|
|
Post by homegrower on Oct 21, 2012 7:01:39 GMT -5
"A farm for the future" seems to be more about a vision than anything else while "establishing a food forest the permaculture way" seems to take a more practical approach to the subject...i like them both  |
|
|
|
Post by MikeH on Oct 21, 2012 9:24:40 GMT -5
"A farm for the future" seems to be more about a vision than anything else while "establishing a food forest the permaculture way" seems to take a more practical approach to the subject...i like them both I just happened to watch Farm for a Future again last night. There is a section where Hoskings is talking with Martin Crawford. At 41:15, she asks the question, How much food does it produce?. Crawford answers If you design it for maximum yield, it can be very high. This forest garden isn't design for maximum yield because I'm experimenting a lot and I have a lot of unusual crops I'm trying and so on. So in terms of one designed for maximum yield, you'd probably be able to feed 10 people an acre on a maximum yield forest garden.This tells me that Crawford's forest garden does not sustain him. It's often held up as The Model by others, perhaps even Crawford himself, I don't know - but it's not, at least not yet. Mimicking nature makes a great deal of sense as the direction to follow but Crawford's garden is very incomplete. As with much of current permaculture practice, it's more about teaching and demonstrating natural relationships than it is about production. In my experience, theory is fine until you start to implement. Then the changes begin and you usually end up with something that is quite a bit different from your theoretical starting point. I wonder what Crawford's garden would look like if he were growing for x calorie units, y proteins units, and z vitamins units à la One Circle. Some permies are beginning to look at the nutritional aspect - www.permies.com/t/17401/permaculture/Nutritional-analysis-One-Circle-square |
|
|
|
Post by raymondo on Oct 21, 2012 17:12:58 GMT -5
The Food Forest in South Australia was originally just a production farm but has since added an education aspect to diversify income. It's not really a food forest in the Michael Crawford sense of the term but is at least an example of a working permaculture farm. Another is Purple Pear Organics which is only a few hundred kilometres from me. It is a small working farm again, not a food forest but is designed along permaculture lines. I'd like to find a working food forest that is just a production farm. Anyone know of any?
|
|
|
|
Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Oct 21, 2012 18:46:01 GMT -5
I made a video today of what my permaculture food-forest garden looks like: Such as it is. youtu.be/y8vs5Et9c2s |
|
|
|
Post by MikeH on Oct 24, 2012 11:05:57 GMT -5
|
|
