The 7 Layers of a Food Forest
Upper Canopy Layer – Large Overstory, Fruit & Nut Trees
Lower Tree Layer – Most Fruit Trees & Dwarf Trees
Shrub Layer – Berry Bushes and shrubs
Herbaceous Layer – Flowers, Herbs, Perennial Edibles
Ground Cover Layer – Low growing plants
Root Layer – Fungi and root vegetables
Vining Layer – Climbing and Vining plants
Food Forests, also known as Forest Gardens or Agroforestry, is a land management system that uses woodland ecosystems to provide an abundance of food, medicine, wildlife habitat, biodiversity, and a variety of yields. Food forests are designed with multiple layers, with each plant selected to play a role. Some provide food, medicine, fuel, fertilizer, and other useful products. Other plants provide shelter and habitat for pollinators, beneficial insects, humans. Food forests are also designed with succession in mind, as they evolve over the timespan of multiple generations. The Food Forest style of Agroforestry embodies a perspective and land stewardship practice inherent to indigenous cultures around the world.
I see food forests as a form of regenerative forestry.
The biodiversity designed into the Food Forest system creates resilience against changing temperatures and weather events. Food Forests improve local air quality by sequestering carbon and breathing out oxygen. Food Forests can build and protect healthy soils, reduce runoff and improve rainwater infiltration. With little maintenance, it can provide a diverse yield of food, medicine, fuel, timber and many Non Timber Forest Products . A Food Forest that has been designed properly with appropriate site prep, materials, and plants can grow for hundreds of years.
Want to plant a food forest?
