[Lapg] Edible Forest Network, Ecology and Design of Home Scale Food Forests

[Wesley Roe and Marjorie Lakin Erickson]

Edible Forest Network
http://www.edibleforestgardens.com/network.html

Edible forest gardening may be an idea whose time has come, but that does 
not mean that the powers that be recognize that fact. As a result, it is up 
to those of us with the insight, interest, and wisdom to develop forest 
gardening to its full potential.

We have much to learn, and much to do together. Numerous plants stand ready 
to function as workhorse species in forest gardens for many regions of the 
temperate world, yet many, many more offer great potential to diversify the 
ranks of our garden allies if we simply select and breed them for a while. 
We know only the barest beginnings of which plants work best as dynamic 
accumulators, specialist insect nectaries, or beneficial insect 
overwintering habitat. We need to experiment with replicate trials of 
polyculture combinations in the same and in different soil, moisture, and 
light environments to see which species work well together, and which do 
not, in which situations. We need to taste-test species, test hardiness, 
expand the range of known useful plants, determine best management 
strategies and techniques, and on and on.

This work is not only for the professional scientist, though we would love 
to work with such folks. Anyone who plants a forest garden is, by the mere 
fact of planting a forest garden and planting interesting plants, expanding 
the edges of the field. If you plant a batch of seedling plants, and some 
die, you have already begun a plant selection and breeding process that 
will eventually result in varieties better adapted to your garden 
environment and your style of management (or lack thereof). All we need to 
do is to be a little more conscious about what we are up to, take good 
notes, and share our information with each other. Each of our individual 
actions will add together into something powerful, beautiful, and highly 
useful and adaptive for the human species.

This page of Edible Forest Gardens.com is intended to grow into a whole 
realm of the website devoted to supporting, enhancing, and organizing our 
various activities as on-the-ground action researchers. We would love your 
ideas about how to put this aspect of the website together. What do you 
most need? What do you have to offer? What are your interests? What 
services can this website—or indeed, a forest garden research 
organization—provide that will make your efforts work best as part of a 
larger effort? Please use the Contact page to get in touch and share your 
thoughts. As people's ideas arise and are shared, watch this page grow and 
change in response. And keep up the good work!

Resources for
Forest Gardeners

Downloads:

Worksheet 0: Blank Spp. Niche Analysis

0PDF       0Word Format

Worksheet 1: Desired Spp. Niche Analysis

1PDF       1Word Format

Worksheet 2: Existing Spp. Niche Analysis

2PDF       2Word Format

Worksheet 3: Master Species List

3PDF       3Word Format

Worksheet 4: Crop Guild Build Form

4PDF      4Word Format

Worksheet 5: Soil Builders Guild Form

5PDF       5Word Format

Worksheet 6: Insectary Flower Calendar

6PDF       6Word Format

Worksheet 7: Ground Covers Guild Form

7PDF       7Word Format

Worksheet 8: Polyculture Patch Form

8PDF       8Word Format

(Addenda and Errata soon to come)

Edible Forest Gardens.com is dedicated to offering inspiring and practical 
information on the vision, ecology, design, and stewardship of perennial 
polycultures of multipurpose plants in small-scale settings. We intend this 
website to grow into an information and networking resource for newcomers, 
amateurs, students, and serious practitioners and researchers alike.

Forest gardening is an idea whose time has come. We can consciously apply 
the principles of ecology to the design of home scale gardens that mimic 
forest ecosystem structure and function, but grow food, fuel, fiber, 
fodder, fertilizer, "farmaceuticals," and fun. Indeed, we must begin 
learning to apply ecological principles to the design of our food 
production systems now—we are rapidly approaching or are already at the 
peak of planetary oil production, and the world of energy descent is upon 
us. This sea change in our culture will require that we learn to live 
within our energetic means and begin to rebuild ecosystems that support 
human and humane lives without diminishing the ability of the ecosystem to 
support our children and grandchildren.

While this global problem is huge, most of the solutions available to us 
are local, personal, empowering, and potentially enlivening, enlightening, 
and fun. Edible forest gardening is one of these solutions, and we now have 
the resources at hand to transform our own yards and gardens into 
productive paradises. This website and the book Edible Forest Gardens that 
you can buy here are intended to put in your hands the most sophisticated 
and down-to-earth information available to maximize your success as a 
forest gardener.

Forest gardens have much to offer on a practical level, and they have much 
to teach us about how to live in community as free and interdependent 
beings in a functional way. We hope that you will trust your innate ability 
to learn and contribute to the larger community of human beings who care 
about living sanely and humanely as we journey through energy descent. 
Welcome to the adventure of our lifetimes.

