Buh buh-buh-buh buh buh buh baaaaaahhhhh!! IT’S HERE!!! Finally my first international book, Everyday Permaculture is out in the wild, and I can’t wait for you to sink your proverbial teeth into it.
For the past 15 years, I’ve been slowly but steadily moving towards a lifestyle that treads more gently on the planet, and it was permaculture thinking that helped me find what worked for my situations along the way. It’s been around ten years since I started passing my learnings on to others, and to now be sitting here typing this, too excited to go to sleep because the book I’ve written will be available in bookshops around Australia and New Zealand when they open in less than eight hours… well. There’s quite a riot of feelings fizzing around my body, to say the least!
A book for everyone
Many people feel overwhelmed by the topics of ‘sustainability’ and climate catastrophe, because it they’re such abroad, ever-changing subjects, and because it’s often hard to see how one person can make any kind of meaningful impact on them. Likewise, with the ever-rising percentage of adults renting, many people – especially those living in mainstream suburbia – believe that growing their own food or taking control of their living spaces is out of reach.
That’s where Everyday Permaculture comes in. The goal of this book was to showcase how rich and diverse permaculture living can look. I wanted to show that you don’t have to have a composting toilet and a goat to ‘do permaculture’: that small and slow changes to your thoughts, intentions and behaviours can have mighty impacts over time.
What’s in the book?
Everyday Permaculture covers a staggering amount of info in its 256 pages. There are chapters on Community – what it is, where to find it, how to grow your own, why it’s so damn important; Energy – what different types there are, how to catch and store it, managing personal energy especially with neurodiversity or chronic illness challenges, and ways to stack functions to reduce energy consumption; and Waste – how to integrate rather than segregate it, how to manage and channel it, how to reduce it in the beginning; there’s a lot of fundamental thinking covered in just those three sections.
There is a massive chapter on Food, talking about things like ‘how to source, use and store food well’; how to grow your own (yes, even in a rental!); heaps of scraptastic recipes; and a breakdown of the pros and cons of eight major methods of preserving food when it’s in abundance.
The Foraging chapter takes up a full quarter of the book, and is essentially a book of its own. In it, I cover foraging safety, useful skills, the ins and outs of ethical foraging, and then launch into comprehensive ID guides for eight wild food plants commonly found around the world beore loading you up with recipes to try using them.
Finally, there’s a chapter on Moving, as this is something that affects most people at least a few times in their lives, and renters far more than that. This chapter covers some of the implications for mental health and ability to maintain sustainable habits during the stress of moving; how to minimise the amount of non-sustainable practises used during a move; ways to transport your garden; and ideas on setting up your new digs to be as supportive of permaculture living as possible.
What makes it special
The talented art activist Brenna Quinlan illustrated Everyday Permaculture, and I couldn’t be happier with her work – it brings such joy and encouragement to things like DIY passive solar dehydrators, and using No-Dig layers in garden pots to grow food. Also peppered throughout the book are QR codes that link to relevant and uplifting songs by eco-funk band Formidable Vegetable, so you can bop through your learning as well as reading.
The beautiful photos – many of which feature the crappy 90’s decor of my now-ex rental house in extremely good lighting – offer a visual feast, and make you feel as if you’re right there with me, learning how to mend, or freeze surplus pesto, or forage wild plums in a gentle, supported way. Combined with the lovely design, excellent editing, and overall wonderful production by the clever (and kind) team at Hardie Grant Explore, all these elements have worked together to create a book that I am truly proud of, and so so excited to see out in the world.
Where can I find it?
Everyday Permaculture is now available in all good bookstores around Australia and New Zealand.
The Canadian/US release is on April 22nd, and it hits shelves in UK and Ireland on April 24th.
You can buy online, order or purchase in store, and of course, ask for a copy at your local library.
Come help celebrate Everyday Permaculture!
OFFICIAL BOOK LAUNCH – EVERYDAY PERMACULTURE, Readings Books, Carlton, Wednesday 30th April, 6-7pm.
Join us as I chat with renowned author and bookseller Jaclyn Crupi about Everyday Permaculture. Then have your copy signed (and stamped with cute homemade stamps!) by the author. Buy a copy beforehand, or purchase one on the day. Hand decorated fabric gift bags will be available for purchase at the event as well.
Book soon, as I suspect spots will fill up fast.
OTHER EVENTS CELEBRATING EVERYDAY PERMACULTURE
I have several other events booked and planned to celebrate this book launch, including free author talks at libraries around Naarm, radio and podcast interviews, and a couple of very special parties later in the year. Check here for details and to book tickets.
Finally, I’d like to offer a genuine, heartfelt Thank You to everyone who has followed The Urban Nanna over the past fifteen years. Without your interest and engagement, I would never have been offered this book deal, and I am eternally grateful that my brand of neurospicy, super-chatty teaching-by-doing found a home in your heads and hearts. Thanks for being so rad, and I look forward to meeting more of you soon!
xo
‘Nanna’ Anna
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Permaculture Principle 1: Observe & Interact; 2: Catch & store energy; 6: Produce no waste; 10: Use and value diversity; 11: Use edges and value the marginal