The Garden of Eden Project:
SAMPLE PARCEL A1
~ 10 PEOPLE ON 5 ACRES ~
~ DESCRIPTION ~

The PICTORIAL A1 color graphic that you see is a design for a 5 acre piece of agricultural land that can be transformed into a living landscaped community for 10 people. Each person gets 1/2 of an acre: 1/4 acre for crops; and 1/4 acre for living, recreational space or whatever. This gives each person much more personal space than the average city dweller. What I have done here is to devise a sample plan to show you what really living in such a Garden of Eden community could be like.

The NUMBERED OBJECTS that you see in this pictorial are various buildings and structures described briefly in TABLE #1 and are described in detail in Description of NUMBERED OBJECTS.

The groups of circles of GREEN DOTS that you see in Pictorial A1 are orchards of various fruit and nut trees. Each circle is a different type of tree. The size of each dot is not drawn proportionately to scale, however the distances between the dots are drawn exactly to scale using a geometry formula to get the spacing exactly right. These trees are named by their corresponding lowercase letter of the alphabet in the FRUIT & NUT TREE CIRCLES link HERE and to the left of the picture. There is more information on the trees in the TABLE #6: Fruit & Nut Tree RIPENING MONTHS link to the left of the picture, also. There is in-depth information on these trees in:TABLE #7: Fruit & Nut TREES, 15 YEAR YIELD ESTIMATES. The information is based on recommended planting distances taken from reliable sources, as noted in these tables. TABLE #4: FRUIT & NUT TREE CIRCLES and TABLE #5: FRUIT & NUT TREE CIRCLES (arranged by tree type) also give other data on the fruit trees (like: yield, in pounds, per tree; circle diameter; etcetera). Study these TABLES very carefully, as there is much information shown there, and you'll probably be very lucky if you find this information anywhere else! It took a lot longer than you might think to gather all this information together!

The trees used in this part of the plan would work in many areas of California and other areas of the United States and the world. However, you should check with your local nursery for specific varieties and data for your area. You could create your own information, and create a custom design using your own favorite trees. After the firmaments1 are constructed everyone will be able to grow even tropical fruits all over the world.

Study TABLE #1 (shown below) to get a good idea of how much area is used for NON-CROP AREAS. If you add up the square footage of all the structural items in one of the far right columns of TABLE #1, you see that it comes to 48,322 square feet, or about 1.1 acres, which is about 22% of the land. So that means that about 78% of the TOTAL land is left over for other purposes. So if we use half of the land (50%) for growing crops, that leaves about 28% for other purposes, depending on what the community wants to do.

TABLES #2 and #3 (slightly below TABLE #1) show us how the acreage can be used for the crops and how the acreage is distributed among the various main crop groups. Look at TABLE #8 and TABLE #9 for more detailed information on sample crop plans for specific: ONE-SEASON CROPS (vegetables, melons, grains, legumes); GRAPES; HERBS; and BERRIES. These are designed from average yield data from reliable sources as noted there. TABLE #10 gives grand total estimates for the 1st year of crops and TABLE #11 gives grand total estimates for the 15th year of crops.

TABLE #1:
NUMBERED OBJECTS or NON-CROP AREAS in PICTORIAL A1
OBJECT
NUMBER(S)
Quantity NUMBERED OBJECTS (also called "NON-CROP AREAS") SQUARE
FEET
ACRES
11BASKETBALL COURT (50 X 75 feet)3,7500.086
21LARGE POND (75-foot diameter)4,4180.101
31TENNIS COURT (35 X 80 feet)2,8000.064
4,112FOUNTAINS (20-foot diameter,315 square feet each)6280.014
51GAZEBO (30-foot diameter)7070.016
61MANURE DROP-OFF (15 X 15 feet)2250.005
7,10,14,15,185RESIDENCES (35-foot diameter and lawn)25,1330.577
81HOT TUB (10 foot diameter)790.002
91SAUNA (10 foot diameter)790.002
121SMALL POND (40-foot diameter)1,2570.029
131GRAPE ARBOR (10 foot radius)3140.007
161FLOWER GARDEN (40-foot diameter)1,2570.029
171RECREATIONAL FIELD (65 X 100 feet)6,5000.149
(not labeled)35BENCHES (3 X 10 feet each, 30 square feet each)1,0500.024
(not labeled)5COMPOST BINS (5 X 5 feet each)1250.003
TOTALS:48,3201.109
Click on this:
DESCRIPTION of NUMBERED OBJECTS link to see
a more detailed description of these NUMBERED OBJECTS.

