We first heard about Food Forests several years ago and have remained inspired by them ever since. We pretty much dream of the time when we can create our own! After we returned from India, we visited several Food Forests in the UK and plan to do the same in Australia. Another term commonly used is Forest Garden.
Martin Crawford describes a Food Forest as: ‘a three-dimensional garden of useful plants’ (see a youtube video of his garden here). This includes trees, shrubs, perennial vegetables, herbs (also often called weeds!) and climbers, all interacting in a natural way which minimises direct competition and also pest problems. It is imitating a productive natural young forest system. Food Forests create a fantastic habitat for wildlife, and because they consist of mostly perennial plants, there is none of that back-breaking planting, mulching and weeding that goes along with annual cropping. As there is a huge diversity of species in a small area, pests do not tend to be a problem. A good habitat will support birds and spiders which prey on most garden pests and keep their numbers down. Weeds are not a problem, in fact they make up a large part of the food forest! Most weeds in fact have an edible or medicinal use, and as there is no bare soil, there is no opportunity for a vigorous weed to come in and dominate. And the system mulches itself! There is no need for digging, as the plants themselves break up the soil with their roots, and the mulch from their leaves adds all the nutrients they need. In fact to dig the soil at all disturbs the delicate myccorhizal fungal systems, bacteria and other micro-organisms working on building the soil. Best to leave it alone to nature to do the job!
Whilst there is a perception that food forests are only relevant for people with a lot of land they are just as relevant in the average back garden as a farm. In fact they make an incredibly efficient use of space and 1 acre is a suggested amount of land needed for a family of four or five. A Food Forest can provide over 200 species of edible crops, whilst we eat on average only 20. And it doesn’t end with edible crops. They can also be designed with plants for medicine, construction, furniture making, basketry, natural dyes, fibres, plants to encourage pollinators like bees and even food for other plants.
Bangor Forest Garden in North Wales was established 12 years ago on a university owned site where a large agricultural research unit already existed. The project is one of the most well managed sites we have seen with volunteers meeting once a month to manage the site. Whilst winter visits focus more on cutting grass paths, pruning trees and taking cuttings the majority of the spring and summer volunteer days are spent harvesting yummy berries and nuts and even bamboo! If you ever get the chance to visit keep a keen eye out for the Strawberry tree! Quite a substantial part of the work time is spent drinking tea around a fire and chatting. It really does promote the low-energy-input yet high-yield-output nature of food forests!
We also volunteered with Karuna Farm in Shropshire where the owners, Janta and Merav have planted over 6000 trees in the last 6 years on 18 acres as a food forest. This is the biggest food forest we’re aware of and they are still expanding! Used to graze cattle for numerous generations the now forested land stands out in its local area. The family have even been told they were increasing the local biodiversity TOO much and should not change the local situation dramatically. How ironic. Have we have so altered our rural landscape to the point where a natural high-diversity system has no place in it anymore?
The father of Food Forests in the UK, Robert Hart, created the first in the country back in the 1970s and authored ‘Forest Farming: Towards a Solution to Problems of World Hunger and Conservation’ and ‘Forest Gardening: Rediscovering Nature and Community in a Post-Industrial Age’ among others. Hart discovered that maintaining large annual vegetable beds, rearing animals and caring for an orchard required too much of his energy as he aged. However, he also observed that a small bed of perennial vegetables and herbs he had planted was looking after itself with little or no intervention! Furthermore, these plants provided interesting and unusual additions to the diet, and seemed to promote health and vigour in both body and mind. Sadly after passing away at the age of 86 his land and work have been left to nature.
Martin Crawford has taken inspiration from Hart and has established a Food Forest just outside of Totnes in Devon in the grounds of Schumacher College. Crawford runs a donation based tour of the Forest each month. He has also created the Agroforestry Institute and has written a clear and thorough manual for temperate climates with a vast knowledge of species and interaction between different plants. We would strongly recommend finding a copy of ‘Creating a Forest Garden’!
Another great inspiration for us both has been Geoff Lawton in New South Wales, Australia ,who has produced a fantastic DVD on the concept and his work (see the promo on youtube here.) We’re especially excited about travelling to Lawton’s Food Forest and permaculture farm near Bryon Bay, Zaytuna Farm.
You can grow as many species as you like in a Food Forest and can use trees to coppice wood from if you wish. Although they can technically be commercial systems they are generally more appropriate for home or community use. An efficient economic market garden has their annual crops planted in rows for fast harvesting, whereas a Food Forest is far more random and higgledy-piggledy! Many people ask ‘Can a Forest Garden be as productive as a market garden?’. The answer is, not if you are measuring the yield for each crop, but as a whole system yes! The total yield of all the hundreds of species combined is incredible! Add in the other outputs which are not often measured, for example, valuable habitat and mulch from leaves falling to build the mulch layer and the soil, and the Food Forest is streaking ahead in productivity! The amount of work and yield you want is really up to you and the time you have to invest in it.
Food forests do work differently in different climates. In temperate climates the lack of light and light intensity means that designs work more as a forest edge with trees kept short and spaced wide apart. In the tropics however where food forests have existed in some form for hundreds of years the increased amount of light means that they work much more as a forest and are more densely planted. A valuable design wherever in the world you live!
Helen and Tom
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