Oct 2, 2017
Eight graders chiming in on their future food forest design.
Kathleen, Larry and Elena taught a hands-on swale workshop to the Suisun Valley eighth graders in the spring of 2017 on how to use swales in storing rainwater in the ground. Now that the kids are back in school, designing the Demonstration Food Forest is the next step.
Principal Jas Wright is including the kids in the design of the food forest. To get them thinking about that design, I held five sessions, speaking with seven classes of, sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students. We had a conversation about Fruit Tree Guilds and the importance of choosing a diverse group of plants that benefit each other. Each plant should provide multiple functions.
The kids were engaged asking many questions. The one question that stood out in my mind: What is the opposite of a food forest? The answer is monoculture, the planting of only one type of crop in a given area. Our program encourages planting a polyculture and the importance of including plants that build the soil.
Fava beans have already been part of the Suisun Valley curriculum. Katie, one of the students was excited to tell me how they added nitrogen to the soil by planting fava beans as a cover crop. To prepare the demo garden site, Laura, the Garden Coordinator has already begun to sheet mulch. The site has two mature fig trees and an unidentified, mysterious fruit tree. These three trees will be included in the design.
Now the kids have a base understanding of what a fruit tree guild is. Each class will be responsible for the design, the installation and the care for one guild within the food forest. Over the next 2 weeks they will be naming their guilds and selecting the plants. On a side note, one of the classes is even working on restoring the California Native Plant Garden. So many opportunities to learn!
Sep 2, 2017
By Tina Saravia, U.C. Master Gardener, Solano County
It all started for me in September 2014, when I attended a talk on Permaculture in Benicia with another Master Gardener friend. I have heard of Permaculture for years, but it always seemed like a foreign concept to me. I did not know anyone, in my broad circle of urban horticulturally-inclined individuals, who practiced Permaculture. The fact that it was in Benicia, a 20- minute drive from my house, made it more real.
Permaculture Talk with Toby Hememway
What is Permaculture? Permaculture is a word originally coined by Bill Mollison and David Holmgren in the mid 1970’s to describe an “integrated, evolving system of perennial or self-perpetuating plant and animal species useful to man” (Holgrem Design. https:// www.holmgren.com.au/about-permaculture/). Permaculture is a design system based on ecological principles. The word originally referred to “permanent agriculture.” It has more recently expanded to stand for “permanent culture.”
Permaculture can be defined and explained in many ways. It encompasses many aspects. In its simplest form, it is a design system that can be adapted anywhere in the world, in any setting — urban, suburban or rural, no matter the size of the property. One of those design aspects that is easily adaptable is Food Forest Gardening, which is what the local grassroots organization, Sustainable Solano, started in Benicia.
They help homeowners create their own sustainable food forest. The gardens feature edible plants in varying heights and sizes, mimicking a forest. The gardens use a combination of drip irrigation and greywater — laundry water. Swales or depressions, topped with wood chips, were dug to direct water from downspouts to also help water the gardens, which also helps refill the groundwater.
A few words about Sustainable Solano. It started out as Benicia Community Gardens. As the programs expanded beyond Benicia, the board decided to rename it Sustainable Solano in May 2016. They maintain a couple of community gardens, a community orchard, seven permaculture demonstration food forests, Community Supported Agriculture partnerships, a “Land Caretakers” sustainable landscaping education program, a food donation Share Plot, and a beloved monthly “What’s for Dinner?” educational cooking potluck series.
The most recent demonstration food forest installations were done in Vallejo, next is Fairfield. According to their website, sustainablesolano.org, they will be accepting applications starting in August through September for prospective demonstration food forest keepers in Fairfield.
May 30, 2017
By Allison Nagel
Sometimes the hardest thing about finding something new is wrapping your brain around how to approach it. When it comes to permaculture and sustainable gardening, no online resource can replace seeing, walking through, discussing and getting down on hands and knees to install a food forest. That’s where my recent experience with Sustainable Solano has made such a difference.
Digging swales at Enchanted Garden, Day 3 of installations.
Before April, I had never dug a swale in my life. The thought of redirecting downspouts and digging swales was intimidating, as was the wonder and worry about what to plant where. Participating at the Enchanted Cottage Garden installation in Vallejo changed that, because it helped create the muscle knowledge of digging, filling and planting an actual food forest. With so many people involved, the work was fast and fun, and I picked up so many tips on creating a swale, laying sheet mulch, and planting trees, edibles and beneficial plants.
Food Forest Keeper Heather welcomes a tour group at the 7 Food Forest Tour on May 20th.
Seeing a garden at its very beginning was one experience, and the May 20 tour of seven gardens in Benicia showed what can happen in a year or two. Trees had flourished, producing fruit, and vines of raspberries threatened to take over their designated corners. In some cases, certain plants had not survived conditions that were too wet or too dry — and the forest keepers who owned and shared their gardens talked about relocating, replacing and replanting. Often the refrain came up that the gardens were “sink or swim” with plants best suited to the tops of hills, the sunny spots or the wetter spots given their chance to settle in and grow, but not coddled or forced.
One thing I’ve also learned that is just as valuable as any landscape or plant knowledge: There is a community of pretty amazing people doing this.
Sharing lunch and each other’s company on Installation Day 2 at The Ripple Effect.
During the time spent on the Enchanted Cottage Garden, I got to know the other volunteers, hear about what they were doing in their own homes and why they were volunteering on the project. We talked greywater and plants, but also about neighbors and community. I was sad to say goodbye on the last day and hope to reconnect at future events and projects.
In Benicia, each forest keeper who opened their gates to those of us on the tour was open and welcoming in discussing their gardens, offering up plants and offering advice. They shared how often they water their fruit trees, what struggled in one location and thrived in another, how they collected and let their gardens self-seed or how they were taking the ideas from their food forests and translating them into other parts of their yard. I spoke with some about how sharing the garden’s bounty with neighbors has fostered a stronger sense of community.
I left that tour with notes on each garden, a rough sketch of ideas for my own yard and a pivot in what I want to focus on first, moving my ambitions from the backyard to the front with what we might be able to start planting that could draw in neighbors (though, trust me, I certainly have plans for the backyard, too).
And, whether it’s finding a local source for wood chips, floating a question about plants or seeking out programs to further my own understanding, I know that there is Sustainable Solano and this community of keepers always there to help.
Like with all of our educational programs, we believe in learning by doing, and we’ve already begun the long process–which in many ways is more meaningful to us and the children than the actual planting of the garden! The ground work has already started at the school! In May, Sustainable Landscaping Advisory Board members – Kathleen Huffman, Larry Lamoreux and Andy Zinkevich, – lead a workshop “Swales: Slow it, Spread it, Sink it” to two seventh grade classes of the school.
volumes of water, how to design simple water collection and diversion swales, and how to measure the levels in the soil. Outside, students were instructed on how to build a simple water collection swale (really an in-ground water tank–simpler and more effective than rain barrels) to collect and store the excess of water around the future food forest. Then it was time to get hands dirty. Kathleen, Larry and Andy were slightly terrified of so many children, all with shovels and with such high energy! But in no time, their youthful energy won over the day, and despite the 100-degree heat, all students were engaged, interested, and efficient. The school garden teacher, Laura Klein, will lead the team to finish the swale and fill it with wood chips before the school end.
