Pleasant Sense Farm
Sustainability. Therapy. Connect.
Roots of Wisdom: How Our Food Forest Connects Us to Nature's Lessons
Short Stories from the Farm
In October of 2023, we started building a food forest! A food forest is like a special kind of garden, but instead of just planting vegetables or fruits in rows, it’s designed to look like a small forest that gives us food! Imagine a place where trees, bushes, flowers, and plants all grow together in a way that helps each other. Some trees give us yummy fruits, while other plants give us herbs or nuts.
In a food forest, everything is connected. Tall trees stand high and give shade, while smaller bushes or plants grow underneath, and even the ground is covered with things like mushrooms or tasty veggies. They all help each other by sharing water, nutrients, and even helping to keep the soil healthy. It’s like nature’s team working together to create food!
A food forest also helps animals, like bees and birds, because they have places to live and find food. It’s not just about growing food for our family – it’s a place that helps the whole environment stay happy and healthy. In fact, the inspiration for our food forest came from our beloved rooster, who sadly is no longer with us. You can read about that story here.
A food forest is a great way to learn about permaculture too, which is a special way of taking care of nature and growing food. It’s like using nature’s own rules to make sure everything works together!
Here are some of the important lessons our family has learned and ones we can all learn from a food forest:
Work with Nature, Not Against It
In a food forest, we don’t try to fight nature. Instead, we work with it! Just like how trees naturally grow and help the plants around them, we can plant things in ways that help each other. For example, some plants might help keep the soil healthy, while others might give food.
Sometimes, there might be challenges in a food forest, like pests or dry weather. When that happens, we have to think about ways to solve those problems. This teaches us how to be creative and find smart solutions to challenges that come our way.
Diversity is Important
In a food forest, there are many different kinds of plants—trees, flowers, vegetables, and more! This is like having a big group of friends, where everyone is different but all work together. Diversity helps the food forest stay strong and healthy because if one plant doesn’t grow well, another one can still thrive!
Everything Has a Job
In a food forest, each plant, tree, and animal has its own special job. Some trees give fruit, while others give shade. Flowers might bring in bees to help with pollination, and herbs can help keep chickens strong and healthy. Leaves on the ground help keep the soil moist and ladybugs keep aphids under control. This teaches us that everything in nature has an important role to play, and how working together as a team helps everyone do their best! Each plant and animal has a job, and we have to work together to take care of them all.
Use What You Have
Permaculture is about using what’s already around you. In a food forest, we don’t need to buy a lot of stuff. The leaves that fall from the trees can be used to make the soil better, and rainwater can be collected to water the plants. We use nature’s gifts to help the forest grow without wasting anything.
Then, once the food forest starts growing, we can share the food with others! Caring for a food forest shows us the joy of sharing what we have with our friends, family, and community.
Care for the Earth and Each Other
In a food forest, everything is about taking care of nature and the people who live there. When we care for a food forest, we learn how amazing nature is and how everything has its own special role. We can see how plants and animals help each other, and we learn to respect nature by making sure we don’t harm it and by taking care of it for the future.
As we take care of the food forest, we learn to appreciate all the food and beauty it provides. We can see how nature knows best and can learn to be patient, responsible, and kind to nature. We can be thankful for the fruits, vegetables, and flowers that grow, and for the animals that come to visit.
This helps us understand how important it is to be grateful for the gifts nature gives us and learn to become better stewards of the earth!
Pleasant Sense Farm acknowledges the traditional Custodians of the land on which we work and live and recognise their continuing connection to land, water and community. Pleasant Sense Farm pays respect to Elders past, present and emerging.
