Wildside Cottage and Gardens

Wildside Cottage and Gardens is a private, 8-acre permaculture homestead in Conway, MA, originally envisioned as a demonstration site for the integration of house, land, habitat, and agriculture. RDG worked with the then-owner to design innovative connections between home, garden, and wild lands, including an earth-sheltered greenhouse designed and built in 2015.

Through creative planning, nutrients, materials, and energy are cycled and conserved onsite. Rather than being discarded as waste, nutrient-rich greywater and humanure feed the food forest, which in turn feeds people and helps heat the cottage. These low-input, life-supporting systems demonstrate regionally appropriate and proactive responses to a changing climate, economy, and energy landscape. The food forest — a diverse, abundant human-created ecosystem that mimics the forest in structure and function — extends down the east slope below the house. Three on-contour swales capture surface water and allow infiltration along the slope, reducing irrigation needs. Mulch, woody debris, brush, and ground covers further reduce evaporation while feeding the soil food web.