Featured Workshops & Courses, Victoria
Featured Online Courses
What is Permaculture?
Popularly seen as a ‘cool’ form of organic gardening, permaculture could be better described as a design system for resilient living and land use based on universal ethics and ecological design principles. Although the primary focus of permaculture has been the redesign of gardening, farming, animal husbandry and forestry, the same ethics and principles apply to design of buildings, tools and technology.
Applying permaculture ethics and principles in our gardens and homes inevitably leads us towards redesigning our ways of living so as to be more in tune with local surpluses and limits.
Permaculture is also a global movement of individuals, groups and networks working to create the world we want, by providing for our needs and organising our lives in harmony with nature. The movement is active in the most privileged and the most destitute communities and countries. Permaculture may be Australia’s most significant export for humanity facing a world of limits.
from David Holmgren’s book RetroSuburbia
In this video, produced by The Food Forest, in 2010, David reflects on how permaculture can be used as a template for survival and abundance
Latest Writings
Vale Dave Griffiths: Central Victorian pioneer tree planter
Back in the 1980s when fellow permaculture enthusiasts were beginning to try their hand at design consultancy, I would mention some of the substantial impediments with the analogy of imagining how architects would work if there was nobody skilled in all the different building trades.
Vale Ross Mars: Persistent Permaculture
Ross Mars, permaculture pioneer of Western Australia, died peacefully on the 9th November from Motor Neurone Disease at home in Mundaring WA surrounded by his family.
Dictator Dave’s National Water Plan, and more modest musings
During the height of the millennial drought, I was peripherally involved in one of the side skirmishes of the “Water Wars” playing out across rural and urban Australia. Some of my talks, teaching and writing1See for instance Gardening Australia with Josh Burn at Melliodora in 2007 and ‘Garden Agriculture: a revolution in water use efficiency’ (2005) focused on introducing water allocations for suburban residents instead of the selective restrictions that allowed spa baths but prohibited food growing. At the same time, the bigger battles were being waged over the Murray-Darling Basin Plan (MDBP) controlling 70% of Australia’s irrigated agriculture.
Live Online - Permaculture Design Course
With David Holmgren, Beck Lowe & Guests
What our participants are saying...
I feel so inspired to continue learning about and practicing Permaculture at home and in my community.
~ Sarah
The online format has allowed us to learn with people from all around the world...
~ Jess
Investing in this PDC has been some of the most rewarding and important time and energy I have ever spent.
~ Megan
Featured Videos
Changing Habits for Self-Reliance and Resilience
David Holmgren — Sustainable Living Festival 2018
David Holmgren — Decolonise Your Lawn
About Holmgren Design
David Holmgren is the co-originator of the permaculture concept following publication of Permaculture One, co-authored with Bill Mollison in 1978. David is globally recognised as a leading ecological thinker.
Melliodora is a small specialist publisher dedicated to producing a limited range of books and other media by David Holmgren and other authors. Our titles aim to support individuals in their personal permaculture journeys.
Melliodora is a 8700m² (2¼ acre) property situated on Dja Dja Wurrung Country in Central Victoria. It is one of the best documented and well known permaculture demonstration sites in the world.
Latest News
2024 Australian Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander scholarship
Are you an Australian Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander? You are warmly invited to apply for a scholarship for one of the upcoming Online PDCs – the course that runs from 8 February to 27 June 2024 or the course that runs from 16 July to 26 November 2024. Gadigal Elder Uncle Charles Davison and
Reading Landscape with David Holmgren
You are warmly invited to walk with David Holmgren across Djaara Country, as he shares his insights and discusses his unique approach to reading landscape, a wealth of knowledge and wisdom developed over forty years. David’s approach contributes to re-embedding reading landscape into our cultures as a known and fundamental human capacity, providing an opportunity for humans everywhere to deepen their connection to place.
Belgian/Dutch Permacultuur Magazine finale
The Belgian/Dutch Permacultuur Magazine has recently published its final issue, after eight successful years. Each issue had the core value “Designs for a resilient future,” and covered all aspects of permaculture, both the practice and theory: the edible garden, arable and horticulture, economy, social permaculture, transition, news and research.
From the Archive
Vale Ross Mars: Persistent Permaculture
Ross Mars, permaculture pioneer of Western Australia, died peacefully on the 9th November from Motor Neurone Disease at home in Mundaring WA surrounded by his family.
Read More
Dictator Dave’s National Water Plan, and more modest musings
During the height of the millennial drought, I was peripherally involved in one of the side skirmishes of the “Water Wars” playing out across rural and urban Australia. Some of...
Read More
Phil Gall: Permaculture Pioneer
There is no one who deserves the accolade of “permaculture pioneer” more than Phil Gall who died recently with his family around him in a Melbourne nursing home.
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Covid through a permaculture lens
In my recent piece, ‘Genetically Engineered Armageddon’ I used a tale about technology gone wrong in the agriculture domain more familiar to permies, ecological farmers and food sovereignty activists, and...
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Genetically Engineered Armageddon: a tale of two realities
In his latest writing, David Holmgren explores how energy descent futures are already unfolding as lived experience. In this piece, Holmgren develops a tale about past and current events that...
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