Miyawaki Report #1 - Feb 2021
Miyawaki Permafforest Webinar Feb 2021
Here is the Bruno-Summary:
Permafforest = French permaculturalists who created first (and only) french Miyawaki Training for 300 euros (this webinar was a sales pitch)
expect 1 meter of growth per year
5 common errors: no site analysis, no soil analysis, only 1 strata of vegetation, exotic species, skipping steps
include walkways in design, preferably over the city utilities so they can easily dig it up (check city GIS)
in France, always include: Arbousier, Tilleul, Noisetier, Merisier, Cormier ...check regional floras for the rest
prepare site for planting between mid oct and mid march, then mulch + put up temporary fence to protect saplings from trampling by humans
for first 2-3 years, water + weed exotics once a year; make sure it is super clear who is in charge of that
minimum size 100m2 = 9 parking spots (rip out asphalt), or size of typical detached home's footprint
5 m2 of forests provides oxygen needs of 20 people
make mini miyawaki forests where there is only room for a hedge (minimum 1 meter width) or wildlife corridor or windbreak
good point to convince municipalities: maintainance costs go way down (close to zero after 3 years) compared to current parks and green spaces
good point to convince homeowners: value of real estate increases
Permafforest offers 300 euro self-paced online training: 5 modules (approx 5 weeks) all in french and focussed on native species of France
After the webinar, I did some more research:
I found 2 other places (in India and the Netherlands) that offer quasi free training ... see https://airtable.com/tblavpqbI6CZH3h91/viwuIWwAMLjQCck5N
all three trainers were trained by the same Indian engineer, Shubhendhu Sharma, who was trained by Miyawaki himself, and who also offers training for US$500
Sabine was the first to bring our attention to Miyawaki thanks to a Guardian article in summer 2020 and videos of Shubhendu Sharma in Holland and Vancouver
Akiro Miyawaki is now 93 years old. 12 years ago, he went to India to a Toyota factory to oversee their Miyawaki landscaping (common Japanese habit)
Shubhendu Sharma was an engineer at the plant and apprenticed to Miyawaki and then left the company to start Afforest, his miyawaki NGO
Miyawaki wrote a book in 2009 "The Healing Power of Forests" ... out of print ... I reserved a copy from the Vancouver Public Library (should arrive in mid-march 2021) (see Japanese cartoon explanation)
Momentum is building up worldwide.
I still see no Miyawaki projects in Canada; but there are "firsts" in England, New Zealand and USA.
We can still be the pioneers! Unless Nanaimo beats us to it :-)
my plan is to do the two free trainings and provide a "Bruno Summary", then to read the Miyawaki book
and here is the pdf manual for the Netherlands Miyawaki Training
p.s. the link to the videos and structured course is in the airtables link i sent earlier.
Bruno