Food Forest a Good Design?

[hazelnut]

Exactly. There used to be a question that always appeared on the Archaeology 101 exams: Why didn't the temperate forest Indians (along the Tennesee River) invent agriculture?

They didn't need it. They lived in Food Forests! That is not to say they didn't manage their forest environment to make it more human friendly and more productive for the products they needed and the animals they hunted.

[MrILoveTheAnts]

On the topic of food forests I recently found a youtube series called Eat The Weeds. Host, Green Dean discusses a wide range of plants, both native and non, and best of all he finds a use for common weeds.

A few native highlights he's done:
Pawpaw
Persimmon
Elderberry
Native Plum
Wild Cherry
Passion Fruit,
Wild Apple,
Native Lily,
American Lotus

[hazelnut]

Interesting video, Mr. ILoveTheAnts. We had one crab apple in our woods at home in N. Michigan. Elmer the pig loved those apples! Usually they weren't good to eatby human standards, but they made great jelly or jam. The main thing I remember about that tree--other than that it stood alone as guardian to the gate into the woods--is that the blossoms in spring were so beautiful. Much more beautiful than the Wolf River domestic apples were had up closer to the barn.

I always wondered why that crab apple tree grew all by itself, while the amelanchiers (June Berries) on the other side of the woods tended to grow in colonies.

Most of the berries - black raspberries, wild blueberries, black berries &etc. like to grow in clearings where they have plenty of sun. Wintergreen berries though like a shady spot under tall pines.

[hazelnut]

Milkweed. There are references in this article to the extent to which American Indians managed forests. There is always human intervention--humans are always a component in natural ecosystems.

Native Americans as active and passive promoters of mast and fruit trees in the eastern USA -- Abrams and Nowacki 18 (7): 1123 -- The Holocene

This article lists the native American plants that Thomas Jefferson mentioned in his correspondence:

http://www.allamericanhydro.com/?page_id=14

In his writing to the state of Virginia, he wrote: “Scarlet strawberries, Fragaria Virginiana of Millar; Whortleberries, Vaccinium uliginosum; Wild gooseberies, Ribes grossularia; Cranberries, Vaccinium oxycoccus; Black raspberries, Rubus occidentalis; Blackberries, Rubus fruticosus; Dewberries, Rubus caesius; Cloud-berries, Rubus chamaemorus.”
About native wild and escaped plants, trees, and vines, Jefferson reported on wild fruits like Elderberry, Elder, Sambucus nigra; Papaw, Annona triloba” and the mulberry, proper for its food, grows kindly, pomegranates and figs. Wild cherry, Prunus Virginiana, Cherokee plumb, Punus sylvestris fructu majori, Wild plumb, Prunus sylvestris fructu minori, Clayton, Wild crab-apple, Pyrus coronaria; red mulberry, Morus rubra; Persimmon, Diospyros Virginiana.

Pomegranates and figs, of course, are not native plants.

[Gloria]

You have an interesting point about too many of the food forest designs not using enough native plants.
I thought so which is one of the reasons I started the thread about native food plants other than fruit and nuts. Who eats this???

Grains and root carbs are necessary as are legumes and there are plenty to choose from.

Design for aesthetics amid food growers is often last on the list but as we see more main stream groups join the effort that will change.
Check these newcomers out. Talk about mainstream.
21 Acres — 21 Acres
See a drawing of the Design...
Food Forest & Permaculture — 21 Acres

See the compost toilet
http://www.21acres.org/back18acres/the-outhouse

The Outhouse is equipped with a composting toilet, hand sink grab bars and changing table. It features geo-thermal radiant head powered by solar panels and will harvest rainwater into the adjacent rain barrels. The Outhouse will provide a natural waste treatment system that will save water, money, and return beneficial soil additives to the land beneath it.

Wouldn't that be a nice addition to the urban homestead...Gloria

and the man made wetland features.
http://www.21acres.org/back18acres/aquaculture-ditches

Still needs someone to speak up for the native food plants,as most people are just not familiar with the extent of the possibilities, it can still be attractive if that is your thing. But remember it is supposed to emulate the natural forest community of the locality....Gloria

[hazelnut]

I think the food forest model is a good model, but unfortunately in many instances "tropical forest" has been plugged in instead of the
"natural forest community of the locality" as Gloria just said. Temperate forest models have yet to be developed. And those forests are changing rapidly because of population pressure and climate change. Invasive plants are rapidly changing indigenous assemblages. And plugging in native food plants is another level yet to be accomplished.

It is a work in progress -- but I would still defend an ecological model as the best one.

There are permaculturists in new york city working with the parks system using native plants to restore the parks with food forest designs. People are doing this work. I don't like to see they baby thrown out with the bathwater, by jumping on permaculture just because SOME practitioners corrupt the basic idea.

[milkweed]

Thanks for the link Hazel. I find it very interesting how native Americans lived with nature.
Can you imagine Central park as one large food forest? Wouldn't that be a sight to see!

[hazelnut]

I forgot the name of the group that was doing park restorations in New York city but it would be good if the NYC parks were used for something besides getting mugged (!). Ill try to see if I can find the reference. I think several of the parks have already been planted -- and they did use native plants.

[hazelnut]

I didn't find the project I was looking for, but here are some sources for NYC native plants.

Solar One Native Plants

Here is the plant list used for Stuvesant Park. (Roll over numbered areas for plant lists).

http://solar1.org/park/plants/