Many people wonder what food forests are and how they can utilise their benefits in their own lives. If you find yourself reliant upon paychecks and live week to week with the worry about feeding your children then maybe creating a forest of food will change your outlook on life.

We are so caught up in our work lives we often forget to nurture who we are and to relax back into nature returning to our grass-roots. We did not always live in cities with minimal parkland dependant upon agriculture for our food, our normal evolution was for us to live a nomadic life as hunters and gatherers.

Development is fantastic but with it has come divisions between the people who can survive in this type of world and people who want to lead a simpler lifestyle but get swept up in the rush of emotions and follow along with the rest.

Firstly let's discuss what a food forest encompasses and what is the difference between a forest of food and a normal vegetable garden.We are used to having vegetable gardens in our backyards, especially here in Australia where it is very common for people to grow tomato's, lettuce, herbs and varieties of fruit amongst other edible plants.

Vegetable gardens are labor intensive and according to gardening magazines require artificial fertilizers and watering on a regular basis. We add compost to the soil improving it's structure, we then turn over our plot aerating and loosening compacted soil before introducing rotating crops in sectioned gorgeous rows.Sound familiar?

Nothing wrong with this method and some people actually take solitude in the work they do tending their vegetables.They return good yields and enjoy the satisfaction from growing food in this manner.

So how is a food forest different, a forest of food operates similar to a natural forest, it has its own eco-system which given time provides for itself and reduces the labor involved in growing food to minimal effort on our behalf. When we look at a natural forest nobody is tending to it's needs it has reached a balance which is sustainable for long periods of time.

Our urban food forests also reach a balance over time which means we know longer have to work to grow food which in the culture we have in cities of being time poor becomes very beneficial to our new living standards.

Food forests are a grouping of plants which harmonise together as a forest which does not need us to dig soil, nor add fertilizers and can incorporate animals. we have fruiting trees, edible bushes and ground covers all working together to maintain an ecology coherent to growth and good healthy food.

Food forests are perfect for our modern urban lifestyles with minimal space to grow food, a forest of food can be grown in a small space using dwarf stock fruit trees and growing plants vertically, it's more about the plants working together to improve the soil and planting the correct species for an environment to form.

Due to our fast paced lifestyles our food forests can help with our relaxation, imagine the pressures of work dissipating when you're sitting amongst your mini forest with a cool drink in the summer afternoon, the sounds of urban sprawl disappears as you reflect on the day and marvel at how life continues in your food forest whilst you are not there.

You can reach down and pick fruit or berries, snip herbs for the evening meal and what a wonderous place for an afternoon long lunch with friends or family on a weekend. Your children will adore hanging in the garden and can enjoy planting and watching their own plants before picking and eating, what better way is there for them to learn about vegetables and the benefits which come from them.

Author
Brad Hamilton
How to build food forests in an urban yard - Introduction