homeowers, gardeners, farmers and foresters

we're all part of the same system

June 30, 2020

We keep a family observation calendar of the natural world and as a result, I categorize what we
notice among three different landscape types.  I hadn't thought too much about it before, but the reason I struggle describing where we live is because its variable.  The place is an old farm but we are using it in a modern way.  We have garden elements, farm elements, and elements of wilder places.  Since moving to New Hampshire from Washington DC, I've been thinking about these three types of places and what I can do about integrating them into a cohesive whole.  Our mission at M Herndon is to connect home gardens to the wilder world, so how, exactly, are we going to do that?  We'll start by identifying what we're dealing with...three distinct types of landscapes that people living outside of the urban core inhabit.  We will get to know each one and then we'll introduce them all to each other.

GARDEN

First, closest to the house, is the GARDEN.  It complements the architecture of the house and is tied to aesthetics and horticulture.  Our gardens include perennial plantings and a kitchen garden which houses annual flowers, vegetables, and herbs.
Flower Farm

FARM

The second landscape type is the FARM.  It is traditionally tied to functionality.  We use our farm land to support plant sales, for example.  It includes the greenhouse, our outside sales area and a test meadow.

Greenhouse
horticulture agriculture wild places natural resources forestry

WILD AREAS

Finally, the WILDER AREAS are the third landscape type.  This part of the landscape is supposed to be both “natural” as well as a “resource.” Our wilder area is 20 acres of closed canopy forest and four acres of clearing. We created the clearing last September through a grant aimed at promoting early successional habitat and biodiversity.

Clearing for early successional habitat, biodiversity
Forest management; nature conservancy, early successional habitat

We call all of these landscape types home, but we have different treatments and expectations for each one. Landscape management includes many professions and different subcultures are organized around them.

We are all advocates for gardens, farms, and wild areas but we don’t often have opportunities to intersect with one another.  As a result, the landscape we inhabit gets broken down into categories when it is actually one continuous whole.

At M Herndon, we are engaging people from various landscape professions in conversations about landscapes at different scales.  In other words, we are applying lessons from the (relatively small) perennials garden and the (mid sized) farm and the (large scale) wild areas across disciplines.  We believe that integrating gardens, farms, and wild places will benefit us all.  We will be posting observations, questions, and findings and we hope you will follow along.  Interrelated issues and systems connect gardeners, farmers, foresters, and homeowners of all types.