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…
Increasing interest in food forests or woodland gardens reflects a growing awareness that permanent mixed plantings are inherently more sustainable than annual monocultures. They can safeguard and enrich soil ecosystems, enable plants to form mutually beneficial combinations, utilise layers both…
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…
A Global Toolkit of Perennial Crops and Regenerative Agriculture Practices for Climate Change Mitigation and Food Security Eric Toensmeier has kindly allowed us to add information from his book The Carbon Farming Solution to the website. Eric identified 700 plants…
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…
A delicious fruit for the autumn. Sorbus domestica is a deciduous tree growing to 15m (50ft) at a medium rate with a trunk up to 1m (3′ 4″) in diameter. On exposed sites it may only grow to be a…
A favourite nut growing on large evergreen trees, Cashew (Anacardium occidentale), grows up to 10-12m tall with a short and usually irregularly-shaped trunk. The dwarf version growing to 6m is preferred for commercial crops. It has spreading branches and a…
