The process of creating a small scale FOOD FOREST ! (Tips and tricks)

[@adrabruzzese7610]

"LIfe attracts Life". Love that and so true.

[@Buildingenjoyment]

The birds are bringing so many seeds. Maybe they know my good soil might let the seeds germinate. We have one bird that is lining the seeds up in rows. I will try to get the bird on film. So strange.

[@wildalentejo]

The main challenge in my place is the lack of rain for 8-10 months yearly, with summer temperatures reaching 45°C and occasional winter frost. I started four years ago and initially lost dozens of fruit trees. I then shifted to a syntropic approuch, building soil, planting drought-resistant plants in dense, stratified layers, and mulching with biomass and sheep wool. This year the trees thrived through summer like champions, next year will start with the fruit trees and bushes. Cant wait for the pruning boom. Love your videos; thank you so much for sharing your knowledge!

[@Buildingenjoyment]

Im glad I have 22 degrees and almost constant rainfall. Wouldn’t want to trade with you for your conditions. Has to be tough. Even working in the heat has to be something else. Thanks for the encouragement!

[@wildalentejo]

@@Buildingenjoyment lots of patience and knowledge from professors like yourself make the trip quite worth it.

[@Atimatimukti]

@@wildalentejo come north to Minho. Best place in the world for a food forest. Water runing every where all year round, no extreme heat, no frost ( where I live, close to Vila Verde). I grow cherimoya, mangoes, avocados, bananas, goiava, chiccu and all the temperate fruits.

[@MGBranco]

That's what I'm doing on the central mountains in Portugal!

[@Buildingenjoyment]

Awesome. I guess you have to deal with extreme heat then a nasty rainy season ?

[@MGBranco]

@Buildingenjoyment it's not that dramatic...it's manageable. Still in the beginnings taking care of all the babies and building terraces because I'm on a sloop. Already made a few raised beads and a mini greenhouse. Everything from scratch... Next year going to fix the roof of the house too... Going to be a busy year! But really happy and free from the banks! Sell sufficient where I go! Cheers!

[@nocogarden]

I think it’s time to do a little bit of sound isolation in your voice over room.

[@Buildingenjoyment]

Real-time outside next to a river. Will get a good mic.

[@nocogarden]

@ I don’t think it’s your microphone. I think it’s your room treatment.

[@tomatito3824]

A forest is a process, not a picture. My humble opinion, you should take a break and learn syntropic agriculture, because a lot of what you say goes against it. And I'm sure you'd love it. Starting from the fruit trees is the most common way and also the reason why most food forests fail. People should have very clear where all the biomass is gonna come from (support species), otherwise they are gonna need to bring truckloads of biomass from outside of the system every year.

[@wildalentejo]

Been doing it for a few years, but if he got good soil quality , no shortage of rain I think he got all the energy to implement fruit trees without the need to go the syntropic way, we have done a few syntropic hectares in this crazy Alentejo always following Ernest approach and was the way that gave me hope to continue, but if the system is healthy why change it.

[@Buildingenjoyment]

We water everything with spring water from above. Our smaller river is constantly supplying us with rich river silt and organic mater. The small river is our secret weapon. When it rains heavy we harvest up to 60 wheelbarrows of organic matter. We have in normal time this occurrence once a month. I’m basically doing syntropic gardening the difference my sources are very different because of the small river.

[@tomatito3824]

@@Buildingenjoyment Oh yes I do realize you have done a great job in your site and are already living in natural abudance. I'm just saying as a general method for most people, starting from fruit trees might not be the best. Sites that haven't been managed by a natural person won't be able to sustain fruit trees right away, and is a common way to fail when starting a food forest.

[@Buildingenjoyment]

@ I’m with you. I’m worried my soil energy will run out. I try to keep ahead. Growing so much green matter to cover the ground and to compost. Hopefully this is the right pathway. I’m really impressed with getting green matter into a trench and covering it the same day. Trapping all the CO 2 and energy under the soil. When I dig it back up in a few months the soil quality is insane. I agree I’m definitely in a little bit of a goldilocks zone. Handpicked to garden like this :

[@Buildingenjoyment]

Your first sentence needs to be discussed more. A picture is stagnant a food forest is a video in slow motion. If we associate the growth of the fruit trees for example with video speed then it is constantly changing. The focus is to have everything growing and moving forward. What you can do as a gardener is to pay attention to your plants needs.Adding compost and watering are the tools.

[@Buildingenjoyment]

Trench composting versus no-till cardboard gardening ! kzbin.info/www/bejne/hJO7gGuhZ6iJf80si=GxOE_CZX9avl2Rq6