Edible Forest Gardens (2 volume set) [Hardcover]

Dave Jacke (Author), Eric Toensmeier (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1890132608 | ISBN-13: 978-1890132606 | Publication Date: November 15, 2005

Edible Forest Gardens is a groundbreaking two-volume work that spells out and explores the key concepts of forest ecology and applies them to the needs of natural gardeners in temperate climates. Volume I lays out the vision of the forest garden and explains the basic ecological principles that make it work. In Volume II, Dave Jacke and Eric Toensmeier move on to practical considerations:concrete ways to design, establish, and maintain your own forest garden. Along the way they present case studies and examples, as well as tables, illustrations, and a uniquely valuable "plant matrix" that lists hundreds of the best edible and useful species.



Taken together, the two volumes of Edible Forest Gardens offer an advanced course in ecological gardening-one that will forever change the way you look at plants and your environment.
What is an edible forest garden?
An edible forest garden is a perennial polyculture of multipurpose plants. Most plants regrow every year without replanting: perennials. Many species grow together: a polyculture. Each plant contributes to the success of the whole by fulfilling many functions: multipurpose. In other words, a forest garden is an edible ecosystem, a consciously designed community of mutually beneficial plants and animals intended for human food production. Edible forest gardens provide more than just a variety of foods. The seven F's apply here: food, fuel, fiber, fodder, fertilizer, and "farmaceuticals," as well as fun. A beautiful, lush environment can be a conscious focus of your garden design, or a side benefit you enjoy

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

"...this book will define the intellectual territory of its subject for at least a generation...Dave Jacke has knit an indigenous practice at once ancient and renascent with the mainstream of scientific exploration. He has given us legitimacy – and by us I mean all the ecological agricultural explorers of the epoch – and a cogency that will now be impossible to denigrate or diminish...An excellent and essential reference, brilliantly conceived and passionately written, Edible Forest Gardens should be on every permaculturist's reading list for the year ahead." --Peter Bane Publisher, The Permaculture Activist magazine

"...But the book I will be keeping by me for the seasons ahead... is Edible Forest Gardens by Dave Jacke with Eric Toensmeier. In its way this book--the first of two volumes--is a sequel to the wonderful Tree Crops: A Permanent Agriculture (1929) by J. Russell Smith.... Edible Forest Gardens offers a vision of the garden that reaches well beneath its aesthetic surface and into its ecological depths. It reminds us that whatever gardens are an oasis from, they can never be an oasis from the natural world or our own underlying economic needs." --Verlyn Klinkenborg The New York Times Book Review June 5, 2005

About the Author

Dave Jacke is the owner of Dynamics Ecological Design Associates and a longtime permaculture teacher and designer. He lives in Keene, New Hampshire.

Eric Toensmeier is a plant researcher, agricultural educator, and permaculturist who lives in Holyoke, Massachusetts.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 1068 pages
• Publisher: Chelsea Green (November 15, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1890132608
• ISBN-13: 978-1890132606
• Product Dimensions: 10.4 x 8.3 x 2.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #72,795 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #43 in Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Biological Sciences > Plants > Trees

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

59 of 59 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent for anyone hoping to get a handle on sustainable agriculture, January 3, 2007

By 

J. Munroe (Boulder, CO United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Edible Forest Gardens (2 volume set) (Hardcover)

As a graduate of a Permaculture Design Course, organic farm worker and someone generally interested in virtually all aspect of sustainable ag, I found this book incredible. Now, I've only read the first one (about to start on volume number 2), but the quality of information in the first volume in outstanding. Volume 1 is concerned with the theory behind forest gardening, but with a keen eye towards using that information in the second volume (which includes detailed information on actually creating a forest garden). David Jacke does a great job of covering everything from invasive plants to forest succession to what a guild is and how to build one to underground microbes and why we should care about them. Full of informative figures, graphs and sidebars, this book does an excellent job of filling a niche that has been otherwise missed by many permaculture and sustainable ag books - what to do in the more temperate, rainy parts of the world. I'd recommend this book over Patrick Whitfield's great book if you live in the U.S. because it suggests a variety of plants native to the U.S. and has a larger number of useful species for people who live in the U.S. and are dealing with colder temperatures than those seen in Britain. Overall, I'd recommend this book to anyone with the slightest interest in creating an edible landscape on a piece of property.

42 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Permaculture Tour-de-force!, August 23, 2006

By 

Geoff in MA (Massachusetts, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Edible Forest Gardens (2 volume set) (Hardcover)

If you are a home gardener who has ever stopped to wonder whether permaculture was useful to you, you need to read these books. If you are an intermediate to advanced permaculturist, you will revel in these books. If you want to understand how a single individual with a garden can make the world a better place, you need to read these books.

Jacke and Toensmeier lay out an incredible vision in Volume I for the potential that permaculture holds for gardeners in the northern US. And they lead the reader through an eye-opening education in the scientific theory which supports that vision. In Volume II, they walk the reader through the process of creating their own unique vision for the reader's own permaculture design. Then they lay out, step by step, how to progress from vision to reality.

Along the way, they range from the theoretical to the highly practical, from how many miles of fungal strands are in a teaspoon of soil from the forest floor, to exactly how to plant a tree so that it not only survives but thrives. And they do it in a voice which is both learned and whimsical, enthusiastic and serious -- and downright fun.

I'm buying a second set of these books. I need to keep one set with me as I build my garden; I learn new things every time I turn the page, knowledge I need on a "how to" level. But I need a second set, so that I can lend it to my friends who would get tremendous insight from reading these books...my order for my second set is going in today!

Full disclosure: I am a very pleased client of Dave Jacke's design practice.

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great mix of theory and practical! Very thorough!, September 19, 2008

By 

D. Agrawal "mbt fan" (New York, ny USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Edible Forest Gardens (2 volume set) (Hardcover)

I bought the books to understand the practical aspects of building a forest garden on my 2 acre land. I started reading the vol 2 because that seemed to contain the practical advice. However, soon after, I became convinced that vol 1 can not be ignored. Now I have read vol 1 and am truly in awe of the authors' clarity of thinking and organizing the vast amounts of material and data. The theory is clear and up-to-date with vast recent scientific knowledge- a rare combination indeed.
My only advice to a beginning reader would be to read the last part (conclusion) of vol 1 before and in between the various chapters in order to maintain motivation and interest in the overly theoretical- but necessarily so- parts of vol 1. That chapter really ties the theory together with your reasons of going into such details as are presented.I found in that chapter my "aha" moment.
Thanks to the authors for these wonderful and helpful books. Are worth their weight in gold- or rich moist forest humus!