The Permaculture Orchard: Beyond Organic (2014) User Reviews

The best permaculture film I've ever seen

[jmsinnz · 10/10 · 20 September 2014]

This is the best permaculture film I've ever seen, both from a content and film quality perspective. I would recommend this film to anyone who is interested in designing a permaculture orchard or food forest, whether for commercial or private use.

Stefan recognises the limitations of the organic model as a substitute to conventional fruit growing, and proposes a more holistic, regenerative approach based on permaculture principles. Based on 20 years of applied theory and trial and error, biologist and educator Stefan Sobkowiak shares his experience of transforming a conventional apple orchard into an abundance of biodiversity that virtually takes care of itself. The concepts, techniques and tips presented in this film will help you with your own project, whether it is just a few fruit trees in your urban backyard, or a full-scale multi-acre commercial orchard.

This is the how-to film for creating your own commercial scale permaculture orchard. Stefan Sobkowiak brings a wonderfully personable approach to this film, and will make you smile from time to time as he goes through oooodles of practical information, presented clearly, in a way that can only come from direct experience.

A fantastic film on modern permaculture orcharding

[simonbenjamin25 · 10/10 · 23 November 2014]

This film is an excellent study on growing fruit in a modern permacultural way. Stefan does not necessarily have all the answers but his 20 year long experiment is uncovering a way to grow fruit not only organically, but in true harmony with nature. His use on nitrogen fixers and an understory of herbs and flowers, mimics a natural woodland, and relies on the plants themselves to recycle nutrients within the forest garden, minimising intervention of the gardener. His use of mulch also reduces weeding. Whilst you can no doubt produce more with lots of chemical sprays and barrows of fertiliser, this system costs far less, is more in tune with the environment, and best of all produces a truly healthy product. The film is also fun and engaging, and the music wonderfully whimsical. Cannot recommend highly enough would love to give it 11 stars :)