“This is a hazel for the hazelnuts. This cutting should grow into a fig tree. You can pick raspberries here again next year and delicious berries grow further away.” John Vermeer gives an enthusiastic tour through a food forest in Oirschot. He is there with thirty students who have all followed a food forest course at the Brabant Environmental Federation.
The food forest is on the rise in Brabant. Vermeer has already trained seven hundred students. Successfully. The province now has two hundred and fifty hectares of food forest, making it a frontrunner in our country. The students learn the basic principles for a food forest: which trees and shrubs reinforce each other and can therefore stand together well. What do the soil, insects and birds benefit from and how should you take care of everything?
“It’s a very hopeful concept,” says Vermeer. “Some people have a piece of land that they use for the fun convert to food forest. Others do it professionally, but then you need several hectares. A food forest is often part of a farm, as in Oirschot. There the dairy farm of the Schepens family has been converted into a recreation company with a food forest. in three tiny houses visitors can enjoy the tranquility of the food forest. They can also walk through it to collect their own muesli.
Farm
Son Stan Schepens saw no point in taking over the farm with the cows. Now that it is a new company with a food forest, he will do that. “I couldn’t have imagined this ten years ago.”
Stan guides the students through his food forest. Edy is one of the students. He would love to continue in this direction, but unfortunately does not have a piece of land available yet. Nel has an acre of land around her house. She is sure it will become a food forest. Jessica is even involved in a food forest in Dongen. “We have to deal with nature, our food and therefore also with humans in a different way. It’s about time,” she says.
The students are almost as enthusiastic as course leader John Vermeer. He has been preaching the food forest for seven years now. “It will not be the main method of food production, but it will be one of the new possibilities.”
Patience is a virtue. Once a forest has been planted, it takes about five years before you can literally reap the benefits. But after that, according to Vermeer, you will enjoy it for centuries. “And not only people can get food there. A quarter of the food goes to birds, insects and other animals. I hope that with these kinds of initiatives we can save the world a little bit.”
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