Wow. Tears were literally brought to my eyes when i think of living and going from unaware, closeminded, ignorant, and lonely people to a truly sustainable community ; and allllllll the lessons learned throughout.

Kind of hard to describe
But i will describe my food forest in a minute

I beleive in sustainability/permaculture theory with all my heart and feel i see it everyday in nature. In forests, in the little ecosystems of each individual bug, doing their own thing, yet unknowingly working together (maybe knowingly), and in all of mainstream society today, and yesterday and all the days of selfish lookingout for noone but yourself. Seems like the best, most efficient way of learning, to me.
Almost like in a food forest, or just any forest, the chop and drop technique, the leaves falling off the trees, and plants dying ALL turn into super fertile, organic fertilizer for new growth; changed from death to life by little microscopic organisms, worms, fungi, and the love of nature.

Fungi- so amazing, can be sooo small, and yet SOOO big. Ive heard a fungi mat somewhere in NW USA is the largest living organism in the world. When i think of organic fertilizing/whatever one would like to call it, i think of attempting to encourage growth of fungi in the topsoil of some place used to grow plants. Almost as if the fungi literally connects these plants, and turns them into a true system.
I could talk about alll of this alll day, haha

Anywas, to my canopyless food forest
I have a somewhat small growing space about 50x50 feet, which is a square, of course. Inside this square is an imaginary circle, encompassing about 1/3rd of the square.
There are 2 zones to the garden. Zone 1, inside the circle. Zone 2, outside the circle. There is a stone walk way like a big X straight through the square. i will specify alot more in a bit.
In zone 1, i mainly tried to focus on a cover crop that utilized something like the principle of the three sisters guild (something coined by permaculturists, yet used by the native americans in the past to grow maize, beans, and squash. The maize grew tall like corn, the beans climbed up the maize, and the squash stayed low while suppressing weeds with its huge leaves; all growing together, making somewhat of a system working together). In zone 2, i am growing root crops, many different greens, many different pepper plants, cucumbers, cantaloupe, and squash.

I still plan on specifying alot more on the plants in the different zones

But for now, the common plants of the 2 zones. There are many beneficial insect flowers, that attract beneficial insects that are predatory to many pests and add biodiversity, beauty, and honeybees ( my dad has 6 langstroth beehives about 50 yards from the garden, i will be getting a topbar hive soon and plan on letting the bees i get be independant of human activity, aside from the occasional greatful goodies snag; more on the hives later). These flowers are zinnias, daisys, dahlias, lavender, marigolds, parsley, and cilantro, with different varietys of these flowers. There is also tibetan purple barley and terra oats throughout all of the garden, to add fertility and biodiversity; not so much for eating (unfortunatly).

Now onto the specifics of the plants growing in the different zones.
In zone 1, the inside of the circle with the main focus of a cover crop that self sows, adds LOTS of mulch, focuses on the three sisters guild (mentioned above), and is full of vegetable based protein. In this zone, there are:
•black beans
•black kabouli gorbanzo beans (love me some gorbanzos!!)
•sunflowers
•corn
•italian tomatos, koralik tomatos
•redheAd quinoa
•the stuff i mentioned above that grows throughout the entire garden

Some of it will be chopped and dropped, adding somewhat biodiverse fertility, and hopefully eventually spreading into the other zone a bit

In zone 2:

•cayenne peppers
•cucumber
•czec black peppers
•onions
•spinach, kale, mustards, collards
•carrot, beets, radish
•brocolli
•artichoke
•potato
•asparagus
•cantaloupe
•squash
•bell peppers
•what i mentioned above that grows throughout the garden

I plan on harvesting just a bit, and let the system establish itself before i really dig in


Onto the beehives.
My dad has 6 hives of russian, italian, and i think 2 hybrids of the 2. The hybrids are by far doing the best. I recently saw a video (idk if i could find it again) of a bee with a varroa mite on its back, pull the mite off, and do somethi g with it(couldnt see what, as the bee was in the way). This is very odd and many bee people i talk to dont beleive it. To me its a perfect example of evolution, or learning, as the varroa mite is a somewhat new predator. Many beekeepers treat constantly for these mites, all the while, imo procrastinating the illness of the bee, most cultivated are currently dependant on humans to survive.
I will not be doing this with the topbar i will be getting. Sure, the bees may fail a few times, or 20, but eventually they will (hopefully) be completley independant of humans. And the goodies will be that much better (which is quite a bit better).

I hope you all enjoy reading this and are inspired. Youtube and permaculturenews.org taught me most of what i theoretically know. And Geoff Lawton is a boss. Period.

Love and light

There is also an herb garden, not near completion, but it contains rosemary, basil, spicy basil, about to get some wild peppermint, regular peppermint, spearmint, wormwood, st johns wort, and stevia

Theres a fence around the garden that is currently growing wild grapes, wild blackberries, raspberrys, elderberries, and hops.
If only HBWR would grow here....

Theres also scattered fruit and nut trees and a few fruit shrubs in the yard (blueberries)