Darrell Frey - The Food Forest Handbook: Design and Manage a Home-Scale Perennial Polyculture Garden

Praise for The Food Forest Handbook

Sorting out the particulars of a Food Forest can be tricky, overwhelming and seemingly complex. But Darrell Freys and Michelle Czolbas Book, The Food Forest Handbook changes all that! Through this in-depth practical book you will learn the strategies for effective planning, design, establishment and management of perennial polycultures. I found it fascinating how this design system has been utilized through the ages in many cultures to current times with a tour of successful food forests in varying climates. I recommend this book to all those who are bringing diversity to their planting schemes.

Jude Hobbs, Permaculture land-use consultant,
designer, and educator, Cascadia Permaculture

Frey and Czolba share the valuable fruit of their decades of experience with this carbon-friendly gardening form. But they go beyond this to tour sites around the world to reap insight and inspiration. They also do a better job than any food forestry book Ive seen of reminding us of the tropical origins of this form of multi-strata agroforestry.

Eric Toensmeier, author,
The Carbon Farming Solution

Michelle Czolbas and Darrell Freys decades of hands-on experience in permaculture and food production has allowed them to create a unique, important, and timely book. The authors have condensed two lifetimes of experience into a beautifully presented and essential volume. The Food Forest Handbook is an outstanding work that should be in the libraries of urban planners, designers, gardeners, property owners, naturalists, and even survivalists. Save the Earth isnt just a slogan; this book shows the reader how to make it a practice.

Joseph Jenkins, author,
The Humanure Handbook,
The Slate Roof Bible, and Balance Point

Darrell Frey and Michelle Czolba have recovered this truth from ancient wisdom: forests are successional recyclers. What happens if we were to drop the boundary between the built environment and nature? Wouldnt we all be much better off? The Food Forest Handbook guides our first steps along that path.

Albert Bates, author,
The Post-Petroleum Survival Guide,
The Biochar Solution, and The Paris Agreement

Copyright 2017 by Darrell Frey and Michelle Czolba.

All rights reserved.

Cover design by Diane McIntosh.

Cover art iStock. Cover illustration: Daniel Larsson.

With interior illustrations by Sarah A. Jubeck and Christine McHenry-Glenn.

Printed in Canada. First printing April 2017.

Inquiries regarding requests to reprint all or part of The Food Forest Handbook should be addressed to New Society Publishers at the address below. To order directly from the publishers, please call toll-free (North America) 1-800-567-6772, or order online at www.newsociety.com

Any other inquiries can be directed by mail to:

New Society Publishers

P.O. Box 189, Gabriola Island, BC V0R 1X0, Canada

(250) 247-9737

LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA CATALOGUING IN PUBLICATION

Frey, Darrell, author

The food forest handbook : design and manage a home-scale perennial polyculture garden / by Darrell Frey & Michelle Czolba.

Includes index.

Issued in print and electronic formats.

ISBN 978-0-86571-812-8 (softcover).ISBN 978-1-55092-622-4 (PDF).ISBN 978-1-77142-211-6 (HTML)

1. PermacultureHandbooks, manuals, etc. 2. Edible forest gardensHandbooks, manuals, etc. I. Czolba, Michelle, author II. Title.

New Society Publishers mission is to publish books that contribute in fundamental ways to building an ecologically sustainable and just society, and to do so with the least possible impact on the environment, in a manner that models this vision.

Any book about horticulture is a collaborative effort. This book is no exception. When my co-author Michelle asked me to help her with creating a food forest handbook for average gardeners I knew we had a big task ahead. The good folks at New Society Publishers were enthusiastic about our proposal and have been very patient with us as this book came together. We are grateful to Ingrid Witvoet and Murray Reiss for their patient edits as this work trickled in. Michelle Czolba spearheaded this book, both with her clear vision of its content and her vast experience and knowledge of designing, creating, and tending perennial polycultures. Thanks are due to the food forest designers presented in for sharing their work and providing maps and photos: Glenn Herlihy and Jacqueline Cramer, Lincoln Smith, Nancy Martin, Koreen Brennan, Mary Beth Steislinger, Suzi Fields. We are grateful to the Xiui people of El Huizachal, Mexico, for hospitality and fruit, and to early inspiration from the late Tom Mansell, who established his Paw Paw Haven in the 1950s. We also acknowledge the many gardeners who have crossed our paths over the years.

We stand at the end of a long line of researchers and authors with the information presented in this book. Foremost among these we acknowledge researchers, designers, and authors extraordinaire David Jacke and Eric Toensmeier for their Edible Forest Gardens Volumes I and II. The development of permaculture design by David Holmgren and late Bill Mollison was the impetus for countless projects and we owe them our gratitude for vision and inspiration. They in turn were inspired by the work of J. Russell Smith, Robert dHart, Masanobu Fukuoka, and many native peoples in Australia and beyond. Thanks to Elizabeth Lynch for her work on the plant yield matrix, Nancy Martin for her contributions on water management, and to illustrators Sarah A. Jubeck and Christine McHenry-Glenn. Sarah A. Jubeck provided most of the illustrations, including the lovely apple blossoms that grace the beginning of each chapter. John Creasy, himself an urban food forester, facilitated our journey to meet native forest gardeners in central Mexico. Finally I must express my deepest appreciation to Jessy Swisher for her ongoing support and encouragement and for fruitful adventures.

Darrell Frey

In addition to those mentioned above, I say thank you to one of my earliest teachers on the path, Chris Shaw Sanford, who helped me get over my city breeding that growing food was difficult. Also an early mentor, Joe Jenkins, whose work with composting science grew my mindset immensely. Finally, my pioneering co-founder in the food forest and permaculture business, Juliette Olshock. Also, last but certainly not least, I thank my co-author and mentor Darrell Frey. Darrell was one of my first permaculture teachers and collaborators. His wealth of knowledge and experience along with a cooperative nature helped make this process fun.

Michelle Czolba

The food forest is perhaps the oldest way to garden. As ancient people spread around the globe and settled the farthest reaches of the Earth, many settled into forested landscapes.