A Blank Canvas
We recently moved to a home on around a quarter acre lot. After moving in, we found out that the abandoned acre lot out back was for sale. It was a mess that had been logged out years ago and ignored. People took advantage of the empty lot and dumped everything from car tires and cinder blocks, to piles of roof shingles. We bought the lot to protect it from development. Townhouses and apartments are popping up all over town and there are very few remaining green spaces in the borough.
After purchasing it, it was obvious that we couldn't leave it as it is. So, with the help of some friends, we started cutting some paths through the weeds and cleaning up all the trash and construction materials that have been dumped. The clean up continues still. But then what?
I want to build something that is useful and productive. I want to create a space that can make you forget that you are right in town. I want to design something that requires little input once it is established. I want to help rebuild the space in a natural way that can be regenerative, sustainable, and stable without human interaction. So, the research began.
Down the Rabbit Hole
Several different concepts began to emerge. Food forests, forest gardening, Back to Eden gardening, polycultures, an many more concepts and articles emerged the more I researched. The common thread that seemed to tie all of it together was "permaculture." The idea of creating a permanent agriculture that would continue to produce crops without human interaction for thousands of years seemed like a crazy concept, overwhelming, impossible even. It challenged everything I thought I knew about farming and gardening.
In reality, think of the amount of work that monoculture (single-crop agriculture) takes. Farmers till the soil and add chemical and organic fertilizers to rebuild the soil. Then they plant seeds often produced and genetically modified by large corporations. They spray large amounts of herbicides to stop weeds and pesticides to kill bugs. They set up large scale irrigation systems that use enormous amounts of water since the tilled soil has little to slow absorption. Then the produce needs to be cleaned, packed, and shipped all over the world.
If we disappeared tomorrow, nature would come back, reclaim the spaces we borrowed, and grow a wide diversity of plants and trees. Permaculture requires us to work with nature instead of against it. It is something that can be applied in every space from a 100 acre farm to a 1/4 acre yard. It seems like the perfect fit for our yard and our back lot. In the spirit of our journey, we have named this space our "Modest Farm." We hope this story of how we turn an abandoned suburban lot into a food forest will inspire others to fire the landscaper and design a sustainable, natural system.
Why it matters to me
My inspiration comes from the reality of mortality. It comes from the fact that I have two kids who will soon be teenagers. They are growing up in a world designed to disconnect us from our food. It is a world that teaches them to depend on others for survival. It teaches them that physical work is undesirable and "smart and successful" people don't get dirty. Our world teaches them to be competitive, individualistic consumers. Their impressionable young minds are still optimistic and trusting. I want to give them something to look forward to, and principles to trust. I want to teach them that you reap what you sow and that hard work now pays off later. I want to teach them that we can fix problems rather quickly if we take action, think ecologically, and do research. I want to help facilitate a system that could produce beyond my years. Together we will build our Modest Farm.
Though the problems of the world are increasingly complex, the solutions are embarrassingly simple. -- Bill Mollison
Reaching out to the permaculture experts
As of the time of this post, I have only planted a few raspberries, blueberries, and blackberries. I'm still in the research and planning stage. I have begun cleaning up the lot and seeking wood chip donations from local tree companies. I have also reached out to permaculture professionals at the Horn Farm Center for Agricultural Education. Alyson and Jonathan were generous enough to meet with me and share some tips on getting started.
They were both happy to share their experience and provide answers to my countless questions. The first tip Jon gave me was to slow down and study the property through the lens of the different systems like water, wind, sun, access, and purpose. Alyson showed me how to create plot designs and overlays to better understand the current state of the property. She called this creating an inventory. Design can evolve from understanding the interaction of those layers. They recommended researching the local conservation district, the state department of conservation and natural resources, the state Department of Environmental Protection, and a few different books. They also offer various related courses on permaculture, foraging, and other homesteading concepts. I look forward to learning more from them.
As I learn through research and experience, I will be sharing our journey. I hope to inspire others to join me on this mission. There is something we all can do to make this world better. And it starts right in our own backyard.
The tragic reality is that very few sustainable systems are designed or applied by those who hold power, and the reason for this is obvious and simple: to let people arrange their own food, energy and shelter is to lose economic and political control over them. We should cease to look to power structures, hierarchical systems, or governments to help us, and devise ways to help ourselves. -- Bill Mollison
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