Jess Bloomer

Thanks Tyler. Looks like a great group, sadly not offering courses in the June-July time.

Any other thoughts from folks?

Thanks!!

Tyler Ludens wrote:http://milkwoodpermaculture.com.au/courses/categoryevents/25-forest-garden

Just something I know about, not necessarily recommending because I have not taken their course!

Hi Paulo,
Thanks for the great info!

It sounds like you were able to visit some of the gardens in Kerala when you were there. Were you in a specific city/town/rural area that you recommend? Were you able to just observe by walking around, or did you have contact with folks who were showing you around, and giving you information?

I'm applying for a grant to do research about forest gardens and so I'm trying to figure out if I could include a visit to Kerala in the itinerary. But I have to provide specifics on exactly where I would go and how I would learn about the gardens while there.

Any thoughts you have are incredibly helpful!

Also, thanks Blaine for your suggestions!

Best,

Jess

Paulo Bessa wrote:Hello Jess!

I have been to India in October 2011. I was nearly 2 weeks in Kerala, and then I moved nearly 2 weeks in Auroville.

Kerala is a tropical moist forest, with amazing biodiversity in the home gardens of the common families.

The natural forests range from the seaside coconuts (with understories of nutmegs, taros, cinnamon, peppercorns, etc) to midmountain forests of mostly cardamons (such a scent!), to more higher plantations of coffee, tea, silky oak trees, amongst eucalyptus forests that are mixed in many other tropical trees, so far unknown to me, I remember seeing lantanas and chritmas euphorbias in the understory, and some of these high diversity forests would entend up to 2100 meter high (in the mountains of the western ghats). The home gardens of families are a lot of these spicy species, medicinal herbs, perennials (mostly a high diversity trees that provides shade and mulching, climbing species and shrubs in the understory, some spots with more shade, some with more sun, some with more misture, others with less). Its real forest gardens, even if they are not intentionally designed as such. I was fascinated by these forests and gardens!

East of the western ghats (in Tamil Nadu state) the landscape is much drier, and you can find a vegetation, still very diverse, but more typical f a tropical savanna, with drought tolerant species. Auroville is on the coast of Tamil Nadu, where vegetation is a little bit more humid again. But basically they recver a semi-desert landscape back to the original dry tropical forest. That is quite impressive. They also have purposeful plantations of perennials and tropical trees and systems of swales in some of their subcommunities within auroville. Overall, aurville does more permaculture than several ecovillages I visited in Europe. And definitively way more self-sufficient than most communities.

Blaine, just a comment you don't take 8 hours between Kerala and Auroville. That is overly optimistic You take 2 days at minimum. Or more comfortably a 3 hour flight. Travelling in India is quite exausting and it is not the same as travelling in Europe or N America. But I did enjoy Auroville a lot!

Hello all,

I'm eager to learn more about forest gardening and would like to potentially take a class/workshop.

Can anyone suggest a good class? I am open to many locations worldwide, as I will be travelling this summer, and could focus my travels around a course.

I am looking at the time frame between June 17-July 20 2013.

I have so far been able to find Martin Crawford's course in the UK, but not many others.

Thanks!

Jess

Hello permies,

I'm new to forest gardening, but may have the opportunity to be in Kerala, India this summer. I have read that this area has an incredible number of forest gardens, and a long history of this type of cultivation.

Does anyone have suggestions for how I might be able visit forest garden sites in Kerala? I would love to experience some of these sites in person, and study more about how this practice originated.

Thanks!

Jess

ps- if you have other suggestions for places that I could travel to see examples of forest garden traditions, please let me know!