The Forest Garden Greenhouse
How to Design and Manage an Indoor Permaculture Oasis
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EXCERPTS
Pages: | 304 pages |
Book Art: | Color photos, tables, charts, and illustrations |
Size: | 8 x 10 inch |
Publisher: | Chelsea Green Publishing |
Pub. Date: | October 15, 2015 |
ISBN: | 9781603584265 |
The Forest Garden Greenhouse
How to Design and Manage an Indoor Permaculture Oasis
Now with a revolutionary new “Climate Battery” design for near-net-zero heating and cooling
“Jerome Osentowski is a master of simple, elegantly frugal, eminently practical indoor gardens.”—Amory Lovins
In this groundbreaking book, Jerome Osentowski, one of North America’s most accomplished permaculture designers, presents a wholly new approach to a very old horticultural subject. In The Forest Garden Greenhouse, he shows how bringing the forest garden indoors is not only possible, but doable on unlikely terrain and in cold climates, using near-net-zero technology. Different from other books on greenhouse design and management, this book advocates for an indoor agriculture using permaculture design concepts—integration, multi-functions, perennials, and polycultures—that take season extension into new and important territory.
Chapters Include:
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Expanding the Possible with Season Extension
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The History and Mechanics of the Climate Battery
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Considerations for Building Your Own Greenhouse
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Several Off-site Case Studies
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And much more!
Osentowski, director and founder of Central Rocky Mountain Permaculture Institute (CRMPI) incorporates deep, holistic permaculture design with practical common sense. His greenhouse designs, which can range from the backyard homesteader to commercial greenhouses, are completely ecological and use a simple design that traps hot and cold air and regulates it for best possible use.
With detailed design drawings, photos, and profiles of successful greenhouse projects on all scales, this inspirational manual will considerably change the conversation about greenhouse design.
Reviews and Praise
Publishers Weekly-
"Osentowski shows how building and maintaining a Mediterranean or tropical greenhouse full of figs, lemons, papayas, and bananas can be both affordable and practical. Drawing on his 30 years of experimentation and teaching in the harsh, dry mountain environment of his Central Rocky Mountain Permaculture Institute, he offers lush descriptions of his five greenhouses and in-depth, layered advice on designing and constructing a balmy winter retreat. His method uses a 'climate battery’ consisting of tubes buried underground to collect and hold warm air from the greenhouse, which then recirculate it when the temperature cools, backed up in the coldest days with a pellet or wood stove that can simultaneously heat an attached sauna. Osentowski admits that he prefers a hands-on method of teaching, and his written tours through greenhouses are sometimes hard to follow. Novices may be intimidated by the lack of step-by-step, formulaic instruction. But more experienced gardeners, builders, and tinkerers, and even intrepid beginners willing to carefully observe, compute, and ponder, will find this readable guide jam-packed with enough information and inspiration to help them attempt their own indoor paradises.”
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