Organic Orchard and Garden

Welcome to Dancing TreePeople organic orchard and garden located in Upper Lake, California. Dancing TreePeople embraces the ethics and principles of permaculture and organic growing.

The 11 acre orchard is certified organic and has been producing walnuts for over 50 years, organically since 2000.

Recent additions include an organic vegetable garden, a greenhouse, solar energy and the beginnings of a permaculture food forest.

Oh, and pygmy goats and Chickens who help with soil fertility, mowing and weed control.

Daisies: The Video:

We Start with the Soil

The first ethic of permaculture is "Care of the Earth" and so at Dancing TreePeople, we practice a gentle, no till agriculture that encourages natural systems to develop soil fertility.

We are initiating this process by allowing animals to graze in cycles with planting (to provide nitrogen) and by spreading straw for additional organic matter.

We use cover crops to prevent erosion and to retain soil structure.

Natural Building

The second ethic of Permaculture is "Care of People." At Dancing TreePeople, we are planning a number of Natural buildings, beginning with simple structures and ultimately a Straw and Cob home. If you are interested in a hands-on experience please Contact Us for one of our workshops.

To view our progress so far, Click Here

From time to time, wild turkeys are found in the middle of our walnut orchard .

Forest Garden

Dancing TreePeople is beginning the process of developing a Food Forest, or Forest Garden. A Forest Garden is designed to create an ecosystem of plants which fit in their environment, which approximate the structure and function of local indigineous plants, and serve the needs of people.

Forest gardening is a central practice of Permaculture, an ecological design strategy for sustainable living.

Energy

The third ethic of permaculture is "return the surplus" or better defined as "use only what you need and return the rest to people and to Earth." We strive to live this ethic by living as lightly as we can--particularly when it comes to energy use.

Our orchard runs on a 3KW Solar electric system and any surplus energy is returned to the grid. We haul those straw bales with a 1957 Ford tractor run on biodiesel.