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Please join me in welcoming Zach Loeks, author of The Edible Ecosystem Solution!





Read the review of The Edible Ecosystem Solution here!

 


Zach Loeks will be hanging out in the forums until this Friday answering questions and sharing his experiences with you all.

At the end of this week, we'll make a drawing for 4 lucky winners to win a copy of The Edible Ecosystem Solution. From now until Friday, all new posts in the Forest Garden forum are eligible to win.
 
To win, you must use a name that follows our naming policy and you must have your email set up to receive the Daily-ish email. Higher quality posts are weighed more highly than posts that just say, "Wow, that's really cool! I want to win!"

When the four winners are selected, they will be announced in this thread and their email address will be sent to the publisher, and the publisher will sort out the delivery details with the winners.

Please remember that we favour perennial discussion.  The threads you start will last beyond the event.  You don't need to use Zach Loeks' name to get his attention. We like these threads to be accessible to everyone, and some people may not post their experiences if the thread is directed to the author alone.
 

Posts in this thread won't count as an entry to win the tool, but please say "Hi!" to Zach Loeks and make him feel welcome!
COMMENTS:
 
                    
Author
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Hi all,

This is Zach Loeks.  I am logged in under our new online garden school: www.EcosystemU.com

I am pleased to answer any questions about my new book, about ecosystem design in general or specifically.

You can learn more about design work at www.zachloeks.com, and more about The Institute at www.ecosystemsolutioninstitute.com

Best,

Zach
 
master steward
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Location: Pacific Wet Coast
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Welcome Zach! I'm sure you hear way to many jokes about forest and trees, so I'll just start a thread about what to plant with a pair of fig trees that really need a "forever home". Unfortunately, they need deer protection in my eco-system, and the local deer are even willing to eat garlic greens!
 
steward
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Location: USDA Zone 8a
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Zach, it is good to have you join us here at permies!  

I am looking forward to learning more about Forest Gardens and edible ecosystems.
 
gardener
Posts: 1958
Location: British Columbia
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Hi Zach!

Welcome and thank you for your excellent work.
 
Posts: 64
Location: Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada
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Hi Zach, welcome! Looking forward to reading this and learning more about creating edible ecosystems and environmental stewardship.
 
                    
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As for the figs.  I can say the deer will always get at what they love to eat without good fencing:). If you plant companions they dont like to eat- they wont eat those, but they will still eat the figs if they like them.  
 
pollinator
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Welcome Zach! Good of you to hang out here awhile.
 
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What's happening Zach! Blake here to find out if could add native shrubs or small trees onto our hugelculture or a permaculture raise bed to not only help the edibles grow stronger, but make the soil much richer and filled with biodiversity? I've grown not only corn, beans, squash, sunflowers and tobacco on my hugelculture bed, but also sunchokes, wild rye, black eye Susan, milkweed, pokeweed, pigweed and native sawtooth sunflower to draw birds and insects at my community farm. Peace and out!
 
author & steward
Posts: 5511
Location: Southeastern U.S. - Zone 7b
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Welcome Zach! I'm really looking forward to some interesting discussions in the Forest Garden forum this week!
 
Posts: 35
Location: Oregon
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A sumptuous book of deliciousness! Welcome to Permies!
 
Posts: 51
Location: Boise, Idaho
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Welcome to the form. Always good to have new information.
 
Posts: 13
Location: Eugene, OR
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Welcome, Zach! How did you come into this line of work?
 
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Does the book address desert climates with high sand soils?  If so, do you sell it directly and do you accept crypto?
 
Posts: 7
Location: Maryland and Budapest
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I've got a question about how much you think urban food gardens (and market gardens) can mitigate climate change. While I see their advantage for food access and well-being for concrete dwellers, also a nice biodiversity habitat boost, I'm wondering if the focus on 'extraction' (organic or not) and reliance on water and compost imputs actually brings down any carbon, stores water or cools the city in the long run. Wouldn't we city folk be better served by an edible forest than a veg plot? Does your book touch on this at all?
 
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Welcome Zach! I love this idea of a small edible ecosystem. Something that has been percolating in my mind for some time since I had a small suburban lot. Currently sold it and looking for a new home to start something exactly like your book describes! Or at least from what I've been able to gather from the description. Thank you so much for the hard work going into the book and I look forward to reading and applying it!
 
gardener
Posts: 803
Location: 4200 ft elevation, zone 8a desert, high of 118F, lows in teens
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Welcome Zach!  I'm so impressed you did your own illustrations! Way to go.
 
