Apples

Is Parkrose Permaculture Too Good To Be True?

My Yard Got Meme’d and Went Viral. Folks Doubted The Garden Was Real.

“Stanley” plum in bloom in the author’s front yard food forest, Spring 2022.

When Strangers Think They Know Your Garden Best

A few days ago, a meme of my front yard garden went viral on social media. I didn’t make the meme, and it’s been incorrectedly credited several times as the garden of a man in the UK, but it is, in fact, Parkrose Permaculture.

Inevitably, when someone shares a single image like this and it spreads rapidly on social media, criticisms, “gotchas”, fault-finding, and definititive judgments flood the comments section. Everyone becomes an authority and makes confident assertions and declares “this is how it really is” based on one image.

I responsed to the most common declarations in my video today (see below), but I wanted to take some space in this blog to address in detail one particular “hot take” that I didn’t address thoroughly on YouTube (perks of reading the blog!). It’s a question folks have asked long before this meme was made, and today I’m going to answer it, so let’s dive in.

YouTube player
Angela responds to the birage of comments repeating the same handful of assumptions about her garden.


Your Garden Isn’t Real, Angela.

Dozens and dozens of dudes were sure the garden was somehow faked.

The skeptics came out of the woodwork on each and every share, calling the images “faked.” They were confident that this garden must be photoshopped. It couldn’t be real. No one could really transform their front yard like that, right? Total strangers became “experts” on my garden based on a single meme showing a small portion of the yard. As the French say, “Trop beau pour être vrai,” and being manic with our skepticism sure is en vogue.

Quince (Cydonia oblonga) outisde the back door in early autumn

OK, OK. Maybe It IS Real, But She Definitely Doesn’t Have 32 Fruit and Nut Trees on 1/4 Acre.

While the confirmation bias of folks making these assertions on the internet was intensely strong, several lovely humans did return and say, “Gah, my bad! I should not have made assumptions,” after viewing more pictures of the garden or finding my YouTube. It takes integrity in our modern society to say, “Welp, I goofed that up. I’m sorry!”, so I appreciate it when folks admit they’re wrong and want to do better going forward.

To be fair, the transformation of the garden is profound. I look back at pictures of the house when we first moved in, and it doesn’t feel like my house at all. Although, even back in 2009, in my mind’s eye, I could see what the garden would look like in time. I had faith in the process, and have enjoyed every step of getting from there to here. It may seem too good to be true, so I understand the skepticism. But perhaps ask questions instead of assuming. Afterall, you know what they say about that…

Ok, but seriously…32? Impossible.

If folks believed that the images weren’t fake, they still called me “dishonest”. According to these guys, based on one image, they knew I was clearly “exaggerating” how many trees I can carefully fit on the property. It simply didn’t mesh with their mental image of how trees should be positioned in the landscape. It didn’t fit with the image of how horticulturists and modern farmers tell us we must grow fruit trees. Afterall, if you haven’t seen it done, it can be difficult to imagine another way. It’s easier to disbelieve than ask for evidence that might change your mind.

The lot is 1/4 acre, including driveway, house, sheds, and garden

If You Really Grow 32 Fruit and Nut Trees, What Are They, Hm? Hmm?!

“Early Fuyu” persimmon, Fall 2020

I have compassion for the level of skepticism happening in response to this meme, and I thought perhaps the most helpful thing to do here – both for doubters, and folks interested in adding trees to their own gardens – would be to list out for you all of the trees I grow here. I’m going to be totally honest right from the get-go: The youngest tree is 2. Most are over 10 years old, and a few are 15 (purchased as 1-2 yr old trees, or squirrel-planted before we moved in). It’s not actually 32 trees, but check for yourself:

