Eric Toensmeier is the award-winning author of Paradise Lot and
Perennial Vegetables, and the co-author of Edible Forest Gardens.
Eric is an appointed lecturer at Yale University, a Senior Fellow
with Project Drawdown, and an international trainer. He presents in
English and Spanish throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico,
Guatemala, and the Caribbean. Eric has studied useful perennial
plants and their roles in agroforestry systems for over two
decades, and cultivates about 300 species in his urban garden. His
writing can be viewed online at perennialsolutions.org.
Jonathan Bates owns Food Forest Farm Permaculture Nursery
(permaculturenursery.com), a nursery specializing in educational
services and useful/edible plant sales. He’s been studying,
creating, and working with rural and urban gardens in the
Connecticut River Valley for over a decade. With a bachelors degree
in biology, and MA in social ecology from the Institute for Social
Ecology, Jonathan loves wild crafting with friends, and working
with folks to better the world we live in. He cofounded and is a
board member of the Apios Institute, is a teacher at the
Yestermorrow Design/Build School, and is a farmer with Nuestras
Raices, Inc. He lives in Holyoke, Massachusetts.
Publishers Weekly-
In this charming, true-life tale of urban regeneration and the
birth of a forest garden movement, Toensmeier, famous among
permaculture enthusiasts for his Perennial Vegetables and as
coauthor of Edible Forest Gardens, tells the story behind the
Holyoke, Mass., garden featured as a test case in the latter,
which, in the course of eight years, he and Bates transformed from
a bare backyard wasteland into a flourishing, edible Eden. In true
permaculture fashion, the book follows not only the progression of
the garden but also its influence on and relations with its
creators’ lives—including a surprisingly Austen-like romantic
element—their neighborhood, and the larger permaculture and forest
gardening community. Bates, whose nursery business, Food Forest
Farm, is an offshoot of this garden, contributes philosophical and
personal essays interspersed throughout the narrative. Fans of
Toensmeier and Bates’s work will be thrilled to read the details of
their experiments with polycultures, their problems with and
solutions for pests and overly aggressive plants, and their
idiosyncratic plant choices. Adventurous readers with conventional
gardens and lawns may be inspired to venture into the more
integrated, evolutionary approach that this book so vividly and
appealingly portrays.
Booklist-
With their shared passion for plants and a commitment to creating
as self-sustaining a garden as possible on a minuscule lot in a
small New England city cursed with a terrible climate and even
worse soil, Toensmeier and Bates set about converting their urban
backyard into a permaculture paradise. Informed by his work on a
seminal, two-volume encyclopedia devoted to the concept of forest
gardening, Toensmeier transformed the infertile and debris-laden
property behind the duplex he shared with Bates into a natural
ecosystem teeming with edible plants. As the
authors’postage-stamp-size front yard morphed into a lush, tropical
showcase that astounded their Massachusetts community, the backyard
incorporated all the components necessary to produce fresh fruits
and vegetables year-round using cold-hardy, mostly native plants
that would ideally require a minimum amount of work for a maximum
output. As a memoir of a purposeful life, Toensmeier’s work is
engaging, honest, and natural. As a directive to other gardeners
eager to establish natural ecosystems in unlikely settings, his
work is instructive, illuminating, and inspirational.
Kirkus Reviews-
The front yard was a short, steep slope of asphalt with a tiny
strip of sterile gravel and subsoil," write Toensmeier and Bates,
with a "backyard that looked like a moonscape, sparely populated
with tufts of crabgrass." It was the perfect place to launch their
experiment: Could two men with horticultural experience and a love
of nature turn a typical compact backyard into a garden full of
lush plants and edible food? The authors chronicle their 10-plus
years of trials and experiments, as they transformed their
"moonscape" into a permaculture of "trees, shrubs, vines, and
herbaceous perennials" that produced food at every level. By
analyzing their soil and plotting the movement of shade and sun for
a year, the authors discovered the prime locations to build a
greenhouse and tool shed. They knew where to plant trees and
perennials so that they could bring their site to life, and they
developed a deeper kinship with the space and with each other.
