Meet Illa: Tour a 10 Year Old Forest Garden in Spain

[@StefanSobkowiak]

Very well done, a most valuable experience for the region. Very important work. Bravo on your accomplishment you guys rock.

[@foresnauts]

Thank you, you've been an influence here as well. I remember watching your film early on when I arrived here. Taught me a lot about what's possible this far north :).

[@emmekresek8048]

This is a beautiful video, wonderful project and you are a great narrator.

[@danr308]

Came here from Permies. Totally dope. Feliz Navidad fellas!y

[@jacocalitz4069]

Thank you so much. This is the most amazing video i have seen. You have made me realize what my mission on earth is. To bring the forest back because our lifes are ride to the forests. Thank you guys for the amazing work and time and effort you have put in to create this. May you be healthy and my your sorest grow beyond your imagination

[@foresnauts]

That's really nice to hear! Remember that even within bringing back forests, there are infinite ways to do that, and finding your particular expression and way of doing that is a beautiful journey of its own :).

[@slowgomera5611]

beautiful place and project.thanks for the look in...

[@duewest9219]

For so long now I've been looking for inspiration. With this video it gave me such a big insight on what was possible on the land. I now own outside my house. I want to thank you, your brother and everybody else involved in this video for giving me exactly what I needed. What you have done. What you have all done is something amazingly beautiful😊

[@srantoniomatos]

Really nice place and philosophy. Tanks.

[@jherman89]

Beautiful! This looks like one of the more fully realized forest gardens I've seen. I would love to hear more about how you've managed the syntropic section.

[@foresnauts]

We'd love to talk more about it! And we'll definitely be talking more about it in other videos.

[@i.a.4694]

Just brillliant!11

[@misssummer6387]

Beautiful project and great storytelling! 😊

[@drkhubalkarmakarandvk.1259]

Wow! Great job done and great ideas for future. All the best bro. I am from Nagpur, Maharashtra, India

[@emilydart808]

Wow I’m on a similar path and really resonated with everything you said. The is no greater or more beautiful mission.

[@agroecho-alexandreleblanc7207]

Good job ! Quite a nice lesson in applied ecology. Planning to create the same kind of small paradise in South-West France, with a focus on productive syntropic agroforestry ! Would be happy to see updates and some more history of the place !

[@foresnauts]

You are close by! Thanks for the interest! We hope to continue documenting!

[@sparkyown]

Great forest, we have some here in the Netherlands too, called voedselbossen (foodforests). Make some more video's and some more editing and you really got something here.

[@bosquenautas9826]

Thank you so much, would love to develop better editing lol!

[@lindaellin559]

Great video thank you!

[@razisamimi9287]

Great place! Plant more trees guys. You get more wild life

[@howtogrowdragonfruitplant7849]

I plan to do something similar one day !

[@tomkers850]

Amazing!

[@CharlesManuel1]

Amazing, ii can't wait to make one of my own

[@AgroecologicalSystems]

Awesome

[@freenando75]

que bonito

[@diederikpietersma4216]

Thank you for this insightful video. This looks like an amazing place !

[@illadelagos8770]

Thank you for the compliments, feel free to ask questions!

[@guymiklos9245]

Thankyou Diego. I have been curious for a long time about your place in Galícia. It's wonderful! As is your ethos. I was wondering if you have any edible bamboos or any Araucarias. Thanks for sharing your achievement. Guy

[@foresnauts]

Hey Guy! We've got a few clumping bamboos, I'd have to check the particular variety as it's been a while since we bought them, but I don't think they're particularly edible (more so than any other bamboo) And when it comes to the monkey puzzles, we've got the same variety, as most people have ornamentally. And they're doing really well for us. If I remember correctly you'd found a more drought tolerant variety, how's that going for you?

[@guymiklos9245]

@@foresnauts I'd really like to know the nursery where you bought your bamboos. Do you remember the species. Bambusa oldhamii perhaps? Araucaria bidwillii, and A. angustifolia, (from eastern Australia and southern Brazil, respectively). These both grow well in Galicia, but A. angustifolia is dioecious, so half the trees won't produce edible seeds. I love the Monkey Puzzel tree - A. araucana. It is a very common ornamental in the U.K. where I grew up. I had no idea when I was a child that it had big and nutritious edible seeds.

