Black Creek Community Farm and Restorative Landscapes are proud to present a series of events open to the public on 3 consecutive Monday’s starting at May 22nd culminating in a workshop on June 5th which will install 2 or more Plant Guilds at the Black Creek Urban Farm.

Black Creek Community Farm’s Food Forest has almost 100 species of trees, shrubs and perennials and will provide for almost endless combination of guilds….

Guilds represent a harmonious assembly of plants (and other elements) growing in a polyculture. Since the plants are planted once and will remain in the ground for a number of years, the plants selected can have numerous benefits for the soil, to attract pollinators, to deter pests, to provide structure (niches) like trees for other plants like vines to grow on and yields for many years to come.

Guilds within the permaculture (Food Forest) farm create miniature self sustainable ecosystems that perform multiple functions. They aim to emulate the ecological systems found in a forest.

Learning to installing Guilds into our landscapes at home in the city, community, commercially and on the farmstead are a great way to apply permaculture into our everyday settings. These guilds can reduce overall maintenance (time) vs. maintaining lawns or annual driven farming. The yields from a Food Forest Guild is limited only to the designers imagination !

Join us to learn about the 9 layers of the Edible Forest Gardening, no-till installation techniques, tips for working with heavy clay soils and Permaculture Concepts will be touched upon in the outdoor classroom of Black Creek’s Food Forest. Look at the guild components as an assembly to take advantage of patterns inherent in the space!

Pre workshop:

>May 22 – 2 – 8pm – Inventory of Food Forest Plants. Permaculture Concepts. initial site visit, plants identification, establishing placement of guilds.

>May 29 – 5 – 8pm – Site preparation. Learn about no -till techniques – sheet mulching and hugelkultur – permaculture.

Workshop

>June 05th – 5-8pm – Building Guilds Workshop.

Light dinner will be provided.

Restorative Landscapes will have its Mobile Plant Market Van on June 5 so you can take home annuals and perennials for your Edible Landscape or Food Forest.

About Andrew Roy

Andrew Roy has been practicing permaculture and edible forest gardening since 2006 (Green Gardeners) and took his first Permaculture Design Course in 2008 at the Ecology Retreat Centre with Gregoire Lamoureux. In 2015, he received his Permaculture Design Certificate with Geoff Lawton’s online course. He was the curator of the 160 Bartley Food Forest from 2013 to 2016 and Surface Burlington 2011-2012 and is advising and installing a Food Forest System for homesteading Friends in Frontenac County – Savvy Farms.

About Restorative Landscapes

Restorative Landscapes is a new Permaculture centric gardening / landscaping firm that services homes, community groups, market gardeners, commercial properties, businesses and homestead farmers.

Follow the event on Black Creek Community Farm for Event Updates and to answer any questions you might have.