A toolbox, not a tool

Whole Earth, Winter, 2001 by Toby Hemenway

In addition, total biomass, diversity, nutrient and energy flows, sunlight captured, evapotranspiration, and many other variables are vastly greater in a developing forest than in a meadow (see the Odum paper that Williams cites, and work by Whittaker, Henry Horn, Reichle, and many others). Thus a garden designed in the image of a forest--a practice of many Europeans and other temperate and tropical inhabitants for millennia--may offer a century or more of immense productivity. This seems a reasonable time frame for the home landscapes I describe. Williams's statement that "ecological theory says forest garden yields are not likely to be impressive" is the opposite of the truth.

Permaculture and ecological principles suggest that agro-ecosystems that are successionally more mature than lawns and annual-crop farmland can also be more productive. It is absurd to construe this as meaning that fully mature old-growth forests should replace row crops. Williams correctly notes that I recommend planting early (and middle) succession trees, yet refuses to acknowledge why.

Williams also suggests that there are no examples of permaculture design, when in fact there are more than 4,000 listed sites in over 120 countries. Gaia's Garden reports facts and observations from my experiences at over forty permaculture sites. But even a single "productive" garden based on ecological design is enough to demonstrate the validity of the concepts. I challenge anyone to visit a developed permaculture site and not be overwhelmed and inspired by its lushness and abundance. Williams's "garden in the image of a meadow" won't produce fruit, berries, nuts, firewood, bamboo poles, timber, basketry and craft products, or varied wildlife habitat, it won't slow erosion or runoff, and it won't have the productivity of a forest. The sites I visited--from Cape Cod to Seattle to Tijuana--do all this.

Data from organic farming, appropriate technology, agroforestry, soil science, aquaculture, and a dozen other disciplines all support the techniques organized by permaculture.

Aid projects in Africa, Vietnam, Mexico, Brazil, Melanesia, and many other locations have employed permaculture and gain continued support from local people and aid agencies because of their success compared to other systems. Results from many of these projects have been published in agency reports, books, and permaculture journals.

Since I've written a gardening book and not a scientific monograph, it would have been inappropriate to load the text with more numbers than I give. But here are a few numbers from my own garden. Since I converted from "gardening in the image of a meadow" to applying permaculture principles, I use a quarter the irrigation water, half the fertilizer, and less than two hours per week of labor instead of six to eight, and have more food than I can eat twelve months of the year instead of four. My tally of beneficial bees and wasps has risen from eight species to over twenty.

Williams feels that my book wouldn't be so bad if I were suggesting ecological design only "to a small group of willing participants who are not likely to suffer much from experiments." This is precisely the audience I target: not farmers or foresters, who must innovate cautiously or risk ruin, but adventurous homeowners who can easily afford to experiment with perennial vegetables, multi-layered gardens, water catchment, and well-tested design methods. I state repeatedly that ecological design is a young field and needs curious, inventive gardeners and others to continue the encouraging work done by its pioneers.