25 years ago, Maddy and Tim Harland founded Permaculture magazine and Permanent Publlcations, a book publishing company dedicated to permaculture and helping people live more ecologically balanced, self-reliant lives.
Geoff Lawton visits them at work and at home and finds a vibrant publishing enterprise sited at The Sustainability Centre, an educational charity that Maddy and Tim helped found.
Habitat and aesthetic: a beautiful place to live
Geoff also visits their home and explores their unusual forest garden, located near chalk downland, an extremely alkaline habitat with very thin top soil. There he discovers naturally occuring guilds of plants that provide minerals and other nutirents to the fruit trees, wildlife habitat, an edible 'fedge' that also provides firewood, ponds and a beauitful wildflower meadow.
Even the garage roof on the property provides habitat whilst the front garden is a beautiful water garden full of perennias, flowers and soft fruit.
"So there you are: Work, economy, charity, not for profit and for profit, plus beautiful gardens and beautiful habitat. A real aesthetic quality of life. You couldn't ask for anything more. That's the way it can be," says Geoff.
More information
Permaculture magazine - https://www.permaculture.co.uk
Permanent Publications - http://permanentpublications.co.uk
The Sustainability Centre - http://www.sustainability-centre.org
Every subscriber to Permaculture magazine (print or digital) has free access to all 92 issues published over 25 years!
