I’m documenting the seasons and weather events in this ~7yr old forest garden on a 200-acre educational campus in upstate New York (usda zone 4a). No commentary, just the environment as best as an amateur
video maker can capture it (headphones recommended). This is the latest video in the playlist:
One of the primary functions of this forest garden is as a demonstration site for teaching people the value of
perennial agriculture and
gardening systems. Hundreds of kids and adults get to
experience what it’s like to be fully immersed inside a dynamic, semi-managed living system with over a hundred species and varieties of edible plants and fungi.
The garden blurs the line between cultivated and wild. It exists within the larger adirondack temperate/boreal forest ecosystem which is one of the last remaining intact systems of its kind. The
native ecology still dominates, despite centuries of human activity. However, things are changing faster now. We are seeing some shifts in the ranges of many species and plant communities.
Part of our goal is to try to bring climate resiliency to the area by creating a hot spot of biodiversity. The ranges of ecosystems are in flux and evolution of life on earth is entering a period of rapid change. Some species will go extinct, at least locally, while others will move in and undergo speciation. Populations will become reproductively isolated, adapt to new environments, and some will radiate into many new species. On evolutionary timelines, “novel” ecosystems will form as new assemblages of life adapt to each other. It will become increasingly difficult to define species as native or non-native, let alone restore ecosystems of the past.
Anyway, hope you enjoy the video. I welcome any suggestions, criticisms, wishes, etc. What kinds of things do you want to see? There is so much going on here that can be documented and shared.
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