In his bookForest Gardening , nutrient forest trailblazer Robert Hart estimates that a family could be fed from a half - hectare temperate climate food forest .
Of of course , since we mesh in Freedom Units here in Florabama , I had to figure out how much surface area that really is by going online for an reply .
0.5 hectare = 1.235526 Acre . So let ’s call it 1 1/4 acres .
By afamily , Robert says something like “ about ten people . ” ( I ’d find out the full quote but it ’s not even 6AM yet and I might awake up my married woman by digging around in the pile of books by my bedside table . )
In a tropical climate , of course , you belike would n’t need intimately that much space . Assuming decent rainfall and somewhat useful soil , I am win over that with proper management one could fertilise 10 the great unwashed on a half acre in the tropical zone . Maybe with even less . The sheer amount of food which can be produce stumble the idea . One papaia tree , take up about six square feet of place , is capable of make an annual 200lbs of fruitonly a year after being sown from seed .
Add to that the prolific production of breadfruit , coconuts , yam , edda , passionfruit , bananas and plantains , etc . , and you would not go hungry .
Hey… got any new trees I can destroy?
Yet in a temperate climate solid food wood there is also the potential difference for good food production , particularly if the gardener fill the time to satiate the gaps in the organisation with as many useful and edible specie as possible .
If a forest is allowed to reach culmination , the canopy close and yield is curtailed as there is little being produced by anything beneath the top layer . Yet in a handle timberland garden , this is prevent and more layers are candid to igniter and many niches can be make full with shrubs , vine , herbs , vegetables , stem , mushrooms , etc .
Productive patch of potatoes , fresh potato , ground nuts and other filling base may be produced around the edges , along with grains , Cucurbita pepo , mash , bean and other staple annual . This , coupled with the production of screwball and fruits will avail keep the proprietor and his family feed .
Hey… got any new trees I can destroy?
Though Robert did n’t contrive animals into his system , one could greatly increase the product of levelheaded protein by also sum up pigs , chicken or ducks into the system with appropriate confinement . duck are particularly leisurely to keep and do less harm than chickens if allowed to free - image . Even some dairy goats on a tether system of rules could be lend ; however , they really are a source of destruction and should not be attempted without knowledge ! We ’ve had Capricorn and then subsequently have removed said Goat from our homestead on two affair due to the maintenance involve as well as the destruction they do .
Hey … got any young tree I can destroy ?
The easiest to maintain food for thought forest organisation is one without animals , of line . you could simply take across the commonwealth for two months and then return without anything lust to death . However , it is a good thing to have eggs and meat if it work with your living .
course creature from the food wood will require some maturity date in the system first , otherwise you ’ll have to spell feed . We ’re currently using two pigs to clear unexampled field in our year - onetime food forest , but we do have to bring them lots of scraps from the kitchen and expire bread from the bakeshop , plus we have to occasionally append them with purchased intellectual nourishment . If the organization was well - launch , we might be able-bodied to feed them from it if we planned accordingly , with heavy banking company of Jerusalem artichokes and lots of nuts and decrease yield . This would likely postulate a 10 of increase first . Gallus gallus would be easier , and duck’s egg would be easiest , as they are very good at forage and live on next - to - nothing . The nurseryman should check that that his mountain are pocket-size to begin with so they do n’t overburden the arrangement , and then he can add to them as the food woodland matures .
I could see an brute - free 1 1/4 Accho organization still feeding ten citizenry without much difficulty . Our Grocery Row Garden system is a modify intellectual nourishment timber and at only a class old , it ’s already on track to make over a thousand British pound sterling of food this year – and it ’s less than 1/4 Akka in size ! Our main food woodland is n’t being tended like that system , but if it was , its 1/2 acre could easily bring on a short ton of food , even though it too is only a year older and none of the trees are fertile yet .
In the early twelvemonth , your yield mostly come from annuals and rootage crops . Later , you get lots and lots of berries and some faster producing fruits , then afterwards still , you get baskets and baskets of nuts and fruits .
Just consider the yield of a single mature Pyrus communis tree diagram , then multiple that by a hundred !
It ’s possible !
We need more food wood and less solid food from far off .
And now is the clock time to start .
