Edible Forest Gardens [Two Volume's/Permaculture] (2005)

[font=Trebuchet MS]by Dave Jacke and Eric Toensmeier[/font]

Volume I: Ecological Vision and Theory for Temperate Climate Permaculture
Volume II: Ecological Design and Practice for Temperate Climate Permaculture

Edible Forest Gardens is a groundbreaking two-volume work that spells out and explores the key concepts of forest ecology and applies them to the needs of natural gardeners in temperate climates. Volume I lays out the vision of the forest garden and explains the basic ecological principles that make it work. In Volume II, Dave Jacke and Eric Toensmeier move on to practical considerations:concrete ways to design, establish, and maintain your own forest garden. Along the way they present case studies and examples, as well as tables, illustrations, and a uniquely valuable "plant matrix" that lists hundreds of the best edible and useful species.

Taken together, the two volumes of Edible Forest Gardens offer an advanced course in ecological gardening-one that will forever change the way you look at plants and your environment.

[font=Trebuchet MS]The Two-Volume Set:[/font]
The most comprehensive treatment of forest garden design ever created.
No other book on forest gardening integrates ecology and design as thoroughly, and with such rigor, as this. The two volumes combine to give you the most up-to-date and advanced synthesis available on the subject. If you are serious about ecological gardening, ecological horticulture, permaculture design, or forest gardening—whether you are an amateur, a professional, a student, a researcher, or just a hard-core eco-freak—then the two-volume set is for you. It is an investment in intellectual capital that will pay dividends for years to come.

[font=Trebuchet MS]What is An Edible Forest Garden?[/font]
An edible forest garden is a perennial polyculture of multipurpose plants. Most plants regrow every year without replanting: perennials. Many species grow together: a polyculture. Each plant contributes to the success of the whole by fulfilling many functions: multipurpose. In other words, a forest garden is an edible ecosystem, a consciously designed community of mutually beneficial plants and animals intended for human food production. Edible forest gardens provide more than just a variety of foods. The seven F's apply here: food, fuel, fiber, fodder, fertilizer, and "farmaceuticals," as well as fun. A beautiful, lush environment can be a conscious focus of your garden design, or a side benefit you enjoy.

[font=Trebuchet MS]Reviews[/font]
"A tree de force! A must-have set of books for anyone serious about polyculture, integrated organic garden and landscape design, permaculture in the temperate zones and, of course, food forests. The charts of condensed information alone are worth the price of admission. The best book on these topics in years Keep these books within arm's reach at all times!" -- Robert Kourick, author of Designing and Maintaining Your Edible Landscape Naturally

"...But the book I will be keeping by me for the seasons ahead... is Edible Forest Gardens by Dave Jacke with Eric Toensmeier. In its way this book--the first of two volumes--is a sequel to the wonderful Tree Crops: A Permanent Agriculture (1929) by J. Russell Smith.... Edible Forest Gardens offers a vision of the garden that reaches well beneath its aesthetic surface and into its ecological depths. It reminds us that whatever gardens are an oasis from, they can never be an oasis from the natural world or our own underlying economic needs." -- Verlyn Klinkenborg, The New York Times Book Review - June 5, 2005

"This is certainly the most thorough and realistic assessment of the potential for temperate perennial-based gardening that I have seen -- and I've read everything I've been able to find on temperate perennial crops, going back to J. Russell Smith and John Hershey...

The first volume of Edible Forest Gardens is a superb primer on ecology as it relates to horticulture in general, and I highly recommend it even for gardeners who aren't primarily interested in useful perennials..." -- Greg Williams, Publisher, Hort Ideas

"...this book will define the intellectual territory of its subject for at least a generation...

An excellent and essential reference, brilliantly conceived and passionately written, Edible Forest Gardens should be on every permaculturist's reading list for the year ahead." -- Peter Bane, Publisher, The Permaculture Activist magazine

"While the scope of the permaculture concept has expanded from its initial focus on forest gardening, it is exciting to see how the authors have brought together the ecological theory and practise necessary to further this aspect of the permaculture agenda." -- David Holmgren, cofounder of permaculture and author of 'Permaculture: Principles and Practices Beyond Sustainability'

"...Perhaps as important as it's applied ecological contributions is its psychological gifts of hope and visions of achievable, more meaningful ways of living in a post-oil world." -- Dr. Stuart Hill, Foundation Chair of Social Ecology, University of Western Sydney, Australia

"Your book blows me away! So much work, so much depth. I hear the voice of this good and gentle earth in Edible Forest Gardens . . . and am excited to keep reading more!" -- Michael Phillips, author The Apple Grower: A Guide for the Organic Orchardist and coauthor The Herbalist's Way.

[font=Trebuchet MS]About the Authors[/font]

[font=Trebuchet MS]Dave Jacke[/font]

Dave Jacke has been a student of ecology and design since the 1970s, and has run his own ecological design firm —Dynamics Ecological Design— since 1984. Dave is an engaging and passionate teacher of ecological design and permaculture, and a meticulous designer. He has consulted on, designed, built, and planted landscapes, homes, farms, and communities in the many parts of the United States, as well as overseas, but mainly in the Northeast. A cofounder of Land Trust at Gap Mountain in Jaffrey, NH, he homesteaded there for a number of years. He holds a B.A. in Environmental Studies from Simon's Rock College (1980) and a M.A. in Landscape Design from the Conway School of Landscape Design (1984).

[font=Trebuchet MS]Eric Toensmeier[/font]

Eric Toensmeier calls himself a "socially engaged plant geek." He has spent much of his adult life exploring edible and otherwise useful plants and how they can be used in designed ecosystems. He is also co-author with Dave Jacke of the two-volume permaculture design manual Edible Forest Gardens. Eric has worked as a small farm trainer at the New England Small Farm Institute (Belchertown, MA) (www.smallfarm.org) and currently manages the Tierra de Oportunidades new farmer program of Nuestras Raices (www.nuestras-raices.org) in Holyoke, MA. There he is designing and installing a permaculture landscape in concert with immigrant farmers who are starting farm-based enterprises in an urban context. Eric is a graduate and former faculty member of the Institute for Social Ecology in Plainfield, VT.

[font=Trebuchet MS]Book Data[/font]
ISBN: 9781890132606
Book Art: full color, charts and illustrations, resources, plant lists, glossary, bibliography, index
Number of Pages: 8 x 10, 396 pages, 672 pages
Book Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing
Old ISBN: 1890132608
Release Date: November 16, 2005

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Website - http://www.edibleforestgardens.com/
Buy the book - http://www.chelseagreen.com/bookstore/item/edibleforestset
Info - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forest_gardening
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Enjoy Con|Cen.

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