HEPBURN'S David Holmgren and Su Dennett don’t need much help from anyone else to survive.
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The pair haven't gone to the supermarket for more than five years, opting to grow their own food, get milk from their goats, and go hunting for meat.
They even make their own soap and use leaves as toilet paper.
Their two and a half acre block is a living example of intensive permaculture, something David founded with lecturer Bill Mollison in the 1970s.
The duo's property is now just one of thousands of living examples of permaculture, with everything placed in exact locations to get the best outcome.
It's about working with, rather than against nature.
"In late '85 we bought this… block covered in blackberry, gorse and bare ground," David said.
"You couldn't pee anywhere without being seen by your neighbours but now, you can get lost by taking a few steps.
"Living in town also means you are less car dependent, especially when you are raising children."
Their house has a classic “passive solar” construction, with mud brick walls and a cool cupboard and cellar, not a fridge, to store food.
They preserve fruit and vegetables and share their excess harvest with the community via a "veggie-box scheme".
Even the seemingly ugly weeds are used for salad and kept specifically for bushfire protection.
Making the most of opportunities and letting the environment work for itself is what permaculture is all about.
"The things that developers and house owners and prospective buyers would have seen as a problem - like having a gully running through the property with a 40-hectare catchment, I of course saw it as the great opportunity to harvest water," David said.
"When you do things for yourself, it gives you a huge amount of freedom but it's like being in small business, where income can be up and down, or being a farmer where you are subject to weather and the seasons.
"It's challenging but it's very different from the conventional way of living."
And for him, permaculture really can change our way of living across the world.
"We're basically saying we will create the world we want by doing the positive stuff, rather than the more common focus of environmental activism which is fighting against the world we don't want," he said.
"It's small steps but it's working."