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The Edible Ecosystem Solution by Zach Loeks

posted 4 years ago

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Source: Amazon

Authors - Zach Loeks
Publisher - New Society Publishers

Summary
New Society Publishers says, "Humans have always thrived in rich, diverse, edible ecosystems. Yet most cities and suburbs are blanketed by lawns, ornamentals, and a lack of biodiversity, let alone anything edible. It is within these sterile landscapes that seeds of an edible ecosystem lie.

The Edible Ecosystem Solution is a comprehensive, practical guidebook that looks at underutilized spaces to reveal the many opportunities for landscape transformation that are both far-reaching and immediately beneficial and enjoyable."

About the Author
New Society Publishers says "Zach Loeks is an educator, designer, and grower who specializes in Edible Ecosystem Design through landscaping and education. He is director of the Ecosystem Solution Institute, which is dedicated to the education, propagation, and inspiration of ecosystem solutions for land use transition. He consults widely with homes, farms, colleges, schools, and municipalities across Canada and United States, and through many biomes from Guatemala and South Africa to the Yukon and Mongolia."

Where to get it?
New Society Publishers
amazon us
amazon uk
Amazon.ca

Related Videos

NEW BOOK: The Edible Ecosystem Solution

From the video description:
"This book is full of design, illustrations and photos by the author and is a step-by-step guide to garden design and edible landscaping. Not only to improve your property but to start a peaceful landscape revolution."

Edible Eco-education Site at College

From the video description:
"This Edible Eco-education site is demonstrating the many types of food plants that we can grow in the region and providing an educational opportunity for students on campus and people in the community to learn about how to grow edible landscapes and propagate the best varieties to spread throughout the community."

Edible Landscape Guild Design

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Trace Oswald

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posted 4 years ago

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From the video description:
"This ain't your typical greenhouse design. With an insulated back wall and an insulated roof the Groundswell Community Network's passive solar community greenhouse stores heat far better than your typical glass box. "

Did that get miscopied from a different video? It doesn't relate to the video shown.

A build too cool to miss:Mike's GreenhouseA great example:Joseph's Garden
All the soil info you'll ever need:
Redhawk's excellent soil-building series

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Leigh Tate

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posted 4 years ago

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Trace Oswald wrote:Did that get miscopied from a different video? It doesn't relate to the video shown.

Trace, the original video on YouTube has no description, so I have no idea where that came from. Thanks for spotting it. I removed the video description for now.

Blog: 5 Acres & A Dream
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Marvin Weber

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posted 4 years ago

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If it's as good as his previous book, The Permaculture Market Garden, then it's worth getting a hold of!

John Suavecito

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posted 4 years ago

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Book Review for "The Edible Ecosystem Solution" by Zach Loeks
I give this book 9 out of 10 acorns.

By John Saltveit

This is a very intelligent book. It gives a big picture view of edible ecosystems. As the title suggests, it shows several ways in which we can develop our resilience. By increasing the ability to feed people well, limiting toxins, finding work for people, and organizing our culture, we can live well in harmony with the planet. It talks about the situation that we are currently in relating to our soils, the oceans, and our food. It explains various ways in which many of our required actions for us to live on this planet in a healthy way can be created through environmental stewardship. One of the big contributions of this book is to highlight the many positive benefits that viable ecosystems can do for us. They will benefit us not only in our health and environmentally, but in our abundance and even financially as well. There are several different sections of the book. They involve such topics as design, our current problematic model, and how we can work through these roadblocks in ways that will be enjoyable and fulfilling. Several examples of both positive and negative responses are listed. It is not only an informative book, but it is also inspiring. The illustrations help the reader to conceptualize the ideas that the author is promoting. The only criticism I would make of the book is that I would have made more in-depth lists of possible guilds for each major ecosystem, such as for taiga, temperate, Mediterranean, maritime, and subtropical. This book will help you understand how we can solve the problems we have, but it will also help you explain to others how we can make the world a better place together.

Check out Redhawk's soil series: https://permies.com/wiki/redhawk-soil

Glen Thomson

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posted 4 years ago

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Hi Zach,
I just placed my order. Looking forward to digging in more on this topic.
Best wishes,
Glen B
Hamilton, ON

Music makes life better

Julie Johnston

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posted 4 years ago

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Design question re Food Guild Design and edible ecosystems. I just read on the course website that one can "pattern smaller guild spots into larger macro landscapes." I'm wondering if this is how to build up a food forest/forest garden if one can't do it all at the same time. Like fractals, in a sense.
Thanks!
Julie

GreenHeart Education ... Greening the heart of teaching, one teacher at a time
Check out my school garden pages ... www.greenhearted.org

John Suavecito

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posted 4 years ago

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I think this idea makes sense. You are planning for how your food forest will look in the future.
John S
PDX OR

Check out Redhawk's soil series: https://permies.com/wiki/redhawk-soil

Mae Flower

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posted 4 years ago

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I just signed up for Zach's free class, Edible Property Design, and it is looking great! Hope to be able to read his books soon.

