#forestgarden — Public Fediverse posts

Forest Gardens: free info and advice
https://cat.org.uk/info-resources/free-information-service/growing-and-eating/forest-garden/

#SolarPunkSunday #ForestGarden #Food #CentreForAlternativeTechnology #Trees #Nature #Growing #ForestGardens #Sustainability #Forests #FoodForests

How to Create a Backyard #FoodForest with #Fruit & #NutTrees 🌳🥜🍎

Published by Ty Ty Plant Nursery, LLC, on
June 4, 2025

"A backyard food forest is a #sustainable, low-maintenance #gardening method that mimics a natural #forest #ecosystem—except instead of wild plants, you’re growing delicious fruits, nuts, #herbs, and more. It’s a long-term investment in your health, your land, and your ability to grow your own nutrient-rich food without relying on chemicals or constant labor.

"Whether you have a sprawling #backyard or a small suburban plot, you can design your own food forest using fruit and nut trees as the foundation. Here’s how to get started.

🌿 What Is a Food Forest?

"A food forest (also called a #ForestGarden) is a multi-layered growing system that mirrors the structure of a natural forest. It includes:

- Canopy layer – Large fruit and nut trees (like pecans, walnuts, pears) [I WOULD USE CAUTION WITH WALNUTS! They can be poisonous to other plants!]

- Sub-canopy layer – Dwarf or semi-dwarf fruit trees (like plums, figs, or apples)

- Shrub layer – Berries and bush fruits (like raspberries, blueberries, elderberries)

- Herbaceous layer – Culinary and medicinal herbs (like mint, comfrey, lemon balm)

- Groundcover layer – Spreading, edible or soil-building plants (like strawberries or clover)

- Root layer – Underground crops (like garlic, onions, or horseradish)

- Vertical/vine layer – Climbing plants (like grapes or kiwis)

"Together, these layers maximize space, diversify harvests, and support soil health and #biodiversity."

Learn more:
https://blog.tytyga.com/2025/06/04/how-to-create-a-backyard-food-forest-with-fruit-amp-nut-trees/

#SolarPunkSunday #BackyardGardens #BackyardFoodForests #GrowYourOwn #GrownYourOwnFood #FruitTrees #BerryBushes #NutTrees

How #Indigenous #FoodSovereignty can improve #FoodSecurity

Sustainable Bites: Food and Our Future What can we do to help make our food systems more sustainable? UBC researchers share small steps that can make a big collective impact. 

March 24, 2025

"Indigenous households experience food insecurity at rates two to three times higher than non-Indigenous households in Canada. #Agroecologist Dr. #JenniferGrenz, an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Forestry and Faculty of Land and Food Systems, studies Indigenous food sovereignty and food systems, and how to revitalize them.

Did you know?

#Kwetlal, or #camas, a lily-like plant with a starchy bulb, was an important staple for #IndigenousPeoples along the #SalishSea.
Kwetlal was cultivated in Garry oak #ecosystems by #W̱SÁNEĆ and Quw’utsun Peoples, until #colonization nearly destroyed these unique food systems.

What does Indigenous food sovereignty mean?

" 'Indigenous food sovereignty is the reclamation and revitalization of our food systems,' says Dr. Grenz, who is Nlaka’pamux of mixed ancestry, whose family comes from the #Lytton First Nation. She grew up and lives on the coast of BC.

"The lands across #BritishColumbia, Dr. Grenz explains, were purposefully shaped since time immemorial for foods, medicines and technologies by the Indigenous Peoples who lived there until colonial settlers dispossessed them of their lands, culture and traditions.

" 'Indigenous food sovereignty is also about #CulturalResurgence: being able to access those foods and medicines again and find new ones as we face a changing climate,' said Dr. Grenz. 'Heal the people, heal the land. Heal the land, heal the people. I think that’s really what food sovereignty is about.'

"Revitalizing Indigenous food systems can help diversify and localize food systems in ways that could buffer against #FoodInsecurity in a changing climate.

"Dr. Grenz’s research team is working alongside Indigenous communities impacted by the 2021 heat dome and wildfires to understand the effects on culturally important plants.

" 'If you think of land as just vegetation and an aesthetic notion of what belongs, you’re going to have very different approaches and different outcomes to recovery than if you see that land as a food system, not just for humans, but for our animal, bird, fish and insect relations,' says Dr. Grenz. 'We’re working alongside communities to develop those Indigenized processes around wildfire recovery that honour Indigenous food systems, sustainability and resiliency.”'

How can #Settlers support the revitalization of Indigenous food systems?

"Learn about the histories of the lands you live on and what the traditional food systems were, what they are now and what they could be, says Dr. Grenz.

