Foodforest Ketelbroek

Foodforest Ketelbroek Food forest Ketelbroek, near Nijmegen and Groesbeek (Netherlands). Planted on a bare field in 2009. In 2009 in this area 2.4 hectare of bare land was purchased.

Please note our vulnerable food forest is only open for visitors after permission (as joining a guided tour). To visit please make an appointment via [email protected]. Dutch: Ons kwetsbare voedselbos is niet openbaar toegankelijk. Wel is bezoek op afspraak mogelijk, zoals deelname aan een rondleiding. Neem daarvoor svp contact op via [email protected]. Foodfo

rest Ketelbroek is located in the Netherlands, about 12 kilometers south of Nijmegen (actually very close to the border with Germany). The landscape around the spot is beautiful: countryside with some wooded hills and a swamp (both nature reserves) are nearby. We created a food forest. Hedges have been planted, for beauty, biodiversity and windbreak. Many fruit trees (for instance peach, pawpaw, Japanese plums, kaki), nuts (chestnut, hazel, walnut, heartnut, hickory) and shrubs (as gooseberry, Nanking cherry, Siberian peatree) do offer rich harvests in future. In between, some open spaces are created. Two of them have become small ponds (with noisy frogs) and one is in use a school veggies garden for the nearby primary school Op de Horst. We, Pieter Jansen and Wouter van Eck, are the initiators and farmers of Food Forest Ketelbroek. Even though we are first of all inspired by nature in our own garden we are grateful for the pioneering work in forest gardening by Martin Crawford from the Agroforestry Research Trust in England. We have especially learned a lot form his book: 'Creating a forest garden. Working with nature to grow edible crops', which we highly recommend for anyone interested in forest gardening in temperate climate. You can visit the Agroforestry Research Trust website at: http://www.agroforestry.co.uk

Please note the following. Ketelbroek cannot be visited without prior admission. First of all we want to secure a safe and quiet place for the many animals living here. Also some of our unknown edible plants may look like weeds (even for experienced people). For hygienic reasons it is better not to trample upon them... However, we do organize guided tours. Please contact us if you want to participate.

Visit from Belgium (French speaking part). Great to have dialogue.
24/04/2026

Visit from Belgium (French speaking part). Great to have dialogue.

16 ans de « paresse intuitive ».

La semaine dernière, notre promo de Concepteur·rice·s de Forêts Comestibles est allée marcher dans une forêt qui n'existait pas il y a 16 ans.

Ketelbroek, Groesbeek - Pays-Bas. 2 hectares. Avant : un champ de maïs pour du lait industriel. Aujourd'hui : une forêt comestible mature, cofondée par Wouter Van Eck et Pieter Jansen.

Wouter nous a partagé ce que presque personne n'ose dire en agriculture : la meilleure action, souvent, c'est de ne rien faire.

→ Pas de taille. Les arbres savent pousser.
→ Pas de pesticides. Quand les chenilles ont envahi les pruniers, il a résisté à l'envie de pulvériser. Les oiseaux migrateurs sont arrivés. L'équilibre s'est installé.
→ Pas de fertilisant. Donner du phosphore, c'est rompre le contrat entre l'arbre et les champignons mycorhiziens qui le nourrissent.
→ Pas d'irrigation. Pendant la sécheresse de 2018, les champs voisins étaient bruns. Ketelbroek était verte — et a produit plus que l'année précédente.

Le résultat, mesuré par des scientifiques indépendants : autant d'espèces d'oiseaux nicheurs, autant de nids, et plus d'insectes de nuit que dans la réserve naturelle Natura 2000 voisine. Le taux de matière organique du sol est passé de 3,2 % à 8 %. Sans rien apporter.

Ce qu'on retient de ces deux jours : une forêt comestible ne se construit pas contre la nature, elle lui ouvre la porte. Notre travail de conception, c'est de créer les conditions. Le reste appartient au vivant.

Merci Wouter. Merci Pieter. Merci à la promo pour sa présence, ses questions, et sa soif d'apprendre.

🌳 La prochaine formation longue démarre bientôt. Pré-inscris-toi ici https://www.semisto.org/poles/formations-semisto.

Nice article in German newspaper FAZ.NET - Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on our food forest and the collaboration with ...
15/03/2026

Nice article in German newspaper FAZ.NET - Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on our food forest and the collaboration with Restaurant De Nieuwe Winkel. Auf Deutsch.

