Food forest.....

[Phaedra]

I also dreamed of a food forest a few years ago when we bought the house and finally had our own garden.

But I changed my mind. Self-sufficiency is meaningful, no doubt. However, when the food forest produces tons of food, it might not always be joyful for everyone. Harvesting seasonal and fresh strawberries is a blessing; making some strawberry jam is also lovely. But, the situation might be different when there are 20kg, 30kg, 40kg, or more strawberries.

Ultimately, it has to match what my family and I really need instead of what it looks like in others' lives. I was also once very keen to have our bee hives, but I gave it up because we might consume less than three or four bottles of honey per year. I decided to support the local farm that produces honey.

Like a food forest - I enjoy watching EdibleAcres very much, but I won't even consider doing similar settings in our garden. A food forest, under the common definition, might include elements I don't enjoy - varieties (of crops), maintenance, harvest, preservation, and etc.

That's why I took it more as a reference now. Gardening also needs balance, and it's lifelong learning for me.

 

[Trying2keepitReal]

@Phaedra Geiermann I am going to check out Edible Acres, even if I don't ever get a food forest underway here I LOVE watching and learning about them.

 

[baymule]

While most of us won’t plant a whole property in a food forest, we can plant fruit and nut trees of what we like. Some berry vines and we’ll be set. We were able to pick pears off a couple of trees 2 years ago and I still have pears in pint jars.

Because fruit trees provide so much, I’m thinking of planting them in a pasture, with a protective fence around rack tree, so the sheep don’t eat the trees. As the trees grow and produce, I can make the fence smaller to protect the tree trunk, and let the sheep eat the fallen fruit. Berries and grapes will be planted in the yard or garden area. Sorry sheep, no access for you!

 

[tortoise]

While most of us won’t plant a whole property in a food forest, we can plant fruit and nut trees of what we like. Some berry vines and we’ll be set. We were able to pick pears off a couple of trees 2 years ago and I still have pears in pint jars.

Because fruit trees provide so much, I’m thinking of planting them in a pasture, with a protective fence around rack tree, so the sheep don’t eat the trees. As the trees grow and produce, I can make the fence smaller to protect the tree trunk, and let the sheep eat the fallen fruit. Berries and grapes will be planted in the yard or garden area. Sorry sheep, no access for you!

My sheep do a nice job cleaning up fallen apples. They don't prune my trees too often either. (Trunks are safe from them, but little low branches might disappear). I have fence around younger trees like you mentioned.

I feed a lot of apples to chickens. And DH feeds everything else to the deer. If you (or your neighbors) have animals to feed, excess produce is less of a concern.

 

[baymule]

I like to read about pigs on

Sugar Mountain Farm | Pastured Pigs, Chickens, Ducks, Geese, Sheep, Dogs and Kids in the Mountains of Vermont

sugarmtnfarm.com

He has double fences for fruit and oak trees, so the hogs don’t root the trees up. The acorns and fruit fall in the pigs pastures. It’s basically free feed for the hogs that they can harvest off the ground.

 

[The Porch]

This is David The Good
https://m.youtube.com/@davidthegood/videos

If you want to learn how to do a real Food Forest he is your guy

 

[the_whingnut]

David the good does more of what I call a kitchen sink way of permaculture and food forests. Which I like way less stress. As for the extra fruits and vegetables honesty stands and farmers markets can be helpful. Same for food banks. It's cheaper to have food rotting on the vine due to abundance than having nothing and feeding your money into a box store.

Plus bartering is always an option.

 

[flowerbug]

we used to have a call list of people who would come pick when we had extra. i am always glad to have others be able to use what we can't. now most friends have gotten older or passed away so we only have two people on the list and one of them is not reliable enough to depend on. we have tons of people who are happy to have things given to them, but none will come pick.

last year it was a few hundred pounds of tomatoes. this year i'm not sure we'll have those or not yet.

 

[Mini Horses]

Shame! I am always willing to go pick, clean up & otherwise help/share. Hoping for a call to pick sweet corn this weekend

And I share, too!

 

[flowerbug]

Shame! I am always willing to go pick, clean up & otherwise help/share. Hoping for a call to pick sweet corn this weekend

And I share, too!

haha! i just gave away a box top of the hot peppers i won't eat. along with some Purple Dove and Beaver Dam pepper seeds. nice delivery guys. also gave them a short tour of the gardens.