Introduction to Forest Gardening Designing Regenerative Perennial Agriculture Thanks to: Ethan Roland, Jonathan Bates, Kat Anderson, Dave Jacke
Introduction to Forest Gardening
Designing Regenerative Perennial Agriculture
Thanks to: Ethan Roland, Jonathan Bates, Kat Anderson, Dave Jacke
A Vision of Forest Gardening
here it is
The Roots of Forest Gardening
Tending the Wild Across North America
• Kat Anderson spent 17 years interviewing native elders from around California.
• Their stories illustrate whole-ecosystem caretaking based on agroforestry and managing wild plant and animal populations for harvest.
• Analagous patterns are found in the history (and sometimes present day) of every inhabited ecosystem in North America.
Soaproot – Chlorogalum spp.• A “wild” plant physiologically adapted to human harvesting and use.
Pseudo-Domesticates in the Northeast?
Desired Conditions for FG’s
• Overyielding Polycultures
– Self-Renewing Fertility– Sustainable Water Demand– Minimal Herbivory– Healthy Plants– Directed Succession– Minimal Competition
Forest Garden Design
Potential FG Products
• Food• Fuel• Fiber• Fodder• Fertilizer• “Farmaceuticals”• FUN• (and more…)
Ecological Functions
• Nitrogen Fixers• Dynamic Accumulators• Beneficial Insectaries• Aromatic Pest Confusers• Cross-Pollination Clusters• Other Beneficial Wildlife Habitat• Microclimate Contributors
Food
Tea/Medicine/Insectary
Food/Medicine/Insectary
Ground Cover/Nitrogen Fixer
Polyculture Design
Food/AromaticPest Confuser
GroundCover/Medicine/Fertilizer/Insectary/BeneficialHabitat
FoodFood/Insectary
Food/Medicine/Insectary
Larger-Scale Forest Garden Design
Forest Garden Design Process
• Goals• Assessment• Design• Reality Checking• Implementation• Evaluation• Re-Envisioning….
Or….just start planting!
A Radical Idea: STEP INTO ACTION
• “You Have Full Authority to Improve Creation!” – Geoff Lawton
…no matter how small your wheelbarrow!
Humans are Keystone Species
• There’s a learning curve in all phases of design.
• There’s an unlearning curve in how we relate to our habitat – cultural views of people and nature as separate.
• As permaculture designers, we are building relationship with our role as ecosystem managers.
Forest Gardening Resources
References on Ecology and Reading the Landscape
• Reading the Forested Landscape – Tom Wessels
• Sierra Club Naturalist’s Guide to your region• Peterson’s Field Guide: Ecology (Eastern or
Western)• Northern Woodlands magazine• Local old-timers: farmers, foresters, maple
tappers, herbalists, hunters…
References on Indigenous Land Use
• Tending the Wild – M. Kat Anderson• 1491 – Charles Mann• Changes in the Land – William Cronon• Enduring Seeds – Gary Paul Nabhan• The Voice of the Dawn – Frederick Matthew
Wiseman
…and ultimately, the elders themselves.