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An Edible LandscapeHepburn Permaculture Gardens at Hepburn Springs in western Victoria is the living and working place of David Holmgren, Su Dennett and son Oliver. The property is an example of a permaculture design which has been developed over the last ten years by David Holmgren. Permaculture is a design concept for sustainable living and food production developed in the 1970’s by David Holmgren and Bill Mollison. The word "permaculture" is an amalgamation of the ideas of permanent agriculture and permanent culture. It is based on ideas of creating diverse, stable but evolving environments; minimising use of resources and energy; recycling wastes and using surplus; organic food production and learning from the natural environment.David and Su live according to the principal of self reliance. This one hectare property provides all the vegetables and most of the fruit and nuts required by the family. Goats supply milk, yoghurt and cheese and chickens provide meat and eggs. Fish and yabbies give variety to the family diet. Su bakes bread and makes pasta and cheese. The garden is not intended as a commercial farm but feeds the family and provides a little extra for sale or barter. Designed along permaculture principles, the property includes three zones of production. The zone closest to the house includes an intensive vegetable garden area with a huge diversity of plants. This area requires the most labour but yields the most food throughout the year. The next zone is an orchard area with fruit and nut trees and chickens, and two dams providing fresh water and fish. Two goats graze the orchard and are milked. The house is constructed along principles of passive solar design to blend with the environment. David Holmgren is involved with managing runoff and weed control in the public land fringing the garden. David Holmgren devotes his life to permaculture and conducts teaching courses, writes and is involved in establishing other properties informed by permaculture principles. The garden exemplifies the idea of whole lifestyle sustainability and invites urban as well as rural people to participate in their own food production. Hepburn Permaculture Gardens bridges the gap between farms and gardens.
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