From other writers -
New movement gaining momentum: Guerrilla forest gardening?
Something has been brewing in my mind for a
couple years now. I am somewhat of a 'newbie', per se, when it comes to the
standing permaculture community having just learned of permaculture
approximately three years ago. It was shortly after I first learned of
permaculture that I was introduced to the concept of guerrilla
gardening.
You may already be familiar with he concept of guerrilla gardening, but if you're not, it is basically when an environmentally conscious individual will cultivate plants, usually perennial edibles, on land that they do not own in an act of civil disobedience. It could be an abandoned lot in an urban area that has been neglected by the city, unused grassy areas in parks, expanses of growing space beside highways, between roads and so on.
Why do this? Well, the concept is quite revolutionary and carries within it the implications of true revolution. People do this because they know that every little bit they do only adds to the resiliency of our species and healing of our environment. I can't tell you how much it pains me to simply drive down the road and see so much wasted green space that could feed entire communities for generations to come.
Now, let us digress just a bit and introduce the concept of forest gardening. Forest gardening is one of the hallmarks of permaculture design and is a subject that I intend on delving into in great detail in the near future not only relative to this new movement, but when talking about zone planning as well. In essence, it is agroforestry, a deliberately designed edible food forest that functions just like a natural forest with its multi-layered, polyculture system of canopy, understory, shrub, herbaceous, ground cover, root and climbing species that all work together through interrelationships to provide and abundance of not only food resources, but medicinal and other resources such as lumber, fuel, dyes, etc. as well generation after generation with nearly zero maintenance.
Imagine walking into a forest and every plant species around you provides some kind of food, medicine or other benefit whether it be nitrogen fixation, future mulch, lumber or whatever. Most people would label it a Garden of Eden, but I would more prefer comparing it to Willy Wonka's candy room with a natural, nutritional twist... but that's just me.
Now to the main topic of this post and I want you to muster all the motivation you have to literally and physically change our world for the better. I want you to force yourself to get excited about the palpable potential you'll surely find in the proceeding text. Imagine a movement of guerrilla forest gardeners. People who become intimate with their area's native plant species and permaculture design who set out in guerrilla fashion to literally change the landscape of our unused and already forested areas.
A couple years ago, through the natural evolution of things, I married the two concepts and began dreaming the same dream I just laid out before you. I imagined thousands of environmentally conscious individuals through the entire state (eventually spreading nationally and then globally) that would form groups and events where they'd go out to forested areas and start randomly planting beneficial plant species guided by permaculture design. Do you know how many seeds can fit in a backpack?
It was just the other day that I revisited the concept of marrying guerrilla gardening and forest gardening and thought to myself that it is time to launch this concept into a full-fledged movement that could quickly become unstoppable... and it will. So, I did what any good researcher does before launching anything, I ran a Google search. I searched the term 'guerrilla forest gardening.' The results turned up only a few links and they were all in reference to a fairly recent, March 30, 2013, article entitled 'Guerrilla Forest Gardens' published by Autonomy Acres. I highly recommend reading that article which I've linked for you as well as the other content they have on their site. It is all very good information.
What I had gleaned from this quick Google search was that guerrilla forest gardening is still a very new concept that needs to be exploited as quickly as possible and at least someone else out there in the ether was thinking along the same lines. My hat's off to Autonomy Acres for breaching this subject.
Now for some practical application. This is where we get this revolution started and I use that term quite literally. In the days and weeks to come, I will be posting content relative to forest gardening with a focus on native Missouri plant species that would be viable food forest plants for the state of Missouri. This is Missouri Permauculture after all. I'll then begin focusing on seed saving information for those specific species and then the real fun begins.
In anticipation of this movement gaining the momentum that it rightly deserves, I have already created a Facebook page for Missouri Guerrilla Forest Gardeners which you'll be directed to by clicking the link. I intend for this to be the place where we can organize socially and start changing the Missouri landscape into a more permanent and resilient one that will sustain regional inhabitants for generations to come.
Before I close, just one more dream. I really enjoy backpacking and I love my home state of Missouri. Every chance I get, I'm walking a trail in portions of Missouri's wild areas. Now, imagine 10, 15 or even 20 years down the road taking a hike in any wild area of Missouri and being able to find cherries along the way, or persimmons or pawpaw fruit, etc.
I've used the word revolution above and I'll just quickly elaborate on that. I have often been disconcerted to find that the general consensus of a revolution usually involves violent action. Whereas I am a devout realist, I strongly believe, some would say contrarily, that a true revolution is still possible through nonviolent means. My eight-year-old son recently asked me what a revolution was. I explained to him, in detail, what revolution is, but I also explained to him that the only true, effective way to revolt is to sever all dependence on that which you intend to revolt against.
Think about that. Here in America, if every individual grew their own food and sustained their own families, what power would the major food corporations have? If every individual made it a point to focus on producing their own renewable energy to use for electricity, what power would the coal, oil and natural gas corporations have? Boycott the system by putting in place today that which would surely provide the option for independence for our future generations.
In closing, please feel free to visit the above linked Facebook page and let us start talking about event planning for a future, more resilient Missouri. You can look forward to more future posts both here and there relative to this new obsession of mine that I am absolutely determined to see evolve and I'll leave you with a couple quotes and a great video on forest gardening presented by renowned international permaculutre designer Geoff Lawton. Albeit not relative to Missouri's temperate climate, it serves as a fantastic introduction to forest gardening and the potential it has for the resiliency of our species. With that, I look forward to getting together and planting the first cherry tree together in Forest Park. *Wink, wink.*
"The single greatest lesson the garden teaches is that our relationship to the planet need not be zero-sum, and that as long as the sun still shines and people still can plan and plant, think and do, we can, if we bother to try, find ways to provide for ourselves without diminishing the world." ~ Michael Pollan
"A society grows when old men plant trees whose shade they' know they shall never sit in" ~ Greek Proverb
You may already be familiar with he concept of guerrilla gardening, but if you're not, it is basically when an environmentally conscious individual will cultivate plants, usually perennial edibles, on land that they do not own in an act of civil disobedience. It could be an abandoned lot in an urban area that has been neglected by the city, unused grassy areas in parks, expanses of growing space beside highways, between roads and so on.
