Food Forests

A food forest is a human-stewarded, multi-layered collection of perennial plants producing food, medicine, fuel, and fiber. It fosters habitat growth, soil improvement, rainwater capture, and the restoration of degraded land, while also promoting community unity and food security.

These food forests, series of polyculture guilds, facilitate a beneficial ecosystem where plants interact synergistically, resulting in increased abundance, plant vigor, and habitat. This contrasts with monocultures like lawns, apple orchards, or vast corn fields.

Two primary styles of food forests exist:

1. Syntropic Agroforestry: This system arranges rows (typically 6’ wide) north to south, featuring nut and fruiting trees, timer trees, shrubs, herbs, vines, ground cover, edible roots, and biomass accumulators. Spacing maximizes sunlight. Wide aisles (10’-15’ wide) between tree rows initially allow for annual vegetable production until the trees grow large enough to overshadow them, by then producing significantly more calories and produce.

2. Forest Garden Design: This design incorporates meandering paths around fruit and nut tree guilds, arranging trees and shrubs in various height layers, including canopy, subcanopy, shrub layer, herbaceous, groundcover, rooting, vining, and mycelial. These guilds emulate mature forest relationships, while offering space for paths, gathering areas, benches, and meditation spaces while creating habitat and producing food for the community.

While a deeply mulched (8” ramial woodchips) food forest might include annual vegetables, the primary inhabitants are permanent, long-living plants requiring minimal human intervention. Once established, forest garden stewardship involves pruning, plant selection, and harvest. Trees, with a low initial cost, yield substantial value in food production and require minimal external inputs for decades.

Humanity's deep connection to nature historically involved constant interaction with plants, animals, seasons, and the environment. In the modern era, this connection has dwindled, especially for urban dwellers. Engaging in the stewardship of a forest garden fosters an invaluable interaction with nature, promoting a pro-social experience and celebrating life's abundance.