[Imports] Beginner, and Permaculture Designer, in Brussels, Belgium

[Nigel Stewart]

Hi,

I am an absolute beginner with OpenStreetMap, and have some experience as a
Permaculture Designer, at present with a particular interest in co-creating
community based "Forest Gardens" - lots of info on forest gardens on the
net. One of the best in Europe has been growing for the last 40 years at
Mouscron, in the south of Belgium.

You can see that forest gardens are multi-level, dynamic, and information
might include "plant needs, uses and useful properties".

MULTI-LANGUAGE: One thing about Belgium, and especially Brussels, is that
there are 3 official languages, French, Dutch, German, a well known
language - English, THEN all the different languages preferred by the
people who have come to live here, including Italian, Arab, Turkish, lots
of Eastern European, including Russian, etc, etc.

I am English speaking, with basic French, but I want all these different
language speakers to "feel at home".

ANY THOUGHTS on this might well be very useful - ESPECIALLY as I hoping to
create a "turn-key solution" so anyone can use the "How to co-create forest
gardens for themselves".

How to record progress over time, with plant growth, and new ideas would be
useful too.

As I said, I am an absolute beginner with OpenStreetMap - but better to ask
before making mistakes!

Thanks,

Nigel

*Forest Gardens* - there is an excellent example of a Forest Garden in
Belgium at:
https://saint-marthien.net/2013/09/12/fabuleux-jardin-urbain
-1800-m2-en-permaculture-a-mouscron-en-belgique/

AND - they have also created a human system of cooperators, for skills
exchange, seed exchange, and to ensure the future continuation of their
systems:
http://fraternitesouvrieres.over-blog.com/

*Architectural Basics of Forest Gardens:*
According to Robert Hart, a forest garden consists of 7 distinct layers.
1 - Tall, light demanding trees
2 - Short, shade tolerant trees
3 - Shrub layer
4 - Herbaceous layer
5 - Plants that spread horizontally
6 - Rhyzosphere - root plants
7 - Vertical layer - climbing plants
+ 1 - Mycorrhiza (mushrooms under the soil)

And of course, there is the animal life - birds and bees etc in the air,
worms and insects, bacteria and fungi, in the soil, and those insects that
like to run up and down plants, such as ants.

And of course - there is TIME - over the years the form of a forest garden
will change as trees grow and reach maturity.

A natural output of good forest gardening is that the soil becomes more
rich, and more healthy, and able to hold water and air better.


*THEIR SIZE:*The forest garden of Graham Bell, in Scotland is 800 meters
square. The one at Mouscron is 1800 meters square.

I am currently exploring, "what is the smallest effective forest garden?" -
both as a square or round, or more as a relatively thin, but more or less
long form.

THERE IS MORE INFORMATION ON SOCIAL IMPLICATIONS, if anyone wants that.



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