Concept
I first heard about this concept while reading Eric Toensmeier’s Paradise Lot. The short version of the book is that two guys had converted a tenth of an acre property with poor uncultivatable soil into a productive abundant diverse food forest, in urban Massachusetts.
I had wanted to get started right away. That is what my body was telling me, but my head was telling me to take the time to observe. I had read about the pitfalls others had experienced because they overlooked this one little detail which is really all the details of observation first.
Experience
My first real experience walking through a food forest was at Central Rocky Mountain Permaculture Institue, Basalt Colorado in 2014. It was amazing to walk around eating all the way through the tour. Apples, grapes, and herbs I can barely recall the names of, densely planted with each plant serving a purpose and filling a niche. This biomimicry has been adapted with many hours of observation and intensional design.
Design
What to include, from plants to trees and everywhere in-between with the birds and bees. The consideration of design is intentionally integrated to provide all creatures who inhabit the garden a niche to interact and obtain a yield
Sheridan version 1.0 ~ Parkland Drive version 2.0
Parkland Drive
Hayward WI Zone 4a
Where it started in September 2021 – .25 acres conversion of turf grass
Goals
- Food Security
- Diversity
- Providing habitat for a local ecology
- Increase plant species of perennial root, fruit, or nut-bearing cultivars
- Diversity
- Gather skillset
- Soil building
- Propagation
- grafting
- pruning
- Increase value of property
Sheridan CO Zone 5b
I jumped into building and gathering for this project long before I had drawn it out. I skipped a step. Although it did function well as a garden, it lacked cohesion and guilding of good companion planting. I killed lots of plants and seedlings trying to learn what zones performed well.
- Project 1.0
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