We see from TABLE #1 above that there is about 1.109 ACRES OF NON-CROP GROWING AREAS out of the whole 5 ACRES. So there is almost 4 ACRES of space that could be used for CROP GROWING AREAS and other uses.

From TABLE #2, below, (the data for the first year of the community) we can do some arithmetic and see that there are about 2.5 acres of crops (0.218 + 1.530 + 0.195 + 0.050 + 0.510 = 2.503 ACRES).

Similiarly, from TABLE #3, below, (the data for the fifteenth year of the community) we can do some more arithmetic and we see that there are almost 2.5 acres of crops (2.180 + 0.050 + 0.195 + 0.050 + 0.015 = 2.49 ACRES)

So if we calculate how much room we have left over from after the crop acerage is counted, from the largest acerage, 2.503 acres, we see that we have 2.497 acres of non-crop space. From TABLE #1, we have 1.109 acres we must use for other things, so doing the math, we have 1.388 acres remaining for whatever the community wishes. (math: 2.497 - 1.109 = 1.388)

According to TABLE #2 (the 1st YEAR data) the food output is 4.17 pounds per person per day. TABLE #3's (15th YEAR DATA) food output is 7.37 pounds per person per day. If you have ever calulated how many pounds of vegetarian food you eat every day, it is most likely far less than these figures. However, it's better to err on the side of caution, and plan to have more than you need, rather than come up short on food. You can always give the extra food away, sell it,or as a last resort, compost it. However, we should subtract 25% of the food output to allow for: seeds that don't germinate; animals eating the seeds; bad seed; bad growing weather; etcetera. So with this figured in, there would be nearly 3.2 pounds of food per person per day per person (out of the 4.17 pounds calculated) and there's over 5.5 pounds (out of the 7.37 pounds calculated). So now the crop output doesn't seem so excessive, does it? That's still over 3 pounds to over5 pounds of food per day per person! Most people are eating a lot if they eat 3 pounds of food per day!

Even so, the community may decide that these yields are insufficient. No problem. There is still about 1.4 ACRES left over in this plan. That's plenty of space to grow more than enough extra food to ensure that there is enough food for all!

In case you are wondering, the reason the ACREAGE for the fruit trees in TABLE #2 and TABLE #3 is so different is because while these fruit trees are young (the first few years) only about 10% of their acreage area is required for them, since the roots don't need much space at this stage of their development. Also because the tree crops cast very little shade on other crops when they're young, other one-season crops can be planted much closer to them, than when these trees get older and you cannot plant other crops close to them or they will not receive sufficient sunlight, due to the shade of these trees.

After the first year the 90% of open area (mostly the fruit & nut tree acreage) will begin to shrink as the trees increase in size and yields, so the one season crops need to be scaled back proportionately, as is shown in TABLE #2 below. Also reflected in the TABLES is that the GRAPES will produce little or nothing the first year.

Also you might take note that some fruit trees live to be as much as 100 years old, while still producing abundant fruit!

