Tag: Edible Forest Garden

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Permaculture Jardin de Curé

Michael Hoag

(Originally published, May 2015, updated January 2021) The French “Jardin de Curé” might just be the original “Permaculture garden” of temperate Europe: diverse, beautiful, abundant, easy, and custom designed for the circumstances at hand. I believe we have a lot to learn from these old, evolved gardening systems of traditional cultures, so our front yard at Lillie House was deeply inspired by this style of garden. Let me take you on a tour of our “Permaculture Jardin de Cure´” while I share some garden pictures from this morning. The “Curate” or “Cure´” was the head parishioner in the French Presbyterian … Continue reading Permaculture Jardin de Curé

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Living with a Forest Garden

Michael Hoag

Our scholars are learning that forest gardening has been nearly universal amoung human cultures, “the oldest human land use,” it’s being called. It’s certain that some form of “Agriforest gardening” system has been a large part of the way that most humans who have ever lived have met most of their needs, right up until very, very recent history.  Becoming forest gardeners, we re-take our rightful place as the gentle, kind “keystone species” of our ecosystems, learning to work with nature, as a part of it, rather than against it as an outsider.  How to start? You already know. We … Continue reading Living with a Forest Garden

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Reviewing the Past, Planning the Future

Michael Hoag

Today, I’m spending a few moments remembering the last growing season as I continue to plan for the next one. Here are some of my favorite images from 2014’s garden along with some things I was particularly happy about last year: The garden was “thrown to the wolves” and managed to fend for itself, making a huge leep into becoming self-regulating with little maintanance beyond “chop and drop” mulching and mowing.   Almost no watering was necessary. Beyond the obligatory “watering in” at planting time, our garden was completely self-watering last year.  A year of harvests–we ate something out of … Continue reading Reviewing the Past, Planning the Future