[Santa_Cruz_Permaculture] Food Forests Across America Campaign

[Living Mandala]

Food Forests Across America!



In an uncertain economy and changing world, local food security is an  
essential element to becoming sustaibable in this emmerging Green  
Economy. Join the campaign for local food security and learn how you  
can help to transform gardens, lawns, parks, and empty spaces into  
thriving edible landscapes that are beautiful, regenerative, and  
produce an abundance of delicious, locally grown food!

What is a Food Forest Garden?

Imagine a forest where every single tree is dripping with fresh fruits  
and ripening nuts. Every shrub is packed with delicious berries, and  
every other plant is a medicinal herb, culinary spice, or beautiful  
edible flower. Tubers and root crops are abundant underfoot, gourmet  
mushroom logs sprout in the shade, and hardy kiwi vines climb back up  
through the layers of this multi-functional forest of food.

Food forests are diverse gardens modeled after natural ecosystems  
designed to mimic the way a forest thrives and regenerates. A forest  
continuously nourishing all elements in the system and produce a vast  
diversity of outputs, but requires little or no inputs to sustain  
itself. By recognizing the self-supporting, mutually beneficial  
relationships of the elements in a forest - from tall trees, smaller  
trees, shrubs, herbs, ground covers, vines, nitrogen fixers,  
insectaries, fungi, animals, and more, the food forest garden designs  
a similar system but replaces the components that are in a common  
forest with species that are preferred edibles and more useful for  
humans. The forest then becomes a Garden of Eden, in which edible or  
useful plants are found from head to toe, where something in season is  
always ready to eat, and the system requires little or no maintenance  
to sustain and regenerate.

Where Can I Learn About Forest Gardens?

We recommend the book - Edible Forest Gardens, by Dave Jacke and Eric  
Toensmeier, http://www.edibleforestgardens.com
as well as Permaculture resources, practices, and philosophies.

The best way is to learn how to design and install a Food Forest  
Garden is by taking a hands-on course.

Upcoming Forest Garden Courses:

Forest Garden Immersion Course - April 23-26, 2009
Food Forest & Agroforestry Workshop in Maui  April 14-18
Hands-On Food Forest Workshop - May 16-17, Petaluma, CA


Forest Garden Immersion Course - April 23-26

Hands-on Training to Design and Implement Edible Landscapes

April 23-26, 2009
High Falls, New York
at Camp Epworth Permaculture Demonstration & Education Center
In Association with Appleseed Permaculture

Visit the Course website for More information

Including

FOREST GARDENING, FOREST ECOLOGY, PERMACULTURE, PLANT PROPAGATION,  
PLANTING & MULCHING, GRAFTING, SOIL ECOLOGY, BASIC BOTANY, MUSHROOM,  
INOCULATION, FORAGING & WILD EDIBLES, DESIGN TOOLS, FRESH FOREST  
GARDEN COOKING, AND MORE

Course Description

This course immerses participants in the hands-on reality of designing  
and co-creating edible forest gardens. During the 4-day (Thu-Fri-Sat- 
Sun) course, participants learn how to design, establish, and maintain  
such Edible Forest Gardens of Eden.Together we will engage in the  
practical skills of forest gardening: propagation, grafting, planting  
& mulching, soil ecology, basic botany & horticulture, management &  
maintenance, plant identification, mushroom inoculation, foraging &  
wild edibles, community preparation of local medicines, and fresh  
forest garden cooking. Daily plant walks connect participants on a  
deeper level with a diversity of multifunctional herbs, trees, and  
vines. Participants share stories of their own forest gardening  
explorations, and a visit to an 11-year old local forest garden shows  
the evolution of these systems. We learn to weave forest gardening  
into our communities as well as into the soil.

Forest Gardening in the Northeast

This course functionally interconnects with other Forest Garden  
courses taught in the Northeast this season by providing cultural  
mentoring in the hands-on joys and challenges of starting and  
maintaining forest gardens. Our connection to the local  community  
will culminate in adding another quarter-acre of forest garden to last  
year's acre-planting, and a celebration with the local permaculture  
community before returning home.
______________

Food Forest Agroforestry Workshop & Retreat in Maui

April 14-18, 2009
Maui, Hawaii
Hale Akua Garden Farm

For More Information Click Here

Food, Fodder, Forage, Fuel, Fiber, Fungus, Fertility, Functional  
Farmaceuticals, Fertility Focusing on Pacific Island Tropical and  
Subtropical Forest Systems

Facilitators & Instructors

Penny Livingston-Stark
Doug Bullock
John Valenzuala
additional special guests

______________

Hands-On Food Forest Workshop - May 16-17

May 16-17
Petaluma, California
In Association Permaculture Artisans & Daily Acts

This workshop will consist of designing and installing a Food Forest  
on city land sanctioned by the city of Petaluma, California.
More information coming soon.

Facilitators & Instructors
Erik Ohlsen and friends

Organize and Install a Forest Garden Course in Your Town!

To organize a Food Forest Garden Immersion Course in your town contact:
forestgarden at livingmandala.com


Food Forests Across America on Visionary Culture Radio!



Monday April 6th, 8:00 pm PST

Call In :: 646-649-1957
Or Log In or Listen :: www.visionarycultureradio.com

Tune into Visionary Culture Radio with Laura Fox on Monday for a show  
on Food Forests Across America with special guest permaculture  
teachers from the east to west coasts of the U.S.

Special Guests Include:

Erik Ohlsen - Founder & Director - Permaculture Earth Artisans
Ethan Roland - Founder & Director - AppleSeed Permaculture
Marisha Auerbach - Founder & Director - Herb 'n Wisdom
Max Meyers - Director - Mendocino Ecological Learning Center
Jay Ma - Co-Founder, Director of Programs & Development - Living Mandala
John Valenzuela - Veteran Permaculture Designer, Educator & Consultant
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