In the midst of the traditional farms in Welzinge, Hof Ter Linde wants to create forest garden. A piece of nature combined with organic crop cultivation. The food forest will also be given an educational function to increase the awareness of ecological crop cultivation and permaculture, and it will be possible to recreate and camp from the summer of 2018.
A forest garden
A voedselbos, also called Edible Forest, is the Dutch translation of the internationally common term ‘ food forest ‘, which is used for the designation of agro-ecosystems that are constructed on the basis of the ecological ‘ design principles ‘ of a Natural forest. In relation to the production function, a voedselbos can be characterised as a poly-culture of residual, mainly edible crops with the open structure of a forest and its biodiversity.
Food forests are generally designed by smart integration of eight vegetation layers and a multitude of ecological niches in and around the vegetation and landscape elements such as hedges, wood ramparts, pools and ponds. A food forest is built at least from the following eight ‘ layers ‘ or ‘ floors ‘.
- Kruinlaag with tall trees such as walnut trees, sweet chestnuts and standard dwarf
- Lower trees and higher shrubs reaching the bottom of the highest tree canopies (eg. Hazelnut, Apple)
- Lower shrubs (eg. Black and red berries, raspberries)
- Herbaceous (eg. Cabbage, ramsons, French nature chestnut, asparagus, artichoke)
- Bottom crawlers and-coverers (eg. Dog trot, East Indian cherry, strawberry)
- Root, tuber and bulbs (e.g. Earth pear, silver clean, pear, mieriks-root, yellow root)
- Climbing plants climbing through several layers (e.g. Kiwi, grape, hops)
- Fungi (eg. Oyster mushrooms, mushrooms, shiitake, cantharel, squirrel bread)
Beside these vegetation layers can also (edible) insects and limited numbers of farm animals (e.g. Ducks, chickens, pigs) perform valuable functions in the production of food and nature in a voedselbos. By optimising the interaction and symbiotic relationships between living organisms and location-specific environmental characteristics and landscape elements, a particularly rich agro-ecosystem creates many wild species of insects, Reptiles, amphibians, birds and mammals can thrive well.
Gradually, the voedselbos develops into a self-sufficient ecosystem in which diseases and pests are naturally controlled with the help of the biodiversity present and by targeted stimulation of populations that keep each other in balance. After five to seven years of building and succession, in which new species come to enrich and refine the system, a more mature and stable phase occurs. The ‘ management ‘ of a matured voedselbos confines itself mainly to the harvest of the various types of edible fruits, nuts, seeds, strains, stems, branches, leaves and other forms of useful biomass.
The large (bio-) diversity of a Voedselbos offers good connecting points to derive a high educational experience value or give a visit to a voedselbos. More so than a long walk through a forest with relatively little variation of species and elements, a visit to a voedselbos can very well be converted into an instructive ‘ journey ‘ through a self-sufficient and highly productive agro-ecosystem.