CASE STUDY:
NEWFOREST DESIGN
Planned Abundance
The photo above and the illustration at right show a residential permaculture design by Julia & Charles Yelton of the Newforest Institute, an educational nonprofit based on 300 acres near Brooks, Maine. The site was initially bare and barren, used for parking. The color keyed list below shows some of the many plants included in this diverse eco-landscape. (Above is the before picture; the after image is on page 45.)
www.newforestinstitute.org
In the Beginning
The term permaculture first arrived in the 1970s, but the ideas it embodies have borrowed from farmers, thinkers, and social critics since about the 1920s, not to mention centuries of indigenous knowledge. Some of the tenets of permaculture refl ect the writings and teachings of famed architect Christopher Alexander, Fernandes says. His seminal book “A Pattern Language,” turned many of modernism’s concepts on their head, and showed how human psychology is impacted by living spaces.
“From the basis of his work, permaculture designers learn to do things like observe the natural pattern of how people and animals want to travel across a property,” she says, “before committing those travel paths to a hard and fast design or to hardscaping.” That’s how permaculture works, she explains. You find out how people really live, or want to live, then shape the landscape around those patterns.
Moving from traditional landscapes—water-sucking, chemically dependent lawns and non-native shrubs—to edible, medicinal, beautiful plants and functional hardscapes is not simply a retreat into the past, Fernandes says. “We’re not suggesting a return to pre-industrial farming. We’re borrowing from earlier times, yes, but adding advanced technology and decades of plant and soil research to create outdoor spaces that are self-supportive and productive.”
Permaculture as a design approach, she notes, had to earn respectability, in part because it has been seen as a “fringe” or marginal approach. Now, however, would-be permaculturists can take 72–90 hours of training and earn a permaculture design certifi cate. To date, between 20,000 and 30,000 people have become certified.
That democratizing approach is a key difference between permaculture and other disciplines, Fernandes notes. “These are skills that are meant to be shared, not limited to a small group of experts.”
Design Principles
Some of the design ideas of permaculture challenge modern forms of agriculture. For example, there’s the concept of “no till” planting and soil building that mimics the way healthy soils are created in nature. This is a concept that farmers and gardeners often resist.
SEEDS OF CHANGE
A favorite of permaculturists, this seed company sells only 100% organic seeds, including many heirloom and hard-to-find varieties. They carry about 1,200 different seed varieties, along with tools and greenhouses.
www.seedsofchange.com
PERENNIAL VEGETABLES (BOOK)
Wondering which vegetable plants require the least tending yet continue to produce food year after year? This book not only informs you about how to get the best results from stalwarts like asparagus, but also alerts you to other options such as wolfberry and ground cherries. About 100 species are covered. Order at:
www.perennialvegetables.org
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76