"Incorporating reciprocity into your relationship with the land is also important. 'Learn about the plants of those lands and find a way to invite them into your life. How can you take care of them, nurture them and steward them?' asks Dr. Grenz.

"One way might be to Indigenize your own back yard or community garden. Or learn about Indigenous food system protocols and the concept of '#HonourableHarvest.'

How can land-based learning support Indigenous food sovereignty?

"Land-based learning is an opportunity to get students and people out on the land—and start taking steps to give back while they are learning.

"At #UBCFarm, Dr. Grenz and students are starting two different Indigenous food systems to work as part of the agrarian food system that exists there — 'essentially bridging two food systems, #decolonizing and #Indigenizing our understandings of what foods are and how those two systems work together to benefit both.'

"In one, they are establishing a Garry oak ecosystem and growing camas, which is a traditional food system of the W̱SÁNEĆ  and Quw’utsun Peoples. Another type of #ForestGarden, similar to other Coast #Salish, #Tsimshian or #Haida food systems, will see the forest shaped by different plants like beaked #hazelnut, #elderberry, #salmonberry and #thimbleberry.

The students will be able to practice how to care for plants ordinarily thought of as forest plants, and 'learn how to reclaim traditional #LandStewardship practices to actually increase the production of those berries.' "

Source [includes video links]:
https://beyond.ubc.ca/how-indigenous-food-sovereignty-can-improve-food-security/

#SolarPunkSunday #FirstNations #Quwutsun #ClimateChange #Resilience #DecolonizeYourDiet #HonorIndigenousFoodSystems #LandBasedLearning #IndigenousFoodSovereignty #IndigenousFoods #BuildingCommunity #CommunityGardens #FoodForests

Bridgehouse Gardens community group in South London has been on an incredible journey.

Together, they have transformed a disused, vacant tarmac site into a thriving forest garden and built by hand a new community learning space, The Winslade Barn. Along the way, participants have learnt amazing practical skills, built community and created space for wildlife.

Read their story: https://transitiontogether.org.uk/vacant-site-to-community-ecosystem/

#transitiontown #CommunityAction #ClimateAction #forestgarden

Peaches Spread Across North America Through Indigenous Networks, Radiocarbon Dating And Document Analysis Show
--
https://phys.org/news/2024-11-peaches-north-america-indigenous-networks.html <-- shared technical article
--
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-52597-8 <-- shared paper
--
https://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2024/nov/27/meet-the-peach-that-traveled-the-trail-of-tears/ <-- shared media article
--
#GIS #spatial #mapping #FirstNation #cultivation #spatialanalysis #spatiotemporal #indigenous #forest #farming #sustenance #foodsecurity #traditional #deliberate #garden #ethnobiology #archaeology #anthropology #biology #forestgarden #transplanting #management #wildplant #biogeography #culture #ethnohistory #peach #peaches #fruit #tree #orchard #introduced #Spanish #indigenised #dates #dating #radiocarbondating #pits #peachpits #chronology #chronological #model #modeling #landmanagement #landuse #practices #socioecology #colonialisation #NorthAmerica #USA

Indigenous Tribes Engineered British Columbia’s Modern Hazelnut Forests More Than 7,000 Years Ago
--
https://www.science.org/content/article/indigenous-tribes-engineered-british-columbia-s-modern-hazelnut-forests-more-7000-years <-- shared technical article
--
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2402304121 <-- shared paper
--
[not my usual ‘sort of thing’ to post - as broad as that is - but I found this fascinating; it reminds me, in a sense, of the Incas incrementally selecting corn stock that can handle higher and higher altitudes, in ‘research stations’, although those were a domesticated crop]
#GIS #spatial #mapping #hazelnut #nut #Canada #BritishColumbia #FirstNation #cultivation #spatialanalysis #spatiotemporal #indigenous #forest #farming #sustenance #foodsecurity #traditional #wildfire #prescribedburn #landrights #law #deliberate #garden #ethnobiology #archaeology #linguistics #name #connections #anthropology #biology #forestgarden #transplanting #management #wildplant #biogeography #culture

So, my neighbor and I share a property line which contains a wooded area full of blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, sweet pea and other plants (as well as trees). We've been talking about taking walks together to see what's out there, figure out what's invasive, and growing more for the local wildlife (and maybe ourselves -- we've had some great blackberry harvests in the past). We both garden for pollinators in our yards, so it would be great to collaborate (and maybe include some of the other neighbors). I just bought a couple of books that might prove very useful with this endeavor!

