THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED to two Bills and two Davids. The first Bill is my late father Bill Mars. Dad used to make me weed the vegetable patch when I was young, which, strange as this may seem, instilled in me a love for plants and getting my hands dirty. We always had vegetables, a few fruit trees and fresh eggs from “the girls.” This is the path I have followed throughout my life.
The other Bill is, of course, Bill Mollison, who continues to inspire me and several generations of people throughout the world to become better conservationists.
The first David is my grandfather David Williams. When we used to visit as a young boy, I would rush out to the backyard and either head for the ramshackle tool shed to potter around, build things (but mainly destroy things) or forage in the garden, which was full of fruit trees and vegetables. I still have some of Grandad’s hand tools.
We are all also indebted to fellow West Australian (and Fremantle-born) permaculture author and teacher David Holmgren, who traveled to Tasmania so long ago now and became the co-originator of the permaculture concept.