With the pricing of food going up and promises of food shortages all around the world, it’s no surprise more and more people are opting to start growing their own food at home. There are so many ways this can be accomplished but the best method of them all is by creating an edible food forest garden. Here are 5 reasons why you need to be growing an edible food forest garden:

Food forests are sustainable

Food forests have been around for generations and have sustained communities throughout the world, yet they are under threat by modern agriculture. Modern agriculture is unsustainable and treading on the last remaining fertile soils in our planet while creating unnatural amounts of run-off into our water systems. Food forests take a holistic approach to growing food that ensures all of our needs are met: soil health, air quality, biodiversity and productivity are all enhanced together.

Food forests can be grown anywhere

Food forests often use a mixture of tall and short plants, plants that are edible and non-edible together. Each plant has a different root structure, meaning that your plant guild will be sheltered from the wind and protected in their needs. The best part is that there are no set rules as to how big or small your food forest has to be.

Food forests require less effort than traditional gardening methods

Creating a food forest is a great way to go off the grid and eliminate your need for fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides. Food forests are incredibly productive, easy to manage and beautiful to behold – they’re low input systems that simply work!

Food forests imitate nature

Food forests are designed to imitate nature and mimic the best gardening practices found in our native soils and plants. You would be hard pressed to find a better example of a self-replicating ecosystem than in nature’s forests. The plants, animals and insects are all interdependent on each other for survival, creating a balanced system that results in healthy plants and food for humans too.

Have you ever noticed that forests don’t require any watering, weeding, pruning, or any labour intensive tending to? That’s because when you let nature be, it takes care of itself in a harmonious way.

Food forests bring people together

In addition to being your own source of healthy, locally grown produce, a food forest can also be beneficial to your community and environment. If you have ever had a garden and have grown your own food, then you know the extreme satisfaction of knowing the meals you get to enjoy were produced by you, and what better feeling then to get to share that with those around you?

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