We hope you enjoy what we offer here, and that you will visit often to add 
your thoughts and experiences to the mix.

Peace and blessings to you and yours.

Dave Jacke

About Book
Edible Forest Gardens , Ecology and Design of Home Scale Food Forests

This comprehensive two-volume book constitutes an in-depth course in 
ecological garden design. Written in a passionate, clear, and engaging 
style, it integrates the vision and ecology of forest gardening with 
practical design, establishment, and management strategies. While Edible 
Forest Gardens was written as an integrated whole, each volume can stand 
alone as valuable learning tools and references.

For details on these books, see below.

Volume 1: Ecological Vision and Theory for Temperate Climate Permaculture
Volume 1: Ecological Vision and Theory for Temperate Climate 
Permaculturephotos, illustrations, and tables. Bibliography, glossary, 
index, plant and resource lists.

This volume begins with an overview of the ecological and cultural context 
for forest gardening in modern North America. It also lays out a holistic 
vision that guides the study of forest ecology that follows. This 
ecological exploration forms the bulk of volume 1, and offers clear and 
specific direction for forest garden design and management. Three forest 
garden case studies ground the concepts discussed in the book and bring 
them life. Volume 1 concludes with colorful descriptions of forest 
gardening's "Top 100" species, and useful listings of information and 
organizational resources.

Click below to see excerpts of Volume 1 at the Chelsea Green website.

Volume 1 Preface
Volume 1 Introduction

Volume 2: Ecological Design and Practice for Temperate Climate Permaculture
Volume 2: Ecological Design and Practice for Temperate Climate 
Permacultureillustrations, and tables. Comprehensive appendices on forest 
garden plants and animals, resource lists, glossary, bibliography, indices.

Volume 2 focuses all of its attention on effective design and practice. It 
organizes the ecological strategies from volume 1 in a way that is 
accessible to gardeners and designers. It offers a unique 'pattern 
language' for forest garden design, and provides detailed advice for how to 
design, prepare the site for, plant, and maintain your forest garden. 
Volume 2 also includes a unique Plant Species Matrix and several associated 
appendices which offer a wide-ranging catalog of the ecology, uses, and 
ecosystem functions of the best temperate-climate forest garden plants, and 
a few edible mushrooms, from around the world.

Click here to see Volume 2's Introduction at the Chelsea Green website.

The Two-Volume Set: The most comprehensive treatment of forest garden design
ever created.

No other book on forest gardening integrates ecology and design as 
thoroughly, and with such rigor, as this. The two volumes combine to give 
you the most up-to-date and advanced synthesis available on the subject. If 
you are serious about ecological gardening, ecological horticulture, 
permaculture design, or forest gardening—whether you are an amateur, a 
professional, a student, a researcher, or just a hard-core eco-freak—then 
the two-volume set is for you. It is an investment in intellectual capital 
that will pay dividends for years to come.

About the Authors
About the Authorsdesign since the 1970s, and has run his own ecological 
design firm—Dynamics Ecological Design—since 1984 (click here for a PDF of 
Dave's resume). Dave is an engaging and passionate teacher of ecological 
design and permaculture, and a meticulous designer. He has consulted on, 
designed, built, and planted landscapes, homes, farms, and communities in 
the many parts of the United States, as well as overseas, but mainly in the 
Northeast. A cofounder of Land Trust at Gap Mountain in Jaffrey, NH, he 
homesteaded there for a number of years. He holds a B.A. in Environmental 
Studies from Simon's Rock College (1980) and a M.A. in Landscape Design 
from the Conway School of Landscape Design (1984). You may reach Dave at 
dave at edibleforestgardens.com.

Coauthor Eric Toensmeier calls himself a "socially engaged plant geek." He 
has spent much of his adult life exploring edible and otherwise useful 
plants and how they can be used in designed ecosystems. His forthcoming 
book Perennial Vegetables will be published by Chelsea Green within the 
next year. Eric has worked as a small farm trainer at the New England Small 
Farm Institute (Belchertown, MA) (www.smallfarm.org) and currently manages 
the Tierra de Oportunidades new farmer program of Nuestras Raíces 
(www.nuestras-raices.org) in Holyoke, MA. There he is designing and 
installing a permaculture landscape in concert with immigrant farmers who 
are starting farm-based enterprises in an urban context. Eric is a graduate 
and former faculty member of the Institute for Social Ecology in 
Plainfield, VT.