Ben Falk (1)

In 2012, I took a tour of Whole Systems Design while living in Burlington for the summer. In 2014, my partner took her Permaculture Design Certificate with Ben Falk. Ever since then, I've been meaning to read this book!

I started in earnest this spring. I'm not sure why, but it is not a page-turner. That said, I do appreciate the content.

Many people speak of the book as a permaculture book, but think it's really more of a homesteading book (and that's what you get from the title). The most fascinating parts of the book for me where towards the end—things like home system design, minimizing points of failure.

If you're looking to start a resilient homestead, this is your book!

Maybe one of my challenges with the book is that I'm not sure who the target audience is. In some ways, I know too much to be an engaged reader; much of the material I'm already familiar with (although I have graduated from a yearlong homesteading programming, and have homesteaded casually over the past five years). It definitely wasn't a waste of my time though; it did get me thinking about ways that I could upgrade my homestead and my approach.

Most of all, along with some recent permaculture site visits, it reminded me that it's really not that hard to start simple. I already heat with wood and wild-forage chaga. I already have apple and blueberries and grapes. I already source my food from local farms that I can get behind. What's next? I think I need to plant some chestnuts and seaberries, and get some shiitake logs going. Eventually, I'd love a passive solar home, but that's not in the cards at the moment.… (meer)

This book is one of the most easy to read and enjoyable non fiction works I've read in some time. I sat down one afternoon and wanted to gobble up all the great information as fast as I could. Besides being well organized and written clearly, it features beautiful pictures and succinct graphs. It isn't a introduction book nor is it written for dummies. It assumes the reader is educated and has some basic information on permaculture, agriculture, or similar field. However, it is approachable for those new to permaculture or sustainable systems purely through its down to earth language and the realities of experience backing the methods and systems. You really feel that the author is sharing his own stories, successes and failures, without any pressure for the reader to blindly agree. I highly reccomend this book to anyone who is hoping to live more consciously or start working with permaculture! I'm so thrilled I splurged and got a physical copy for myself.… (meer)