A food forest is a specific type of permaculture that blends together a fruit and nut orchard with a vegetable and flower garden.
I’ve known that I’ve wanted to grow one ever since I watched this video.
Having recently moved to the country, I’ll soon have my chance. And this model (created by Graham Burnett) will serve as a guiding principle:
That diagram depicts a food forest guild, which is a form of companion planting that has its origin in The Three Sisters approach of planting corn, beans, and squash together, which was developed by indigenous communities in the United States.
I’d put that visual model into the category of scene. It’s a side view / cross-section depicting something you might see in the real world.
Here’s what makes that model useful.
It depicts a system.
In this case it’s a system of interacting plants that fill different niches and provide distinct benefits to humans, animals, insects, and the soil itself.
If shifts my mindset.
I’ve seen countless fields of large-scale monoculture at work. I’ve also seen plenty of tidy but separate rows of garden beds. That established the view that we can only grow one thing in one space at one time. The number one priority is the efficiency that comes with scale.
This model provides a different view, one that prioritizes quality of soil, diversity of output, and resiliency to change. Each plant grows better when surrounded by a few similar plants and lots of different ones.
It helps me make decisions.
As I plan out the guilds for my own food forest, I know what categories I need to fill (ideally, a few plants for each of the seven layers depicted). So instead of a completely open-ended blank canvas, I’ve got helpful constraints to work within.
As you think about the topics occupying your headspace right now, consider these questions:
- What system is at play, and what form of model best depicts that system?
- What shift in mindset does your sketched model help to bring about?
- In what ways does your model help you (or others) make decisions?
A good model doesn’t have to provide all of the answers. Often, all it does is identify the important questions. It sets priorities. And it supports intentional action.
If you’d like support developing your own visual models, let’s work together.
Cheers,
-Doug