Buffalo, NY

Welcome to The Year 2016 According to Trees.

Our intention in creating this exhibit is to share the story of abundance and beauty that is to be found in reclaiming our position as stewards on Earth.

As functional elements in our local ecology, we increase the biodiversity and interdependency of life by restoring soil health and by planting beneficial species that provide us with free food, fuel, and fun.

The principles of permaculture are informed by the various ecological peoples around the world whom have lived within their means, not in poverty—but in having enough. By maintaining this direct connection with nature we find a balance that respects all life and we become regenerators of the land.

Explore these windows into the interworkings of the natural world, and experience the reality that we can make a difference. We can choose to create a world that accrues fertility and compounds abundance. In the simplicity of time passing, having acted with the foresight to plant trees, we create a beautiful future. 

Future generations depend upon our ability to recognize the importance of shifting from consumption to production “even if on a small scale, in our own gardens,” as Bill Mollison would say.

Let us become good ancestors.

In Memory of
Bill Mollison
(May 4, 1928 - September 24, 2016)
Toby Hemenway
(April 23, 1952 - December 20, 2016)

The Ginkgo biloba is the only surviving species of an ancient lineage of trees that once spanned multiple continents. Rediscovered by a German in Japan in 1690, ginkgo is the oldest tree on Earth, estimated to be 200 million years old. In gallery shows, a ginkgo branch is placed above this tribute to represent immortality.

Bill Mollison, the Tasmanian ecologist that espoused the peaceful sedition movement known as permaculture, will live on. His pronouncement to the world—that humans can provide for themselves by learning how to partner more effectively with the abundance of natural forces—has inspired hundreds of thousands of people to start the work of repairing our relationship to ourselves, others, and the living planet we call home.

Toby Hemenway, inspired by Bill, published Gaia’s Garden, widely regarded as the most practical permaculture text, which sold more than 250,000 copies. We had a chance to be inspired by Toby at a conference in San Diego two years ago. This exhibit, the inspiration and passion to grow a better world, is our offering in return.

March

Tapping trees brings excitement and meaning to a time of the year often endured and not truly experienced. Perhaps surprisingly, this practice applies not only to sugar maple but to all maple trees, including the ubiquitous silver and red maples which line our city and suburban streets and yards. Even more, we can tap birch trees, black walnuts, as well as the sycamore. Pictured here, Matt Green carries the washed and dried sap buckets to the truck for installation on Grand Island, NY where we tapped 45 trees using 90 taps. In our first season, we collected approximately 120 gallons of sap which yielded three gallons of the finest syrup, fresh from the yards of the enthusiastic participants!

March

Alignment with natural forces by collecting delicious sugary water flowing freely from trees is particularly enjoyable. To check and empty the buckets daily instills a rhythm of  excitement and connection with natural cycles. In late winter, when night temperatures remain below freezing (32º F) and day temperatures rise above freezing (into the high 30s and 40s), the sap begins to flow. The nourishment that will fuel a tree’s buds to erupt into flowers, leaves, and seeds can be respectfully gathered in a way that does not harm the tree, providing us humans with a responsibly produced nutritive food in a way that supports Nature and recognizes our place within it.

April

The same sap boiled for syrup becomes flowers and leaves if left within the tree. After a long winter’s rest, the maple bursts into bloom during the first days of spring warmth in April. There is something therapeutic in witnessing more and more of the natural world with each passing season; with each turning year. To partner with the trees once again, we reclaim our responsibility as stewards. Knowing that maple trees feed us in multiple ways may inspire us to pay closer attention to their role as more than objects in the landscape or as artifacts of “undeveloped land.”

April

The dawn of new life rests within each seed. In our cold-temperate climate, March and April marks the time to plant tree seeds that have been dormant all winter. Hazelnut, of particular value in the food forest, has dense nutrition, resiliency, and habitat creation potential which underscores the importance of this traditional hedgerow species. With improved genetics, this hybrid seed from Sean Dembrosky of Edible Acres in Trumansburg, NY merges the disease resistance and cold-hardiness of the American species with the European variety bred for its larger nut size. Humans have partnered with natural forces by selecting and planting the largest seeds and nuts for millennia. It is in active participation with Nature that we become a healing force; a regenerative presence where we are truly doing good—not less bad. 

May

Elm (Ulmus species) leaves in May are truly a sight to behold. The elms of Elmwood and Delaware Avenues were once large enough to reach each other, forming canopied tunnels before Dutch elm disease swept into Buffalo in the 1960s and 70s. Bidwell Park, where this photograph was taken, lies a mere couple hundred feet from where you stand. Frederick Law Olmsted modeled his park system for the city of Buffalo after the boulevards and squares of Paris, France. We are lucky to have retained much of his vision and hope remains to restore the elements we have removed—notably, the Humboldt Parkway (now the Kensington Expressway), a tree-lined connection between Delaware Park with MLK Park which lost out to “progress” in the 1960s.