#ForestGarden #Forests #MaineForests #OvergrownFields #Reclaiming #GardeningForWildlife #GardeningForPollinators #FarmingTheWoods #Woodland #SolarPunkSunday #BackyardWoods #Ecosystems #TheWoodsInYourBackyard #Maine

I'm running a *free* garden design workshop in my home village of
#Cilgerran in north #Pembrokeshire this *Sunday 5th October* at the Village Hall Cilgerran, 10am to 3pm. Looking at features & #WildlifeGarden design ideas from the #HopeGarden to take-away for your own #garden 🌳💚🐛

Please share! About 10 spaces left. *Free sandwiches for lunch!* 🥪

#gardening #Cymru #ForestGarden #WildlifeGardening

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/wildlife-garden-design-tickets-1000891943747

The #HopeGarden site. Meeting land owners to discuss boundaries on Monday. It's vaguely the triangle you can see in the middle.

#CommunityAssembly at the heart of a #wildlife #ForestGarden 💚

Full steam ahead! https://hopegarden.uk

Five-spot Burnet (Zygaena trifolii) I think.

On Greater Bird's-foot-trefoil (Lotus pedunculatus) I think.

At the site of the #HopeGarden, a #CommunityAssembly at the heart of a #wildlife #ForestGarden. Always see what is there first.

#moth #NativePlants #WildFlowers #BloomScrolling #gardening

Super busy day today. The #HopeGarden has been funded. I am quite amazed at how many things go into creating a community garden climate project. Websites, accounts, social media, images, videos, designs, planning, people, networks etc etc

It's good, I am happy, this is an amazing opportunity to bring #CommunityAssembly, #ForestGarden & #DirectDemocracy to a wider audience. My plate is full!!

Once stuff organised, will start posting on https://climatejustice.social/@hopegarden - probably not until July

Elder (Sambucus nigra) 'Black Beauty'

Edible ornamental.

#nativar #edimental #NativePlants #WildFlowers #BloomScrolling #wildlife #gardening #WildlifeGardening #ForestGarden #FoodForest

The view from today's office. Omg it was high. Luckily I've had ladder training with the new biodiversity job at the council, ladder strapped and secure

#Gardening #ForestGarden #HeebieJeebies #Rhug

I want to #recommon land for the people, create sustainable livelihoods that _enhance_ nature, not degrade. This is my Common Wood Meadow project.

I'm going on a wood meadow fact finding mission to the European conference on Ecological Restoration in Estonia in August.

https://sere2024.org/

I have a fundraiser here for the tickets & accommodation!
https://ko-fi.com/natureworks/goal?g=25

#ecology #restoration #ForestGarden #commons

Blueberry flowers, so elegant, in friend's #ForestGarden. I've been interviewed for Woodlands TV YouTube channel, I talked about the #HopeGarden, #WildlifeGardening, #ClimateEnergency and #CommunityAssembly, #DirectDemocracy Katie the camera person was great, really easy going yet very focussed on getting the takes.

#Gardening

>> Ursprünglich wollte der Kriegsfotograf #DanielEtter ein unterhaltsames Buch über Alternativen zur herkömmlichen #Landwirtschaft schreiben. Am Ende wurde es ernster. Es ist – alles in allem – ein Buch über die #Klimakrise geworden. <<

https://www.daserste.de/information/wissen-kultur/ttt/videos/sendung-april-hr-ttt-video-122.html

#MartinCrawford #waldgarten #forestGarden #agroForestry #Garten #garden #permakultur #permaculture #regenerativeAgriculture #regenerativeFarming #regenerativeLandwirtschaft #agroforst #pestizide #pesticides #biodiversity #biodiversität #organic #bio #climate #klima #klimawandel #co2 #ttt #ard #mediathek #farbfernsehen #farbfernsehen #ÖRR #fernsehtipp

Grant application for the #HopeGarden has been submitted! What a lot of work and form filling!

It’s a #CommunityAssembly at the heart of a #Wildlife #ForestGarden 💚

If this kind of regenerative social experiment of a garden teeming with life is your bag, there is a newsletter too:

https://hopegarden.uk/newsletter

#NativePlants #WildlifeGardening #Gardening #DirectDemocracy

Latest #HopeGarden newsletter is out. Example of direct democracy, community meeting space at the heart of a wildlife #ForestGarden. Grant application goes in on Monday!

https://hopegarden.uk/blog/240305-newsletter/

#gardening #WildlifeGardening #CommunityAssembly #DirectDemocracy #PeoplesAssembly

The latest #HopeGarden weekly newsletter is out!

Watch as a Community Assembly at the heart of a wildlife #ForestGarden grows, in realtime.