[@GaSoliNa2o]

Awesome Job guys! You can be proud of your work! Do you have a list with the nativ nitrogen fixing tree species you planted or name a few? :) This would help me a lot with my forestgarden project.

[@foresnauts]

Hey, the main three native nitrogen fixing bushes we use here are Scotch broom (cytisus scoparia), Gorse (ulex europeus), and what we call Codeso in Spain (adenocarpus complicatus), which doesn't have a name in english I think. As for trees we have alders ( alnus glutinosa) and then a couple of invasives we don't use.

[@toboschiav]

Good job! Avere la fortuna di ereditare un terreno e renderlo splendido! Vivete all'interno o all'esterno dell'area? Grazie

[@lauralee6628]

how much food can you grow ? and what type of food is it ? plus what is your rainfall for context ?

[@foresnauts]

For the first few years we focused a lot more on growing food, and we never really measured it but we were eating quite frequently from the garden. Now as the years pass, our focus is more on figuring out how to be human, and we still eat from the garden, but less. Luckily, the trees are starting to mature now, and with a lot less "work" we're starting to get harvests of a lot of different fruit and nut crops. As to what type of food, too many to list :) And we get a lot of rainfall, depending on the year 1500mm+

[@PietroSperonidiFenizio]

How big is the area? This could be one of the biggest food forests in europe

[@BetterWorldEcosystems]

How much rain do you get annually?

[@srantoniomatos]

Ola, ahora mismo revisto este video. Me encanta. Estoy creando un espacio muy parecido desde hace 4 anos, un poco mas abajo, cerca de nazare, en portugal (10a) Seria posible un dia visitarvos? Y estarias interesando en cambio o venta de mudas de arboles? Tambien tengo vivero con un monton de especies, enfocado principalmente en nativas (de la peninsula) y pioneras. Como puedo contatarvos? Muchas gracias.

[@foresnauts]

Hola, ese vivero suena interesante, si quieres hablar puedes mandarnos un mensaje por nuestro instagram. instagram.com/foresnauts/

[@Atimatimukti]

Diego? I think we met some years ago here in my farm in Minho, Portugal. Is that correct? Anyway, great video and good job with the forest.

[@foresnauts]

Atimati! Yes, i visited your land. I'm still eager to get some of those summer oranges you had planted.

[@Atimatimukti]

@@foresnauts good! And yes, come at anytime, you're most welcomed. I have so many more trees now and just got Uvaia, Black Zapote and several Ziziphus. Also banana from the Himalaias.....well, and so many more :-)

[@foresnauts]

@@Atimatimukti whoa, i'm guessing under that oak cover you don't get much frost damage.

[@Atimatimukti]

@@foresnauts right. And I have the mountain on the back so protected for the north winds. The mangoes and avocados and others are perfectly ok here.

[@glennjgroves]

If this is the result of being weird, then weird is wonderful.

[@jeppeleth3888]

Such a wonderful project. Have you considered guerilla gardening in your region, as a method of expansion? For instance, planting fruit and berry bushes in areas with many people to enjoy nature's abundance.

[@foresnauts]

We've definitely considered it. The problem in our region is that there's too much growth! So in the land that's abandoned blackberry would completely overgrow and swallow those bushes. And the rest of the land is either ploughed under or shaded out by eucalyptus.

[@jeppeleth3888]

@@foresnauts Interesting:) I guess that i am just used to seeing lots of manicured lawn and not so much wilderness. (I live in Denmark). Would it be possible for you to plant a plant that enjoy or tolarate the shade of the eucalyptus in early stages of its life, and eventually become the canopy?

[@foresnauts]

Ah just seeing this now. The way the eucalyptus are planted, not quite. They're usually packed quite tihtly. It's possible on some shaded woodland edges. (And I have guerilla planted some hazelnuts for example in very particular places). But eucalyptus can live hundreds of years, and grow 50 meters+, so I don't think they'll be much of a canopy over it :).

[@ann8314]

Hi there fellow weirdos!

[@foresnauts]

Weirdos unite!!!

[@brettwarburton1428]

All power to you lovely weirdos. Changing the way we interact with nature is inextricably linked with saving our planet. From a 68 year weirdo from New Zealand/Aotearoa.

[@pedrothewise2584]

in malaga if you disappear for a generation you get desert.

[@salemstormont7972]

🤪 ᴘʀᴏᴍᴏsᴍ

[@benschulz3871]

Exceptional job lads much love