I am creating a permanent fruit forest garden to welcome schoolchildren. I learned about the principles of permaculture by listening to an American program by my friend Claude Genest years ago. Seeing the natural paradise that surrounded it, I wanted to reproduce and experience such an environment. Following a radio program on edible lawns, I was put in contact with Bernard Alonzo , a permaculturist and speaker who has already experienced my dream project. But the latter is too often abroad, called on to huge projects! Who can guide me, teach me?
A friend introduced me to an acquaintance who brought an author to my house and told me I should go to the Green Barn on L'Île-Perrot. Its owner, Ken, has been growing hardy fruit trees there, without pesticides, fertilizers, or watering, for the past 40 years. I was there the next day!
Then Ken came to my house to measure the scale of my dream and to verify that my desire was indeed to recreate a nourishing forest and not one-dimensional agricultural rows...
When he arrived, he looked around at the dozens of trees that live on my land and exclaimed: "It's a food desert here." A striking phrase for me. "Nothing feeds you! What would happen if the grocery stores closed?" And, later in our discussion: "Why plant poplars? They are trees that are useless, they grow quickly... a reflection of our society: we want speed, performance (...) From now on, only plant trees, bushes, roots that will feed you... We will use your poplars as supports for the kiwi vines."
Love at first sight! I'm taking notes! Ken has a doctorate in chemistry, is a professor and master of winning pairing, and is also a visionary. I don't know anyone else who knows how to concretely and successfully apply an enchanting oasis like his, where every tree in the immense forest (several dozen acres) has a function, from which his son ate lunch and snacks before and after school. His plantations resist, last, and nourish. I had a vision to train myself in calmness when I was learning self-hypnosis (without going too far from my current text!) for my last delivery. This ideal vision was a Garden of Eden thanks to which we were autonomous, we could eat directly from the trees (nuts, fruits, etc.). We were in harmony there, taking the time to live, to breathe, to watch the birds, to laugh. I imagined it in Morocco. Well, I saw it on Île-Perrôt!
I took a course with Ken, a master craftsman with a functional and intelligent nature. I learned how to prepare, at no cost, to create my own starting next spring. And here's the first step:
Prepare your next fruit garden now, free of charge:
If you eat a local fruit, organic and resistant (from what I understand, nature is resistant if the tree has not been watered with products, lasts and produces superb fruits without pits!), keep (with the permission of its farm if possible) the pips, the stones, the seeds ! I have thus reserved several pips from the fabulous kiwis that grow here!
You wash them and store them in a bottle (or Mason jar or small container) with enough water: this will prevent mold from growing.
At the end of January, you can put them in a promix (sterile, antifungal), in a cool place .
At the end of March, you put your trays (winter boot mats for example) in a warm place.
At the end of April, you can plant outside! Never in pots ("It's as if your legs were tied together") and without calculation: nature will take care of creating its balance. Ken planted his nut trees a foot apart even though the specialists explained to him that this was not the rule to follow. They all grew and reached marvelous tops. At his place, the bushes are places of juxtaposition of grapes, apples-pears, peaches, etc. A rich life and fauna on which he can count, unlike me with my poplars! But the situation will change quickly, believe me! I will follow his suggestions, fruit of his knowledge and will share them with you with great pleasure! Feeding in your yard, from your garden. "Nuts are high quality protein (full of antioxidants) given by trees, 1 can feed a family of four, what an incredible energy saver" mentioning that it takes on average 50 gallons of water to get protein from a single animal vs. 0 for that from a tree!
He created his oasis largely from seeds .
Signed, agriculture at its best.
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