#gardening #CommunityAssembly #WildlifeGardening

https://hopegarden.uk/blog/240227-newsletter/

I've just written the latest newsletter for the #HopeGarden, a #CommunityAssembly at the heart of a #wildlife #ForestGarden.

You can subscribe here https://hopegarden.uk/newsletter/

Another drone experiment, today at the #Clifftop garden in Ceredigion. Low, bright, early morning sun, the shadows are too harsh for much detail. I shall return on a cloudy lunchtime with diffuse light. The clients are lovely, so passionate about #gardening

#ForestGarden #GardenDesign

Small news but big news for me, the #HopeGarden project website is now accepting newsletter subscribers!

The #HopeGarden is a #CommunityAssembly at the heart of a
#wildlife #ForestGarden 💚

Currently writing a bid for the prototype Hope Garden, then 🤞 hopefully taking it to RHS Hampton Court

If you want to be kept updated, pop your email in that there subscribe box at the bottom of the page!

https://hopegarden.uk

#GardenDesign #gardening

I’m working on a #CommunityAssembly at the heart of a #wildlife #ForestGarden project. I went to a #KNOCA #ClimateAssembly workshop, Professor Tatsuyoshi Saido gave a really thought provoking talk about #FutureDesign, well worth a watch

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FV88SnGT9VQ&t=293s

I‘ve finished the basic blog functionality for the #HopeGarden project (a #wildlife #ForestGarden with a #CommunityAssembly at its heart) and now all I have to do is write a grant application by 12th March!

https://hopegarden.uk/

A new short video on-site at the Prototyope #HopeGarden.

The Hope Garden is a project combining a #wildlife #ForestGarden with a #DirectDemocracy #CommunityAssembly at its heart 💚

https://youtu.be/o0axoioV1D0

I’ve just built the new website for the project https://hopegarden.uk

#HopeGarden #gardening

You can hardly see it but I have pegged out the #GarddGobaith #HopeGarden at my local allotments. Applying for a grant in couple of months. Using white cotton twine and bamboo, high tech solutions.

It's a #wildlife #ForestGarden with a #CommunityAssembly at its heart 💚

Or rather, it will be!

https://grwd.uk/hope/

#GardenDesign #ClimateEmergency #wildlife #gardening #WildlifeGardening

The Real World of Technology by Ursula Franklin is a brilliant lecture series and book, way ahead of its time (1989 & 1999)

This thread is for the quotes I find useful for my #Community #ForestGarden #CommunityAssembly work.

Boost this post & when I add new quotes, you’ll get a notification.

https://archive.org/details/the-real-world-of-technology

https://archive.org/details/realworldoftechn0000fran_u9w8/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ursula_Franklin

#anthropology #design #science #technology #commons #capitalism #corporations #UrsulaFranklin

1/5

This is the head post of my #Porfolio photos for the #Clifftop #garden.

Boost or like this post, & every time I add a new photo, you'll get a notification (this is an experiment!)

Here is the #Clifftop page:
https://www.natureworks.org.uk/portfolio/clifftop/

It’s a lovely garden, about 200m² on lots of different levels, lots of work on the steps and access, then #NativePlants & #WildFlowers, ornamentals & perennial edibles

#ForestGarden #gardening

1/2

Edit: add around the corner photo

This is the head post of my #Porfolio photos for the #Clifftop #garden.

Boost or like this post, & every time I add a new photo, you'll get a notification (this is an experiment!)

Here is the #Clifftop page:
https://www.natureworks.org.uk/portfolio/clifftop/

It’s a lovely garden, about 200m² on lots of different levels, lots of work on the steps and access, then #NativePlants & #WildFlowers, ornamentals & perennial edibles

#ForestGarden #gardening

1/2

Edit: add around the corner photo

This is the head post of my #Porfolio photos for the #Clifftop #garden.

Boost or like this post, & every time I add a new photo, you'll get a notification (this is an experiment!)

Here is the #Clifftop page:
https://www.natureworks.org.uk/portfolio/clifftop/

It’s a lovely garden, about 200m² on lots of different levels, lots of work on the steps and access, then #NativePlants & #WildFlowers, ornamentals & perennial edibles

#ForestGarden #gardening

1/2

Edit: add around the corner photo

This is the head post of my #Porfolio photos for the #Clifftop #garden.

Boost or like this post, & every time I add a new photo, you'll get a notification (this is an experiment!)

Here is the #Clifftop page:
https://www.natureworks.org.uk/portfolio/clifftop/

It’s a lovely garden, about 200m² on lots of different levels, lots of work on the steps and access, then #NativePlants & #WildFlowers, ornamentals & perennial edibles

#ForestGarden #gardening

1/2

Edit: add around the corner photo

This is the head post of my #Porfolio photos for the #Clifftop #garden.

