An example of a cold climate food forest and the rationale behind developing a food forest.
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Nature has been growing plants for 460 million years and trees for 370
million years. According to fossil records, humans appeared in Africa
around 195 thousand years ago and thrived on nature’s bounty. Fast
forward to the early 1900s, which saw the beginning of a new era of
growing food crops, monoculture, or single crop farming.
Instead
of rotating crops to restore nutrients to the soil it gets depleted.
Modern man’s solution was to use chemicals and fertilizer, wiping out
natural habitats in the process.
Nature
was doing rather well and our ancestors followed her example before the
single crop idea took hold and thankfully, many people have since
realized that working with nature one can create forest gardens for food
that are designed to mimic natural ecosystems and restore our soil.
Martin Crawford, a forest gardening pioneer, based in the UK, explains in a
short film by Thomas Regnault,
“What
we think of as normal, in terms of food production is actually not
normal at all. Annual plants are very rare in nature, yet most of our
agricultural fields are filled with annual plants. It’s not normal.
What’s normal is a more forested or semi-forested system.”
Forest
gardens mimic natural ecosystems by using perennial plants and trees,
which live for a long time and/or reseed themselves. The garden would
have various vertical levels of growth such as tall canopy trees,
shorter trees, shrubs and bushes, vines, consists of various vertical
levels of growth, from canopy trees to shorter trees, to shrubs and
bushes, vines, herbs, ground cover and roots. The levels work together,
offering shade, wind protection, support and nutrition. Starting a
forest garden from scratch will take time, work and money but once done,
it will basically take care of itself for years with very little
maintenance but plenty to harvest.
Crawford explains, “With
such a diverse system, whatever happens with the weather, most of your
crops will probably do fine. Some may fail, some may do better. That’s
very important going into the future. Because we don’t know exactly
what’s going to happen to our weather. So by having a diverse system, it
gives you maximum resilience.”
