In early 2008, I was lucky enough to visit an inspirational housing estate, Village Homes, at Davis California, an hour or two from San Francisco.

Village Homes is a sustainable housing project of 245 dwellings, on 70 acres, built just over 25 years ago, by developers Michael and Judy Corbett. House lots run North-South, so that passive solar design is supported here. Streets are narrow, to cut down on heat absorption and re-radiation from the hot Summer sun. Shady street trees help reduce air temperature too.

A large percentage of the trees on site are fruit or nut trees, in fact the almond harvest from the almond trees lining the Eastern boundary, I was told by a resident, pays for the 3 gardeners who maintain the extensive shared gardens.

Most homes have no back fences, and a smaller area of privately owned land per household is compensated for by the large areas of communally owned land. This land is landscaped with swales, the water management systems of Permaculture, which manage the flow of rainwater entering the site and  sustain the groundwater, allowing the landscape to flourish with less irrigation water. (The gardens at Village Homes use 2/3 less irrigation water than neighbouring developments.) The shared land has been landscaped with productive plants (fruit, nuts, herbs) which are available to all the residents (the almond harvest is reserved for the Maintenance Fund.)

The curving streets are lined with fruit trees, many in Spring blossom when I was there. Tall citrus trees were heavy with fruit. Wider areas of land created by the curvaceous planning of the site supported small orchards and vineyards. There are community buildings and also a large grassy playing space - somewhat contraversial amongst some residents.

The meandering walking or bike paths at the rear of houses create safe car-free areas for children to play, and also allow disabled residents to move freely for exercise without the concern of cars.

The Western boundary has a wide strip of vegetable gardens and chicken coops – this land is allocated according to residents requests each Spring.

It would be entirely possible to supply all your own vegetable, fruit, herb and egg needs from these gardens as a resident.  

This estate is a living example of gardens filled with beauty and productivity. These houses and gardens in harmony show that it can be done, to grow your food where you live, to enjoy the freshest food possible, knowing that no trucks carried it half-way across the country for you.

Experiencing this development has inspired me even more to bring edible plants into the gardens I work with, so that more of us can use the (often) ample space around us in a productive fashion. Village Homes shows us that productive, sustainable gardens can be beautiful gardens.

There are photos of the gardens of Village Homes in the Gallery section of the website.