Dave Jacke

Dave Jacke is an ecological designer and educator whose work connects permaculture with the dynamics of temperate woodland. In Edible Forest Gardens, Vol. 1, written with Eric Toensmeier, he builds the ecological foundation for food-producing landscapes that imitate forest structure. Chelsea Green presents this first volume as the theoretical and visionary half of a two-volume study, paired with a second book on design and practice. Jacke has worked through Dynamics Ecological Design Associates since 1984 and has studied ecology and landscape design since the 1970s. His contribution is not simply a list of crops. It asks readers to understand succession, niches, soil, and relationships among species before shaping a resilient garden suited to its place.