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A Food Forest Emerging in Augusta #Maine

March 10, 2017 by Lisa Fernandes Leave a Comment

Site of the future food forest at Viles Arboretum

On a hot summer day in 2016, Shana Hostetter (the Hub’s lead designer), Dan Schenk (one of our Advanced PDC grads) and I strolled a grassy savannah-like area of Viles Arboretum in Augusta, Maine.  Dotted with sculpture and surrounded by some lovely specimen trees, the south-facing “bowl” we toured seemed ideal for one of Viles’ new projects:  a food forest!

Tracy Weber, a Viles Volunteer trained in permaculture design, and Mark Desmeules, Viles Executive Director, shared some of their thinking with us:

“The Viles Arboretum wants to inspire people with the possibilities of local sustainable food production, educate our community about how it can be done and then encourage people to replicate this system in their yards and in public spaces. We aim to show that providing food for ourselves does not have to and should not deprive other living things of food and shelter. The Viles Arboretum has a reputation as a destination for learning, respite and connection with the outdoors. This, along with its history as a farm, makes it an ideal location for this project.

The Food & Forest Project will begin as a 1 acre demonstration plot designed with permaculture principles to integrate trees, shrubs, perennials and annuals into a food ‘forest’. Permaculture is a system of design that takes into account the whole ecosystem when designing for food production by harnessing the assets of a landscape such as aspect, topography and water. This permaculture plot will serve as the site of and jumping off point for numerous community collaborations and educational opportunities. We envision a fenced in plot for annual vegetables and additional community garden plots. There will be berry production and an expanded orchard managed organically. A food “forest” of edible shrubs and trees such as walnuts, persimmons, hazelnuts, blueberries and elderberries will provide food for people, pollinators and other wildlife.”

In addition to this great vision from Tracy and Mark, other members of the region’s agriculture, permaculture and “sustainability” community have been involved, including Mid-Maine Permaculture group members and many of our own PDC grads.

The Resilience Hub, having been engaged to help with the design of the site, suggested doing as much awareness-raising and “participatory design” as possible, because our experience suggests that these activities not only strengthen the quality of the resulting design as well as help interested community-members get involved early on.

First draft concept sketch for the food forest at Viles Arboretum

Last week nearly fifty people turned up at Viles for a viewing of INHABIT: A Permaculture Perspective and to hear a little bit about the project.  The first draft of the food forest design was on display as well!  The Resilience Hub is currently incorporating feedback and working on the final drawings to be delivered in a couple of weeks.

If you would like to get involved in this project at Viles Arboretum in Augusta, Maine, contact us and we would be happy to connect you with Tracy or Mark.  First stages of the install are on deck for this year!

— Lisa Fernandes, Resilience Hub Founder

Filed Under: food forest, Local Food, Maine, Permaculture Tagged With: augusta, food forest, maine, permaculture

Permaculture Site Consultations Anyone?

October 30, 2015 by Lisa Fernandes Leave a Comment

vert_angle_deg=-3.4 / horiz_angle_deg=-3.1There are five of us working at The Resilience Hub now, designing, teaching, organizing, etc. And with so many awesome designers around, I personally don’t get out to as many client consults as I used to.  But I do love doing it and keeping my hand in.  So today I had a fabulous treat of being able to get out on a gorgeous fall sunny day in Maine to walk around a client/friend/student’s property and brainstorm design ideas for her place. Without saying as much, we talked zones, sector influences, stacking functions, perennial edible ecosystems, rainwater collection, relative location and more.

It sure is a joy to have design conversations with “clients” who have already gone through a robust permaculture awareness-raising process! It makes the design work so much more cooperative and enjoyable for all.  The client receives a substantial list of written recommendations and ideas at the end of the consult and the designer gains more experience applying the permaculture ethics and principles to another unique landscape.

Who do you know that needs a two-hour design consult before the snow flies?

Designfully,

Lisa

Filed Under: Maine, Permaculture Tagged With: permaculture design

“Portland Connected by Nature” Launch Party

October 29, 2015 by Lisa Fernandes Leave a Comment

ImageA few of us attended the launch party for this new report last night at Mechanics Hall in Portland (which, by the way, is one of the coolest buildings in Maine and houses the first lending library in Maine).

The room contained a Who’s Who of enviro people from around greater Portland in order to celebrate the launch of this new report which does a pretty good job summarizing much of the good work happening around here. Great food from Rosemont Market helped lubricate the wonderful conversations set against a slideshow featuring people and projects highlighted in the report.

The Resilience Hub was honored to be one of the featured groups in the report, with our food system work getting special attention!

Thanks to NRCM for making it happen.

Now I’m curious about what the people of greater Portland would like to see next.

— Lisa Fernandes

 

Filed Under: Local Food, Maine, Re-Localization

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