  • Plums, European (Prunus) x5 – Shropshire Damson, Stanley, Early Laxton, Bavay’s Greengage, Early Italian
  • Pawpaws (Asimina triloba) x3 – Allegheny, Rappahanock, and Suquehanna
  • Elderberry (Sambucus) x2 –Nova and York (I used to have a Blue elder, but removed it)
  • Apple (Malus) x6 – Ashmead’s Kernel, Hudson’s Golden Gem, Roxbury Russet, Honeycrisp, Liberty, Cox’s Orange Pippin (again, I used to have more. It was too many apples)
  • Medlar (Mespilus germanica) – Breda Giant
  • Pear, Asian – triple grafted (In a pot)
  • Pear, European – Seckel
  • Fig (Ficus carica) x2 – Desert King and Negronne (the latter is superb)
  • Sea Buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides) x3 – (this is technically a shrub, but grows very very large and I treat it like a tree) 2 females, and 1 male
  • Hazelnut (Corylus) – my lone nut tree. I coppice it for firewood and plant stakes. Nuts.
  • Persimmon (Diospyros) x2 – Early Fuyu and a hybrid persimmon, Nikita’s Gift
  • Quince (Cydonia oblonga) x3 – Aromatnaya, Krimskaya, and an unnamed variety
  • Mulberry (Malus rubra) x3 – Illinois Everybearing, Contorted, and Dwarf
  • Purple Robe locust (Robinia) – this tree’s seeds are not edible. It is an important nurse tree in my food forest, produces edible blossoms, but will eventually be cycled out.
  • Peach –Oregon Curl Free
  • Jujube (Zizyphus jujuba) – Lee and Lang
  • Lemons – Meyer and Variegated Meyer in pots (they live in the greenhouse in winter)
  • Sweet Bay (Laurus nobilis)- also in a pot, and sheltered in the winter outdoors

Like I said, not 32. That list makes 40. I generally don’t count the trees in pots, but they are an important part of our system and do produce important yields for me and I should. I did not include bush cherries, large shrubs like goumi and aronia and tallbush cranberry. Perhaps smaller fruits are a topic for another post in the near future.

Desert King Fig in the chicken run. A disease-free, low-fuss tree for Western Oregon.
Needs pruning, or it gets huge.

I hope that information is helpful for folks. In the coming weeks, I’ll continue to lay out how I fit all these trees, why I need them all, and what my design process is. It is my sincere hope that I can help illuminate how permaculture – real world permaculture, not a thought exercise – functions. Hiccups and all. That’s my goal in blogging and making videos: to share the design process of permaculture, explain the principles, and how the work in the context of our real, hectic lives, and in our real gardens. For me and my family right now, 40 trees works in that context. It enriches our lives and feeds our bellies, and creates habitat for wildlife.

In an extractive world, regenerative ways of living can seem really foreign. Our knee-jerk reaction can understandably veer toward skepticism when someone tries something far outside the cultural norm. It’s my hope that permaculture – and other resilient design systems – can become accepted and normalized. Goodness knows we and the Planet need them.

If anything, I’m grateful that despite all the hater-ade I got from this meme blowing up (as much as permaculture memes can blow up?) on social media, it has helped more folks discover permaculture design, and helped more folks question the status quo when it comes to our gardens, our neighborhood design, and how we organize our society. I love sharing my garden, and am glad this experience has given me the opportunity to share it with more people, and explain in more detail how the system is designed and functions.

Apple Tasting

Yesterday we attended the Home Orchard Society’s annual fruit exhibition and tasting.   There were hundreds of varieties of heirloom apples and pears to taste, as well as dozens of grapes, hardy kiwis and more.

 The children had a great time trying every apple variety imaginable.  We tasted slice after slice of heirloom apple  and pear varieties with regal names like “Zambergau Reinette” and “Ashmead’s Kernel”, as well as ones that made the kids giggle (“Peasgood Nonsuch” and “Vicar of Winkfield”).

We already own several apple trees, including a “Karmijn de Sonnaville”, two “Cox’s Orange Pippin”s (my favorite apple), a classic “Honeycrisp”, an “Ashmead’s Kernel”  and a “Liberty”.  I had been trying to source the particularly tasty “Hudson’s Golden Gem” for over a year, and was lucky enough to find one on M26 rootstock yesterday.

We also picked up a Seckel pear tree.  Despite its fanastic flavor and culinary use, this little tree is hard to find.  The volunteer and I had a good laugh at the orchardist’s guidebook which declared the Seckel to  “produce fruit superior in flavor and texture, but on an altogether unattractive looking tree.”  …guess it will be going in a corner in the backyard.

 The children had the opportunity to press some cider, as well.  They’re old hats at cider pressing, and were glad to share their skills and a sweet drink with their grandparents.

If you are a home orchardist, I encourage you to join the HOS, too.  Their publication is educational, the members knowledgeable and welcoming, and the fruit-grafting fair in the spring a must-attend event.  If you don’t yet have fruit trees on your property, these folks will help you to find a place and the right varieties, and you’ll enjoy a lifetime of unique flavors so much more rich and vibrant than anything you can buy in a store.

Joining up with Taryn of Wooly Moss Roots for her weekly post on Gratitude, because yesterday’s outing was such a positive experience.  Truly grateful for the rare treat of an outing with four children (8 strong-willed people in total!) that goes off without a hitch, where everyone has fun, and we got everything we hoped for out of the experience.  Just an all-around wonderful day.