a moderator or another member, sometimes even Geoff himself!
Overall, The Permaculture Circle is a great resource that will only get better with time.
Justin Rhodes
Justin Rhodes of AbundantPermaculture.com is a funny guy documenting his life on a permaculture homestead in North Carolina through vlogs and other online resources. If you want to be inspired and entertained while watching an amazing (and adorable) family, look no further.
I found Justin originally through his YouTube channel while looking for videos of real-life permaculture farms. At the time, they were documenting their first “100 days of growing food,” where they decided to see how much of their own food they could produce in 100 days while filming their experience.
After watching and seeing the quality videography and editing coupled with great storytelling and entertainment, I was hooked. I’ve been watching their daily vlog ever since.
What I love about Justin’s channel is that he isn’t scared to show the failures and shortcomings that most people would rather hide. This isn’t just a highlight reel- it’s the real thing.
While beginning your permaculture journey, seeing someone actually trying new things and sharing their honest experience is worth it’s weight in gold. Failure is OKAY when you’re taking action and trying new things.
Justin and his family spent most of 2016 traveling around all 50 states in a converted bus visiting permaculture farms across the country and documenting the experience. The Great American Farm Tour was a huge success and showed off the people who are taking action and making a change in their lives and in their communities. Check it out here!
He recently started a paid membership area called DIY Abundance on his website that features more in-depth tutorials of the topics covered on the vlogs. I subscribed to this area for a while to test it out and found the videos to be very detailed and useful if you want to dive a little deeper and get the details of what he covers in his blog. As the name suggests, there’s a lot of DIY instructional videos in the membership area that cover a range of topics from livestock management to basic permaculture design.
Justin also has some free videos and courses on how to get started with chickens featured on his website. If you’re just looking for inspiration and some education, sticking with his free resources should work just fine for you.
Happen Films
If documentaries are your thing, I recommend checking out Happen Films. Founded by Jordan Osmond and Antoinette Wilson, Happen Films is a small production company focused on documenting regenerative solutions to global issues through feature-length and short films.
The videos cover a range of topics from permaculture farm tours to tiny houses. The short films are a great inspiration for those wondering what is possible from permaculture systems, as they feature the gamut from brand new projects to 20+ year old food forests. The stories of the people behind the projects are usually featured, which is a great change from just seeing permaculture installations alone.
The first feature length film, A Simpler Way, documents the ups and downs of working in community to develop a property over the course of a year. This is a great watch for anyone interested in communal living. The films doesn’t hide the hard times and gets perspectives from all members of the community. The film also contains excerpts from interviews with great minds like David Holmgren, co-founder of permaculture.
Most of the videos on their website are free to watch with a donation option to help support the work they’re doing.
The one exception is their most recent feature-length documentary, Living the Change, which costs $9.99. This documentary is also available to rent on amazon video and I highly recommend watching it. It’s an inspirational look at how everyday people are taking action to help be the change-makers in their local communities. The documentary covers local currencies, food forests, composting, and much more. It would be a great film to screen for your community.
Share your suggestions!
There you have it, my top 3 video resources for getting started in permaculture.
I know that’s not all that’s out there, so I’d love if you could add your favorite video resource to the comments so that everyone can share the wealth.
If you have any questions for me, please reach out on the contact page.
Have a great day and thanks for stopping by my site!
Comments are closed.