Mira Illeris and Esben Schultz live in Denmark at Reforest Farm, where they work with food forests, chicken forests and nut forests, and where they have built their off-grid straw-bale house and hold courses. The farm is located in a cluster of six cooperating permaculture farms, ‘Skovvirke’, which they started in 2011 and received planning permission for in 2015.
Before this, they were the initiators of The Self-Sustaining Village on Funen, which started in 2004, where they have worked with permaculture design for the farming systems and designed and built their own straw-bale house. In 2008 they were awarded the permaculture diploma for this work.
In 2009 they started the Scandinavian Permaculture Magazine, which they published for 13 years before it was transferred to the national permaculture associations.
The authors are both trained organic farmers and have roots in agriculture. Esben Schultz grew up on a family farm in Jutland, while Mira Illeris grew up in the organic farming collective Svanholm on Zealand.
Back in 2001 they took the permaculture design certificate (PDC). At that time, the spread of practical permaculture projects was very limited in Denmark, and they went on a study trip to England, where, among others, Martin Crawford’s forest garden, Tinkers Bubble, Ragmans Lane Farm and The Anchorage were a great inspiration for their further work. Since then, they have visited many inspiring permaculture projects in Scandinavia and across Europe.
Today they are active in the Danish Permaculture Association where, together with others, they work for political influence to spread and improve the conditions for permaculture farming. They have regularly given lectures, participated in debates and written columns and debate articles about permaculture.
Editions of this book were first published in Danish, Swedish and Norwegian in 2019 and were expanded and revised in 2023.
Books from Mira and Esben
Permaculture: Practical and Radical Solutions for a World in Crisis
Drawing on decades of hands-on experience, the authors blend practical know-how and field-tested strategies with the latest research, creating a toolkit for us all to thrive in the face of climate and biodiversity crises.
£22.95
