“Food foresting is the perfect marriage between the environmental imperative to re-forest our Earth, and sustainable Natural food production; bringing us back into joyful and right relationship with Nature.” ~ Suveran
WHAT IS FOREST GARDENING? Traditional European gardening practices often work well in subtropical/tropical Australian winters. Yet when it comes to sustainable food production, a lo
t of these gardening techniques often fail miserably in hot, wet summers. However, there are many highly productive food plants that thrive in these conditions, many of which are perennial. Forest gardening principles involve learning to identify these plants and how they best fit within a successional multi-tiered food forest over time. We thereby create permanent forest eco systems that mimic natural forests and are highly productive as well. Once established such forests provide through spring/summer an abundance of fruits, nuts and greens,
and staple starch and protein crops through autumn/winter; at which time European style gardening practices can be applied to supplement food crops. In this way food forests provide the perfect complement to traditional practices to gain the greatest abundance from Nature - working with local climate - year round. ABOUT SUVERAN
Suveran's unique perspective - gleaned from over 20 years’ planting and living in food forests and experiencing the process of succession as it unfolds - demonstrates an acute appreciation of Natural timing and spacing, that is so valuable when designing symbiotic food systems.
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The beauty of food forests, is not just that they provide a variety of produce on an ongoing basis, when established, but, more importantly, as a permanent resource ( as opposed to annual cropping ) they are an ongoing propagation resource base that would be so vital in the event of a food supply crisis with most perennial food plants being easily reproduced by cuttings and division (corms and tubers etc ) or abundant seed. Thus with some collaboration and a local knowledge base communities that have the foresight to establish such food forests would be able to provide themselves with abundant food, relatively quickly, particularly in the wet tropics and subtropics where the range of foods that can be grown is huge, and the conditions most favorable. The abundance of propagation material also means that food forests can be continually expanded on an ongoing basis, season by season, year after year.