Along the journey, the authors present ideas like sheet mulching,
which can transform a lawn into a useful garden plot capable of
growing tomatoes and sweet corn in the first year. They also share
their thoughts on the plants that can become noxious weeds despite
their culinary uses. Toensmeier and Bates discuss both their
triumphs and their defeats, as they experimented with chickens,
nitrogen fixers, ground covers, numerous kinds of berry bushes and
water plants. Although not a how-to guide, the authors give readers
plenty of choices and ideas to think about when deciding whether to
embark on this kind of gardening.
ForeWord Reviews- “Urban agriculture is becoming a hot topic in
sustainable farming circles as more people become interested in
organic foods, healthy eating choices, and environmental topics.
Given population densities in some areas, “urban agriculture” might
seem like an oxymoron to some, but with careful planning and a
sense of adventure, even a tiny plot of land can yield a bumper
crop. Longtime friends Eric Toensmeier and Jonathan Bates certainly
demonstrate the type of strategy and passion required for the
effort. In their charming, insightful description of their tiny
urban garden in Holyoke, Massachusetts, the two cover twelve years
of growing, from their initial reaction to seeing the compacted,
gravel-edged soil, to the moment when they have to consider the
long-term future of their growing families, which likely means
leaving their garden paradise. Along with relaying various missteps
and challenges, Toensmeier (with occasional contributions from
Bates) layers together their experiences with natural pesticide
controls, wild mushroom foraging, city regulations, berry plants,
forest gardens, chickens, having girlfriends move in, trellis
systems, and an array of other topics. Dividing the garden’s
history into four sections—sleep, creep, leap, and reap— Toensmeier
creates a combination of personal memoir and permaculture guide.
Filled with insight, but not too technical, he strikes an artful
balance between giving useful detail and geeking out on gardening
nuances. Although readers who want to learn more about compost and
chicken coops may get the most out of their journey, Paradise Lot
will still be a delight for someone who can’t even grow a
houseplant. As Toensmeier and Bates demonstrate, it doesn’t take
twenty acres to start a garden filled with nourishing vegetables
and gorgeous flowers; it just takes some vision, especially if the
potential garden is a scruffy urban lot. Part gardening guide, part
personal story, the book is ultimately a call to action, with the
pair proclaiming that it doesn’t matter what a patch of land looks
like, as long as someone is willing to explore its potential. “We
made our little paradise here,” Toensmeier writes. “Imagine what
would happen if we as a species paid similar attention to all the
degraded and abandoned lands of the world.”
Library Journal- STARRED REVIEW "Part handbook, part memoir, this
book details the evolution of a permaculture garden on an urban lot
in Holyoke, Massachusetts. Having spent years describing
permaculture gardens in a theoretical manner, Toensmeier (Perennial
Vegetables) and his friend Bates (owner, Food Forest Farm
Permaculture Nursery) put these theories into practice when they
bought and moved into a duplex situated on a 1/10 acre rundown lot.
Nearly a decade later, the lot is unrecognizable—a tropical
paradise in the front and a wealth of more than 200 edible plants
in the back. Toensmeier clearly explains the processes—needless to
say, nothing changed overnight—that achieved this near-miracle.
VERDICT: The authors’ prose pulls the reader into their lives,
sparking a desire to see the result and try this kind of gardening.
The appendixes are filled with useful information for readers who
may be intrigued enough to create their own paradise. All readers
interested in urban renewal or environmental issues will welcome
this book."
