So many Canadian farms, particularly in Eastern Canada, have cropland and woods. The woodlot is often separate from the fields — both in terms of location and in mindset. Except for tapping sugar maples and letting livestock browse, forests are rarely used for food production. The Food Forest Handbook can change this situation.
Forest gardening is a way to maximize the productivity of a piece of land while maintaining shade, beauty and biodiversity.
A food forest, according to the authors, is “a perennial garden built around useful trees and designed to mimic a managed forest ecosystem.” A food forest can be integrated into a market garden or field crop production. Trees can be used as windbreaks around fields and as a food source. Mushrooms, salad mixes, berries, fiddleheads and shade-loving herbs can grow in the woods next to fields. By applying the techniques described in this book, farmers can diversify their income, generate more value from their woods and often improve their farm ecosystem.
The authors describe the concepts behind forest gardening and permaculture interspersed with stories from their own experience farming in Pennsylvania. The principles will apply anywhere but certain specific examples won’t work in parts of Canada. Frey and Czolba provide ten case studies of food forests in different ecosystems but none in northern climates. The authors extoll the virtues of trees for shade but don’t mention wood heat. I would appreciate information on the best ways to generate both food and fuel from a forest.
The writers look at the food forest from the specific details about preparing soil, planting and grafting to broader aspects of landscape design. The water management section includes tips on using trees, as well as ditches and swales, to collect water during floods, stabilize streambanks, use greywater and conserve water in droughts.
After reading the book, I can envision ways to get a bit more food and income from my woodlot. People with limited acreage and urban farmers may be particularly interested in this book, including the 7-page section on lead remediation. Forest gardening is a way to maximize the productivity of a piece of land while maintaining shade, beauty and biodiversity.
Bark stove
The idea of a “hot bed” is quite common — the use of manure to provide heat to a cold frame. Frey and Czolba describe a similar concept. A “bark stove” is made from shredded tree bark in the base of a cold frame. “The slowly composting bark of a bark stove will provide bottom heat to keep cuttings of roses, grapes, figs, perennial herbs and other plants warm and happy.” Warmth from the bark stove stimulates root growth over the winter so rooted cuttings can be planted once the outside soil warms up in the spring.
- Janet Wallace