By Rick Ketcheson, Nov, 2015
In October 2015, I attended a five day workshop on Food Forestry on Galiano Island. I have an interest in food security, local food and permaculture, so I want to share what I learned. Not all of this is new to me, nor will it be to you but there is always more to learn and this event was definitely rich in learning.
A group of thirty-five of us gathered on Galiano Island at the Galiano Conservancy Learning Centre with two top-notch instructors to learn and to help install a pilot food forest on the lands held by the Conservancy. Some people also refer to these as perennial food gardens or woodland gardens.
To get to the island in time to attend the introductory public lecture on Friday evening, I had but one choice from BC Ferries which meant arriving in the morning. Auspicious, as I had time to enjoy lunch, set up my tent and take the wonderful two hour hike to pebble beach on the east side of the island from the Learning Centre.
I learned that several of the Gulf Islands have conservancy associations. The Galiano Conservancy has had the good fortune to have strong and visionary leadership by Ken Millard who worked tirelessly to bring people together, create the land base and build the organization. Sadly, I didn’t have the pleasure of meeting him as he passed away recently but it was clear from others that he was held in high regard. You can find more on the extensive work done by the Conservancy at their website http://galianoconservancy.ca/ and https://www.facebook.com/Galiano-Conservancy-124183270970807/?fref=ts.
The Learning Centre is a classroom and small commercial kitchen housed in a lovely off-grid repurposed building powered by solar panels and a battery bank. Staff and volunteers have also installed a small annual garden, a greenhouse and a small campsite at the Centre. The Conservancy’s vision is that the Learning Centre be self-sustaining and they’re well on their way.
The food forest project grew out of the staff’s desire to do something significant to impact food security on the island. The initial phase of the food forest project has now been realized in the past year with the help of significant grants from VanCity and other funding. The intent is to continue to expand in the coming years.
In developing the food forest concept and design, the Conservancy consulted with the community and experienced permaculture practitioners. Major earth work was required on the site as well as infrastructure such as a well and fencing.
The well-attended Friday evening public lecture on Food Forests was followed by two days of workshops and a three day practicum, planting the food forest with time for discussions and sharing ideas. The topics we covered included:
- Introduction to Food Forestry – principles, benefits, architecture
- Forest succession
- Food forestry design for large sites as well as urban sites including recommended species and specific cultivars for our climate.
- Soil biology, soil science, fungi.
- Composting – Thermal, static, aerated, bokashi and use of cover crops. Preparation and application of compost extract and compost tea.
- Grafting
- Growing garlic on a commercial scale
- Introduction to growing and extracting medicinal herbs.
Our last three days were mostly spent on the previously prepared food forest site. Here we followed the site design for the perennial plantings and a mushroom bed. We also planted a cash crop of garlic to help the Conservancy finance some of their activities. There are plans to hold more workshops on food forestry at the site. You can see these folks are serious about what they do.
The 700 m2 food forestry site was created in a previously logged but otherwise untouched area. It is fenced against the ubiquitous deer. The earth work consisted of building five hugelkultur beds, about 15 m long and waist high. These beds were built by digging a trench about a meter deep and a meter wide and filling it with wood, (some of it already decomposing), piling more wood on top and covering the whole thing with soil and mulch. The wood in the beds was inoculated with a variety of materials to add nitrogen and with forest duff for fungal and bacterial culture.
This type of bed can serve many functions – carbon sink, nutrient store, moisture reservoir. Think of fallen trees (what we call nurse logs) decomposing in the forest. Because they are raised beds, they modify the topography and provide wind shelter solar aspect to create micro-climates. I have constructed small versions of these woody beds in two locations in the last year.
Two regular soil planting beds were also created to observe the differences between the two types of beds.
To say this was a rich learning experience hardly does it justice. Our instructors, Javan K. Bernackovitch and Richard Walker have a wealth of experience and knowledge that they generously shared. I highly recommend anyone with an interest in Permaculture topics to keep an eye on the Permaculture BC website for more learning opportunities. http://permaculturebc.com/permaculture-courses.
Galiano was well represented in our workshop with about fifteen participants. Another dozen were from the Lower Mainland Vancouver Island and a few from the Okanagan where Javan and Richard are based.
I’m going to relate the rest of this on a day-to-day basis as that’s how my notes and memory are structured. Some topics repeat but with new information.