“…the best planned city, as to its streets, public places and grounds in the United States, if not the world.”
—Olmsted on Buffalo, NY (1876)

May

Black locust, Robinia pseudoacacia, a representative of the resiliency of natural forces, conspires to assist us in our pursuit of a sane and abundant ecological presence upon Earth, our home. For one to two weeks every May, this under-appreciated ally of humanity graces the winds with a fragrance one would not hesitate to call perfume. In addition to this aroma, these blossoms are edible and reminiscent of a vanilla-flavored pea. 
In a permaculture sense, the fast-growing black locust is nitrogen-fixing, meaning it improves soil fertility, and the wood it produces is legendary in its ability to resist rotting, weathering the sands of time.

May

Juglans cinera, also known as butternut or white walnut is the lovely but unfortunately less common sibling of the black walnut, Juglans nigra. These native species were purchased from the New York State Department of Conservation (NYSDEC) in Saratoga Springs and came in bundles of two to three-foot trees with roots bare of soil. Many hours were spent in May potting the trees and digging trenches to plant them in temporary nursery beds. The beautiful new growth of both the butternut and black walnut is very fragrant and made working with the trees delightful—visually and aromatically, as well as psychologically. Knowing that we are tending to lifeforms which will provide food, fuel, and building materials for generations is a particularly rewarding experience.

July

This summer, Western New York experienced a prolonged drought. Our trees wouldn’t have survived if not for the burlap, wood chips, and straw that formed a protective moisture-retaining and habitat-producing layer on the soil. We discovered frogs had moved from the protected wetlands surrounding the nursery plot and had taken up residence in the mulched rows of trees! The effectivity of mulch is miraculous considering its simplicity. By covering bare soil with organic materials, we emulate the forest and create the conditions which allow the proliferation of a soil food web—a circle of life that increases biodiversity, compounding fertility with the passage of time. In a few short months, we transformed poor soil into a fertile space which encouraged life in all its forms. The straw bale structure behind the trees housed our hot compost pile which converted juice pulp from this very café into a dark nutrient-rich soil.

October

This towering red oak, Quercus rubrum, adorned with multiple edible growths was quite a sight to be seen in person. Commonly referred to as chicken of the woods, Laetiporus sulphureus is beautiful and delicious. It truly resembles, in appearance and taste, chicken breast when cooked. The multiple fruiting bodies protruding from this massive tree is indicative of a long-term association between these two organisms. The partnership will last beyond the lifetime of this particular tree as the fungus is a parasite, recycling nutrients back into the soil and allowing for the next round of succession to occur. Next will come an ever more fertile forest as this process persists over millennia, accumulating soil year after year.

November

We like to think that we have won a sort of lottery to be living on Earth, with its multitude of bounties. It seems that the only limit to this abundance is in our awareness—in recognizing what exists around us. We must become rational ecologists. If we feel our rations are insufficient, we may choose to plant more trees! Tree crops, both fruits and nuts, represent the most efficient, responsible, and resilient way to feed ourselves while not only preserving but also regenerating local ecosystems. These American persimmons, Diospyros virginiana, an original element in the Olmsted-designed South Park in South Buffalo, continue to produce fruit over 100 years after their initial planting!

Money may not grow on trees but delicious candy balls that require no input—with the exception of rain and sun—do! There is no reason why long-lived fruit and nut producing trees should not be planted all across publicly-held lands. This would represent intergenerational food security and a delicious and kind gesture to the future.

December

Winter is a time for rest and reflection. Celtis occidentalis, commonly called hackberry, is a native species related to elm that has quite a story to tell. The pea-sized hackberry’s thin-shelled nut covered in a date-like fruit has played an important role as a staple food around the world for millennia. From North America and South America to Europe, Africa and Asia, hackberry species have fed humans for hundreds of thousands of years; perhaps even having the distinction of being the oldest known human plant food, as a number of seeds were found at the “Peking Man” site in China estimated to be 500,000 years old.

Stumbling across a hackberry tree located in South Park was a pleasant surprise. We have found partaking of foods with such a long history of usage a form of cultural therapy. We recognize that trees can bring us together and help us all heal from our turbulent past. Trees can provide an abundance of food that increases in yield as time passes. We can gift our future generations the biological wealth and stability which comes from partnering closely with trees.

We can become a culture of trees once again.