TABLE #2: 1st YEAR CROPS for SAMPLE PARCEL A1
NAME of AREAAPPROXIMATE ACERAGE
-- estimate --
1st YEAR
YIELD in POUNDS
/person /day
YIELD in POUNDS
/person /year
YIELD in POUNDS
/community/day
YIELD in POUNDS
/community/year
NON-CROP AREAS1.109NONE NONENONENONE
FRUIT & NUT TREES0.2180.00 000000
ONE-SEASON CROPS1.5303.83 1,3973813,968
GRAPE VINEYARDS0.1950.00 000000
HERB GARDENS0.0500.14 501.37500
BERRY PATCHES0.5100.21 762.09762
EXTRA SPACE1.388NONE NONENONENONE
TOTALS:5.00 4.171,52342 15,230

TABLE #3: 15th YEAR CROPS for SAMPLE PARCEL A1
NAME of AREAAPPROXIMATE ACERAGE
-- estimate --
15th YEAR
YIELD in POUNDS
/person /day
YIELD in POUNDS
/person /year
YIELD in POUNDS
/community/day
YIELD in POUNDS
/community/year
NON-CROP AREAS1.109 NONENONENONE NONE
FRUIT & NUT TREES2.1806.09 2,2256122,246
ONE-SEASON CROPS0.0500.14 521.42519
GRAPE VINEYARDS0.1950.89 3248.883,240
HERB GARDENS0.0500.14 501.37500
BERRY PATCHES0.0150.11 401.10401
EXTRA SPACE1.401NONE NONENONENONE
TOTALS:5.00 7.372,69174 26,906


You will probably have to rely heavily on the one-season crops for a while. So your one-season crops may have to sustain you for a few years, but eventually your fruit trees will start to produce big yields! Look at TABLE #7: Fruit & Nut TREES, 15 YEAR YIELD ESTIMATES. to see more specifically what kind of yields you might expect from them. Beyond that point in time, you will probably have extra fruit, which can be sold, bartered or given away!

If you wanted to gradually become a fruitarian, what more gradual way is there than this? It will take a few years for the fruit to multiply on the fruit trees, so meanwhile you eat the "vegetable" crops that you want (and/or "small fruit" crops like: melons, strawberries, cucumbers, etcetera). Then as the fruit trees gradually grow over the years, you will gradually, naturally start to eat the more plentiful fruit from the trees, as they grow up. (By the way, this is a plan that would accommodate all the foods in The Mucusless Diet Healing System.)

So now we see that we certainly do have plenty of room for high quality organic food and recreation!

The 5 acre area here, shown in PICTORIAL A1, unfortunately would not have much room for larger animals, like deer and mountain lions, although there could be places for wild animals to habitate outside the 5-acre area. However, part of the Garden of Eden concept is that by most humans living a Garden of Eden lifestyle, similar to this, much of the land that is currently being used for livestock raising (which is half the land mass of the planet), and some of the land being used for unnecessary industrial purposes, could be restored similar to the wild condition that it once was. Then wildlife may be able to flourish once again on 80% of the land on earth, leaving 10% for the Garden of Eden lifestyle and 10% for cities, as is described in the What Is the Garden of Eden Project? paper.

LINKS:
Intentional Communities Website

Footnote:
1 The term "firmament" is a term found in the book of Genesis in the Bible. However, not much is said about it there. In the book entitled: Your First Contact, by Sheldan Nidle, the word "firmament" is described as a layer of ice 15,000 feet above the surface of the Earth, and covering the entire planet! The purpose of it was to create a "greenhouse", and as a result the entire surface of the Earth was like a tropical paradise! This undoubtedly was the time of the "Garden of Eden" mentioned in the Bible. The oceans were much smaller then because much of the water on Earth was used for the firmaments (there were actually 2 firmaments). There were no big thunderstorms like today, no hurricanes, no tornadoes, etcetera. The cause of the Great Flood was due to the destruction of the firmaments during a great war on Earth. The flood wiped out all the ancient records of our past very advanced civilizations, and so the Bible that we know today was written mostly from just memory. Much technology was also lost in the flood, so the Bible had to be hand written. That is why so very little is known about our true ancestory and past history. For more information, the book is featured at this link: Planetary Activization Organization.