Yard to Garden: My Satoyama

 

One more level to go.

 Satoyama is a Japanese landscape and philosophical idea of harmony between landscape, nature and use. It is the sustainable and integrated traditional way of humans living in balance with the landscape around them. It is characterized by a hilly border zone between wild hillsides and plains often including terraced rice paddies that integrate with the nature around instead of overwhelming it. As an admirer of traditional Satoyama style agriculture, it inspires me to try to create my own little version in my yard. The best short description of Satoyama is that it is nature maintained through human interaction where mankind and nature have coexisted and co-evolved. 

When we moved into our house a few years ago, the west side consisted of a 30-foot-by-10-foot grassy hillside. I wanted to have a garden space, but hadn't had time to create one. The flat spaces of the front and back yard would make great gardens, but would take away what little yard space we have. The hillside, being pretty unusable, if terraced, would add space to the yard.

 Over the past few years, I've discovered that a grassy hillside, which takes the brunt of the hot summer sun and is hard to water, is useless. Additionally, that side of the house bakes in the sun without any shade. If we had some sizable trees, it might be different, but that will be years away. Converting it has been on my mind since the beginning.

Terracing the hillside adds a significant amount of usable space by extending the hillside horizontally into what was previously unusable air above a 25-degree grade. After building three 30-inch beds, I now have about 60 feet of row space in addition to 25 feet along the house that wasn't there before. The other reason for terracing is to grow taller plants, such as sun-loving plants like corn, sunflowers, Amaranth, and hollyhocks, which grow tall in time to withstand the late summer heat that blasts the side of the house. We will see how that works. Late in the season and early in the spring it will be interesting to try putting on some row covers and growing early and late season crops. My useless hillside is now useful.

As an admirer of the dying and ancient art of terrace agriculture, the idea of converting it had been stewing in the back of my mind for two years until I discovered the garden blocks (pictured) that would make it easy and affordable. The blocks, combined with cheap and salvaged (untreated) lumber, made it possible to terrace my hillside. About 50 percent of the soil was made by composting yard and food waste over the past few years. We have been pushing the "zero waste" philosophy to compost what we can. Hopefully, one day, as we further refine our purchases with an eye toward waste, most will be recycled in house and only a small amount will go to landfill.

Rice terraces are everywhere in the Philippines, but are being lost to mechanized agriculture. I hope to see and hike the massive rice terraces of the the Cordillera like these at Banaue one day.

 
Whether it is massive terraced landscapes in Asia, vertiginous mountain aeries in South America, or seaside cliffs in Europe, terraces are an ancient and efficient method of growing food in limited space. Unfortunately, they also don't lend themselves well to mechanized agriculture, and these ancient cultural landscapes are disappearing. At a time when we need the holistic ideas and philosophies such as Satoyama, they have never been more threatened.