Mother Earth Monday – Permaculture Playing Cards

permaculture_playing_cards

Who says permaculture folk aren’t playing with a full deck? That full deck will show just how sane we are!

Maybe you have no real clue about this permaculture thing I keep mentioning. Maybe you understand and agree, but know a lot of people who are relatively clueless about what it is all about or how it works. It’s not uncommon for people to have a lot of odd ideas about what it really is, but many of the books on the subject are fairly weighty volumes and not inexpensive to buy. For a person just starting out, that might be a bit of a large investment for an uncertain return.

The Permaculture Card Deck

Queue the title of this posting. Paul Wheaton of Permies.com spent a long time working out and debating how to create a usable deck of playing cards as a way to help serve both as an entertainment source and a tool to help those with zero knowledge get a basic overview of what is some of the core nature to permaculture. It isn’t some heavy course study, but instead a series of beautiful works of art explaining a few ideas from any given aspect or individual connected to the permaculture movement.

wildcrafting-permaculture-card

The artwork on these cards is better than many cards I have seen on the market. Even the fancy tarot decks often don’t look this good.

Most of the movers and shakers in permaculture have their own card as do a fair number of the basic tools and techniques associated with it. Even if you never once think on the deeper meanings and implications, you still have a beautiful deck of cards to play with. On that subject, this is one of the rare decks of this nature that still includes special markings for the one eyed jacks and suicide kings.

The Deck’s Design

It’s a full deck of 52 regular cards, 2 jokers and 1 bonus card. Of these, 26 cards have a name hidden among them for those who enjoy searching for the subtle. One even includes a ‘hidden needle’ for those with a good eye. All are of the same quality and size as standard bicycle cards and are made in the US.

Permaculture-card-size-reference

Size reference against a real hand. The print can be a bit small for some people.

So do I sound like a commercial yet? Well I do have to say there is one negative to these beautiful cards. If you have difficulty reading smaller print, you may need to put on your glasses to read these. Even with the small tidbits of information, fitting it around the artwork of a standard sized card was no small feat. I find them readable, but some people would have preferred a larger deck. Still, that is about the only negative anyone has reported out of the many decks sold both directly and through Amazon.

Where Can I Get a Deck

If you happen to be interested in a deck of your own, head over to Paul’s Amazon page and take a look. Right now the price drops if you are already buying enough that your total order comes up to $35, making them only 15 dollars. The free shipping happens regardless. I’d personally urge you to grab a deck. They’re good quality playing cards and the information is interesting. Also the fact that they are absolutely beautiful doesn’t hurt either.

What are your thoughts?

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.