Day 2 - Food Forests

On Day 2 of our internship we participated in a public workshop about food forests taught by Toby Hemenway, a leading permaculture author and teacher. Food forests are basically this: intentionally designed agricultural systems which build upon nature's tendency towards succession or growth. Traditional agriculture is about maintaining the initial stage of ecosystem development, where mostly annual plants take advantage of zero shade to lay the ground for more plants to come in. This is a great system, but it requires alot of work, and it can quickly drain nutrients from an area of land. Food forests, on the other hand, utilize the various stages of development, by beginning with low-growing plants but also cultivating food-bearing trees amongst them. The idea is that once a food forest is developed, it can provide food easily from year to year, and it cycles nutrients back to the earth as it grows. Although the name "food forest" implies a large scale, the concepts are actually applicable on the scale of a home garden.


We began the day in the barn classroom discussing the principles of permaculture. There is some variation amongst sources on what these principles are; you can read the principles Toby taught us on his website at http://www.patternliteracy.com/principles.html. Rather than explain them all, I'll mention a couple that I find particularly interesting. "Each element performs multiple functions" means that all the aspects of a system, such as a particular plant or animal, or a particular structure such as a kitchen, do many things. For example, a chicken not only provides food, but can break down compost, hunt pests and fertilize soil. This is kind of like another principle, "make the least change for the greastest effect." Permaculture aims to counteract our tendency to overcomplicate things, and to instead bring us back to simple solutions that embrace natures tendency to be efficient. It also builds "safe-fail" systems; things are designed in such a way so that when something breaks, it's ok.

One of the basic elements that a food forest can contain is called a guild. A guild is basically a set of plants that are grouped together in order to harness beneficial energy amongst them. A classic example of a guild that began in many indigenous cultures of North America is corn, beans and squash, or the "three sisters." When planted together, corn provides a structure on which the beans can grow; the beans are "nitrogen-fixers," which means they bring nitrogen to the soil, an important nutrient that feeds the corn and squash; and the squash protects the beans and corn from animals and pests.

In a food forest, guilds are often centered around trees. For example, certain plants planted around fruit trees can be very beneficial to the tree. Nitrogen-fixers and "dynamic accumulators" with deep roots can tap far into the soil to draw up beneficial nutrients without competing with the trees roots in the top soil layers. Examples of good nitrogen fixers include Siberian pea shrub, bladder senna, and alfalfa. Examples of dynamic accumulators are chicory, yarrow and nettles.

In setting up a guild, it's a good idea to research what native plant communities in your area are known to work together. In general, some good plants for guilds are mulch plants such as comfrey, cardoon and squash. Insectary plants such as lavender, bee balm and golden marguerite attract beneficial insects. Soil busters such as daikon, wild carrot and mustard can loosen up hard soil and make the nutrients more accessible. Barrier plants such as daffodil and rhubarb can help stop invasive species from spreading into your system.

Something else Toby shared was what the five basic elements of a forest structure are. Each one merits careful consideration when analyzing your food forest.
1. Vegetation layers. Forests can be seen to have 2 to 7 layers, the most basic being an understory and overstory. Food forest in various stages have various numbers of layers.
2. Soil. What's the quality?
3. Density, in terms of plant cover. The density defines the community.
4. Patterning (including density). This affects the canopy area.
5. Diversity. This is a key to any ecosystem.



In this picture our community mentor Matt is showing everyone the food forest at TLC Farm. This food forest was planted a year or two ago, and includes fruit trees and many low-lying brushes and crops. It's situated on the north end of the farm, which is good for capturing sunlight, and is on the edge of the park's forest, which is a nutrient-rich ecosystem edge perfect for growing a new food forest.


After the workshop, participants were welcomed to join us for a delicious dinner of pizza made in the farm's wood-fired pizza oven.

Below are some of us interns enjoying some slices. From the top are Mike, Laura, Chloe, me and Em.









-Nick