Studies have shown that America has become much more polarized in the last twenty-five years in terms of race, socioeconomic status, and particularly political world views. These divisions have been exacerbated by structural forces, such as fragmented news media, increasing disparity of socio-economic conditions, and indoctrinated societal world-views, to name a few.
Each of these barriers are complex and interrelated, but if you accept we have inadvertently created these structural barriers that serve to disconnect our communities, we should be able to identify and break down these barriers as well. Doing so would foster interconnected, resilient communities that are able to resolve disputes and weather disturbance more effectively than is possible today. Read More
Many of us garden and grow annual fruits and vegetables, and I hope some of you are growing perennial fruits and vegetables, but are you growing nuts? If you are not, then take Pat Armstrong's Local Fall Nuts class this Thursday, October 3rd to learn how to identify the nut trees in your area. She will have nuts to sample and will share how Native Americans prepared flour from acorns.
Fall is the time to harvest nuts, and this class will prepare you to forage and process them. Nuts supply our bodies with protein, healthy fats, anti-oxidants, and energy. They are a great travel food and can be made into gluten free flours, milks, and butters; used as breading, or in recipes and so much more.
Nuts can only be harvested this time of year, so take this opportunity.
The Resiliency Institute will be hosting Linda Conroy of Moonwise Herbs on October 18th and 19th for a weekend of herbal food and medicine making. Linda is a bioregional herbalist and wild food aficionado. Over her 20 years span as an herbalist she has completed two herbal apprenticeship programs, studied for close to a decade with Isla Burgess of the International College of herbal medicine, has become certified as a Wilderness First Responder and has completed a permaculture design course. Read More
Restoration Agriculturalist and author MARK SHEPARD will be in Downers Grove on Tuesday, September 17th at 10 am. Take this opportunity to meet him and hear him share his method of perennial agriculture based on permaculture design. We will be at the Nowicki's suburban permaculture homestead which offers another opportunity to see permaculture in practice. Many of us are growing our own food and shopping locally, but how does that affect the national or even global food supply? A shift in our industrial agricultural system is critical and a new method for growing staple crops for the growing human population is necessary. Mark is doing just that, but we need more farmers to follow his lead.
RSVP via FACEBOOK
RESTORATION AGRICULTURE
Real-World Permaculture for Farmers
Around the globe most people get their calories from “annual” agriculture — plants that grow fast for one season, produce lots of seeds, then die. Every single human society that has relied on annual crops for staple foods has collapsed. Restoration Agriculture explains how we can have all of the benefits of natural, perennial ecosystems and create agricultural systems that imitate nature in form and function while still providing for our food, building, fuel and many other needs — in your own backyard, farm or ranch. This book, based on real-world practices, presents an alternative to the agriculture system of eradication and offers exciting hope for our future.
Mark Shepard is the CEO of Forest Agriculture Enterprises and runs New Forest Farm, the 106-acre perennial agricultural forest considered by many to be one of the most ambitious sustainable agriculture projects in the United States.
New Forest Farm, located in Viola, Wisconsin, is a planned conversion of a typical row-crops grain farm into a commercial-scale, perennial agricultural ecosystem using oak savanna, successional brushland and eastern woodlands as the ecological models.
Trees, shrubs, vines, canes, perennial plants and fungi are planted in association with one another to produce food (for humans and animals), fuel, medicines, and beauty. Hazelnuts, chestnuts, walnuts and various fruits are the primary woody crops. The farm is entirely solar and wind powered and farm equipment is powered with locally produced biofuels that are not taken from the human food chain.
WHEN: Tuesday, September 17th at 10 am
WHERE: Nowicki Home, 907 Summit Street, Downers Grove
Do you think our food system needs to change? Then get involved by sponsoring or donating to the first edible forest garden in Naperville. Even $1 will help make this project a reality and start growing food security in our community.
It is easy, just pick a button and click.
- $10,000 Naming Sponsor
- $5,000 Harvest Sponsor
- $2,500 Chestnut Sponsor
- $1,000 Persimmon Sponsor
- $500 Paw Paw Sponsor
- $10 will buy a large plant or a few ground covers
- $20 will buy a shrub
- $40 will buy a small tree
- $70 will buy a large tree
- $100 will buy 5 shrubs
- $200 will buy 3 dwarf fruit trees or 10 shrubs
We also welcome material donations of plants, trees, mulch, arbors, wooden bridges (or wood to make bridges), and signage. Contact Michelle Hickey at [email protected] or (630) 281-0184 to make arrangements.
We hosted 3 PERMABLITZ events in September and November of 2013 to do all of the earthworks, tree planting, and sheet mulching. Permablitz events will be scheduled for Spring and Fall of 2014, so subscribe to our blog and emails to stay informed. Permablitz events offer great opportunities to learn by doing plus you support a great project at the same time. Meet like minded people, eat and work together, and be part of installing the FIRST forest garden in Naperville.
We are preparing to grow food security with the installation of the FIRST edible forest garden in Naperville on McDonald Farm! McDonald farm is a 60-acre farm surrounded by suburban development, preserved for conservation, education, and agriculture. Over 8,000 people visit the farm annually to participate in activities and learn about renewable energy, water conservation techniques, native landscaping, green roofing, organic farming, and soon, an edible forest garden. The Conservation Foundation, a 41-year-old non-profit land and watershed protection organization, owns the farm and is headquartered there.
The McDonald Farm edible forest garden (135’x40’) includes areas for recreation, children’s exploration, and inspiration. The design incorporates existing trees, re-purposes materials currently there, and utilizes the abundance of waste water produced at the packing shed to water the site through a connected swale/berm system. Being added to the area are 12 trees, 73 shrubs, 14 vines, countless herbaceous and groundcover plants, bridges, rock gardens, rain gardens, mandala garden, kiwi igloos, and hop arbors. It is a demonstration for how we can transform suburban lawns, grow food security, and have beautiful, self-maintaining landscapes.
Many of us have such abundance and live in areas where neighbors appear to be doing fine, but looks can be deceiving. According to the Northern Illinois Food Bank, 1 in 8 of your neighbors face hunger. Loaves and Fishes, a Naperville based food pantry, reports that 10.3% of DuPage County residents (nearly 100,000 people) are food insecure and has seen a 780% increase in groceries distributed from 2008 to 2013.
The Resiliency Institute wants to do more than grow food to donate to food banks and pantries. We want to grow food security using permaculture. Replacing lawns with edible forest gardens and installing food forests in public parks and along public pathways, makes fresh fruits, nuts, and vegetables abundant and available for everyone.
