EDIBLE FOOD FOREST
Permaculture, at its most awesome
Looking for a solution to global food security? Look no further.
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Permaculture is a design method for sustainable human settlements. The concept is to design (usually physical spaces, but could be processes or systems) with the harmonious integration of landscape and people in mind. Permaculture designed spaces are those where people, animals and plants live and thrive together. A thoughtful design can provide food, water, shelter, community, health, and purpose for its inhabitants.
Permanent Agriculture + Permanent Culture = Permaculture
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The concept was coined and developed by Bill Mollison, a biologist and researcher from Australia.
For more info, read about it here.
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Permaculture Ethics: Care for People, Care for the Earth, Everyone gets a Fair Share
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Permaculture Principles:
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1. Observe and Interact
2. Catch and Store Energy
3. Obtain a Yield
4. Self-Regulate, Accept Feedback
5. Use & Value Renewables
6. Produce No Waste
7. Design from Pattern to Detail
8. Integrate
9. Use Small, Slow Solutions
10. Use & Value Diversity
11. Use Edges; Value the Marginal
12. Creatively Use & Respond to Change
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OK, SO WHAT IS AN EDIBLE FOOD FOREST?
An Edible Food Forest is a collection of trees, shrubs and under-layer plants that are carefully chosen to provide maximum food benefits for humans over time. The ecosystem is carefully crafted of perennial plants (those that live for years and don't need to be replanted often) who live in harmony and help each other thrive.
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A collection of plants who benefit each other is called a "Guild".
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The most famous collection of plants who support each other is the classic "Three Sisters" Guild of Corn, Squash and Beans. The corn stalk grows tall while the squash leaves spread outwards and shade the soil from the sun, retaining moisture. The beans are a nitrogen-fixer, and add important nutrients to the soil to feed the other two plants. pole beans are a vine plant that loves to climb, and the corn obliges with its very own pole provided for them to ascend.
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In an edible food forest there are few annuals, so lets take for example, and Apple Tree Guild:
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Bulbs like Daffodil - Repel grass
Bee Balm - Attract Beneficial Pollinators (like bees)
Strawberries - Groundcover
Rhubarb or Comfrey - Provide Mulch and nutrients
Yarrow - Attracts bees and accumulates nutrients in the soil
Legumes - Nitrogen Fixers (clover, vetch, alfalfa)
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"You get in life what you have the courage to ASK FOR."
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- Oprah
"He is richest who is content with the least, for content is the wealth of nature."
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- Socrates
"You must do the things you think you cannot do."
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- Eleanor Roosevelt