Documentation for the Forest Garden Immersion Course 2009

The Forest Garden Immersion Course 2009 was a huge success, with 30+ people working to plant another 10,000 square feet of multifunctional forest garden at Camp Epworth. You can see photos at the FGIC09 Flickr group here:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/fgic09/



During the course, our documentation team (led by Alice Lo) did an incredible job of articulating exactly what and where everything was planted - from the fruit trees to the herbaceous understory to the patch of king Stropharia mushrooms. To download a PDF file of the raw documentation notebook, click here.

This sort of documentation is rarely done for forest garden & permaculture plantings -- and is totally necessary if we are going to do any legitimate research into the productivity and low-maintenance of Edible Forest Gardens. To learn more about ongoing documentation efforts of forest gardens across the temperate climate biomes of the world, visit the Apios Institute and the official Edible Forest Gardens home page.

Stay tuned for upcoming Forest Garden Immersion Courses in the Northeast and around the world!!!

Epworth Forest Garden Designs

I've uploaded all the designs we've got of the 3 forest gardens at Epworth -- Feel free to download, print, and enjoy!

LITTLE FOREST GARDEN:


BIG FOREST GARDEN:


2009 FOREST GARDEN:





Plant species lists coming soon!

Congratulations Epworth PDC Graduates!!!

You all rock! Congratulations to everyone who presented their final permaculture designs and received their certificate! Here are some photos from the weekend.

Could someone post a photo of the whole class? And maybe an image of your certificate?

Go Ninja Turtles! Check out this post on my blog with some more suggestions of what to do after a PDC: 14 Things to do after a PDC

Assignments!

Assignments:

Complete a FINAL DESIGN of your project.
Use AT LEAST 11x17 paper, preferably 24x36.
The design can be colored or not. Colored pencils are best for final designs.
Include one DESIGN DETAIL, which highlights a specific aspect of your design. This could be a:
- Zones of Use overlay
- Detailed plant list
- Water systems
- Earthworks
- Budget & Implementation Plan
- Section view of one part of the design
- etc.

As always, if it's stressing you out, STOP. This needs to be fun!!!

Meet with your Action Learning Guild ONCE. Review each other's final designs and give supprtive feedback.

GET READY FOR THE PARTY - remember, making fun of teachers highly encouraged.

Guests are welcome to the final design presentations and the party. Please email Joan if you plan to invite people ASAP!

-Anya

Resources & Assignment

Howdy All!

Here are some resources I promised during the class:

Links to view and download free USGS topographic (contour) maps of the whole country:
http://terraserver-usa.com/usgsentry.aspx?T=2&S=16&Z=18&X=52&Y=368&W=2

http://store.usgs.gov/b2c_usgs/usgs/maplocator/(xcm=r3standardpitrex_prd&layout=6_1_61_75&uiarea=2&ctype=areaDetails&carea=%24ROOT)/.do


Forest Garden Immersion Course: April 23-26 -- Tons of Forest Gardening Fun!!!
http://www.livingmandala.com/Living_Mandala/Forest_Garden_April_09.html

I told somebody I'd include a multi-functional permaculture "native" plant list:
http://www.appleseedpermaculture.com/docs/Pc_native_plantlist.xls

And here's a great Earthworks article by Darren Doherty:
www.appleseedpermaculture.com/docs/DD_PCA_DamArticle.pdf

And here are this month's assignments.
PLEASE SEND ANYA AND I YOUR RESEARCH PAPER IF YOU HAVE NOT YET DONE SO!!!

Here is an article from the wall street journal on water :

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123483638138996305.html

quantification! ??

How can I find out how to quantify my (as yet untrialed) food production? Are there tables somewhere of "this plant on this much square feet will produce this many pounds?"