Edible Forest Gardens
Edible Forest Gardens is a groundbreaking two-volume work that spells out and explores the key concepts of forest ecology and applies them to the needs of natural gardeners in temperate climates. Volume I lays out the vision of the forest garden and explains the basic ecological principles that make it work. In Volume II, Dave Jacke and Eric Toensmeier move on to practical considerations: concrete ways to design, establish, and maintain your own forest garden. Along the way they present case studies and examples, as well as tables, illustrations, and a uniquely valuable “plant matrix” that lists hundreds of the best edible and useful species. Taken together, the two volumes of Edible Forest Gardens offer an advanced course in ecological gardening-one that will forever change the way you look at plants and your environment. What is an edible forest garden? An edible forest garden is a perennial polyculture of multipurpose plants. Most plants regrow every year without replanting: perennials. Many species grow together: a polyculture. Each plant contributes to the success of the whole by fulfilling many functions: multipurpose. In other words, a forest garden is an edible ecosystem, a consciously designed community of mutually beneficial plants and animals intended for human food production. Edible forest gardens provide more than just a variety of foods. The seven F’s apply here: food, fuel, fiber, fodder, fertilizer, and “farmaceuticals,” as well as fun.
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What Hacker News says
- My PDC (Permaculture Design Certificate) instructor was of the opinion that Permaculture focuses on designing ecosystems for the benefit of people. While he had a preference for native organisms, he was against using chemicals or efforts to eradicate so-called invasive species. He instead promoted us to find the beneficial properties of the invasive species. For example, in the US North East, Japanese Knotweed is an invasive species, yet has incredible healing properties such as being rich in Resveratrol.
A principle of Permaculture systems design is that organisms act to benefit the ecosystem. So called weeds, like dandelions, remediate the soil & also have strong nutritional properties.
A good 2 volume set is "Edible Forest Gardens" by Dave Jacke. He details the lifecycle of an ecosystem from grasslands all the way to mature forest from growth back to a cycle from a "growing forest" to "mature forest" as disruptions such as fire occur.
- The seminal work on this topic is 'Edible Forest Gardens' by Jacke and Toensmeier, but there are others that have ecosystem design chapters; for example the books by Martin Crawford (also see his website www.agroforestry.co.uk for literature if you don't want to buy books just for a quick read).
The gist of it is that in balanced ecosystems, you have natural remedies against pests; birds against insects for example, or certain plants that repel insects, or plants to combat diseases, or predators that eat insects that distribute diseases.
This is the theory; currently there is little evidence (as in, scientifically valid results, not anecdotes) that this works as it's claimed. I'm working on an experimental food forest to test some of these concepts. There are many things I'm very skeptical of, but in the mean time I have an excuse to work outside in the field, so hey...
- Thank you for your list. The books on there look good.
Here's some books that I read & recommend re: applied systems thinking & ecosystems.
http://www.amazon.com/Permaculture-Principles-Pathways-beyon...
http://www.amazon.com/Edible-Forest-Gardens-2-set/dp/1890132...
http://www.amazon.com/One-Straw-Revolution-Introduction-Natu...
http://www.amazon.com/1491-Revelations-Americas-Before-Colum...
http://www.amazon.com/Guns-Germs-Steel-Fates-Societies/dp/03...
http://www.amazon.com/Collapse-Societies-Choose-Succeed-Revi...
http://www.newsociety.com/Books/D/Decline-and-Fall
http://www.amazon.com/Thinking-Fast-Slow-Daniel-Kahneman/dp/...
http://www.amazon.com/Consciousness-Social-Brain-Michael-Gra...
http://www.amazon.com/Sex-Scratch-Making-Relationship-Rules/...
- Hey Briantakita,
I spent quite a bit of time embedded in the Permaculture movement and have heard all these arguments before. I have read all the key Permaculture texts (both volumes of Edible Forest Gardens, Mollison's original Permaculture: A Designer's Manual, and many more).
They do not mesh with ecological science.
The problem with Permacultrure is that if you pay attention to the design system, it's effectively a return to pre-science individualistic naturalism. It's entirely based on individual personal observation, and removes a lot of the checks against personal bias that science introduced to improve upon individual naturalism.
Thus it's entirely possible for a Permaculturist to observe invasive species doing useful things for their ecosystem and completely miss all the damage they're doing. It's easy to see the the squirrels who use the Honeysuckle for cover and the birds eating its berries and completely miss all the Lepidoptera species that would be eating the plants the Honeysuckle displaces, and all the birds that depends on those species for protein. This is what Permaculturists consistently miss, but the ecological science is very clear about. Invasive species do far more harm to their biospheres than good.
So when Permaculturists discount controlling those species they are failing to do the very thing they claim to be attempting to do: build healthy ecosystems.
All too often with Permaculture it's much worse than just writing off the need to control invasives. I have seen Permaculturists become so obsessed with designing novel ecosystems that they even introduce invasive species.
The goals of the Permaculture movement - building a society that exists in harmony with the natural world and is thus not only sustainable, but regenerative - are sound. Many of the ideas - building agricultural systems that act like ecosystems - are good and worth exploring. But the methods and approaches taught by Permaculturists in PDC courses are deeply problematic.
- Just saw this related book today:
The Carbon Farming Solution:
http://www.perennialsolutions.org/shop/the-carbon-farming-so...
Author is Eric Toensmeier.
From his about page:
http://carbonfarmingsolution.com/bio
Eric Toensmeier is the award-winning author of Paradise Lot and Perennial Vegetables, and the co-author of Edible Forest Gardens. He is an appointed lecturer at Yale University, a Senior Biosequestration Fellow with Project Drawdown, and an international trainer. He has studied useful perennial plants and their roles in agroforestry systems for over two decades.He is the author of The Carbon Farming Solution: A Global Toolkit of Perennial Crops and Regenerative Agricultural Practices for Climate Change Mitigation and Food Security.
- On my list to read in 2020:
Books/Authors I've read that I would recommend:The Visual Display of Quantitative Information The Rust Programming Language Progressive Web Apps Permaculture: Principles and Pathways beyond Sustainability Farming the Woods Growing Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms Affinity Designer Workbook The Age of Surveillance Capitalism Walden A Guide for Desert and Dryland Restoration Ernest Hemingway On Writing The Two Hands of God (Alan Watts) The Anarchist's Design Book and/or With the Grain: A Craftsman's Guide to Wood Dune Some other fiction reading I'll decide on after I finish DuneTao of Physics, Web of Life, Systems View of Life, etc. (Fritjof Capra) ^Capra's work has heavily influenced my worldview and ability to think in systems Designing Data Intensive Applications (just finishing this week) Permaculture One & Two, Gaia's Garden, Edible Forest Gardens I&II Black Swan, Antifragile, etc. (Nassim Taleb) Cloud Hidden: Whereabouts Unknown (Alan Watts, written late in life) Ishmael, Story of B, etc. (Daniel Quinn) You are Not a Gadget, Who Owns the Future, etc. (Jaron Lanier) Goethe's Italian Journey Vonnegut, Hemingway, Steinbeck The Wheel of Time