In our first session on Food Forestry, its principles, benefits and architecture, we gained a sense of the layers of plantings (as many as nine) that can be used in a food forest, from tall canopy trees down to the ground cover, fungi and root crops. Over time, food forests generate soil, habitat, surplus food, beauty and legacy. They produce oxygen, moderate temperature and absorb storm water. I brought home an excellent Food Forestry booklet published by Javan and Richard. I can get more copies for anyone interested.
When designing for urban sites Richard stressed that if many people grow even a small amount of food in urban areas, the effect can be massive. Since more and more people live in cities, it is important to take action in urban spaces. It is a way to take responsibility for our own environmental impact and to help feed ourselves. Compacted and disturbed urban soils and the lack of respect for natural watercourses create challenges for growing in the urban environment. Air pollution, especially dangerous sub-10 micron particulates can be mitigated by the bio-functions of trees. A given site may not use all elements of food forestry design but every tree is critical.
Concerning soil, soil biology and related resources first note the difference between dirt (non-living) and soil (a living organism). Soil is a complex living organism. Knowing the functions of living organisms IN the soil as well those ON the soil and the effects of random disturbances (fire, tilling, grazing animals) we have the ability to create and nurture healthy soil. An interesting point to emerge is that compost is principally biological inoculation, not nutrition. The presence of a healthy soil food web is what makes mineral constituents in the soil into plant available nutrients.
Understanding succession and the progression from bacteria to fungi give us another way to understand soil. A biomass ratio of bacteria to fungi of 1:1 is where root crops do well. For fruit trees the ideal ratio is 1:10 and upwards to 1:100. (Apples are happy at ratios around 1:25 and a mature forest can be up to 1:1000).
One of the most effective ways to introduce biology to soil is to use compost extract or compost tea (they are not the same). Extracts are easier and faster to prepare, have greater diversity of bacteria and are best used in or on the soil while compost tea has higher concentrations of fewer bacteria and is best for foliar application. Only use non-chlorinated water for extracts or teas. Chloramines, which are now commonly used in water treatment, are more difficult to clear but a treatment with humic acid will eliminate them.
We can make incredibly rich compost with different ratios of bacteria/ fungi but testing is the only way to know. Some references: for $45 A&L Laboratories in Ontario will give a total active bacteria:fungi ratio and for $145 Earthfort in Oregon will give a complete soil food web analysis.
References for these soil topics included the work of Dr. Elaine Ingham (http://www.soilfoodweb.com/Home_Page.html) and Dr. Christine Jones from Australia (http://renewablesoil.com/dr-christine-jones.html). See also Jones article in Permaculture News http://permaculturenews.org/2014/10/29/nitrogen-double-edged-sword/.
Continuing with composting, we can think of soil biology as similar to your digestion or gut. Excess of anything is sure to generate problems so it is important to maintain a good profile of soil chemistry and biology. When planting trees, it is wise to inoculate with (commercially available) mycorrhizal treatments or consider going out to the forest floor to collect inoculum. A handful per tree is enough.
Thermal composting is the most common composting process and requires a minimum of 7-8 wheelbarrows of material to make a pile. The reproducing bacteria create the heat. Don’t get it too hot – thermal compost generates greenhouse gasses and nutrients can be lost to the atmosphere. Compost will not heat up without enough nitrogen and with too much nitrogen will just burn up and everything is lost to the atmosphere. A compost thermometer is a good investment. Generally two or three turns are enough.
Carbon to nitrogen ratios are key for thermal composting so knowing the constituents going into your compost is critical. Commonly the ratio is 8 parts carbon to 1 part nitrogen but you can go up to 10 parts carbon. Dividing the protein level by six gives the nitrogen content. Bacteria need air so don’t saturate. No animal products should go into (home) thermal composting (but see bokashi fermenting process below). Small particle size promotes more rapid decomposition and promotes bacterial dominance. Hay or straw is good, but be careful about weed seeds. Adjusting ratios and particle size gives more or less bacteria or fungi.
Be careful not to allow leaching – cover the pile or better yet, compost right in the garden. Compost is powerful in biological terms so you don’t need a lot. All manures should be composted to lock up the nutrients. Keep them out of the rain as nutrients can be leached out. Exercise caution when bringing in manures especially if you don’t know what went into the animals. Herbicide, pesticide and pharmaceutical residues can persist for a long time. Mushroom manure is low in nitrogen. You get out what you put in especially with worm composting. Coffee grounds are great for composting – no flies and a good source of nitrogen.
Passive composting doesn’t involve turning. This is an excellent process, especially in urban sites. Make a pile, cover it tightly for up to a year and keep it moist.
The aerated static pile (ASP) system is also not turned but has air blown into it to keep the bacteria active. ASP is more technical but you can have good compost in two months.
