We are in the midst of a growing environmental crisis. Pollution is worsening, natural resources are dwindling, climate is rapidly changing, and extreme weather events are increasing. Due to the situation, a growing need arises to examine new approaches for the interface between humans and their environment. We must reexamine the way we utilize our natural resources for our nourishment, as well as our physical and mental wellbeing. During the last few years there is an awakening of alternative landscaping approaches, which place an emphasis on sustainability. One of them is the food forest. The concept of the ‘food forest’ is part of the permaculture world – a holistic landscaping approach inspired by patterns which exist in mature ecological systems, and its objective is to benefit life in all its forms. This approach combines three main fields: ecological rehabilitation, food cultivation, and landscape design. By combining these fields, whilst utilizing principles of sustainable landscaping such as succession and soil structuring, a system which operates and develops harmoniously with its environment is created. Food forests as a landscaping approach is very relevant for this period in time, as part of a variety of sustainable approaches and strategies for human interference with nature.
The disappearance of open-air spaces
In Israel, there is an acute trend of increase in population density alongside an aggressive decrease in open-air natural areas. The few open-air spaces that remain in residential areas should be wisely utilized, so that they serve several functions and a variety of needs and populations. Food forests offer a unique combination of necessary functions – ecological conservation and rehabilitation, sustainable food cultivation, and creating an aesthetic and welcoming space for social and communal activity. This landscaping approach is unique in the variety of functions it enables. A great example of that is the food forest in Gan Yavne, ‘Im HaTeva’, which sprawls across an area of 0.9 acres in total, and has a huge variety of fruit trees, herb plants and wild plants, offers various community and educational activities for different audiences, all the while rehabilitating soil eroded and polluted by construction waste. In the photo – ‘Im HaTeva’ Food Forest in Gan Yavne
Climate Change
Another drastic tendency we are witnessing in the last few years is the climate change which is becoming more extreme with every passing year. In the Middle East, the main natural resource which is a limiting factor to the flourishing of systems, both natural and artificial, is water. More accurately – water availability. This is due to the fact that the average rainfall in Israel is not that low, but its dispersion is problematic. Most rainfalls are short-lived downpours, which makes it difficult for the soil to absorb the rain and for it to permeate, and most of the rain becomes surface runoff and flows to the sea, carrying topsoil with it and creating damages. In the last few years we are witnessing a radicalization of this phenomenon, due to climate change becoming more extreme all over the world.This tendency demands that we take notice of the water resource, in an educated and respectful manner. We can’t afford to keep letting surface runoff flow to the sea after every rainfall event. We have to assimilate this water into the soil and enable them to fill up our groundwater resources and help create moist and fertile soil. Great emphasis is placed on rehabilitation of water and soil in food forests, and in fact, all aspects of the ecological system receive practical response in accordance with the local context.Use of soil covering which increases water grip and percolation, vegetation stratification, encouragement of deep roots, designated ground work, all these are practices that can be implemented on any scale. Top photo – surface runoff conservation work in South Tel Aviv food forest- the surface runoff usually makes it to the drainage system and from there the flow to the sea slows down, percolates and saturates the soil on which fruit trees are planted. Bottom photo – seasonal lake in Kidron Food Forest. Assimilates thousands of cubic meters of surface runoff into the groundwater and creates a uniquely aesthetic ecological niche for wildlife.
Mass Extinction
One of the phenomena which cannot be disputed is that we are in the midst of a mass extinction of species. The decrease in natural habitats, alongside pollution and dwindling of ecological systems causes the disappearance of many animal species. Today, the common approach is that the responsibility for this is handed over to nature organizations, but urban and rural areas can do a lot to encourage the conservation of species. In a layered system, rich with diverse vegetation such as a food forest, arthropods, birds and mammals – which are rapidly becoming extinct in human settlement surroundings – are enabled to flourish and thrive. This support of the creation of biological diversity around humans has great environmental and ethical value. Different and diverse ecological niches are created in food forests, they enable the existence of species that cannot find their place in the sterile conventional systems which are exposed to pesticides. For example, creation of clusters of bushes, ecological corridors, use of plants that attract butterflies and birds, etc. It was also seen that the invasive species ‘common myna’, was pushed out of Kidron Food Forest, by different local species. In the photo – wild animals in Kidron Food Forest
Nutrition Security
One of the effects of the environmental crisis is a growing increase in food prices, and especially in the fresh produce field.Urban lifestyle disconnects us more and more from our food sources and the accessibility to natural food becomes a luxury commodity. Most people are nourished by a very limited quantity of types of fruits and vegetables, which can lead to nutrition and health crises, as we see in different parts of the world, the third and the western. Therefore, the importance of growing a very wide diversity of fruits and vegetables is great, and we must find ways to make it accessible to everyone. Community food forests in the public spaces make not only food accessible, but also herbs and medicinal plants, to all parts of the population, and connect people to their food sources. The experience of picking an orange from the tree becomes less and less accessible to many layers of the population that simply do not get out of the city. It’s deserving that each and every individual will have the privilege to experience it, at both the health level and the mind & body level. Top photo – mushroom foraging in Reut School’s food forest in GederaBottom photo – fruit from Kidron Food Forest (carambole, sweetsop, moringa)Integrating WorldsFood forests bring three fields together, fields which are almost entirely separated today. Nature exists somewhere out there in nature reserves and Jewish National Fund forests. Food cultivation occurs in conventional industrial systems in moshavim and kibbutzim. Public gardening, parks and yards in residential areas are designed in a manner which is disconnected from nature, and become more and more sterile. Why is it like that? Why don’t urban parks have edible plants available for the welfare of the residents? Why are so many agricultural systems so destructive for the ecological systems? Why is nature pushed aside from public gardening? The contradictions between these worlds have many examples, and many answers can be found to these questions. They are connected to social, cultural, political, and budget factors. It doesn’t mean that we can’t integrate them and lead the path to beneficent change. On the one hand, a food forest is a very practical approach to managing our open spaces – be it an agricultural land, a public park or a private garden. On the other hand, this approach brings with it a new relationship between man and environment. This relationship is based on cooperation and listening to the entirety of components in the area – vegetal, living, human and inanimate. In order to implement a holistic approach such as this in the area, a body of knowledge in many diverse fields is required – ecology, agronomy, landscape design, education, community, etc.
We are in the midst of a growing environmental crisis. Pollution is worsening, natural resources are dwindling, climate is rapidly changing, and extreme weather events
Throughout this article we’ll answer the question – what exactly is a food forest? We will examine its origins, characteristics and benefits. A food forest
