Food Forests and Perennial Agriculture

509 Wicklow Street,Pittsburgh PA 15224

30 June, 2023

Description

experiencesThis two day intensive course will go deeply into the theory, design, implementation and care of perennial food forests. Food forests are created when we mimic natural forests for our gardens, orchards and farms. Unlike an orchard, a food forest is a multilayered perennial system where ground cover crops, shrubs, vines, fungi, and trees all work together to support each other and produce food for people and wildlife. Food forests can be created with one fruit tree in a tiny city lot or on a broadscale where corn and soy were once grown. Together, in this class, we'll discover the successes and challenges of food forest production at Garfield Community Farm and learn from over a decade of experience. Topics covered in this two day class include: niche analysis, plant guilds and polycultures, urban soils and restoration through forest establishment, food forest design, and many hands on in the Garfield Farm food forest. This class is part of the Garfield Community Farm Permculture Design Certification Course, an 80 hour course in which participants recieve certification from the Permaculture Institute of North America. Through our series of classes and/or apprentice hours with our farmers you can recieve your certification. Breakfasts and one farm to table dinner will be included in the cost of this class. Housing will be available for out of town guests and can be worked out on a case by case basis. Educators for this class include John Creasy of Garfield Community Farm, Darrell Frey of Three Sister's Permaculture and Elizabeth Lynch of the Permaculture Institute of North America.