The Earth Care Manual, book review
Let’s gather our thoughts around one of the most prominent books in European permaculture: The Earth Care Manual by Patrick Whitefield
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Blackened stove glass? Prevent it with top-down fire lighting
Starting a wood fire may seem trivial. Yet the way you light it has a direct impact on stove efficiency, air quality, wood consumption, and the buildup of soot in both the flue and on your stove glass. Most people light their fires from the bottom: paper and kindling underneath, large logs on top. This … Read more
Propagate Plants Without Stress and on a Budget
Here’s an effective and low-cost method to propagate plants easily without spending your time constantly checking soil moisture. It’s for all those who love plants but tend to… well… forget about them. The method is also useful for people who can’t always be around their plants — for example, those who live in the city … Read more
Changing the world, really?
At Ermitaj, the association we founded aims “to support individuals and communities in moving towards a way of life that respects the Earth and people, in a spirit of sharing and solidarity.” But imagining that we are doing this “for changing the world” would be a dangerous illusion. Believing that a few local initiatives could … Read more
Food-forest: the 2025 training
Do you dream of a garden that provides food, beauty and shade… almost by itself? Then the forest garden is for you! From Robert Hart, who planted the first modern forest gardens in the UK, to Martin Crawford or Dave Jacke, who wrote landmark books, and to visionaries such as Ernst Götsch in Brazil or … Read more
Labeling Jars the Easy Way (No Labels, No Tape)
It’s the height of summer and the harvest is abundant! You’re busy canning, and you don’t really have the time (or the patience) to cut out pretty labels? Neither do we.Our method: simply write directly on the glass with a permanent marker. Fast, readable, washable. And here’s the bonus: a numbering system that finally puts … Read more
A Herb Spiral: Beautiful, but (Almost) Useless
The herb spiral is something of a holy grail for beginner permaculturists. The first time you come across it in a book by Bill Mollison (co-founder of permaculture), you immediately think: this is what I need.At Ermitaj, back in 2021, a group of young people we hosted wanted one so badly that we ended up … Read more
Nature, Water, Design: The Dripping Torture as a Lesson
The idea of torture often evokes images of immediate and brutal violence. Yet some of the most dreadful tortures ever devised rely on natural, soft, everyday elements. The drip-drip of water falling on the skull of a bound prisoner is one such example. Bamboo growing under another. These methods are based on slow repetition, on … Read more
Slugs in Permaculture: Ecological Role, Life Cycle, and Strategies
During the semi-annual gathering of the Belgian permaculture network Permanant, last March, we were offered a short training by Antoine Clin on slugs. A subject that fascinates Antoine so much that he devoted his PhD thesis to it. He talked to us about the role of slugs in nature, their life cycles, and strategies for … Read more
Entropy: Everything’s Falling Apart, Sure…
This article was inspired by a discussion at a bar I had years ago with a civil engineer. He saw no point in worrying about ecology because, according to him, everything eventually “disappears” anyway. He backed up his argument by explaining the concept of entropy. To which I replied: okay, everything falls apart, sure—but why … Read more