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jbeales | 5 years ago

So they rediscovered orchards?

discuss

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dhruvkar|5 years ago

ernst gotsch is the name to lookup.

Growing food under a forest canopy with plenty of pruning, which creates healthy soil and less/no need for fertilizers. It's an effort to mimic a forest ecosystem and let things grow in their natural way (livestock is another aspect).

depthroiler|5 years ago

Very cool. Thanks for the ref! Are there any books of his you'd recommend?

cavanasm|5 years ago

It's more complicated than that. They blend traditional food crops with trees, shrubs, etc, often alongside some kind of transition cycle where they'll change what is growing where over time. Sort of a blend of sustainable logging with farming.

Shared404|5 years ago

It looks to me less like rediscovering orchards, and more mixing them in with livestock/other crops in a beneficial manner.

jbeales|5 years ago

Mixing with livestock isn't really new either. So long as the animal doesn't kill the trees orchards are pretty great places for animals. I think I've seen orchards that are also hay operations too.

I guess if we get into something more mixed then that they haven't really rediscovered orchards, they've rediscovered permaculture!