num_pages: 384
description: By the turn of the nineteenth century thousands of acres of glass houses surrounded large American cities becoming a commonplace symbol of the market garden and nursery trades. But the possibilities of the indoor garden to transform our homes and our lives remain largely unrealized.In this groundbreaking book Jerome Osentowski one of North Americas 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 conceptsintegration multi-functions perennials and polyculturesthat take season extension into new and important territory.Osentowski director and founder of Central Rocky Mountain Permaculture Institute (CRMPI) farms at 7200 feet on a steep rocky hillside in Colorado incorporating deep holistic permaculture design with practical common sense. It is at this site high on a mountaintop where Osentowski (along with architect and design partner Michael Thompson) has been designing and building revolutionary greenhouses that utilize passive and active solar technology via what they call the climate batterya subterranean air-circulation system that takes the hot moist ambient air from the greenhouse during the day stores it in the soil and discharges it at nightthat can offer tropical and Mediterranean climates at similarly high altitudes and in cold climates (and everywhere else). Osentowskis 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. The book is part case study of the amazing greenhouses at CRMPI and part how-to primer for anyone interested in a more integrated model for growing food and medicine in a greenhouse. 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.
language: English
title: The Forest Garden Greenhouse: How to Design and Manage an Indoor Permaculture Oasis
publisher: Chelsea Green