Creating A Forest Garden: Working With Nature To Grow Edible Crops by Martin Crawford
This book was like walking into a delightful glade in a summer forest with the breeze ruffling the leaves,
bees buzzing around you and a basket in your hand full of the bounty just hanging around you on all sides. Even more, it made it easy to see how this could be yours in the place you already live, large or small, rural, suburban, or urban.
Clearly, Martin is passionate and dedicated to passing on the lessons learned by himself and the progenitor of "forest gardening" Robert Hart. He does it with style, clarity and true approachability.
Unlike some of the other
permaculture tomes, Martin communicates the essence of
permaculture design in a practical and accessible manner, focused on the food forest approach. He also is very clear about his frame of reference and the plants that he knows and recommends relative to the locale and climate. So even though he is specific to the UK, his observations, design approach, and overall strategy can be seen in detail and applied in any climate.
My perspective is one of broadscale, with existing forest, clear cut 20 years or so ago, with large areas of fallow pasture, so I found his approach to be one that suited me very well. It gave me direction on the design elements to focus on initially, as well as the longer term view. A real plus was his detail on coppicing, along with his observations on creating fencing from trees/shrubs, both major items high on my list.
While other
permaculture texts may be more oriented to the reference level or to achieving design certification for the reader, this is one that eases the reader into an understanding of the interrelation of the forest in way that truly helps the reader to see BOTH the forest AND the
trees (along with the brambles, vines, ferns, and
mushrooms)!
One subject that could have had more depth, and indeed, the topic that most
permaculture authors begin with, is the treatment of
water, water movement, harvesting, and storage in the food forest.
The appendices are packed with great information and detail and are certainly a great reference in and of themselves, with propagation, application, beneficial insect attraction and many other characteristics detailed.
So overall, the book gets an 8 acorns.
For those just beginning their journey into permaculture, it gets 9 acorns.