Walsden

1. On the road out of Todmorden to Rochdale (A6033) you can see that it can be transformed. At Walsden nr Todmorden, look at this hive of industry and colour. Compare the colour (left) to the pile of weeds (right) just a few years before. They now produce all sorts of crops, from herbs, rhubarb to fruit trees based on permaculture methods. For more see Walsden Tour and the Incredible Farm Site. For more on what Incredible Farms are doing on hill in Gorpley

Come out of Todmorden towards Rochdale, you can see a lot of land near rail lines - just like everywhere else, which has just been left to waste.

2. Further along the road is Warland, where on one side of the road, you can see newly planted trees, by Treesponsibility.

On the other side of the road, around the fort like building (with blue Australian flag) there are the beginnings of a forest garden. Forest gardening is a low-maintenance plant-based system based on woodland ecosystems, incorporating fruit and nut trees,shrubs, herbs, vines and perennial vegetables all directly useful to humans.

3. You can see virtually everywhere well tended gardens next door to vegetable plots, shrubs and bushes, showing what a bit of love and labour can do to the land.

This rekindles the 'Garden Controversy' of the fifties when there was much concern that housing was taking over good agricultural land. Two researchers at Wye College worked out that food production was comparable even when only 7% of the housing land was put over to producing fruit and veg. Best & Ward

Question

Can you explain the difference between 'Permaculture' and 'Forest Gardening'?

Roger Doiron in the States has estimated that converting people's lawns - the largest crop in America, into veg plots could supply about a third of the nation's needs for fruit and veg

Page updated

Google Sites

Report abuse