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I've never figured out how to register to w>n books but would love to win this one for our UVPCGG www.permaculturedesignschool.org  Food Forest Classroom Gardens please. [email protected]
801-808-4424 thank you. Wish you still did podcasts Paul like you used to send us 6 yrs ago Denise
 
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Specific questions are like rabbits, they multiply too quickly. But I'm hoping this book jumpstarts an "urban edible landscapes" strategy for a small city that won't rely on irrigation. Since this is in eastern Washington that will be tricky. But a single acre lot (mine) will be demo unit #1. Would starting with trees (which already grow on the lot without irrigation) to protect some shade-friendly ground cover to regenerate the soil before putting permabeds along the slope topography be best? Or just irrigating and trapping rain water for the first few years and add the trees later be more "rewarding"?
Can residents put in complimentary solutions that span entire neighborhoods?
Can rogue agents plant in vacant public land along roads without getting arrested?
You know, the usual type questions...
 
gardener
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Welcome Zach. I always look forward to learning something new.
 
gardener
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Hi,
I am currently trying to transform a failed urban market garden into a sort of food forest garden, with no irrigation or animals allowed. Good thing is that we already have a few mature fruit trees (it's pruning season!). My concern is that most of what I've read about food forest focuses on continental climates, whereas where I live is warm mediterranean. Do you cover this climate in your book?
Also, I've seen food forests in deserts, but they usually depend on treated water that the inhabitants have, wells or maybe rainwater collected from roofs. This is not a desert, but we are limited to whatever wants to rain. Actually we have a project for installing a rooftop collecting system over the small tool house, but we can't afford it yet. So without many options, I am trying (at the suggestion of one permie from Turkey) to make a few buried hugelkultures: this design relies on microcatchment and increased organic matter in soil, but consist in many small 'islands' about 1,5 sq meters (90 cm deep!), separated by 60cm walkways. I estimate that we can build a couple of them each year, using wood from prunings. I am afraid these areas are too small to develop a food forest within them, but maybe it can work if we consider the whole garden. Is there anything in your book that might be of help here?
 
Posts: 31
Location: Montana
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Hi Zach, welcome!

I currently do volunteer work with an organically minded market garden in Kansas City and I'm trying to find ways to convince them to do more food forestry using permaculture methods (right now they only have a few sad peach tree's that they don't even really sell the produce for). Does your book include any suggestions for how to successfully transition a market garden into a food forest?
 
Posts: 5
Location: NE Washington
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I just recently ran across the concept of a food forest while watching gardening videos on you tube. I ordered the food forest game and have checked out some books at the library. I have put an offer on some land and hope to be able to initiate a food forest in my own land this summer in eastern washington. I'm looking forward to learning much from this thread.
 
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Welcome Zach, I look forward to reading your book. I am working with others in Greenwood Lake NY to create a regenerative local food system, I believe this is a solution to many of the issues we are facing today.

I feel we could make this change relatively fast but many argue this change to a small scale local system will take decades, what is your opinion?
 
Posts: 28
Location: North Dakota
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Welcome Zach!
 
Posts: 58
Location: Unama'ki/Cape Breton, NS
20
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Hiya Zach! Met you a couple or three years ago at the ACORN Conference - sorry we didn't manage to get together in Cape Breton.
Looking forward to the new book!
Laura
 
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Welcome Zach.
This book sounds very helpful. I really enjoyed watching the quick video on your signature drawing. So fun and lovely.  If these drawings are in the winning books, that would be a thrill to receive.  
Thanks for being here.
 
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I need to read your book. Here in Alaska we have had the spruce bark nettle come through and devastate our spruce trees. My yard used to have beautiful spruce trees. They are all dead and harvested. I was just thinking I need to put in a garden and figure out how to plant to be good for the environment. I would like to plant some kind of evergreen around the perimeter of the property and a nice garden for the pantry. I have about 1.3 acres.
 
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Just finished reading a bit of your new book; it ended JUST as it was getting to my question!
I live in a lower economic neighborhood.  I have been building a food forest and vegetable garden in the front yard for 12 years and am finally literally seeing the fruits of my labor.  I have many people stop and comment on the garden but when I encourage them to try their own hands at it they state it takes too much time.  I do admit that every part of my garden has required double digging due to erosion and compaction and I do spend a lot of ( enjoyable) time on it.   All I have been able to do to change their minds is offer them some fruit or vegetables; what else can I do?
 
steward
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Congratulations to our four winners!

Bronwyn Olsen
Daron Williams
Laurie St Thomas
Andrea Locke


Please keep an eye on your email as New Society Publishers will be getting in touch with you to arrange shipment of your books!

And a big thanks to Zach Loeks and New Society for making this giveaways possible. Thank you, Zach, for sharing your knowledge with us!

If you're bummed that you didn't happen to win, here's a spiffy, handy link straight to the book at New Society as well as Amazon .
 
Abraham Palma
gardener
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all new posts in the Forest Garden forum are eligible to win.



Oh! Next time I must read more carefully.
 
pollinator
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Wow! Thank you very much! I look forward to reading the book.
 
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