I was an Organic farmer when Organic was not cool. In 1988, I managed the transition of 200 acres with 9 vegetable and fruit crops from Integrated Pest Management to certified Organic. When Organic got cool, I had moved into agricultural ecology, with biodiversity and soil cover (living mulches and green manures) on my own farm in Montana. For more on my living mulch system see living mulch and agroecology experiments.
By 2004 I was working on a more permanent organic agriculture using reduced tillage conservation farming techniques, and experimenting with organic no-till. I called it agroecology.
Now my focus is again stretching, beyond ecology and organic to veganic, permanent soil cover farming. Veganic Permaculture is my way of honoring all living beings and gardening with an unconditional effort to keep all things alive and growing. Veganic Permaculture is a willingness to balance my existence with the natural world. It means respecting the basic right of life for all things, from the soil microorganisms whom I try not to disturb with tillage, to the birds, butterflies, and insects whom I do not poison with insecticides, the weeds who are not killed with herbicides, and the animals who are not killed for food.
I came to this vision in British Columbia after a day in the greenhouse tending to plants. On the way back to the cabin, I sang to the sealions and they grunted and belched back. I danced on the rising cliffs with mossy tops and the moss felt sacred beneath my floating feet. What else do I need to teach and motivate me to wake up daily with a purpose to be of service to the natural world and all the organisms in it? Then I watched the video Earthlings and my path was clear.
So, I am creating a veganic forest garden based on a functioning forest ecosystem, full of mostly perennial, native, and non native plants, with enough diversity and structure to be a home for wildlife while producing food for humans and non humans, coexisting together with minimal conflict. Animals are not used in this system, for food or for manure. They wander through it and join it as pollinators, biological managers, or service providers, and consumers.
All food, nutrition, and sustenance comes from fruits, nuts, vegetables, beans, and grains. Grains are grown in a diverse polyculture with legumes and flowering herbs.
For more on our version of Fukuoka Natural Farming, growing grains in a way that mimics a native grassland ecosystem see: natural farming.
Veganic Permaculture is not a diet or a garden for everyone, but I wish it could be! Michael Pollan, in THE OMNIVORES DILEMA, calls a vegan diet more evolved, but impractical. For the past 17 years many organic farmers have called my minimum tillage, living mulch system impractical, though my yields and quality rivaled those of most organic farms in the country and some of the methods are now being employed by the largest organic farm in Colorado. Hence, veganic permaculture with a reliance on forest farming will be considered exponentially impractical! Yes, I agree, it is impractical if one has a very, very focused mindset. Perhaps my 17 years of agroecology experiments and videos will speak to you even if veganic permaculture does not. Agroecology is a beautiful step along the path I took.
for more on veganic methods see PowerPoint Presentations: Veganic Farming and Gardening and Eating Veganic - What You Should Know About How Your Food is Grown.
For me, forest gardening makes ecological sense and vegainc permaculture makes moral sense. About thirty percent of the surface of our earth is covered in temperate forest. Where people cut down forests for wood and to clear land for grain fields and livestock pasture, there is often erosion, soil loss, soil degradation, and certainly an enormous decrease in plant, animal, amphibian, microbe, and insect biodiversity. Many people in North America and Europe are designing and creating forest gardens now, based on northern hemisphere tree fruits and forest plants, such as cherries, apricots, wild and cultivated varieties of plums, pears, apples, mulberries, persimmons, walnuts, pecans, almonds, and chestnuts. Close your eyes and wander into this vision: small and large fruiting shrubs, such as raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, wild and cultivated varieties of currants, elderberries, serviceberries, buffaloberries, honeyberries, figs, and hazelnuts intermingle within the gaps of a fruit and nut tree canopy. Native wildflowers, wild edible greens (such as nettles), perennial herbs, edible mushrooms, annual vegetables, and perennial vegetables, such as Jerusalem artichokes, cover and shade the soil. Vines climb on trees and shrubs with fruits of hardy kiwis, grapes, and passionflower, pendulous beneath the foliage. It is a 3-story effect rather than an agriculture all on one plane, such as a grain or tomato field. The main back bone of the garden is trees and shrubs, with groundcovers of edible root, leaf, and annual fruit plants.
There are so many solutions and options once I stopped thinking in the narrow terms of conventional food production and the monoculture foods we grow all over the world: corn, wheat, rice, and straight rows of vegetables and fruits, surrounded by uncovered, bare soil!
Many trees and shrubs from my conventional organic orchard and native plant hedgerows will do well in the forest garden. Some of the new species for my forest garden include the following:
Eleagnus multiflora is a native Asian shrub that is a cousin to one of my favorite riparian shrubs, native here in the northwest. The berries are a good source of essential fatty acids, unusual for a fruit. The berries can be mashed into a spread (like butter or the processed vegan alternative made from plant oils). There is some indication that this plant might be able to halt the growth of cancers in animals and humans.
There are at least 8 species of mulberry from around the world and north America that could grow in my garden. One cultivar of the black mulberry (Morus nigra) from southwest Asia, produces 5 inch long berries and many pounds of fruit per tree. With this diversity, volume and enough trees planted of each species, you could feed humans and wildlife without conflict. Consensus gardening among sentient beings!
There are 2 species of persimmon that can grow in my garden, including a Japanese species with a cultivar called Saijo that produces small, sweet, fruits on a tree of medium height. It is cold hardy to -10 degrees F. The American persimmon (Diospyros virginiana) is native to the eastern US and is higher in nutrients like vitamin C and calcium than the Japanese persimmon. There is no need to ask cows to produce dairy products for us if we can get calcium from fruits, nuts, and vegetables.
For more on Forest Gardens see: forest garden lessons and Forest Garden Successes.
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