An Australian retailer of pellet stoves — wood heating appliances that burn compressed wood pellets for clean, controllable combustion. Pellet stoves offer an alternative to traditional slow-combustion stoves with automated feed systems and lower particulate emissions, particularly useful in areas with air quality restrictions.

A supplier of flue kits for wood stoves and open fireplaces in Australia and good reference point for households setting up or maintaining a wood heating system.

Busybee supplies flue cleaning brush kits for maintaining wood stove and fireplace flues. Regular flue cleaning is essential for fire safety and combustion efficiency.

An essay by David Holmgren examining public and regulatory debate around wood smoke pollution and its implications for sustainable households.

A letter by David Holmgren published in Renew Magazine in January 2005 making the case for firewood as a legitimate sustainable energy source.

Australian manufacturer of the Thermalux range of individually handcrafted slow-combustion wood stoves and cooking stoves.  The stove type used by Su Dennett and David Holmgren at Melliodora.

A comprehensive overview of passive solar design from two American solar pioneers, this book provides both the principles and practical detail needed to design buildings that use climate as a resource rather than something to overcome with energy.

A detailed practical guide to using raw earth — sand-clay render, straw-clay render, and clay paints — for finishing interior and exterior walls in new and existing buildings. Henderson draws on extensive Australian and international experience, including work at Melliodora, to make natural rendering accessible. The skills are easy to learn, require minimal tools, and connect practitioners to a deep craft tradition.

A standalone RetroSuburbia chapter positioning wood energy as one of the simplest and most accessible ways to increase household energy self-reliance, particularly for heating, cooking, and hot water.

Comfort doesn’t come from cranking the air-con — it comes from design, behaviour, and re-learning how to live with the seasons. This RetroSuburbia chapter covers thermal mass, passive solar design, window management, clothing, and the seasonal rhythms of living with your climate rather than fighting it.