Food forest?

A forest is highly productive and diverse

There are many buzzwords in permaculture — food forest, swale, hugelkultur to name a few. These terms describe techniques that are often considered integral to the practice of permaculture, or even to define it. In the post below I wrote about how it's best to evaluate needs, conditions, and resources before jumping on the bandwagon and implementing elements simply because they're popular. Taking my own advice, I decided to investigate the food forest.

Beyond herb spirals

Because the term food forest pops up in nearly every discussion of permaculture, I felt I should learn more about them. From my reading I learned that a food forest is a grouping of plants that mimics a forest. Seven layers are generally recognized: canopy, understory, shrub, herbaceous, groundcover, root, and vine. The idea is to reproduce the semi-stable condition of a mature forest so very little weeding and planting work is necessary. Most plants in the food forest are perennial and all space is utilized leaving little opportunity for undesirables to gain entry.

Lush grass covers the orchard

I have no true food forest on the farm, but rather a patchwork collection of food/forage/fuel producing areas, along with swathes given over entirely to wildlife and and ecosystem suppprt. I'm basing my opinion on food forests on knowledge gained from observing and experimenting with these area. On a continuum representing food production systems, the traditional vegetable garden would be on one end and the food forest on the other. The former is high-input and high maintenance, and focuses on annual plants. The latter is low-input (after the initial establishment), low maintenance, and primarily perennial.

While the annual veggie garden gets a bad rap for being labor- and resource-intensive, it's the best way to produce large and continuous amounts of human food during the growing season (primarily summer.) Given adequate preservation methods, the incredible abundance can be stored for use throughout the year. This explosion of food is dependent upon adequate human labor, though this can be greatly minimized through use of mulching, intercropping, and strategic use of perennial and self-sowing veggies. It's also reliant on lots of material such as wood chips, straw, and compost (or chemical fertilizers, herbicides, and insecticides.)

Waste wood from downed trees makes a raised bed

The food forest, at the other end of the spectrum, is theoretically a self-sustaining system that will require very little in the form of labor and inputs once established. Not only does it produce nourishment for people, it also cools and shades the ground, provides food and shelter for small creatures, and can act as a windbreak and source of fuel.

Between these two extremes lie many permutations. My mixed-species orchard is one example, with fruit trees and hazels providing food for people and wildlife, while horses graze the lush grass between. The wild pawpaw groves are another; here I mainly let nature take its course while removing vines and competing trees to encourage vigorous growth.

Strawberries line a garden path

It's important to note that it's possible to utilize the principles of the food forest to maximize yield based on individual preferences and site-specific conditions. In other words, you don't have to go whole hog from the get-go. The orchard produces a perfectly satisfactory yield though it lacks many of the official food forest layers and focuses primarily on overstory and herbaceous perennials. The potager is primarily for annual vegetable production, but includes fruit trees and berries on the margins. Design and implementation of a full-fledged food forest might be right for you and your site, but it's best to contemplate fully rather than dive right because you've been influenced by the hype.

The best land management practice results from careful consideration of not only your goals, but of how to best use the gifts the land has to offer. While a food forest will, in the long, maximize overall productivity, fruit and nut trees take a while to begin producing abundantly. If the site is very small, a tree will eventually shade it completely. Comparisons of food forests versus annual veggie production emphasize the greater productivity of the food forest, but it must be remembered that this yield is diverse and spread out over human needs, wildlife support, and general ecosystem services. For maximizing food available for human consumption, the shady nature of the mature food forest will never match the output of a well-managed sunny garden, provided adequate inputs are available.

Row covers protect vulnerable veggie plants

Do you have a backyard you'd like to make into a shady oasis, little time for labor, but the wherewithal to purchase fruit, nut, and berry plants? Go for the food forest. Do you live in an urban food desert with an excess of idle young people, and lots of organic material to be processed? Intensive veggie beds designed for three season production is the way.

Better yet, develop your own hybrid system based on what your land suggests that you do. In a garden with primarily annuals you’ll probably notice some interesting volunteer plants springing up as your soil improves. You can decide whether to leave them or eradicate them based on what they offer. Though I keep the potager in a state of suspended succession, I follow the same habits as one would in a food forest: I walk around often and remove plants that aren't helpful or are too numerous, and encourage desirable ones.

Diverse ornamental plantings in the center of the garden provide interest and attract beneficial insects

While reading about food forests I was both impressed and dismayed. Impressed because concept of the forest epitomizes the goal of permaculture to create bountiful systems that largely take care of themselves. I was dismayed because the implementation of such systems is often presented as a design-install-use process. I much prefer the contemplate-encourage-develop attitude. Rather than deciding upon a plan at the outset and setting out to impose it, try a few different things and see what happens. Be flexible and above all open to surprise gifts that come your way. Nature has her own designs.