Boost or like this post, & every time I add a new photo, you'll get a notification (this is an experiment!)

Here is the #Clifftop page:
https://www.natureworks.org.uk/portfolio/clifftop/

It’s a lovely garden, about 200m² on lots of different levels, lots of work on the steps and access, then #NativePlants & #WildFlowers, ornamentals & perennial edibles

#ForestGarden #gardening

1/2

Edit: add around the corner photo

My #Wildlife #ForestGarden #GardeningDesign #Portfolio

If you want notifications for when photos are added, boost this post. To stop getting notifications, unboost.

Every time I add a photo in a reply, I’ll edit this post. It’s a bit of a #Mastodon threads experiment! 😅

Different projects subthreads:

#Rhug https://mas.to/deck/@natureworks/111107525074315446

#Clifftop
https://mas.to/deck/@natureworks/111110138400532811

#NatureWorks #NativePlants #WildFlowers #FoodForest

Edit: move numbering to subthreads

Doing some maintenance in my #forestgarden over the weekend and was so pleased about the progress in the #herbaceous and #shrub layer that I decided to take this wide angled shot. Really benefited from two months' of cooler wetter conditions. Only two years with anything of significance growing ...

These layers (and others not in shot) work together to protect & fertilise the soil, attract beneficial insects, and resist extreme weather.

#permaculture #gardening #resilience #uk #organic

Some sort of #Ichneumon #wasp in the #ForestGarden, stunning

#wildlife #WildlifeGardening

Creating a show garden for the #ClimateEmergency, featuring a #wildlife #ForestGarden with #CommunityAssembly at the very heart 💚

First thing to do, mark out 10m x 15m! It's bigger than I thought…

https://youtu.be/3GfL056Cbj0

Been here a while but never managed to write an #Introduction

White cis-man living in Sweden. Used to work in #neuroscience until I got a #burnout and live now on a small farm growing #shiitake and oyster #mushrooms and establishing a #forestgarden.

Interested in an horrified by among others #climatecrisis #nazi police brutality #sd #racism and that there is even a need to state that #transrightsarehumanrights and #blacklivesmatter 😭

Interested and grateful for #bookstodon #mushtodon #mindfulness #videogames #boardgames #cats #dogs #pigs #bees #mushrooms #permaculture #solarpunk #nuttrees #veganfood #japanesefood

Currently reading and hearing alot about #autism as I am on the waiting list for getting a formal diagnosis. Still feeling like kind of an imposter even though I see myself in a lot of things I read and hear from #actuallyautistic people.

I can have troubles answering people but feel free to ask me things, best in English, Swedish or German, otherwise my answers can be quite rudimentary ❤️

Thinking about using #seedballs for the primary school #wildlife #ForestGarden. I like the idea that they’re very tactile for the kids to use on an area of prepared soil. Has gotten me to thinking about seed mixes for low fertility growing mediums like concrete 🤔

https://rootsandall.co.uk/podcast/seedballs/

Design is a process, #CAD is a tool, *working with #nature* is the principle!

This means #NativePlants where possible, #FoodForest #ForestGarden for edible crops, #organic, #PeatFree compost etc.

I’ve created a #CAD for #GardenDesign online class for #wildlife & #FoodForest garden designers like myself, starting at the beginning & accelerating rapidly!

50% off for Mastodon folks

https://natureworksgarden.gumroad.com/l/cad/MastoMax

#CAD for Gardeners
🧵…

This world needs more wildlife, more wildlife gardens, more sustainable food.

🐛🌳🧑‍🌾

I’m a #wildlife and food #ForestGarden #designer, and I use #CAD. A lot.

CAD (Computer Aided Design) is a really useful tool for #GardenDesign, because you can figure out #tree spacing and quickly calculate lengths for #windbreak hedges & areas for #GroundCover & #NativePlant #WildFlowers

A plan also communicates ideas with partners, and documents plants to help with maintenance

1/8

I have wifi! I have video! #ForestGarden #Wildlife #Garden #Hessian #Landscaping https://youtu.be/2wKSz7idntc

My 12 year old mac laptop has died, #CostOfLiving crisis means I've bought a 2nd hand PC & installed #LinuxMint on it and running the amazing #Kdenlive video editor & #OpenBroadcasterSoftware. More #Wildlife & #ForestGarden videos to come shortly!
https://kdenlive.org/en/
https://obsproject.com/

Mes 4 livres préférés sur le thème du jardin-forêt 💚
#permaculture #jardinforet #foretcomestible #foodforest #forestgarden