I've spent some time in those redwood forests, but only in the summer. It's so dark even in summer, that I would never consider living there, esp if I wanted to grow my own food. But most fruiting plants need at least 6 hrs of sun a day, and you can't provide that (probably) even near the summer solstice.

About the only thing I can suggest is to rent or buy some open land to plant in. That kind of defeats the idea of permaculture, but you don't seem to have a lot of choices.

Maybe someone else can come up with some ideas.

Sue

Sorry, but now you know why the local Indians didn't spend much time in the redwood forests. Edible plants are few and far between. Huckleberries perhaps, you've probably already tried those. Some fern fiddleheads are edible. Miner's lettuce. Salmonberry. Other than that ... what the Indians used the forest for was hunting and fishing. Squirrel, deer, salmon, steelhead. Probably none of those hanging around still. Now those mushrooms could be valuable. Not sure what edibles grow in redwood forests though. Check it out though. They're not exactly a dietary staple but they could be very valuable to sell or trade, and your best bet for producing something on your own land.

Or how about rabbits? Caged rabbits don't take up as much room as chooks do, and produce meat and fur. Or you could try fish farming. Koi and goldfish started out as edible fish and they'll live in a small stagnant pond, unlike native trout and steelhead.

It may be more work than it's worth but could you somehow garden on the roof? You'd get sun right?

-Pam

I could never eat bunnies! :-)I could imagine pet ones,but that doesn't really further susainability one bit....

With the tan oaks just removed from my driveway area, a lot more sun is coming through there. I want to try growing berries in the stumps. Any advice on that?

I think we are going to focus on stormwater management and explore water catchement as well as improving our greywater system so that the water does not turn black anymore (We have a good book on that.) I'm going to experiment with planting guilds of natives just so that I can explore the natural relationships. We certainly can produce berries in the sunnier spots, if not on most of the property. We get our produce from a CSA anyway...and I have a community vegetable garden (small) up the street. In our remodeling, we are looking at choosing the most ecologically sensitive materials and methods we can determine. I can create a lot of good habitat in my yard.

Probably, my best opportunity on this property is to concentrate on native revegetation and treat a lot of the place more like a Zone 5, which I get to learn from. In the next five years, I expect we'll move to a sunnier spot. For now, I continue to be taught by the forest. thanks for all your advice. Keep em coming!

Huckleberries like the shade; so do kiwi (supposedly) and pawpaw. If the soil is not amenable you could try containers (which is what I do as I live in the city)
I have never seen the redwoods; I envy you!
Oh, and mushrooms are always good! got any logs?

How about checking out some books on Forest Gardening? I have barely opened them a time or two and closed them up because they did not fit my situation.
Mike

Your situation is why Bill Mollison once said to never build a house in a forest!

That said, I live in a huge Sitka Spruce forest, and have managed to grow many plants using edge effect in clearings and along the driveway. Consider planters along the drive and in sunny spots. That way you can modify the soil. Planters do not have to be pots or windowboxes, although those work fine; I cut my redwood hot tub in half (horizontally) with a sawzall and got two BIG planters out of it. Look around for possible things to recycle into planters.

That said, shady edibles like wintergreen, bearberry, comfrey, plants mentioned by others above, mint, stinging nettle, for perennials. In containers, with limited sun, try lettuce, salad greens, pak choy, chives, thymes,sages.

For flowers, pansies, nasturtiums, and calendula are edible and might well flower.

You will need to mulch, and probably will want a dripline water source. You might try some of those self-watering planter boxes (EarthBox is one.)

Good luck with your garden!

If your driveway area gets sun, try gardening in lg. pots. If you can put the pots in the sun-reflection area of the garage, you'll also get more heat, which will help with the growing (as long as your remember to water).

Sue

If you're after more light, just girdle a tree or two due south of where you want the light. Leave them standing and the forest will still use them.

rewood permaculture should be for the redwood forests which is what we need to try to preserve!the fog drip they provide is unique where they are turning water in the air into moisture on the ground for ferns etc.swales that can help redwoods compete with oaks (which have taproots) are what we need!