For nearly 40 years, Rosemary’s work as a teacher has brought permaculture directly into the lives of her thousands of students. As an author, she has touched innumerably more. As her students became teachers and other teachers used her works in their classrooms, her ideas and methods continue to ripple through the world and reach even more.

With this reach, her work touched has touched my own, first as a student, through her book Earth User’s Guide to Permaculture, and later as an instructor, when I used that book as one of the student texts for the course paired with the companion book to that, Earth User’s Guide to Teaching Permaculture.

Now, we celebrate Rowe’s newest book, from Melliodora Publishing, Earth Restorer’s Guide to Permaculture, with a series of conversations covering her thoughts on the breadth of permaculture as a practice, interwoven with stories from throughout her journey.

To start things off, I knew a lot about Rowe’s writings, but not about her early life, how she came to permaculture or her career as a teacher and author. So, we begin where so many interviews do on The Permaculture Podcast, with a conversation about her biography and background, which includes some insights into the development and growth of permaculture over the years, the kinds of character and teacher Bill Mollison was, and how Rowe reframes permaculture education into a local, lived experience, whether she’s teaching in Australia, Vietnam, or Cambodia.

Support the Podcast
Donate Online: Via PayPal -or- Venmo @permaculturepodcast

You can find Rosemary's books, including Earth Restorer’s Guide to Permaculture, at the PermaculturePrinciples.com store.

As we close this conversation and prepare for the others which will follow, I’d like to re-extend the invitation for you to answer Rowe’s questions:

What is your country?
Do you speak a language from there?
Do you know how the indigenous peoples lived on that land?

Visit Our Series Partners
Permaculture Principles
Melliodora Publishing
Abundant Earth Foundation

Peter Maybarduk on Moderna Patent, Tracy Rosenberg on Aaron Swartz Day