Food forests are popular. More and more people are putting edible plants and shrubs in their garden or starting a food forest together with their neighborhood. Residents of the municipality of Midden-Drenthe can even learn to create their own food forest at the expense of the municipality. And about sixty residents make good use of it. Today and tomorrow they are at Arborealis nursery to pick up their cuttings.
One of them is Anneke Stevens. She goes home with no fewer than four packages. That is good for about 100 square meters. “We still have a corner of our garden left and this seems nice and tasty. For ourselves, but also for the birds and the bees.” She has two packages with trees and shrubs with edible leaves and two with fruits. They have been put together by the people of the nursery. Think of lime trees whose leaves you can eat, small apple trees and fruit bushes with raspberries and berries. They are all hardy perennials, so they can go straight into the ground. And then it’s waiting and loving care.
The sixty inhabitants of Central Drenthe have reported to the Association of Food Forests in Drenthe. “Most people create a food forest on their own land,” explains Femmeke Huigens of the association. “But sometimes neighborhoods or streets also do it together and create a kind of neighborhood garden. And in Hoogersmilde, even ten square meters of municipal verge is turned into a food forest.” With a food forest you can be self-sufficient and you know where your food comes from.
The municipality of Midden-Drenthe is growing about 1500 square meters of food forest, making it the frontrunner in Drenthe. In total there are about 150 initiatives in the entire province, all in all about 200 hectares of food forest. Reason for the Food Forest Association to take action. “That’s why we started offering a course. Because it’s not that difficult to plant a tree, but it is to keep a food forest alive,” says Huigens. According to her, three things are needed for a food forest to be successful. “Knowledge, so that you know what you are doing. Good plant material, and thirdly: that you do it together. People help each other, exchange cuttings. I see that this group of residents is already developing here.”
And if all goes well and continues to live, these fanatics can reap the first fruits from their garden next summer.