Pittsburgh Permaculture

Personally, I have had lots of fun growing food and herbs. I have also spent many hard, sweaty hours pulling weeds and preparing beds. Eventually, I managed to develop garden beds that perform similarly to a Food4Wealth bed; however, this was after obtaining a Master’s degree in Sustainable Systems, working in a market garden, founding a public food forest and having a few gardens of my own. I have been telling more conventional gardeners for years of the benefits and need for compost, the ease of building a bed using sheet mulching, etc. with little effect. I really believe that the way this same knowledge is presented in Food4Wealth could help people save time, grow more food and work less hard by partnering with Mother Nature. For the already experienced gardener who may follow some natural practices but still find yourself spending more time watering and maintaining than you want to, Food4Wealth may offer the knowledge needed to close the loop in your system.

Is the Food4Wealth system real?

Yes, the Food4Wealth system is real. It is basically an instructional book and video series on how to create an ecological garden. So, a lot of the stuff we talk about with permaculture but distilled down to an easy to follow system. I see it as an opportunity for people that I know who year after year till and spend lots of time and energy “keeping up” with their garden, only to eventually turn to chemicals out of necessity or stop gardening. I am really excited about the ebook because growing food this way can be a complex subject, totally foreign to more traditional gardeners (even organic) and this makes it understandable and easy to implement.

Review of Content

The content in the Food4Wealth system combines elements of permaculture, natural farming, SPIN farming, organic gardening, lasagna gardening and 4 seasons gardening to create an edible, ecological garden. It was written by Jonathan White, an environmental scientist and horticulturist with years of experience creating small, high yield, ecological gardens. I really appreciate Jonathan’s down-to-Earth and easy to understand presentation of the ecological garden.

It includes principles of permaculture, such as soil building, and natural farming, allowing certain crop to go to seed. The beds are also made using sheet mulching techniques, along with making and using quite a bit of compost. The content also goes into propagating from seed and why to choose certain types of seed. The practice of allowing the most robust of the species to seed next year’s crop is a foundational principle. Basically it is a step-by-step instructional manual on how to create a garden that mimics natural processes.  I was a bit disappointed that 1) we didn’t get a visual tour of Jonathan’s gardens and 2) there were not more how-to demonstrations on the videos. There are a few but it seems like the videos would really be useful if all demonstration-based.

The e-book and videos include sections on:

• Garden design and construction
• Composting
• Planting and propagation
• Care and maintenance of the garden
• Best plants for this type of garden
• Seasonal considerations
• Growing fruits using this system
• Climate change
• How to deal with weeds
• Selecting seeds, including differences between heirloom, gm, etc.

What is included in your purchase?

The product consists of a 98 page e-book, a complete project plan, 14 video lessons and an audio book. I found the videos to be a nice compliment to but not substitute for the e-book. Having an audio version is great for listening on the go. Potentially the most useful part for the already educated is the project plan. It has sheets on setting the system up, maintaining it, a to-do checklist, and a materials list with approximates costs and times. Using the project plan will keep you organized and the project simplified.

Why spend the $40 if the information presented can be found elsewhere?

Yes, we could find all this information in various books and websites scattered about. The really valuable piece is that it is already compiled, saving much time and trial and error.

1)      The beginner gardener would need some expertise to know where to look and what subjects to study.

2)      Reading all those books and distilling the information can take years, plus trial and error on the ground

3)      Much less expensive than most permaculture books

4)      Why buy any book?

If you want to start now and not after some time spent researching, and if you want a system that has already been proven effective, then Food4Wealth will get you going. Once your garden is going, then reading and researching can fill in the gaps or give more in depth knowledge on the how’s and why’s of growing food ecologically. Often the most powerful lessons are learned right there in the garden.

Overall, I like the straightforward approach used to present potentially complex information. I found the e-book to be thorough enough and easy to follow. The Food4Wealth product gives a good introduction and working knowledge to get an ecological garden started and growing food. It also introduces principles found in many other schools of thought: permaculture, natural farming, and no dig methods without using those actual words. If you would like to create less labor-intensive gardens that have a higher, year-long yield of organic vegetables and fruit, then check out the Food4Wealth system.