Als het (bijna) lente is, op vrijdag 20 maart, start de Masterclass Voedselbosbouw. Dit is een zesdaagse opleiding voor ...
25/01/2026

Als het (bijna) lente is, op vrijdag 20 maart, start de Masterclass Voedselbosbouw. Dit is een zesdaagse opleiding voor professionals, waarvan de afronding in de herfst zal zijn. Zo beleven we het belang van seizoenen in het voedselbossysteem, één van de doelen. Daarnaast wordt uitdrukkelijk een brug geslagen tussen theoretische verdieping en lessen uit de praktijk.
De informatiebrochure met uitleg over opzet, inhoud en organisatie is op te vragen via een mailtje naar [email protected]

"There’s no sign outside Ketelbroek Food Forest, but it’s not hard to find. Until it was bought in 2009 by two farmers w...
19/01/2026

"There’s no sign outside Ketelbroek Food Forest, but it’s not hard to find. Until it was bought in 2009 by two farmers who were seeking nature-based solutions for growing food, it looked just like the surrounding fields. Now, it’s an eruption of greenery that stands out for miles. Inside its six acres birds sing non-stop, wild boars roam (not during my visit, fortunately), and beavers build dams. Minimal human intervention enables hundreds of edible plants to flourish—even in November there’s Japanese quince to munch, and Sichuan pepper to nibble."
Along with these words is this great illustration, made by Dionne Kitching. Pellicle Magazine published an interesting article on the mission of brewery Nevel Wild Ales. Working with local and organic products only resulted in very tasty drinks. However the small company had dificulties to survive economically. Thanks to William Georgi for writing this story on the real cost of sustainability for small breweries.
Link to the article below!

Looking forward. Last week of July 2026 we will organize together with the Rewilding Academy an international ‘Summer Co...
01/01/2026

Looking forward. Last week of July 2026 we will organize together with the Rewilding Academy an international ‘Summer Course’. Can we create more resilient landscapes when we combine insights from food forestry and ?
Starting July 27th we will spend five successive days of gathering knowledge and sharing inspiration. Together we will gain insights in how to create nature-based solutions for our future landscapes. Excursions to groundbreaking projects in our pleasant surroundings are part of the programme. English will be the spoken language. Looking forward to the dialogue we will have with different professionals!

Great to be lecturing this course together with professor Euridice Leyequien Abarca (specialist in forested landscapes and ecosystem resilience at Van Hall Larenstein University of Applied Sciences and adviser on agroforestry at Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
From Monday July 27 till Friday 31 2026
Main location: Food Forest , Groesbeek, the Netherlands
Other nearby sites to be visited: Millingerwaard (leading rewilding project), regenerative farm De Biesterhof (Land van Ons), Klever Reichswald (Forstamt NRW Germany), Natura 2000 Reserve De Bruuk (Staatsbosbeheer).
Spoken language: English
More information & applying: https://rewilding.academy/courses/food-forests/

Congrats for Wijngaard en cidermakerij Het Hamerstuk! Their ‘Cuvee Ketelbroek’ is awarded with a silver medal at the rec...
12/12/2025

Congrats for Wijngaard en cidermakerij Het Hamerstuk! Their ‘Cuvee Ketelbroek’ is awarded with a silver medal at the recent Sagardo Forum in San Sebastian. Little side note: before this formal praise of the international experts on cider we were somehow already convinced this is a very pleasant drink…
'Cuvee Ketelbroek' is created thanks to the craftsmanship of Bernd and Aukje of at Nijmegen, using harvests from our food forest. Different varieties of apples, quinces and nashi’s went to their cider press, becoming a tempting message in a bottle.

This is a season of abundance. Today we harvested together with Wijngaard en cidermakerij Het Hamerstuk. In these boxes ...
14/09/2025

This is a season of abundance. Today we harvested together with Wijngaard en cidermakerij Het Hamerstuk. In these boxes you can see fruits of different varieties of Asian pear (Pyrus pyrifolia, nashi), apple (Malus domestica, appel), Japanese quince (Chaenomeles japonica, Japanse kwee) and Chinese quince (Chaenomeles cathayensis, Chinese kwee). Next year we will meet them again, after pressing, blending, fermenting, bottling and thus becoming a cider. Cheers!

UPDATE: this activity is FULLY BOOKED!Vooraf inschrijven noodzakelijk, meer informatie en aanmelden via mail naar info@r...
06/09/2025

UPDATE: this activity is FULLY BOOKED!
Vooraf inschrijven noodzakelijk, meer informatie en aanmelden via mail naar [email protected]

Adres

Niet Toegankelijk Zonder Afspraak
Groesbeek

Telefoon

+31644768631

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