Bokashi fermenting will process all types of waste – meat scraps, dairy, bread, bones etc. (in modest quantities) plus there are no ratios or formulas and no need to add moisture. Bokashi means pickled in Japanese – think of it as pre-compost or pro-biotics for the soil. The process is almost anaerobic, faster than composting and does not generate greenhouse gasses. Bokashi inoculant must first be prepared or purchased. It is applied to layers of organics in a closed bucket and allowed to ferment (the inoculant is also an excellent addition to septic tanks). After the bucket is filled it is left to ferment for a week or so and then dug into the soil. The magic is the synergy among lactobacteria and various other bacteria. Apparently earthworms love it.
Bokashi does not attract animals; the smell is not objectionable and can be done indoors in the winter. It can even be scaled-up for restaurants. The liquid that collects in the bottom of your container can be diluted and added to garden soil or houseplants. There are recipes online to make the bokashi inoculant and designs for containers. Here is a site for more information: http://www.cityfarmer.org/bokashi.html. There is at least one commercial supplier in metro Vancouver and my friends and I will be producing in the spring.
The bioactive part of bokashi is EM – effective micro-organisms that you can purchase or make at home. We are behind the rest of the world in using EM. I first learned of it during my Permaculture training last spring in Cuba where EM’s are used extensively in organic farming. You can use the bokashi inoculum directly on the ground to facilitate sheet mulching. Sprinkle it on the ground, cover with cardboard and landscape fabric to block all light – it’s a great way to convert a lawn to a garden in about three weeks.
Vermicomposting is another versatile method and can be used on different scales. The City Farmer has some good videos. http://www.cityfarmer.info/wormcomposting/.
Soil can also benefit from plow-down (aka chop and drop) crops. The objective is similar to composting and can be effective but requires attention. First you need enough water to grow a thickly-planted crop for nitrogen fixing. Certain crops have more nitrogen potential and others more carbon so use them in combination. Cut legumes just after flowering to maximize nitrogen in the soil.
Some crops can be cut and regrown more than once (fava bean) thus can be very effective for fixing nitrogen. A smart method is using a frost-susceptible crop which will die down and create mulch (e.g buckwheat, vetch, oats, barley) depending on climate – but make sure it will die back in your climate as otherwise it’s a mess in the spring when it grows rapidly.
That was a pretty full day. The campers collected for dinner in the Learning Centre to revisit the day’s learning and share stories.
On Sunday we had a talk from the Galiano Conservancy Association on their history, plans and motivation for the food forest.
Next was more discussion on design for urban sites including ways to manage our maritime climate with its long cool, cloudy shoulder seasons when soil is cold and inactive. Generally below 10-12 °C plants do not uptake nutrients. There is a trick however: using solar-heated hot water to water in the spring. At the beginning of May or after last frost date watering with hot water is very effective to bring up the soil temperature and kick start the biology. Water can be up to 75 °C and once is usually enough, although another treatment may be necessary. 1000 feet of coiled ½ inch black poly pipe will do the trick for solar heating. Now why didn’t I think of that?
There are many trees and plants that can be used in urban designs for food. Designs should include ornamentals, herbs, pollinators etc. Pathways, seating and other aesthetic features are very much part of the designs. Mulberries, filberts, Xanthoceras (yellowhorn), almonds (very similar to peach and grown successfully on Saltspring), hawthorne, saskatoon, kiwi, asparagus, sea kale, red valerian raspberries, solomons seal were among the many plants suggested. For nut trees, only filberts and Xanthoceras can be pruned to a small size.
Stay focused on specific cultivars that taste good – “edible” means only that a plant is not poisonous. Pathways mulched with wood chips can be used for mushroom cultivation and to hold water. In the design, make a choice about how intensive the food production will be and how much will be ornamental and serve other functions. Experiment on the edges and start with a few plants if you are not sure how it will work. It is important to have pollinator species – plant them along edges and try to have flowering plants throughout the whole season. If everyone in the community does it you can have continuity and it can significantly change things.
An extensive list of reference materials was made available to the participants online following the course. These included research, plant databases, nurseries, soil testing laboratories, soil mapping and a list of the printed material. There were also many books on display. Of particular note was the Natural Capital Plant Database where users can search by plant, function, climate, polycultures and guilds etc. Basic access is free.
Richard presented a slide show of the properties in the interior where he has operated nurseries and installed food forests and answered questions on the wide variety of plants he has grown, their (often multiple) functions, cultivation, harvesting and many other aspects of his work.
