Dave Jacke

Hey folks! Thanks for your interest in who I am and the work I do--especially the latter! I have spent my adult life working as a freelance ecological design and planning consultant and teacher. I earned my BA in Environmental Studies with a self-created minor in Land Use Planning in 1980 from Simons Rock (Simons-rock.edu)--much time in the woods there between classes. I worked for "landscrapers" for a while in my early twenties. After taking a permaculture design course with Bill Mollison in 1981, I went to a great little graduate school called the Conway School of Landscape Design (Conway, MA, csld.edu) so I could actually learn how to do design. Edible Forest Gardens grew out of my years as a design consultant and my lifelong interest in applying ecology to the design of human cultures, as well as my playful working relationship with Eric Toensmeier, socially engaged plant geek extraordinaire. A lifelong New Englander, I live in western Massachusetts near the Connecticut River. I share my home with my blueberries, edible violets, French sorrel, and other good friends. I have begun work on two more books, one on coppice agroforestry with Mark Krawczyk, and another on the relationship between ecological design work and spiritual practice. You can learn more about me and my books at edibleforestgardens.com.