The Permaculture Market Garden by Zach Loeks

I give this book 9 out of 10 acorns

Well, where do I start? This book is so jam packed with information, it is impossible to lay it all out without rewriting the book. Plainly put, this book gives you all the information you need to set up a successful, sustainable and super efficient market garden and farm.

Don’t be fooled by the bright colors and fanciful illustrations; this is no piece of fluff. There’s serious science, design, and holistic management strategies between those covers. You won’t breeze through this in an evening. I’ve just finished reading it, and I feel I’ve only skimmed the surface of the depths of it’s content. And I need a nap.

Let’s start with the Table of Contents:

Introduction

Farm Ecosystem
 Earth Systems and Natural Science
 Ecosystem Services

Whole Farm Mapping
 Why map your farm?

Holistic Planning
 Defining the whole and making a holistic goal
 Holistic budgeting for profit resilience
 Guild enterprise production

Design Management
 The permabed solution
 Permabed principles
 Layout and land preparation
 Organized garden patterning
 Guild crop production
 Guild crop designs
 Perma investment

Conclusion
Glossary
Resources

The introduction isn’t just an introduction to the book - it’s an introduction to sustainable farming as a whole, and the place that market gardens have in the framework of growing systems and people-feeding systems. It’s a bit of science, a bit of history, and a bit of philosophy; there’s background on the author, and an introduction to the author’s farm. It’s a rundown of the past, and a positive look into the potential future of food and farming. Resilience and sustainability are common themes that run through the book. He speaks of resilience not only in terms of the land but also of profit.

And then the book starts!

The Permaculture Market Garden will help you get to know your piece of property on a very intimate level. The author encourages us to delve deep into the history of our areas, the soil and rock makeup, the climate, vegetation, people and animals that move in and around our properties. You’ll get lessons in climatology, hydrology, anthropology, pedology, ecology, geology, geomorphology, and edaphology. (Yeah, I didn’t know what all of those meant either!) Luckily, there’s a glossary at the back of the book, to help us out when we get hung up on a word, phrase or concept.

The first chapter gives us quite an introduction to the myriad large and small aspects of farming that we need to learn, map, and pay close attention to as we build and manage our gardens and farms: from all of the things we can see, to all of the things we can’t see. From how much rain falls, to where the snowdrifts form in winter; from the directions the winds blow, to the kinds of mushrooms that grow in your woods. He doesn’t miss a thing, and encourages us to do the same.

The author advocates beneficial organism husbandry, learning what your crops can contribute to the farm besides the food they grow, and a myriad of other design and management techniques and strategies that will enhance not only the productivity of your gardens and farms, but also the profit and pleasure that you gain from growing.

The author then leads us through his process of mapping, planning, designing and implementing dreams, ideas, and necessities. This book is very heavy on the planning, designing and managing of every little detail of setting up and running a farm and market garden.

You won’t find vegetable profiles and seed starting info in this book. That’s stuff you can find in a gazillion places. Instead, you’ll learn how to plan your work areas down to the tiniest detail; how to group not only plants but also buildings, growing areas, and work areas, into guilds; how to manage your wastes and resources efficiently; and how to decide where to plant what, so that when seed planting time comes they will have the best possible environment to grow and thrive in.

And you won’t find spreadsheets showing how much money the author’s farm makes. Instead, you’ll learn how to plan, design, and implement a whole-farm design that will take full advantage of every inch of your property, all of its resources, and all of your own ingenuity, imagination, and enthusiasm, to create a market garden that is not only profitable for you, but profitable for your land, and your community.

A few lovely thoughts from the final chapter:

“We can sift agricultural history to find
grains of wisdom, gleaning from
thousands of years of farming to find
sustainability for the agriculture of tomorrow.”

“Small farms are the starting point for an
agricultural re-evolution.”

“Let’s do it, one bed at a time, one farm at
a time, one watershed at a time, one nation
at a time, together. This is our brave new
horizon; let’s follow the road maps toward
profit resilient agro-ecological farming. Put
your dot on the map!”

I gave the book 9 out of 10 acorns because I find the subtitle slightly misleading - there is little discussion of 'monetary profit' in terms of actual money-making ideas, marketing ideas, or how to make the most money - which is what most people think of when they see the word 'profit'. But I quite like his use of the word profit regarding creating profit for the land.

Where can I get the book in Europe?

Sounds amazing!  Just ordered a copy.  

Michel Kegels wrote:Where can I get the book in Europe?

Hi I guess you can from:

http://www.green-shopping.co.uk/

Just added it to my Amazon Wish List. You had me at "Visual."

It really is a beautiful book. And beautifully put together. I enjoyed it immensely, and can see myself going back to it again and again as we build our farm and permaculture market garden.

While I enjoy reading and theory (I own hundreds of books), permaculture is one one those concepts that has to be seen to be understood. I always get 10x as much when words are accompanied by diagrams, photographs, and drawings. Looking forward to reading and "looking through" this book.

Lorenzo Costa wrote:

Michel Kegels wrote:Where can I get the book in Europe?

Hi I guess you can from:

http://www.green-shopping.co.uk/

I did not find it there ...

Inge Leonora-den Ouden wrote:

Lorenzo Costa wrote:

Michel Kegels wrote:Where can I get the book in Europe?

Hi I guess you can from:

http://www.green-shopping.co.uk/

I did not find it there ...

Just searched for the author name on some European sites .......

I see the book on Amazon UK : https://www.amazon.co.uk/Permaculture-Market-Garden-Profitable-Whole-Systems/dp/0865718261/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1487690060&sr=8-1
Amazon Germany: https://www.amazon.de/Permaculture-Market-Garden-Profitable-Whole-systems/dp/0865718261/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1487690321&sr=8-1

Being in the Netherlands you also can get it at bol.com : https://www.bol.com/nl/s/boeken/zoekresultaten/Ntt/Zach%2BLoeks/N/8299/Nty/1/search/true/searchType/qck/defaultSearchContext/media_all/sc/books_all/index.html

Awesome just added to Amazon wish list.  Looking forward to the read.

Hi All,

There is a SPECIAL EDITION copy of The Permaculture Market Garden with a hand-illustrated signature is available for a limited time when ordered from our website:  www.kulafarm.ca and we ship worldwide.

Cheers,

Zach