Robert Adrian de Jauralde Hart (1 April 1913 – 7 March 2000) was an English pioneer of forest gardening in temperate zones. He created a model forest garden from a 0.12 acre (500 m²) orchard on his farm. He credits the inspiration for his work to an article by James Sholto Douglas, which was in turn inspired by the work of Toyohiko Kagawa.

Early life

Hart, son of a lawyer father and a

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hertz, Hz to A5 in Choir, choral ...

mother, was born in London and educated at

Westminster School Westminster School is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school in Westminster, London, England, in the precincts of Westminster Abbey. It descends from a charity school founded by Westminster Benedictines before the Norman Conquest, as do ...

, after which he was employed at

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide writing in 16 languages. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency ...

news agency in charge of special Indian mails, work which involved compiling digests of weekly articles by

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2October 186930January 1948) was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalism, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethics, political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful Indian ...

, whose nonviolence philosophy he took on board. At the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

he considered registering as a

conscientious objector A conscientious objector is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of conscience or religion. The term has also been extended to objecting to working for the military–indu ...

but changed mind following retreat from Dunkirk in 1940 and enlisted in the Corps of Military Police, later transferring to the Intelligence Corps to work in code-breaking. After demobilisation, he was a dairy farmer in

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

and

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

before moving to

Shropshire Shropshire (; abbreviated SalopAlso used officially as the name of the county from 1974–1980. The demonym for inhabitants of the county "Salopian" derives from this name.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West M ...

where he took on a smallholding on Wenlock Edge.

Wenlock Edge

Robert Hart began with a

smallholding A smallholding or smallholder is a small farm operating under a small-scale agriculture model. Definitions vary widely for what constitutes a smallholder or small-scale farm, including factors such as size, food production technique or technolo ...

called Highwood Hill farm at Wenlock Edge. His intention was to provide a healthy and therapeutic environment for himself and his brother Lacon, who was born with severe

learning disabilities Learning disability, learning disorder, or learning difficulty (British English) is a condition in the brain that causes difficulties comprehending or processing information and can be caused by several different factors. Given the "difficulty ...

. Hart though soon discovered that maintaining large annual vegetable beds, rearing livestock and taking care of an

orchard An orchard is an intentional plantation of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit tree, fruit- or nut (fruit), nut-producing trees that are generally grown for commercial production. Orchards are also so ...

were tasks beyond his strength. However, he also observed that a small bed of perennial vegetables and herbs he had planted was looking after itself with little or no intervention. Furthermore, these plants provided interesting and unusual additions to the diet, and seemed to promote health and vigour in both body and mind.

Forest garden project

Noting the maxim of

Hippocrates Hippocrates of Kos (; ; ), also known as Hippocrates II, was a Greek physician and philosopher of the Classical Greece, classical period who is considered one of the most outstanding figures in the history of medicine. He is traditionally referr ...

to "make food your medicine and medicine your food", Hart adopted a

vegan Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal products and the consumption of animal source foods, and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. A person who practices veganism is known as a ve ...

, 90% raw food diet. The three main products from a forest garden are fruit, nuts and green leafy vegetables. Hart's forest garden at Wenlock Edge was a vegan organic food production system. He also began to examine the interactions and relationships that take place between plants in natural systems, particularly in

woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with woody plants (trees and shrubs), or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the '' plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunli ...

, the climax

ecosystem An ecosystem (or ecological system) is a system formed by Organism, organisms in interaction with their Biophysical environment, environment. The Biotic material, biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and en ...

of a cool temperate region such as the

British Isles The British Isles are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner Hebrides, Inner and Outer Hebr ...

. This led him to evolve the agroforestry concept of the "Forest Garden": Based on the observation that the natural forest can be divided into distinct layers or 'storeys', he developed an existing small orchard of apples and pears into an edible landscape consisting of seven dimensions; #A ' canopy' layer consisting of the original mature fruit trees. #A ' low-tree layer' of smaller nut and fruit trees on dwarfing root stocks. #A ' shrub layer' of fruit bushes such as currants and berries. #A ' herbaceous layer' of perennial vegetables and herbs. #A ' ground cover' layer of edible plants that spread horizontally. #A ' rhizosphere' or 'underground' dimension of plants grown for their roots and tubers. #A vertical 'layer' of vines and climbers. Hart had a vision for the spread of the forest garden throughout even the most heavily built up areas, as he explains:

Later life

Hart died in March 2000 aged 86 and is buried in St Peter's churchyard at Rushbury, Shropshire.
Robert Hart's grave photo on Flickr.

Bibliography

* ''Inviolable Hills: Ecology, Conservation and Regeneration of the British Uplands'', Stuart & W (1968). . * ''Forest Farming: Towards a Solution to Problems of World Hunger and Conservation'', co-authored with James Sholto Douglas, Rodale Press (1976). . * ''Ecosociety: A historical study of ecological man'', Natraj (1984). ISBN B0006EHVPW. * ''The Forest Garden'', Institute for Social Inventions (1987). . * ''Forest Gardening: Rediscovering Nature and Community in a Post-Industrial Age'', Green Books (UK) (1991, 1996 revised). .
''Can Life Survive?''
essay published in ''Deep Ecology and Anarchism'' by Freedom Press (1993). . * ''Beyond the Forest Garden'', Gaia Books, London (1996). .

References

External links

*
The Garden of Love
an article on Robert Hart's garden by Ken Fern of Plants for a Future.
Obituary
an

''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', April 2000
Obituary in permaculture magazine

Robert Hart and Forest Gardens
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hart, Robert 2000 deaths 1913 births English gardeners 20th-century English non-fiction writers Organic gardeners Permaculturalists Gandhians British nonviolence advocates 20th-century English male writers English conscientious objectors British Army personnel of World War II Royal Military Police soldiers Intelligence Corps soldiers