Fast Forest Food: An Introduction to Food Forestry and Permaculture
Written by Tanny PC
“Although the problems of the world are increasingly complex, the solutions remain embarrassingly simple.” – Bill Mollison, a field biologist, an itinerant teacher, and the founder of the Permaculture technique.
(Edible) Fast Food in the Forest – Is This for Real?
Imagine the gateway to an edible forest garden as your at-home refrigerator door – you open the door and you are overjoyed to see the varied evergreen and nutritious fruits and veggies all stocked up throughout the year! WOW! Less frequent trips to the grocery stores – meaning less pollution on our planet and a scoring healthy-wealthy lifestyle.
However, you will definitely need to know which foods in your (forest) fridge are edible (based on your health and dietary patterns) and which ones should be avoided. Which foods can be eaten raw and which ones need to be cooked. Which foods can be combined together for a great health benefit and which ones should not be mixed in a recipe. But how would you gather knowledge about them and how can you grow a similar edible garden in your own space for a sustainable lifestyle? Well, based on my online research about ‘sustainable lifestyle,’ I came across two proven concepts designed by experts – ‘Food Forestry’ and ‘Permaculture.’
Our Earth has been on a rollercoaster ride since the human population continued to populate this planet. It experienced climate crises, wars, natural calamities, global warming, pandemic, and many other devastating consequences. More trees are demolished to make space for more buildings. With the rising population and their varied food choices, we are straining planetary health by overusing agricultural lands. The soil is constantly tilled and crops are fed with harmful chemicals and pesticides, leading to soil erosion, acidification, and desertification. There has been a never-ending challenge or demand for sustainable and nutritious food supply around the globe. So, how can we curtail this constraint of buying foods laden with chemicals or pesticides or eating GMO crops that can jeopardize the health of our state and planet? The perfect answer to this question is, ‘Plant your seed, grow your own food.’
In the early 1960s, Bill Mollison created a simple yet flexible system with 23 woody plant species (only four of them were dominant and only two were real browsing marsupials) based on the interactions of components, not types of species. That was a remarkable revelation that he disclosed while studying the interaction between browsing marsupials and forest regeneration in the Tasmanian rainforest. Then he started to develop design instructions for agriculture based on passive knowledge. Later, in 1978, he wrote a book, ‘Permaculture One,’ which was about kickstarting his permaculture movement along with his co-author David Holmgren. He was awarded the prestigious ‘Right Livelihood Award’ in 1981 for his work on developing ‘Food forests’ and promoting ‘Permaculture.’
“The greatest change we need to make is from consumption to production, even if on a small scale, in our own gardens. If only 10% of us do this, there is enough for everyone. Hence the futility of revolutionaries who have no gardens, who depend on the very system they attack, and who produce words and bullets, not food and shelter.” – Bill Mollison, Founder of Permaculture
What is a Food Forest?
There must be a reason why Earth is home to a diverse group of plants (more than 20,000 edible ones) and animals, right? Mother Nature provides food and shelter for them and assists them in reproduction and symbiotic survival. Before humanity thrived on our planet, the forests covered almost the entire Earth’s landmass excluding the water bodies. The concept of ‘Forest’ is axiomatic – its biodiversity and fertility have always supported the ‘web of life.’
If I ask you – where would you like to visit – a ‘desert’ or a ‘forest?’ I know most of you would choose the lush, green, and pristine wilderness of a ‘forest.’ The diverse group of vegetation that occupies the heart of the forest thrives on its own without any human intervention – no mowing, spraying, weeding, digging, or irrigation planning is required. Most plants in the forests are perennial plants, which need no tilling of the soil, thus preserving the soil structure. They just grow and bear fruits – and they are doing it perfectly for ages. These plants are helped by Nature’s experts – the pollinators (such as bees and birds), microbes, and soil diggers (such as earthworms and snakes) – who help in cycling nutrients and maintaining soil fertility.
‘Food’ – the most important pillar for our survival – is supposed to be ‘grown’ (in farms) not ‘born’ (in industries). Now, the idea here is if we start replicating the concept of a forest in our own gardens by making the most of space, soil, and sunlight, we can create our own mini edible forest in our own lands. Sounds interesting, right?
With soaring prices of fruits and vegetables in the markets, and the introduction of GMO crops, the concept of ‘home gardening’ is making a resurgence. Similar to the ‘war gardens’ of the World War II period in USA and Canada, gardeners have now started to sow the desirable seeds and grow plants based on the aura like in a forest. The results are amazing – from micro-greens and herbs in the kitchen to a large-scale perennial garden in the backyard – gardeners are enjoying their fruits of labor. Not only do they provide necessary food for both humans and wildlife, but they are also the motivators for a healthy, active mode of lifestyle.
However, establishing a forest garden in our desired space can be challenging at first, as ‘agriculture’ is completely a manmade innovation. It was devised and developed keeping in mind the needs of the increasing human population and their acquired and varied food choices. Having said that, in the present time, several agriculturalists, environmentalists, farmers, and even home gardeners around the globe have been adopting this idea for better personal and planetary health. They ideate that, eventually, as the ‘edible forest garden’ matures, it will be resilient and benefit our community by conserving the biodiversity and sustainability of our planet.
This concept is known as ‘Food Forestry’ (growing food like in a forest) that develops using the ‘Permaculture’ (coined as ‘permanent agriculture’ by Mollison) technique. It is an integrated design philosophy of mimicking and cultivating the vegetation of a forest ecosystem for growing abundant sustainable food for human consumption in their own space. The fundamental approach is to plan multiple layers of vertically stacked plants and trees (mostly perennial), similar to a forest, that can provide for our food needs and further recycle their waste. Why are perennial plants preferred than annual vegetation? Because, compared to annual vegetables, perennial crops have a deep, underground root system that makes them much more drought-tolerant. These plants stabilize an underground fungal network, create a diversified, healthy ecosystem to sustain and support each other, and, most importantly, these plants need not be re-planted every year. The stacked bushy smaller plants below keep everything lush and moist in a self-maintaining, highly sustainable, naturally decorated system.
This practice encompasses agriculture, gardening, architecture, horticulture, ecology, community design, money management, and other natural living sciences. The benefits of developing a ‘food forest’ are uncountable – cost-effective, nutritious (as no harmful chemicals and pesticides are sprayed), reduces carbon footprint, provides fresh air and outdoor exercise, accentuates family or community bonding, promotes an active lifestyle, and so much more! Guess this is why farmers and gardeners lead a healthy, long, and busy life!
Even if food production might be the primary goal of a typical food forest, we can also achieve other objectives with this technique such as natural medicine, rainwater harvesting, pollinator habitat, pest control, insect and worm attraction, animal and bird habitat, and soil erosion control. This idea can be considered a solution to many world problems such as hunger, deforestation, floods, carbon emissions, etc. People, are you listening?
Now, you must be thinking is that even possible to create an eco-friendly and sustainable ‘edible forest food garden’ in urban areas or deserts? If so, will it be productive compared to commercial agricultural facilities? What kind of plants or trees can thrive? What will be the cost of setting up a food garden and how to maintain it throughout the year? Can my community benefit from it? All these questions and more will be answered in the following blogs. Trust me, the next blogs hold a genre of motivating and captivating read!
However, for a Live Experience, I would request you to watch this video – From Desert to Food Forest - A Transformation through Soil Regeneration! – in which Mr. Rob Greenfield (the video creator) introduced Mr. Ron McCord (from CA, USA) who magically transformed his neglected patch of desert into a thriving food forest. Please watch it for that extra dose of motivation! And for more exciting information, jump on to the next post.
