The All-Native Ethnobotanical Rainwater-Harvesting Food Forest

One of the basic ideas of permaculture is that its principles remain the same though they are reflected uniquely in every site. Recently I’ve done plantings at two different food forestry courses that demonstrate this quite nicely.

The first course was at Woodbine Ecology Center in Sedalia Colorado. Their site is high and dry, at 7000’+ elevation (2100m), with 15″ (38cm) of precipitation, mostly coming as winter snow. Soils are poor and rocky, and the slope we were working on is steep and south-facing. Summers are hot and winters are very cold, going as low as -30F(-34C). I’m amazed anything grows there at all!

The second workshop was at the Occidental Arts and Ecology Center in Occidental, California. Their site is much lower, under 1000′ (304m) elevation, with a remarkable 90″ (238cm) of rainfall in three months and the rest of the year dry. The climate is mild and Mediterranean, warm enough for some citrus but never terribly hot or cold.

Both organizations have similar goals including permaculture demonstration and eco-cultural restoration, meaning the re-establishment of indigenous management techniques. Both sites have active eco-cultural restoration projects and indigenous groups visiting the site for educational and cultural events.

In this case we were stringing together several design patterns to make a sentence that reads “all-native useful plants + rainwater harvesting contour earthworks.” This can also be expressed mathematically as “((all-native)+(useful) x plants) * (rainwater harvesting +contour + earthworks))”, if you are a super-geek.

What is interesting to me is that this same pattern is expressed so differently on the two sites. There is not a single species overlapping, as the elevation, climates and soils are very different and there is maybe 1000 miles (1600km) between them. The swales at OAEC are much deeper and wider, reflecting a more gentle slope, higher rainwater volumes, and access to an excavator.

I’ve been enjoying planting all-native polycultures lately for several reasons. First, I think lots of us permies tend to jump to planting cool exotic stuff before we get to know the often remarkable potential of what’s beneath our feet. Second, the limitations of native species can also become apparent, making a good case for growing non-natives. Third, these sites can serve as demonstrations of indigenous management practices, which at least in the US tend to be ignored and made invisible, though they are among the best and longest-lived examples of permaculture on the planet. Fourth, these plantings can serve as germplasm banks for active eco-cultural restoration and other productive native and mixed plantings. Finally, it just plain makes for an interesting design challenge.

I’ve provided fairly complete species listings below. The OAEC planting reflects Brock Dolman’s knowledge of the importance of medicinal and fiber plants to indigenous communities, while the Woodbine planting perhaps shows my one-track mind as far as food plants, though the need for nitrogen fixation in their poor soils should also be apparent. OAEC has a number of vines, though there were really none to choose from at this dry microclimate of the Woodbine site. In contrast Woodbine has many cacti and succulents which are absent at OAEC.

Someday I hope to be part of assembling a pattern language of permaculture practices for the world’s climates, slopes, and soils, at different intensities of management. In the meantime this article is a contribution to that future endeavor, demonstrating a cluster of patterns (all-native ethnobotanical + rainwater harvesting contour earthworks) and how every species may be different but the underlying logic is the same in two very different locations.

 

 

