What is Biodynamic Agriculture?
Biodynamic agriculture is an advanced organic farming system emphasizing holistic management and focusing on food quality, soil health, and biological diversity. This form of agriculture includes techniques and growing practices that are ecological, organic, and celestial in nature. Biodynamic farming is an organic and ecological response triggered by the rapid decline in environmental health of the land after the industrial revolution of agriculture. This developed in the 1920’s after Rudolph Steiners famous lectures on agriculture. Since the 1920′s biodynamic agriculture has worked with the soil and farm as whole living organisms rather than mechanistic parts. The ideal biodynamic farm is similar to the wild forest. It grows for centuries. It becomes self-sustaining, highly productive, and biologically diverse. A biodynamic farm is living!
Labeling food and other products as Biodynamic is a reserved term by the Demeter USA Trade Association: http://www.demeter-usa.org/.
What is Organic Agriculture?
The Organic Agriculture Movement began as a reaction to the industrialization of farming practices during and after the world wars of the twentieth century. The Organic farming movement is an accumulation of ancient and traditional farming methodologies such as crop rotations and composting, cover cropping, and biodiversity. In the twenty first century Organic farming in the United States and worldwide became a government regulated system whereas the use of the term Organic and its associated labeling of foods is regulated under the United States Department of Agriculture’s National Organic Program.
“Congress declared that after October 21, 2002, any farmer selling over $5,000 worth of produce may NOT refer to their produce or growing methods as “Organic” unless they have been certified by a USDA accredited certification agency. Failure to comply with this order is punishable with fines up to $10,000 per violation per day. “[NOP Final Rule: 205.100] (http://www.naturallygrown.org/about-cng/frequently-asked-questions)
Ten thousand farmers worldwide have created alternative organic certification programs, called Participatory Guarantee Systems (PGS). These PGS programs are fully committed to recognized organic practices, but they differ from third-party inspector models like the USDA’s National Organic Program (NOP) in that they minimize paperwork and certification fees, and employ a peer-review inspection process built on local networks. This model is typically a better fit for small-scale producers who sell locally and directly to their customers. (http://www.naturallygrown.org/about-cng)
What is Wildcrafting?
What is Wildcrafting? Wildcrafting is a term used in gardening to describe a millennium old technique of collecting plants for food, medicine, and craft in their natural habitats. This is also known as foraging. Ancient peoples foraged and hunted for their entire diets tens of thousands of years ago. Today foraging and Wildcrafting are done by wild food and medicinal plant enthusiast and gourmet chefs worldwide!
We here at Bliss Gardens & Community Kitchen are excited to have forty five pristine acres of certified naturally grown land to responsibly Wildcraft gourmet foods such as mushrooms, herbs, and fruits. Bliss Gardens is interested in the business of cultivating relationships with local chef’s and specialty grocers in Northern Michigan to provide you with the most gourmet wild foods we have to offer! Please contact our Farm Manager, Travis S. Childs (517) 402-9776 for details about our forest and meadows and the seasonal foods they have to offer!
Permaculture and Edible Forest Gardens
By Travis S. Childs
“The farmer will not need all of the things that the city man thinks the farmer needs (Liberty Hyde Bailey, 2008).”
The term “Permaculture” originated in Australia to explain a set of techniques used for designing sustainable human settlements (Hemenway, 2000). It is now used world-wide to describe a revolution in redesigning modern agricultural societies. Bill Mollison coined the term in the 1970’s with David Holmgren as a contraction of the terms permanent culture and permanent agriculture (Hemenway, 2000). The foundational basis in permaculture is food production, from which come energy, shelter, and other needs that intertwine within cultures. Food production around the world varies amongst cultures and systems. Edible forest gardening can function amongst various cultures and system of production throughout most climates.
Agriculture
“Traditionally, children learned how to farm from relatives and neighbors; now they are put into Western-style schools that prepare them for specialized jobs in an industrial economy (Norberg-Hodge, ISEC).”
Agrarian cultures have thrived for centuries within most climates on earth although with the decline of natural resources and the degradation of environmental resources on earth, whole
Agrarian cultures are threatened with crisis or are currently in crisis. Agriculture is intrinsically biological. A failure to recognize this primary aspect results in harmful industrial practices of agriculture. Industrialized agriculture in the global economy has reduced many local markets to commodity crops and monocultures. In Ladakh, India, the local economy and culture have been steadily dismantled by long distance transport of subsidized goods which in some instances have resulted in ethnic conflicts (Norberg-Hodge, ISEC). Places where there were traditional agrarian cultures are being replaced by modern industrial farmers equipped with four wheel drive and sprayer tanks.
Edible Forest Gardening
Edible forest gardens are systems of food and material production in which the garden contains a perennial poly culture of multipurpose plants (Jacke and Toensmerier, 2005). Charles Darwin said, “Our ignorance of the laws of variation is profound (Darwin, 2004).” Variation amongst crops is an important aspect that insures better health and sustainability of production for both the garden and the people consuming and producing goods.
Succession from a forest to a farmer’s crop field is generally marked by an abrupt edge of grasses and trees. In an edible forest garden there are zones that translate the differences in ecological functions between wild and the cultivated into multifunctional crops useful for human needs. Using succession attributes of plants in an edible forest garden is an essential process to living within a sustainable ecosystem. Plants such as fruit trees, perennial vegetables, and herbs are established in primary years and then harvested for years to come with minimal inputs. The succession of the garden is harvested year after year as it matures into an edible forest. In preceding years the garden is cared for mainly by harvesting plants.
Above: Michigan State University, Student Organic Farm, Edible Forest Garden, 2008
“Forest gardening is an ancient practice yet it also represents a radically new, postmodern way of seeing our home landscapes and our world (Jacke and Toensmeier, 2005).” There are institutes throughout the world teaching permaculture principles and practices such as: earth care, care of people, and sharing the surplus. Major locations of these institutes are in Australia, England, and the Americas. Both tropical and temperate climates hold permaculture training centers and edible forest gardens. Michigan State University’s Agricultural Technology Institute holds organic farming courses in an organic edible forest garden, which was established in 2005 by Jay Tomzack and John Biernbaum of the Horticulture Department.
In conclusion, permaculture principals are revolutionary for agriculture. Edible forest gardening is an essential aspect of a permacultural society. Edible forest gardens contain perennial poly cultures of multipurpose plants that serve human settlements and natural ecosystems. With the adoption of edible forest gardening principles and practices agriculture can be sustainable at the local level.
Bibliography
- Bailey, Liberty H. The Holly Earth. East Lansing: Michigan State UP, 2008.
- Darwin, Charles. The Origin of Species (Barnes & Noble Classics Series) (Barnes & Noble Classics). New York: Barnes & Noble, 2003.
- Hemenway, Toby. Gaia’s Garden A Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture. New York: Chelsea Green, 2001. Print
- Jacke, Dave. Edible forest gardens. White River Junction, Vt: Chelsea Green Pub. Co., 2005.
- Norberg-Hodge, Helena. Globalisation versus Community. Rep. International Society of Ecology and Culture. 19 July 2009 <www.isec.org.uk>.
