The concept of The Collective’s garden is to develop a sustainable agricultural system utilizing local flora + fauna to create an immersive sensory environment emphasizing organic, edible plants, fragrant herbs, and native flowers.

What is Permaculture?

Permaculture is a set of design principles centered on creating diverse, holistic systems that simulate or directly utilize the patterns and resilient attributes observed in the natural world. The idea is to utilize plants that work best for the local environment and climate. This type of gardening also focuses on building up soils to gradually make them more nutrient-rich and well-balanced over time by planting a large variety of plants. Community food forests are great examples of modern-day permaculture.

What is a Food Forest?

A food forest utilizes the available space and soil differently than a traditional farm composed of row crops. Row crops, such as corn, require a lot of care (usually in the form of diesel-powered equipment), and space, and inevitably cause a lot of soil erosion. Food forests are modeled after larger, naturally occurring forests by planting within different layers to create a highly integrated community of plants. This kind of biodiversity helps create a resilient and self-sustaining system capable of producing a variety of edible products.

The plants change color in the shifting sunlight; the scent of fresh herbs and flowers PERMEATES the air; the soothing sound of burbling water, cooing chickens, buzzing bees, and bird song combine to convey what it is like when nature speaks.

Summer Devrow