There is an overwhelming abundance of information online about permaculture, but relatively little of it is specifically about New Zealand. This page is an effort to highlight New Zealand specific resources.

You might also be interested in: Syntropic Agroforestry Resources (in English).

What is Permaculture?

The strength (and weakness) of permaculture is that it is many things to many people. Ask any two people “what is permaculture?” and I can almost guarantee that you’ll get two different answers. At its heart permaculture is design language based on an evolving set of ethics and principles which help us work in harmony with the natural systems of our world.

My favourite way to think of permaculture goes like this: if being indigenous means to be “of a place”, then permaculture is a toolkit which helps the non-indigenous begin to relearn what it means to be “of a place”.

Official

• Permaculture in New Zealand – PiNZ is the primary permaculture organisation in New Zealand. They organise the yearly hui, certify designers and manage a website which lists events
• PiNZ on Facebook – A very active community, lots of chat and some technical permaculture discussion.

Related Associations

• NZ Tree Crops
• NZ Farm Forestry
• Urban Farmers Alliance

Bioregional Groups

• Bay of Plenty Permablitz
• Central North Island Permablitz
• Dunedin Permaculture
• Kāpiti Coast (monthly meetups)
• Mahurangi Permaculture
• Permaculture Northland
• Taranaki Permablitz
• Wellington Permaculture

Teachers & Coaches

Holistic Management

• Holisic Decision Making
• Succession NZ

Permaculture

• [Northland] Permadynamics
• [Auckland] APW
• [Coromandel] Pakaraka Permaculture
• [Hawkes Bay] Kahikatea Farm
• [Taranaki] Roebuck Farm
• [Wellington] Toru

Designers

• [Coromandel] Pakaraka Permaculture
• [Horowhenua] Plenty Permaculture
• [Kāpiti Coast] Green Earth
• [Taranaki] Greenbridge
• [Otago] Habitate

Farm or Garden Tours

• [Kāpiti Coast] Edible Backyards (Kath Irvine)
• [Taranaki] Sustainable Backyards
• [Hawkes Bay] Magarara Station (Greg Hart)
• [Wellington] Innermost Gardens
• [Southland] Guyton’s Food Forest (Facebook) (video at top right)

Seeds and Plants

• [Canterbury] Sentinels Group Seeds
• [Hawkes Bay] Kahikatea Farm
• [Hawkes Bay] Koanga
• [Hawkes Bay] Setha’s Seeds

Books

Permaculture books by New Zealanders or about New Zealand:

• Koanga Books and Booklets by Kay Baxter
• For the Love of Soil by Nicole Masters

You can see my broader collection (and some reviews) of permaculture related books on Goodreads.

Podcasts

There is a small, and growing, collection of New Zealand permaculture related podcasts:

• Earth Matters with Samantha Rose and Anna Casey-Cox
• Exploring Inner and Outer Landscapes with Adam Shand (me!)
• Happen Films Podcast with Jordan and Antoinette
• Making Permaculture Stronger with Dan Palmer
• RNZ’s Country Life (occasional permaculture content)

There are also some overseas podcasts which have interviewed New Zealanders:

• Rock & Roll Farming with Doug Avery
• Thriving Farmer with Rachel Sprout Yeats

Videos

• Agrifutures Interviews with Richard Pedley.
• Happen Films – A wonderful collection of New Zealand based permaculture documentaries.
• Holistic Management NZ
• On-Farm Story with Greg Hart
• TVNZ’s Country Calendar (occasional permaculture content)

Originally posted at adam.nz.