Food Forest Garden Tour Series
Visit two different forest gardens on two very different sites in Southwest MI—throughout an entire growing season!
Forest Gardens or “Food Forests” are a way of growing food by imitating nature: plants on many layers, cooperating rather than competing. It doesn’t mean growing food in a dark forest—more like a semi-open woodland featuring many species of trees, shrubs, herbs, flowers, roots, vines, fungi and more—most of which are edible, medicinal or useful.
Lillie House Forest Garden in Kalamazoo: A less-than-1-acre site located less than a mile from downtown and the college district. Intensively managed urban/suburban forest garden. Contact Mike to schedule a time for a tour, (269) 350-3407 or luckymortal@gmail.com
Front yard polyculture at Lillie House
Rustling Knapweed Forest Garden in Lawton: A 4 acre site with dry, sandy soil, few existing trees and flat elevation near the edge of a small town. Steward lives off-site, so management is less intensive. Tours start at 9am, RSVP by calling (269) 823-8847 or e-mailing pjchmiel@gmail.com. No text messages please.
Young peach tree at Rustling Knapweed garden
Tours are FREE to attend, but are limited to 12 people on each date. A few useful perennial plants will be available for sale or trade on-site. Please dress appropriately for the weather, tours last 1-2 hours. Both sites open each date, but please RSVP to confirm time and reserve your spot.
Sat. May 16th: Forest Garden Tour, Focus: Growing Wild and Native Edible Plants
Sat. June 13th: Introduction to Forest Gardening and Food Forests
Sat. July 18th: Designing Garden Polycultures
Sun. Aug 16th: Water-Wise Forest Gardening
Sun. Sept 20th: Permaculture Design Case Studies: Zones, Sectors, Principles
Sun. Oct 11th: Forest Gardening Basics
Sun. Nov 15th: Installing a Forest Garden: Planning, Planting, etc.
We look forward to showing you what we’re doing—come with questions and maybe bring some empty potting containers, you may end up going home with plants. Please wear sturdy shoes and long pants as there are some thorny plants around.
9 Layers in a Forest Garden, graphic by PJ Chmiel
