Permaculture/Food Forestry

[JNP24]

Good afternoon all,
Anyone in New England practicing permaculture or built a food forest on their property? I moved onto a new property last summer and want to start growing some of my own food with permaculture techniques but I'm not terribly creative and not quite sure where to start so I thought I'd ask if anyone here is doing something like this.

 

[Wadcutter]

I never herd of the idea, but it does sound appealing if you have enough land. I'm planting ostrich ferns (aka fiddle-head ferns) and blueberry bushes which I think would classify. I also have several grape vines. Asparagus and rhubarb would also be good, though I don't grow either mostly because I devote most of my limited space to tomatoes and cucumbers.

 

[mousegunguy]

I'm In central Ma. and I grow about (for real) 1000 varities of fruits that are hardy here. Figs, kiwis, dwarf pomegranets, crannberrys, paw paws, medlars, chestnut, edible oaks, hickorys, mullberrys,russian haw, chinese haw, persimmons, schizandras, grapes, cacti, chinkapins, currants, gooeberrys, honey berrys, blueberrys, yellow, red and purple raspberrys, blackberrys,alpine strawberys, yellowhorn nuts, pecans, almonds, hazelnuts,... the list goes on. Learning you weeds is key too. Lots of things people weed out of their garden are better for them than what they grow. App 30,000 edible perrenials will grow here once you find them. I have been working on my forest garden for about 14 years now. If I do say so my self, Its a thing of beauty. Edible ground covers and vines growing up fruit and nut trees. food is everywhere!!! If you are looking for scion wood, starts, seeds, or germplasm sources let me know. I can hook you up.

 

[01bmf]

I planted tons of blackberry bushes, potatoes, and other assorted foods on my old property in mass. The berries and potatoes did rather well. It will happen again once I get to move away from the flat lands hell of SE.VA.

 

[Boarder700]

My brother is big into it. He just finished a design class but I haven't had a chance to talk to him much about it.

Check out this website. These guys have something like a 1/4 acre lot in Holyoke with hundreds of different perennial vegetables on it. They gave my bro a tour of it for a donation of whatever amount he saw fit. There are a lot of perennial vegetables that can be grown in this area.

http://www.foodforestfarm.com


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Sparkey]

Mousegunguy
How much land are you doing this with ? I am right around the corner from you and grow a edibles but not near that many.

 

[mousegunguy]

Mousegunguy
How much land are you doing this with ? I am right around the corner from you and grow a edibles but not near that many.

Most of the plants are on about 2 of our six acres. Some is converted orchard, some intermixed with the woods that were there already, some as landscape plants and some totally new groves.

 

[FrugalFannie]

CHeck this out and others

http://www.thesurvivalpodcast.com/?s=food+forest

 

[OCB]

I'm In central Ma. and I grow about (for real) 1000 varities of fruits that are hardy here. Figs, kiwis, dwarf pomegranets, crannberrys, paw paws, medlars, chestnut, edible oaks, hickorys, mullberrys,russian haw, chinese haw, persimmons, schizandras, grapes, cacti, chinkapins, currants, gooeberrys, honey berrys, blueberrys, yellow, red and purple raspberrys, blackberrys,alpine strawberys, yellowhorn nuts, pecans, almonds, hazelnuts,... the list goes on. Learning you weeds is key too. Lots of things people weed out of their garden are better for them than what they grow. App 30,000 edible perrenials will grow here once you find them. I have been working on my forest garden for about 14 years now. If I do say so my self, Its a thing of beauty. Edible ground covers and vines growing up fruit and nut trees. food is everywhere!!! If you are looking for scion wood, starts, seeds, or germplasm sources let me know. I can hook you up.

That's really cool. Is the idea that having so much diversity ensures something will survive if conditions aren't ideal for other plants? It would be interesting to figure out how many calories you get from X amount of each food type to determine the output of your forest garden.

 

[JNP24]

CHeck this out and others

http://www.thesurvivalpodcast.com/?s=food+forest

Spirko is where I initially found the concept, but he is doing stuff in Texas where it theres a radically different climate than there is here. Also, practicing permaculturists seem to explain and describe the concept well enough, but are poor in prescribing pragmatic approaches in turning your lawn or blank property from a liability to an asset. I wanted to see if anyone local had done this, and it seems like mousegunguy has

 

[KodiakFan24]

CHeck this out and others

http://www.thesurvivalpodcast.com/?s=food+forest

this. Jack Spirko has a ton of videos on permaculture on you tube. i'd start there, or the survival podcast forums.

 

[Archilochus]

Tried quite a bit of that. Soil sucks here, and much died off, or is not growing well at all. Only thing doing well is a peach tree planted near the old compost pile.

 

[FrugalFannie]

also check out Ben Falk. Permaculturist in Vermont. teaches courses etc. I think he is speaking at Liberty Forum