Imagine swinging gently in your hammock, observing blossoms, fruits and nuts thriving in your backyard forest garden. Chirping birds and a wall of greenery screen a grumbling lawn mower in the neighborhood beyond. You smile as you recall your discovery of permaculture food forestry. You relax and enjoy the splendor of the healthy ecosystem surrounding you and the respite it has afforded you. All this beauty and you get to harvest fruit, berries, nuts, herbs, vegetables, mushrooms and even natural medicinal plants.
You recall the fun, the hard work and the sense of community of a few years ago when you held a ‘permablitz’ to create this space. This gathering led by an instructor lasted just a day and taught a lot about the intelligent design of permaculture. It mimics nature rather than attempts to tame it. It doesn’t rely on massive inputs of resources, time, energy and chemistry as conventional agriculture does
There are many benefits of forest gardening. Like nature, it is a closed system with no waste produced. Every element serves a function, working synergistically with the rest.
Permaculture designs slow and sink free, natural rainwater into the garden. Here it assists in soil regeneration as fallen leaves decompose unleashing nutrients to build the ecosystem. It doesn't shed excess nutrients and lawn maintenance pollutants into storm sewers. There is no need to irrigate using resource-intensive, chemically treated, cold city water.
The burgeoning ecosystem below ground supports the one above. Birds, pollinators, even frogs, move in to provide their services to the system. You no longer have to fight nature’s succession with herbicides, pesticides or fertilizer.
Forest garden yields are high. According to former Edmontonian and forest garden guru Ron Berezan, forest gardens “can outproduce an annual crop system in food calories per unit of area with far less labour.” So they are economical too! An initial investment for plants results in fewer trips to the grocery store in the future.
Forest gardens nourish us physically and emotionally. Fresh, organic food offers us incredible taste sensations and good health. Relaxing in our fruitful oasis provides a meditative experience to soothe the nervous system. Time in the garden safeguards us from’ nature deficit disorder’.
Are you curious about the design elements of this brilliant system?
The first tenet is observation. We follow the landscape’s lead-like an earth whisperer. Where do the water flow, sun shine and wind sweep through the property? This will influence our design allowing us to create microclimates within the landscape based on our needs and those of the plants we choose to grow.
The second tenet is water management. Water is a precious resource. We capture it actively from surfaces like rooftops and passively with swales (shallow ditches) dug on contour to slow the water down so it can sink into the landscape. This water is the catalyst that begins soil regeneration.
Third, perennial plants with their extensive roots and multi year life spans utilize and cycle nutrients in the system. Roots stabilize the soil preventing erosion. They help create an underground food web that includes microbes and earthworms.
Fourth, by arranging plants into polyculture guilds, they act as companions supporting each other. Consider the famous Iroquois Three Sisters plantings of corn, beans and squash. The corn acts as a stake for the beans. Beans fix nitrogen to feed them all and squash acts as a natural mulch reducing evaporation. We can maximize space when plants grow horizontally and vertically. Polycultures reduce pest problems as the multiple plant scents repel insects. Monocultures used by conventional agriculture, however, offer a smorgasbord for pests whose friends and family descend for the feast. This is why insecticides have become so prevalent. Well thought out polycultures provide habitat and soon nature takes over. The forest finds its balance and maintains itself.
Botanical Arts St Albert is about to embark on a public food forest of its own. In tougher economic times we can harvest freely from this demonstration site and come together to share old-fashioned skills such as preserving food and harvesting seeds.