Why do this? Well, the concept is quite revolutionary and carries within it the implications of true revolution. People do this because they know that every little bit they do only adds to the resiliency of our species and healing of our environment. I can't tell you how much it pains me to simply drive down the road and see so much wasted green space that could feed entire communities for generations to come.
Now, let us digress just a bit and introduce the concept of forest gardening. Forest gardening is one of the hallmarks of permaculture design and is a subject that I intend on delving into in great detail in the near future not only relative to this new movement, but when talking about zone planning as well. In essence, it is agroforestry, a deliberately designed edible food forest that functions just like a natural forest with its multi-layered, polyculture system of canopy, understory, shrub, herbaceous, ground cover, root and climbing species that all work together through interrelationships to provide and abundance of not only food resources, but medicinal and other resources such as lumber, fuel, dyes, etc. as well generation after generation with nearly zero maintenance.
Imagine walking into a forest and every plant species around you provides some kind of food, medicine or other benefit whether it be nitrogen fixation, future mulch, lumber or whatever. Most people would label it a Garden of Eden, but I would more prefer comparing it to Willy Wonka's candy room with a natural, nutritional twist... but that's just me.
Now to the main topic of this post and I want you to muster all the motivation you have to literally and physically change our world for the better. I want you to force yourself to get excited about the palpable potential you'll surely find in the proceeding text. Imagine a movement of guerrilla forest gardeners. People who become intimate with their area's native plant species and permaculture design who set out in guerrilla fashion to literally change the landscape of our unused and already forested areas.
A couple years ago, through the natural evolution of things, I married the two concepts and began dreaming the same dream I just laid out before you. I imagined thousands of environmentally conscious individuals through the entire state (eventually spreading nationally and then globally) that would form groups and events where they'd go out to forested areas and start randomly planting beneficial plant species guided by permaculture design. Do you know how many seeds can fit in a backpack?
It was just the other day that I revisited the concept of marrying guerrilla gardening and forest gardening and thought to myself that it is time to launch this concept into a full-fledged movement that could quickly become unstoppable... and it will. So, I did what any good researcher does before launching anything, I ran a Google search. I searched the term 'guerrilla forest gardening.' The results turned up only a few links and they were all in reference to a fairly recent, March 30, 2013, article entitled 'Guerrilla Forest Gardens' published by Autonomy Acres. I highly recommend reading that article which I've linked for you as well as the other content they have on their site. It is all very good information.
What I had gleaned from this quick Google search was that guerrilla forest gardening is still a very new concept that needs to be exploited as quickly as possible and at least someone else out there in the ether was thinking along the same lines. My hat's off to Autonomy Acres for breaching this subject.
Now for some practical application. This is where we get this revolution started and I use that term quite literally. In the days and weeks to come, I will be posting content relative to forest gardening with a focus on native Missouri plant species that would be viable food forest plants for the state of Missouri. This is Missouri Permauculture after all. I'll then begin focusing on seed saving information for those specific species and then the real fun begins.
In anticipation of this movement gaining the momentum that it rightly deserves, I have already created a Facebook page for Missouri Guerrilla Forest Gardeners which you'll be directed to by clicking the link. I intend for this to be the place where we can organize socially and start changing the Missouri landscape into a more permanent and resilient one that will sustain regional inhabitants for generations to come.
Before I close, just one more dream. I really enjoy backpacking and I love my home state of Missouri. Every chance I get, I'm walking a trail in portions of Missouri's wild areas. Now, imagine 10, 15 or even 20 years down the road taking a hike in any wild area of Missouri and being able to find cherries along the way, or persimmons or pawpaw fruit, etc.
I've used the word revolution above and I'll just quickly elaborate on that. I have often been disconcerted to find that the general consensus of a revolution usually involves violent action. Whereas I am a devout realist, I strongly believe, some would say contrarily, that a true revolution is still possible through nonviolent means. My eight-year-old son recently asked me what a revolution was. I explained to him, in detail, what revolution is, but I also explained to him that the only true, effective way to revolt is to sever all dependence on that which you intend to revolt against.
Think about that. Here in America, if every individual grew their own food and sustained their own families, what power would the major food corporations have? If every individual made it a point to focus on producing their own renewable energy to use for electricity, what power would the coal, oil and natural gas corporations have? Boycott the system by putting in place today that which would surely provide the option for independence for our future generations.
In closing, please feel free to visit the above linked Facebook page and let us start talking about event planning for a future, more resilient Missouri. You can look forward to more future posts both here and there relative to this new obsession of mine that I am absolutely determined to see evolve and I'll leave you with a couple quotes and a great video on forest gardening presented by renowned international permaculutre designer Geoff Lawton. Albeit not relative to Missouri's temperate climate, it serves as a fantastic introduction to forest gardening and the potential it has for the resiliency of our species. With that, I look forward to getting together and planting the first cherry tree together in Forest Park. *Wink, wink.*
"The single greatest lesson the garden teaches is that our relationship to the planet need not be zero-sum, and that as long as the sun still shines and people still can plan and plant, think and do, we can, if we bother to try, find ways to provide for ourselves without diminishing the world." ~ Michael Pollan
"A society grows when old men plant trees whose shade they' know they shall never sit in" ~ Greek Proverb
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