A food forest is a form of regenerative farming, a designed ecosystem modelled on nature, with the aim of growing food and sequestering carbon at the same time. As a forest it will consist of plants which occupy different layers,…
Biomass in gigatons of carbon (GtC) is a measure of abundance in the biosphere. Perhaps it is no surprise that the most abundant taxonomic group is plants at 450 GtC, but I was surprised to learn that all animals…
Chris Marsh and David Gearing have been associated with the Plants For A Future (PFAF) charity for 14 years, Chris as Managing Trustee and Treasurer, with David providing vital support. They have both been involved with permaculture since 1990 and…
The main role of (PFAF) for over 10 years has been to provide freely available non-commercial access to our database of over 8000 useful plants, for food, medicines and other uses. PFAF is very dependent on a flow of many…
In his book Half-Earth: Our Planet’s Fight for Life, Edward O. Wilson argues that the solution to the present planetary crisis is to dedicate half the surface of the Earth to wild nature.[1] The other half Earth would be used…
On 23 July, Wendy, David and Chris went to Elder Farm near Wellington in Devon ( ), as one of a series of visits for Plants For A Future. Elder Farm is a five and a half acre smallholding, one…
Visit to Wishtree Permaculture and Agroforestry Site, near Hatherleigh, Devon, June 19th 2018, by Wendy Stayte Wishtree lies, hidden away, in the folds of fields and woods that make up this part of mid-Devon, Hatherleigh being the nearest small market…
Posted to PFAF blog on 19 June 2018, updated with new featured image 11 October 2018. Many would agree that homegardening is going to be an important part of the solution to climate change. Eric Toensmeier has written about temperate…
Plants For A Future and the Transition Movement The Plants For A Future (PFAF) research project and the Transition Network (originally Transition Towns) both came from permaculture (‘permanent culture’ and ‘permanent agriculture’). Ken Fern, who created PFAF in 1989, explained…
Plants For A Future (PFAF) is a charitable company established nearly 30 years ago to support the work of Ken Fern on his experimental site in Cornwall. Ten years ago a group of new trustees took over its management and…