OCCIDENTAL ARTS & ECOLOGY CENTER SPECIES
Trees
Myrica californica	California wax myrtle		Nitrogen fixation
Shrubs
Calycanthus occidentalis	Spicebush	Medicinal, basketry
Cercis occidentalis	Redbud	Flowers, basketry
Cornus stolonifera	Redtwig dogwood	Medicinal, basketry	Nectary, erosion control
Corylus cornuta californica	Hazelnut	Nuts, basketry
Garrya eliptica	Silk tassel	Medicinal
Hoita macrostachya	Leatherwood	Fiber
Oemleris cerasiformis	Oso berry	Fruit, medicinal
Rhus ovata	Sugar bush	Fruit, medicinal, basketry	Erosion control
Rubus parviflorus	Thimbleberry	Fruit, medicinal
Salix exigua	Grey willow	Medicinal, basketry	Erosion control
Sambucus mexicana	Blue elderberry	Fruit, flowers, medicinal	Nectary
Vines
Clematis lasiantha	Pipestems	Medicinal
Physocarpus capitatus	Ninebark	Medicinal
Vitis californica	Wild grape	Fruit, basketry
Herbs
Angelica hendersonii, A. tomentosa	Angelica	Medicinal	Nectary
Artemisia douglasiana	Mugwort	Medicinal
Camassia quamash	Camass	Bulbs
Iris douglasii	Pacific iris	Medicinal
Lomatium californicum	Celery weed	Tubers, greens	Nectary
Mimulus cardinalis	Cardinal monkey flower	Shoots, medicinal
Perideridia gairdneri	Yampah	Tubers, greens, medicinal	Nectary
Petasites frigidus	Coltsfoot	Greens, medicinal	Nectary
Grasses and Allies
Carex barbarae	Basket sedge	Basketry
Eleocharis spp.	Spike rush	Basketry, fiber
Elymus glaucus	Blue wild rye	Seeds
Hordeum brachyantherum	Meadow barley	Seeds
Juncus patens	Common rush	Basketry
Muhlenbergia rigens	Deer grass	Seeds, basketry, fiber
Groundcovers
Achillea millefolium	Yarrow	Tea, medicinal	Nectary, groundcover
Anemopsis californica	Yerba mansa	Medicinal
Aquilegia formosa	Columbine	Medicinal
Asarum caudatum	Wild ginger	Medicinal	Groundcover
Calochortus luteus	Mariposa lily	Bulb
Dicentra formosa	Bleeding heart	Medicinal
Fragaria vesca	Woodland strawberry	Fruit, medicinal	Groundcover
Ranunculus californicus	California buttercup	Seeds
Satureja douglasii	Yerba Buena	Culinary, medicinal, tea	Groundcover

 

WOODBINE ECOLOGY CENTER SPECIES
Trees
Celtis reticulata	Netleaf hackberry	Fruit
Pinus edulis	Pinyon pine	Nuts, medicinal
Quercus gambellii x Q. macrocarpa	Burgambel oak	Acorns
Shrubs
Amelanchier utahensis	Utah serviceberry	Fruit, basketry
Amorpha fruticosa	False indigo		Nitrogen fixation
Artemisia tridentata	Sagebrush	Medicinal
Cercocarpus montanus	Mountain mahogany	Medicinal	Nitrogen fixation
Fallugia paradoxa	Apache plume	Medicinal	Nitrogen fixation
Prunus pumila besseyi	Sand cherry	Fruit	Erosion control
Rhus trilobata	Skunkbush sumac	Fruit, tea, medicinal, basketry	Erosion control
Ribes aureum	Golden currant	Fruit, medicinal
Rubus deliciosus	Boulder raspberry	Fruit
Shepherdia argentea	Silver buffalo berry	Fruit	Nitrogen fixation, erosion control
Succulents
Cylindropuntia imbricata	Cholla cactus	Flowerbuds
Echinocereus fendleri, E. coccineus	Strawberry cactus	Fruit
Opuntia basilaris	Beavertail cactus	Fruit, pads
Yucca baccata	Banana Yucca	Fruit, fiber
Herbs
Berlandiera lyrata	Chocolate flower	Culinary, medicinal	Nectary
Cleome serrulata	Rocky Mountain bee plant	Greens, seeds, medicinal	Nectary
Helianthus maximilliani	Maximilian sunflower	Shoots, seeds, roots	Nectary
Ipomoea leptophylla	Manroot morning glory	Giant tubers, medicinal
Ratibidia columnifera	Prairie coneflower	Medicinal	Nectary
Stanleya pinnata	Prince’s plume	Leaves, seeds, medicinal
Grasses & Sedges
Oryzopsis hymenoides	Indian ricegrass	Seeds	Erosion control
Groundcovers
Callirhoe involucrata	Purple prairie mallow	Leaves, roots	Groundcover
Cucurbita foetidissima	Buffalo gourd	Seeds, tuber starch, medicinal	Groundcover, erosion control
Dalea purpurea	Purple prairie clover	Tea, medicinal	Nitrogen fixer, groundcover, erosion control
Melampodium leucanthum	Blackfoot daisy		Nectary, groundcover
Zinnia grandiflora	Prairie zinnia	Medicinal	Nectary, groundcover