Our Street (Retrosuburbia for kids)

Description

David Holmgren uses storytelling to communicate empowering action in difficult times. This complements his dual focus on permaculture theory and practice. This ‘Aussie Street’ story is a permaculture soap opera from the 1950s to the 2020s. It evolved from his earlier presentations (2005-2017) and the more in-depth text in RetroSuburbia: the Downshifter’s Guide to a Resilient Future (2018), and was the inspiration for this collaboration with RetroSuburbia editor Beck Lowe and illustrator Brenna Quinlan into literature for children.

Beck has interpreted David’s adult story through the eyes of the kids living in Aussie Street. In the process she captures the straightforward style of childhood diaries: telling the ups and downs of daily life. Brenna faithfully represents the feel and detail of each decade to help today’s kids imagine the childhood of their parents and grandparents, as they grapple with the creative options for an abundant future where they live.

Published: November 2020
Melliodora Publishing
48 pages, full colour illustrations by Brenna Quinlan throughout, 210mm x 297mm.
Printed in Australia
ISBN: 9780648845980

Beck Lowe is a permaculture educator and writer. She undertook a life-changing Permaculture Design Course in 1994 and has been practicing permaculture ever since. She worked closely with David Holmgren on RetroSuburbia as project manager, researcher and chief text wrangler, and reinterpreted his ‘Aussie Street’ story for kids in Our Street. She has also been editor and/or project manager on various new and re-releases at Melliodora Publishing. Beck is the black sheep of the retrosuburbia family, living on her 60 acre permaculture farm near Heathcote in central Victoria. Besides work with Holmgren Design and Melliodora Publishing, and running her farm, she teaches permaculture, and is finishing her book on animals in permaculture. becklowe.com.au

David Holmgren is best known as the co-originator with Bill Mollison of the permaculture concept following the publication of Permaculture One in 1978. Within the growing and international permaculture movement, David is respected for his commitment to presenting permaculture ideas through practical projects and teaching by personal example, that a sustainable lifestyle is a realistic, attractive and powerful alternative to dependent consumerism. As well as constant involvement in the practical side of permaculture, David is passionate about the philosophical and conceptual foundations for sustainability, which he explored in Future Scenarios: How Communities Can Adapt to Peak Oil and Climate Change (2009), and Permaculture: Principles and Pathways Beyond Sustainability (2003). With an increasingly high profile as a public speaker, David Holmgren provides leadership with his refreshing and unorthodox approach to the environmental issues of our time. David lives with his partner Su Dennett at “Melliodora”, a one-hectare permaculture demonstration site at Hepburn Springs, Central Victoria, Australia. Visit his web site at holmgren.com.au.

Brenna spent four years living at Melliodora, the permaculture demonstration site founded by David Holmgren and Su Dennett in Central Victoria. She is currently building a strawbale house and planting her own garden at a permaculture community in the Great Southern, WA. Brenna has worked as an illustrator for several organisations including the Bob Brown Foundation, the Australian Food Sovereignty Alliance, and the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Program. She is also part of the Grow Do It permaculture teaching team, and regularly collaborates with Milkwood Permaculture and Melliodora Publishing on various projects and publications. Support Brenna on Patreon and gain access to digital downloads of her work, as well as behind the scenes footage. Sign up to her newsletter here, and follow her on Instagram.