The Changing Face of Eden

Below is the aerial picture from Google Earth in 2004 the year we purchased “Le Bois de Grammont” we set out to create our own Eden (Garden of Delight) using Permaculture ethics, principles and design science to inform us of the right direction. We have made mistakes and we have developed our site through hard work and intelligent design.

Below you can see some of the changes we had already made by 2008 most of the changes are too small to see and include renovating the house and barn but you can make out some of the changes we made to the land.

The next picture is from Flash Earth in 2011 and the land form changes we have made are more clear, our focus had moved from grain fed pigs to grass-fed cattle, sheep and poultry and an increase in tree productivity from fruit and nuts.

Below is an image taken around august 2015 in the middle of a drought. You can see some of the shadows cast by our fruit and nut trees and newly planted hedges including 7,000 trees and shrubs. The area in the top left of the red line has been naturally regenerating since 2008 and now includes hundreds of trees over 5 meters high and hundreds of saplings setting seed each year.

Since the above image was taken we have planted a further 4000 trees and shrubs including many fruit and nut trees. We have further divided the land with hedges developing our permanent planned grazing system, designed to improve livestock feeding and wildlife habitat and winter food provision. We have now been here twelve-years and the workload is lower than it was in the beginning the inputs are reducing while the outputs are rising with more produce year on year.