“Although many of us dream of creating our ideal urban homestead
from scratch, the reality is far less pristine: toxic soil, rampant
exotic species, outdated codes, and all the other grit of city
life. Paradise Lot is a practical manual, based on hard-won
lessons, for working positively with the realities of our
cities to create a sustainable, peaceful, and abundant oasis in the
urban jungle. In this vivid and engaging work, Eric Toensmeier
entices us with his journey as an example, explaining what to do,
and what mistakes to avoid, to develop our own versions of an
edible urban paradise.”--Toby Hemenway, author of Gaia’s Garden
“Our connection to place defines us as gardeners and farmers just
as much as the plants we choose to grow. The integration of
perennial plantings, microclimate, and natural beauty comes about
by listening to the land. What a delight to then have one of
America’s preeminent permaculture teachers share his personal story
with both place and partner. Sometimes that meaningful insight we
need in shaping our own garden path comes from hearing of the
successes and foibles other gardeners found on their path. The gift
Eric Toensmeier and Jonathan Bates offer in Paradise Lot is their
heart for all things green.”--Michael Phillips, author of The
Holistic Orchard and The Apple Grower
“Paradise Lot is a magnificent story about how two young broke
landless 'plant geeks' transform an urban lot into a permaculture
heaven capable of producing all their fruit and vegetables as well
as attracting suitable mates. The book is a groundbreaking work on
temperate-climate permaculture as well as a personal saga, as the
author’s discovery and discussion of the differences between theory
and practice goes beyond anything in the current permaculture
literature. The book has a lot of information on growing and using
various perennial food plants and, of particular value, it includes
specific accounts of what didn’t work and why as well as what did.
Paradise Lot should be particularly useful to those with small lots
or poor or abused soil. Much writing in permaculture is for people
with plenty of land and money. This is permaculture for the rest of
us. Best of all, Paradise Lot is fun to read. It overflows with
love—love of plants, love of land, love of adventuring on the edge
of knowledge, and love of living. It’s hard to put down. I read it
in two large gulps.”--Carol Deppe, author of The Resilient Gardener
and Breed Your Own Vegetable Varieties
“Paradise Lot is a timeless classic of urban permaculture in
action that clearly shows design evolution over time. This is a
true model of the change the world needs.”--Geoff
Lawton, founder of Permaculture Research Institute and
creator of Greening the Desert
“Just when I figured I had heard it all in growing food, comes
a book that makes me realize I don’t know the half of
it. Paradise Lot is an amazing, almost unbelievable
account of how to grow some 150–200 food- and
nitrogen-producing plants on a measly one-tenth of an
acre, providing food year round in a cold climate. The
authors reveal in great detail how they do
this, starting with poor urban backyard soil and using totally
organic and permaculture methods. They have raised 400 pounds
of perennial fruits and vegetables in addition to many annual
vegetables per year in this tiny garden. With more time, knowledge,
and labor, they are sure they can produce appreciably
more. If you want your imagination challenged and intrigued, this
is the book for you. As the authors say, here is proof positive
that with proper knowledge and will there is no such thing as
food scarcity.”--Gene Logsdon, author of A Sanctuary of
Trees and Small-Scale Grain Raising
“Eric has a leisurely, entertaining, and personable way of
revealing how his own edible forest garden evolved. Along the way,
the reader will learn design guidelines that can be used in
virtually any climate. A good read full of insight and
science.”--Robert Kourik, author of Designing and Maintaining
Your Edible Landscape—Naturally
“Paradise Lot is an inspiring book that encourages exploration
of the possibilities of growing edibles in any and every yard,
no matter how small. And not only tomatoes or apples, but all
sorts of edibles from hog peanuts (taste much better than
their name) to pawpaws to mints to jostaberry. Join Eric
Toensmeier and his friend Jonathan Bates on their
ten-plus-year journey in creating a garden of eatin’ in a very
small city lot. I can’t wait for the sequel!”--Lee Reich, PhD,
author of Grow Fruit Naturally, The Pruning Book,
and Landscaping with Fruit
Part handbook, part memoir, this book details the evolution of a permaculture garden on an urban lot in Holyoke, Massachusetts. Having spent years describing permaculture gardens in a theoretical manner, Toensmeier (Perennial Vegetables) and his friend Bates (owner, Food Forest Farm Permaculture Nursery) put these theories into practice when they bought and moved into a duplex situated on a 1/10 acre rundown lot. Nearly a decade later, the lot is unrecognizable-a tropical paradise in the front and a wealth of more than 200 edible plants in the back. Toensmeier clearly explains the processes-needless to say, nothing changed overnight-that achieved this near-miracle. VERDICT The authors' prose pulls the reader into their lives, sparking a desire to see the result and try this kind of gardening. The appendixes are filled with useful information for readers who may be intrigued enough to create their own paradise. All readers interested in urban renewal or environmental issues will welcome this book.-Keri Youngstrand, Dickinson State Univ. Lib., ND (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
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