Re: manual harvest vs. monoculture automation - I think of harvesting in my food forest as part of grocery shopping. The time I spend harvesting means less time grocery shopping. And as you point out, harvesting is therapeutic. I cannot say the same about grocery shopping. Also I grow varieties that aren't available in any store.

Rob Avis had a very early video (something like 10 years ago) which really started to unplug me and wake me up. It was just him walking around his suburban property. I kept thinking "this guy is insane" just looking at the craziness on his front lawn. But that video was so important in my transition from suburbanite lawn lover to replacing my lawn with a permaculture food forest ecosystem. This video here reminds me of that video so much and I hope it has the same effect on many others that Rob's video did on me.

I planted 6 trees (mulberry, avo, lemon, guava, fig, moringa) and am planting Cape Gooseberry as well. I started my garden in 2021, had no mulch so I covered the dug up lawn with cardboard and cut holes in the cardboard and inserted grow tubes in the holes and planted my veggies in the grow tubes. Had a bumper crop that has not stopped yet.

Very informative video. great work . If more people could adopt this model of food and forestry, this world would be a more peaceful and better place to live in harmony with the nature.

I love what you've done here. I'm only 3 years in with my current site but am starting to see lots of yield from the smaller perennial plants in my yard. The trees are still very young, Looking at your site, I am realizing that I can introduce more density to my own site. That's cool!

Diversity in the garden is great. We live in an apartment House in Portland. We are thankful that our landlord had already had many mature fruit trees... and we were granted the backyard and side yard to put in Seeds and Starts in pots and in garden beds. I’ve notice with our diverse crops of tomatoes, eggplants, cucumbers, Patty Pan squash, and Kajari Melons that our plants aren’t being attacked by insects. We love the many bees that are showing up everyday. I find myself everyday outside in the garden, as I garden I meditate. We love to share our harvest with our neighbors. You have a wonderful Food Forest. Thank you for sharing.

A food forest answers every question 🥰 the start of mine filled something inside me I didn’t even know I was missing. As someone who can lose interest in hobbies quickly, this is also something that is so different every time I visit the garden and there is so much that can be added and learned all the time I don’t think I’ll ever get enough.

I definitely understand the appeal of both traditional and non traditional gardening. I’ve grown both ways in my vegetable garden. And I now go for an in between approach. Harvesting a huge amount of a single food in a jungle like setting is kind of a nightmare. But for foods that can be picked in a grazing and mostly fresh eating fashion, polyculture works fantastic. You can definitely grow more way more food per square foot but you’ll have less room to work.

We probably grow around 20-30% of our (family of 4) own food on 6 acres. Garden, livestock and fruit/nut trees. What kills me is the kitchen work preparing, preserving, and cooking the all the food after we grow it. It takes longer than the time spent planting, pruning, and harvesting. Preservation is a large part of temperate climate food production that may not be needed as much in a tropical climate. I also believe there may be more shade tolerant fruiting plants in the tropics. COVID gave us all the time in the world to farm our property, and I can honestly say I’d be very worried if I had to grow even 60% of our food, as it would be an all day, everyday, endeavor. That said, anyone with the inclination (many do not) should be growing food. Good for the body, good for the soul, and every bit counts.

Great video, Angela. It's nice to see your yard as a real life example.

My food forest challenge is building up biodiversity and food next to one neighbour that uses pesticides on their weeds, and other side neighbour harbouring extremely invasive plant (Himalayan balsam). It's a never ending battle and stress but I am hoping that my little food forest continues to bring me peace

Amazing💚 I'm slowly getting there ... love how the bigger plants shade the smaller plants and something is always available to harvest

Love your choice of music here. I just harvested my first hazelnuts! I'm slowly building a good forest on our five acres.

I love the info and your Food Forest! I have a large garden. It's quite wild, but not permanent culture. Since we rent, I am learning and studying so I can develop a food forest when we buy in 2 years. I'm so looking forward to that goal! Thank you!

What I love about a food forest, is that year round, you can experience the joy of being able to eat a wide variety of foods while they are still screaming.

I love your garden and your education. I hope more see this. Creating shade in never mentioned or mentioned as negative. I strive to create shade and appreciate shade in my garden because it gives me more time in the garden and in nature avoiding the blazing global warming intense heat and sun. Some plants can’t take the our Florida summer heat and need some shade too.

I have been enjoying your videos. They are very informative, full of peacefulness, and hope for me. Thank you for your easy way of taking us through each aspect of your garden and journey.

Great video, my father had a food forest in the back of the house, Hurricane Maria did a number on the trees, then it got taken over by weeds, I have been slowly cleaning the property to put it to produce again.

For developing countries - on a small area it is possbile to manage water and fertility even w/o capital, chemicals, machines etc. That makes it IDEAL for developing countries. Geoff Lawton brought the example of a Melbourne urban gardener he had 60 square meters that is 645 square feet. Highly productive (admitted lots of sun, long growing season). He uses a special pruning technique to cut the fruit trees, to keep them small enough (4 times per year pruning). He was so successful that he was hired by the city as consultant.

The concept of the food forest is too overwhelming for the average person. There are lots of garden theories out there. I always just encourage people to put some seeds or plants in the soil and go from there. There is a lot of fear of failure that discourages people. The first thing we did when we purchased our house in the cities was put raised beds in the front yard. My wife did home daycare then. The kids and parents walked through it all the time. It encouraged the parents to garden and the kids loved it. We allowed the parents to grab tomatoes etc when they came. The kids got fresh vegetables with their meals. They saw the progression though and that is what got some of them to start. Don't push a forest on people that don't garden already. I am glad to hear her talk about the forest concept as one solution to a complex issue.