PERMACULTURE: EDIBLE FOREST MANAGEMENT

When:
May 25, 2016 @ 9:00 am – 4:00 pm America/New York Timezone
2016-05-25T09:00:00-04:00
2016-05-25T16:00:00-04:00
Cost:
Free
Categories:
Other Meetings

May 24, 2016 9:00am to May 25, 2016 4:00pm

1 Main Street
Randolph Center, VT

Learn how to build edible forest gardens by arranging useful plants into communities which support one another’s healthy functioning, while providing food, medicine, fuel and more. Through energetic, visually-­rich slideshows, dialogue, participatory outdoor walks, small­ group exercises, and a field trip with a hands-­on planting, students will leave this course with a grounded understanding of what exactly an edible forest garden is, an overview of how to plant and care for home and farm scale systems, a plant species palette, a grasp of basic ecological design principles, and an understanding of why our ecosystems require active human participation.

Topics Covered:

  • Edible Forest Gardening (EFG) ­ history, definition, plant and animal archetypes of the edible forest garden and the ecological frame
  • Ecological design principles applied in the EFG
  • Specific plants ­ why to use them, how to use them and where to grow them
  • Designing perennial polyculture­ guidelines, principles and examples of functional interconnection
  • EFG establishment overview  from soil prep to harvest
  • EFG’s place in the homestead,­ urban, suburban and rural settings
  • Agroforestry & farm­scale EFG applications
  • Personal & community empowerment through the EFG
  • Field trip & site visit to East Hill Tree Farm in Plainfield, VT; a fruit, nut and berry nursery with diverse, extensive orchard ecosystem plantings

For more information and to register: https://www.vtc.edu/ag-course/permaculture-edible-forest-management

For questions contact Rachel at Vermont Tech’s Institute for Applied Agriculture and Food Systems

Email: [email protected]

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