Food forest
Working towards food independency
The property already had many established fruit and nut trees: cherry, fig, plum, apple, kiwi, blackberries, walnut, and chestnut. To increase diversity and resilience, we wanted to create an additional 800m2 food forest patch, focusing on cleaning bush and creating an biological and low maintenance planting.
We started by clearing the dense overgrowth of broom bushes, sticks, and leftover trunks that made the area unusable. The first new fruit trees were then planted, chosen for diversity, ecological value, and adaptability to local conditions.
To keep the project lively and educational, we created “Project Squirrel” a yearly event where we, together with children, collect and plant acorns and chestnuts throughout the forest. It’s hands on, builds connection to the land, and helps naturally regenerate the forest with useful trees.
The food forest vision goes beyond planting: it’s about creating an edible, resilient landscape that supports wildlife, conserves water, and provides food throughout the seasons. Right now, fruit processing and preservation remain manual and time consuming, which limits how much produce we can save for winter months.
Next steps are to plant more fruit trees to increase the variety and yield, install drip irrigation to help new trees survive dry summers, and improve how we process and store fruit. By professionalizing this part, we’ll waste less and have more organic, local products to share and enjoy during the off-season. We are also planning to create more natural elements in the land like swales and hugelculturs to capture recourses.
