The Owner Built Home and Homestead: Planting Design

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Modern landscape designers miss the boat entirely as far as designing for spiritual
Modern landscape designers miss the boat entirely as far as designing for spiritual "uplift" is concerned. Where can one find a garden (this side of the Orient) which gives man essential revitalizing contact with the plan growth and fecundity of the earth?
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In Western gardens we seek more of the comforts or conveniences which people have come to consider essential to their well being. Another factor is garden beauty; we arouse interest through variety of planting, excitement through planting sequence, stimulation through planting color.
In Western gardens we seek more of the comforts or conveniences which people have come to consider essential to their well being. Another factor is garden beauty; we arouse interest through variety of planting, excitement through planting sequence, stimulation through planting color.

Ken Kern, author of The Owner-Built Home and The Owner-Built Homestead, is an amazing fellow and everyone interested in decentralist, back-to-the-land, rational living should know of his work. Back in 1948 he began collecting information on low-cost, simple and natural construction materials and techniques. He combed the world for ideas, tried them and started writing about his experiments. Eventually, Mildred Loomis started publishing Kern’s articles in The Interpreter, Way Out and Green Revolution. Ken has also issued a three year series of pieces (called Technic) on his own and a greenhouse-sun pit design of his has been featured in Organic Gardening.

This installment of Ken’s work is taken from The Owner-Built Home. I’ll be featuring never before published material from The Owner-Built Homestead in my No. 7 issue. Again, I have to apologize for jumping back and forth as I reprint Ken’s excellent material, but that’s the way I have to do it and

Ken’s writing makes it all worthwhile.

–MOTHER EARTH NEWS

The Homestead Building Site: Planting Design

  • Published on Apr 3, 2012
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