Hi All, I chose an outdoor classroom for my system featuring a pre-existing raised bed garden (100' x 50'), small young dwarf apple orchard (7 trees), and one large silver maple (which we tap). Unfortunately, I have been placing focus on one at a time, instead of incorporating them into a larger interdependent system. And along those same lines, a clear purpose for this site has yet to be determined. I found this assignment helpful for it forced me to identify the site's purpose and assess whether current structure and practices fall within these principles. The struggle now is that most do not. One solution would be to relocate the apple trees to within the garden's border in a line running east to west along its north side (planting distance of 15') and grow something in its understory. The apple trees could create a microclimate within the garden connecting the two.
Participant Forum: Ethics, Principles, Strategies, Techniques
Cooperm1579
I have been in the process of creating an "outdoor classroom". I have 16 acres which currently includes an apiary, chicken coop, two fully stocked ponds and a small wooded area. I am adding a small orchard this spring and plan to locate it next to the apiary and the chicken coops. The overall goal for the property is to have a public classroom that can be visited by children and adults to learn about food production, animal husbandry and to try to engage kids more in "where their food comes from".
I, too, struggle with trying to design the whole system to be integrated. I have taken the house on the property and considered it to the the center of the "web" in the Design from Patterns to Details Principle and am creating the pattern of the farm radiating from the house (which also serves as an indoor classroom) as the center.