Here at Bealtaine Cottage, the use of layers are one of the tools used to design functional ecosystems that are both sustainable and of direct benefit to the creation of a truly functioning permaculture food system..
As the ecosystem matures, the developing relationship between its component parts: trees, bushes, plants, soil, ground-cover, animals, birds and insects is integral to the high productivity of the area.
Because plants grow to different heights, a diverse community of life is able to grow in a relatively small space, as each layer is stacked one on top of another.
(One of the many apple trees last year)
This becomes recognized as a Food Forest.
In this short video, I explain a little of how it works…