Julie Johnston

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Location: Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

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posted 4 years ago

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Just in case Matthew doesn't find his way here from the Welcome Forum, please consider this an "entry" from Matthew Raphael, who really wanted to enter the contest.
Thanks,
Julie

"Am I posting something on the permaculture design forum?! I hope so because I really want to enter to win a spot at the Food Guild Design Course at EcosystemU! But I don't know if I am doing this correctly or not because I am a technologically impaired person and have never posted anything on the internet until now (Hopefully, yes I have successfully navigated to the right page.) I am trusting the Gods plan. Mr. Wheaton lured me into this website by offering me free pdf booklets about permaculture and oven technology and I am glad he did! It turns out the internets can be a huge resource for permaculture. I don't have to labor for years with trial and error to find the perfect system, instead I can read about others people's work and save a ton of time! Which is exactly what I hope to do if I win a spot at Mr. Loeks Food Design Course! I have been trying to crack this whole guild thing for a very long time but I am still broke and malnurished... But perhaps this year will be different; perhaps I will win a spot and learn the whats, wheres, whens, and hows of polyculturing and guilding annuals and perennials; that would be like a dream come true because I am hungry for this knowledge! I have searched the internet and chatted up gardening and permaculture heads about guilding and I feel like all I have been finding the same old Lasagna. Not that lasagna isn't good but I want to know more! We got to find our way back to the Garden! With that I want to say Welcome Zach! Thank you for your work in this very important field! Thank you for spreading the good word!!!"

GreenHeart Education ... Greening the heart of teaching, one teacher at a time
Check out my school garden pages ... www.greenhearted.org

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posted 4 years ago

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Julie Johnston wrote:Design question re Food Guild Design and edible ecosystems. I just read on the course website that one can "pattern smaller guild spots into larger macro landscapes." I'm wondering if this is how to build up a food forest/forest garden if one can't do it all at the same time. Like fractals, in a sense.
Thanks!
Julie

Hi,

This exactly how we build larger food forests

Our award-winning Permabed System is focused on modular and systematic design, building, planting and maintaining of edible ecosystems (food forest or other styles).

Best,

Zach

www.ecosystemsolutioninstitute.com

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Marvin Weber wrote:If it's as good as his previous book, The Permaculture Market Garden, then it's worth getting a hold of!

Thanks Marvin :)

I think you will enjoy it for sure. Also, please enjoy a 15% discount from our website with promo code "Winter2021". www.ecosystemsolutioninstitute.com

Thanks for being a grower of greatness!

Zach

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John Suavecito wrote:I think this idea makes sense. You are planning for how your food forest will look in the future.
John S
PDX OR

Awesome, yes :)

Author

Posts: 63

posted 4 years ago

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Glen Thomson wrote:Hi Zach,
I just placed my order. Looking forward to digging in more on this topic.
Best wishes,
Glen B
Hamilton, ON

Awesome

learn more www.ecosystemsolutioninstitute.com here :)

Rachel Lindsay

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posted 1 year ago

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I give this book 7 out of 10 acorns.

It took me six tries to read this book, because it took that long for me to figure out what it is. What this book is, is: a beautifully illustrated tour of someone's most optimistic vision of the future, or a journey through a vivid Permaculture daydream. As such, I felt as if I were wandering through an art gallery of horticultural thoughts while reading, and in that way it is unlike any other book I have ever read.

The message is positive, but very basic. In summary: Everyone needs to have perennial gardens, no matter how small, in order to educate and inspire people at home and abroad, and to restore soils, genetic diversity, and ecosystems. For the health of all living things, we should spread the idea of regenerative edible gardens. Since I very much agree with this, and am trying to do this, after finishing the book I was left feeling, "Okay, yes, that's really nice and all, but...it took 250+ pages to express that message?"

The most useful part of the book, in my opinion, was the brief description of Loeks' brainchild "Permabeds" and their construction, which I first read about in the author's first book. Speaking of which--because I loved everything about The Permaculture Market Garden (which I sent to my sister's in-laws before I could review it here!) I ordered this book when it was released. Alas, this one was not the Permaculture potager how-to I was hoping for. I am going to have to re-order The Permaculture Market Garden tonight, and curse myself for giving it away...and then review it here so you can all see how wonderful I think that one is!

*(Permabeds are small beds of perennials placed in guilds.)

“If we are honest, we can still love what we are, we can find all the good there is to find, and we may find ways to enhance that good, and to find a new kind of living world which is appropriate for our time.” ― Christopher Alexander

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