Food Forest

 Food Forest

"What on Earth" is a food forest?! A food forest is a fairly new concept of agriculture. However, this is different from any other form of agriculture. This for of agriculture is not maintained by man, but is let go to nature. Edible plants are grown in a manor similar to the structure of wild plants. Mother nature has perfected this over hundreds of millions of years. Imagine a forest, humans don't need to intervene at all to keep the plants alive and healthy, but we have to for most agriculture. A food forest uses native plants to mimic nature and we get food with little intervention at all. 

Most food forests use only native plants, however this isn't always necessary. So long as a plant is not invasive and is fully hardy to one's regions, it can act as a food forest plant. Most people consider natives becuase they are guaranteed fully 100% will thrive in that region and won't become invasive and hurt the rest of the ecosystem. Providing a canopy in most regions that support forests is key to prevent the soil from drying up and becoming infertile. And ground covers and lower trees and shrubs are also necessary for Maintaining a balance. We know this practice of agriculture can NOT replace conventional means of agriculture far too many people to meet those demands, however if we can transform some land to this not only will we help the Earth against many forms of pollution and climate change, it will also help with farmer shortages too. 

For example in a Ohio Valley/Great Lakes region one could plant Persimmon, Black Walnut, Hickory spp. (perhaps Shellbark and Shagbark Hickories) as the canopy, low tree layer may include American Plum, Red Mulberry, Paw Paw and others. The shrub layer may include American Cranberry, Elderberry and others. A good vining plant is a native grape vine. For the Herbaceous perennial layer one may try Pokeweed, Strawberry, edible mushrooms and others.

In other regions one may plant annuals and biennials but by mimicking the ways of nature one wouldn't have to fertilize or water, or prepare the soil every year, but with annuals the person would only have to plant every year. 

Examples of food forests from temperate to tropical regions ⬇️