Sustainable living is defined as a lifestyle that reduces the impact on the Earth’s resources. However look a little closer and you’ll see the term, along with others such as self sufficiency, homesteading and organic food, are just new tags for traditional, common sense methods of living – the way our grandparents lived and largely fed themselves.

One increasingly popular part of sustainable living — growing organic food — is well documented by the following authors using this wisdom. They show how growing pesticide-free fruit and vegetables is not only possible but easy in small homes and apartments using the knowledge handed down by previous generations.

Indira Naidoo

Author, food activist and television personality Indira Naidoo has demonstrated this in her book The Edible Balcony and the recently released follow up The Edible City.

Both books examine how urban spaces can be transformed into productive, sustainable areas for the growing of organic vegetables. The author takes us into her world, first on her Sydney unit balcony, then to the city itself, to show how real sustainability and organic living can be achieved on a small scale and change lives for the better.

Linda Woodrow

Small-scale organic living is very much the focus of Linda Woodrow’s The Permaculture Home Garden. The author combines traditional common sense with the science of permaculture to show how people can transform their gardens into sustainable food gardens.

Packed with advice, encouragement, diagrams and inspiration, The Permaculture Home Garden shows how easy it is to reduce your carbon footprint while producing stunning organic fruit and vegetables for the kitchen table.

Individual know how, organic living and sustainability are the key themes running through these books. Though they vary in style and scope, all three show the importance of collective knowledge and wisdom in sustainable living.

The power of environmentally conscious people thinking of the future of the planet by taking inspiration from the past.