Next was a session on grafting and tree pruning, espalier and miniaturization of fruit trees. Careful pruning and miniaturizing can result in high production but at the cost of a shorter life typically 15 years. Bud grafting had to wait for a different season.
Javan gave a talk on keyline design, a way of forming and contouring the landscape to capture and direct water and talked about succession in food forest design. It is necessary first to establish what the life expectancy of the forest is. Plant and grow what you like to eat. Canopy size and species are chosen accordingly. In a full scale food forest total canopy cover would be about 40% at maturity. Plant mid story trees for the earlier periods as the forest matures and always site trees with the mature canopy in mind.
On Monday, Richard spoke on design for urban lots and details of the species selected for the Galiano site. He stressed the need to carefully document yields and other functions of food forests as many people will challenge the “ecological accounting”. Interestingly one of the participants was a woman doing her master’s thesis at U. Vic on documenting the ecosystem functions of the Galiano site. We spent the afternoon on the food forestry site, identifying and laying out the plants that had been delivered on Saturday. Plenty of confusion and puzzlement ensued and Richard and Javan were besieged with questions. By the end of the day most plants had been moved to their proper locations according to Richard’s map in readiness for planting the next day.
Monday evening we were treated to a visit to the beach at Montague Harbour where we watched the sun set and toasted the fine ambience and excellent company of Galiano.
Tuesday started out wet so we stayed in the classroom for the morning. Javan lectured on fungi covering their role in many aspects of our life, particularly in forest ecosystems. In fact fungi are more closely related to animals than plants. They are decomposers and in addition to providing plants with a soil-based food web, and us with food, medicine (and mystical experiences), they are also used in removing toxins from contaminated soils. Everyone’s favourite reference booklet was Radical Mycology by the Spore Liberation Society! Another resource is the website MycoKey.com which provides an easy-to-use identification system online or a downloadable version for a fee.
The rest of our day was spent on site, planting the wide variety of trees and plants that had been sorted the day before. A total of 57 plants (trees, shrubs, perennials and self-seeding annuals) were on the plant list with a few more for future consideration. In the afternoon we also built a four square meter mushroom bed of fresh alder chips and oyster mushroom spawn from Saltspring Island.
Tuesday night was potluck night at the Learning Center for all the off-island folks and some of our hosts. Our shared experiences, some fine cooking (one of our participants was a former restaurant owner) and the usual libations provided the ingredients for a fine evening which wrapped up with a late night campfire under the stars.
We spent some time Wednesday morning making compost extract with the materials and equipment brought by Javan.
We had an excellent talk by Richard on growing garlic commercially, based on his many years of experience. His knowledge and tips were extensive and will help the Conservancy’s goal of growing and marketing a cash crop in the early phases of the food forest. I came home with a much larger bag of tricks for growing my own garlic – when it needs water and when not, its nutrient requirements, preferred soil biology and especially when to harvest and how to cure and store it.
To fill our last time slot in the morning, we generated a list of topics of interest to the participants. The most popular by far, was a request for Richard’s five favourite herbs. Since moving to Osoyoos he has dedicated much of his time to learning about, growing and extracting medicinal herbs some of which he brought for us to taste and buy. Spilanthes extract was a big hit. It’s common names include “the toothache plant” and my favourite “electric daisy.” The herbs are listed below but the real important knowledge included how to grow them, what each is good for, how they can be used together and the essentials of how to prepare the tinctures. I was inspired by Richard’s depth of knowledge and generosity in sharing it.
The herbs:
- Maval Root
- Licorice
- Chinese Skullcap
- Astragalus (root)
- Schizandra
- Siberian Gensing
- Kava Kava
- Ashwaganda
Later in the afternoon we applied the compost extract prepared that morning and completed the planting, including rows of garlic on the tops of the five hugelkultur beds.
Of course, such events always wrap up with best wishes and farewells and promises to stay in touch. We’ve already done some of that and there are collaborative ideas already percolating: projects for next spring and another workshop.
Javan issued his standard 10/100 or similar challenge – with $100 do something in the next ten days that will impact your community. Both Javan and Richard also made it clear that our responsibility is to take the knowledge we’ve gained and use it. Plant trees, grow food, put carbon in the soil and build community.
It is my plan to spend a week-end each year on Galiano for the next while to watch this site mature. It is going to be interesting and inspiring. I want to thank the Conservancy and their dedicated staff for making this possible and fun. I welcome any interest in developing a similar project here in White Rock or Surrey. Every Tree Counts!