The Edible Ecosystem Solution: Growing Biodiversity in Your Backyard and Beyond

Mother Earth News Wiser Living

by Zach Loeks

Start a peaceful revolution by planting an edible ecosystem and sharing the experience with your neighbors

Humans have always thrived in rich, diverse, edible ecosystems. Yet most cities and suburbs are blanketed by lawns, ornamentals, and a lack of biodiversity, let alone anything edible. It is within these sterile landscapes that seeds of an edible ecosystem lie.

The Edible Ecosystem Solution is a comprehensive, practical guidebook that looks at underutilized spaces to reveal the many opportunities for landscape transformation that are both far-reaching and immediately beneficial and enjoyable. Contents

Hundreds of full-color infographics, illustrations, and photographs that clearly outline the principles and concepts of edible landscape design and benefitsHow to get started with as little as 25 square feet of landHow to transition a garden plot into a place of edible abundance and an edible biodiversity hot spot, living laboratory, and a source point for transitioning and transforming community and cultureChoosing appropriate plants for insects, wildlife, and food productionScaling up and networking backyard edible ecosystems at the neighborhood level and beyond to build community food security and resilience.The Edible Ecosystem Solution is for everyone with access to a bit of yard, a desire for food security, biodiversity, and a beautiful and resilient community, and for anyone who wants to reclaim humanity's place in a rich, abundant, edible ecosystem.

Genres: Gardening, Nonfiction, Nature

289 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 8, 2020

Reviews

[Myrna · Rating 5 out of 5]

A powerhouse of eco system knowledge presented with colorful watercolor illustrations. This book provides historical facts and futuristic ideals around the importance of a diverse and layered landscape and garden, in a language that anyone interested in gardening and yard work can appreciate. Zack's illustrations are beautiful and educational, his knowledge and experience immense, and his concern and care for our earth top priority. Am very thankful this book has become part of my gardening education journey. Myrna B.

[Eremite · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is great at imagining how awesome it would be if we were growing edible plants everywhere possible. And I believe in the idea enough that I tried to relandscape my yard along those lines. But I think it's missing any discussion of the changes that would be required to change the culture from one of fast food delivery to having the permission and skills to find, harvest and prepare seasonal local foods.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading this along with a few other books on the same topic. There is a lot of theory in this book. A lot of "Why we should have edible ecosystems" and "Where we can have edible ecosystems". It would be good for someone writing a paper but it's not very useful for the average gardener. Look elsewhere for more hands on advice.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

High on inspiration, low on actual specific solutions and ideas for the home garden. Perhaps better suited as inspiration for building diversity and food resilience in the community.

A decent read, especially if you're new to the concept of permaculture and/or forest gardening.

[Pat · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am taking the Edible Property Design course offered by Zach Loeks and have also been reading his book, The Edible Ecosystem Solution book, as a resource to support my learning. In the course, we are rethinking how we can better use our land, whether a city yard or large farm or something in between, to create edible landscapes that mimic the biodiversity of natural or wild ecosystems.

The information in the book guides one through the thinking behind landscape design and how to build an edible ecosystem, often in under used spaces that we may not have considered before.

Even if the reader has not taken a course with Zach, the book is a valuable resource for gardeners as it is easy to understand with many striking watercolour images that bring the theories of edible ecosystems to life.

[K Gardiner · Rating 4 out of 5]

For anyone wishing to change their ornamental gardens, under used plots of land or lawn into productive fruit and vegetable garden beds, this book will give you the information and more importantly the inspiration to do it. It's a very well organized book with plenty of background and practical ideas on how to accomplish your goals. A pleasure to read and full of beautifully painted illustrations.

[Ryan Young]

Part manifesto and part manual, Loek's Edible Ecosystem Solution has everything in it to inspire people to transform public and private spaces into edible ecosystems that increase biodiversity and feed communities. It is beautifully illustrated by the author and is packed with good facts that support the overall vision of the book. Everyone should have a copy of this book!

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Zack has a tremendous amount of experience and great ideas which he brings to a readable and understandable guide book for those looking to take their gardening (or just their yard) to a more sustainable, functional level.

[Elisabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Terrific book, By Canadian aimed at city and suburban dwellers and planners .. We live in the woods, will be connecting with local indigenous plant groups to learn what is already here and what we can reintroduce ...

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Was interesting and timely, and I'm already doing a lot of this. I listened to to book and wish I could have seen the illustrations and graphics. In spite of that lack, his explanations were understandable,

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Highly idealistic, and fairly limited on methods. But not a bad book, love the inclusion of ecosystem services and the viewpoint the author was preaching. I don't recommend the audio: you miss too much contained in the imagery.

[Chelsey · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is much more about problems than solutions. If you want to hear a lot about why the way we manage land is harmful, this is a good read. If you were hoping, as I was, to learn about how to create an edible ecosystem, there are far better books to read.

[V. Banias · Rating 5 out of 5]

Terrific book. Inspired me to plant a food forest.

[Sam Kimura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic nonfiction for those who are beginners in the garden!

[Emma Rauschert · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love environmental science books but I did not learn anything from this. More motivational without any application. There were a couple good points in the middle, but very repetitive.

[Meg · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book, until I got about 3/4 of the way through.
The author looks at the big picture, and zooms into real life examples of how we could be building more food plants into our cities, parks, yards,etc. He gives real solutions and instructions for adding food to the landscape. There are illustrations on probably every page, done by the author/ artist him self, which are colorful, and were very useful for keeping my attention.
By the time I got to the last couple chapters, the ideas get a little too ideological for the analytical pessimist in me, much being a repetition and reinforcing of his ideas, but that is to be somewhat expected from a book like this.
The only thing that bothered me was that while writing of planting for food to promote a food sustainability/ access/ etc, and discussing humans being stewards of the land, even saying that it is a human right, he neglects to discuss and take into account, the other living beings in our ecosystems.
Plant propagation of edible plants is great, and sharing seed/ scions/ plantlets/ etc from our plants with others is great; but encouraging letting plants go to seed and spreading through them and runners, that are not native to the area, is irresponsible. There is more going on in our ecosystems than just planting for ourselves. We are currently in the midst of the Anthropocene Era, in which the entire planet is suffering a huge loss of species. We are still discovering some of the complex relationships that exist between us all. There are some species in dependant relationships who survive because the other exists, such as the Yucca Moth and the Yucca plant. If we disrupt our natural ecosystems too quickly, many species will not be able to adapt quickly enough to survive.
While the author briefly mentions wild edibles, and drops in a one or two line note about not planting plants that are invasive for your area, there is more to being a responsible land steward than planting and managing some fruiting crops. If we loose more of the genetic diversity we already have, all of our relationships as species of this Earth are more vulnerable to disease, weather events, etc, as we are all interconnected and dependant on each other.

I believe if he would have researched and included more information about plant selection, and being attentive to spreading of those plants, his book would have been much better. It was definitely still worth a read though, and I would recommend it, with a disclaimer.