Manual for creating
a community Food Forest
on public land

© 2012-2021 by Andy <mail2andyc@gmail.com>

http://goo.gl/OkrQH

This work and all my linked example documents are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

“What you eat is the most political thing you do every day” – Jeanette Winterson

This is intended as a living document. It is being updated from time to time.

You can download this document if you choose,

but know that you will lose about 50% of its functionality.

Introduction

Imagine a forest full of food, free for everyone to harvest

This manual will assist you with the process of getting access to public land and establishing a community Food Forest on it. A community Food Forest on public land is not a “one man” project.

You need to be able to motivate other people in your community to actively support you.

Table of contents

1. Get in touch with your local community association

2. Form a Charitable Trust

3. Funding

4. Choose an area of public land that is managed by the local council

5. Make a 50 year plan for the future Food Forest area

6. All stakeholders need to at least tolerate the Food Forest project

7. Propose the project to the local council

8. The Food Forest project needs the attention of the public

9. Ask the local Council for a final decision

10. The licence

11. Choosing plants for the Food Forest

12. Ground preparation of the Food Forest area

13. Planting plants on the Food Forest area

14. Maintenance of the Food Forest area

15. Documentation of your Food Forest

What would you like to see added to this manual?

Acknowledgement

1. Get in touch with your local community association

Community associations are a very common tool for involving interested people in the local council decision making process. These associations might have names like “Ratepayers and residents association”, "Development society", among others. You can usually find the contact data of your local community association on the Internet. For Queenstown Lakes District for example here.

There are many organizations like this all over New Zealand. If your community is so small that it doesn’t have a community association, then you probably don't need one.

Make a nice looking presentation of your project proposal.

Very important points that need to be included in your project proposal:

• STRESS that you will form a Charitable Trust that will pay for every expense of the project.
• STRESS that the Charitable Trust will responsible for the maintenance of the future Food Forest.
• STRESS that the Charitable Trust will be permanent, and ongoing.
• STRESS that you only ask for their verbal support to start the project, nothing else!

Here is a sample presentation (from a more advanced stage of the project) of the Hawea Food Forest project. Also take a look at my Prezi presentation. You should also include the 4 minute Forest Garden Intro Video from Martin Crawford in your presentation. It is a very good summary of a Food Forest, filmed in an actual, established Food Forest.

Make good looking handouts for them. See my sample handout (a paper has two sides, use both!).

This enables them to look at your project proposal at home. They can also show it to partners and friends and discuss it.

Be positive - don’t scare them with a horrible future vision of a world without cheap oil!

Learn enough about Food Forests in general, in particular the amount of maintenance needed on a Food Forest, so you can answer all upcoming questions. Don’t bury them with details, offer details only on request. Ask for a few minutes of their time for your proposal/presentation at the next meeting of the community association board. Be sure to request a minimum of 10 minutes, which gives you 6 mins (think Pecha Kucha), to speak to your slides.

Give them one week of internal discussion before you ask a member of the board about their opinion according to your project proposal.

It is not impossible to proceed without the support of the local community association, but you would need to be able to prove to the local council a level of public awareness, interest and participation.

Checklist for the Community association

[  ] Enough knowledge of Food Forests in general, in particular the amount of needed maintenance,
    to be able to answer all (at least most) of the possible upcoming questions.

[  ] Nice looking presentation of your project proposal

[  ] Good looking handouts

2. Form a Charitable Trust

You need a governing body to get a licence for public land.

Use the "society based incorporated trust" See here: www.societies.govt.nz The "society based incorporated trust" was carefully chosen after reading through all the pros and cons of all other types of charitable trusts. It is the best matching trust type for such a project. The board of the trust, not the trustees, will enter into all obligations, and it, not the trustees, will be sued if some default occurs.

Be careful that you always legally act on behave of the legal person “The board of the trust” and not personally.

You need 5 trustees for the society based incorporated trust. No matter what the community association board has decided about the support of your project, it is still a good idea to have members of the community association in your trust.

Choose your 5 trustees well. You will depend on them for a long time.

You can’t be one of the trustees if you want to employ yourself as the Manager of the Food Forest.

A paid Food Forest Manager is strongly recommended to carry your project fast forward.

You need to make a deed. Here is the sample deed, which has proven to work for a Food Forest charitable trust.

• You only need to change: dates, PARTIES, name “Hawea Food Forest” and address - nothing else. Don’t change anything more unless you are fully aware of all the consequences of the change.

• You need to fill the CT2 form from the Companies Office http://www.societies.govt.nz/  to register the trust. 
• You need a Justice of the Peace to witness and sign the CT2 form. Ask the community association for a local Justice of the Peace who may service you free of charge. A trustee needs to sign at the bottom of page 3 of the CT2 form: “AND I make this solemn...” in attendance of the Justice of the Peace.
• See the sample folder for correctly completed sample CT2 forms.

• Make scans of the documents. (set up a Google Mail/Docs account to share this is a good idea)
• File (send) the completed and signed CT2 form, and a signed copy of the trust deed to the Companies Office.

Possible contacts at the Companies office to follow up with:

- Mr. Shane Christoffersen <Shane.Christoffersen@business.govt.nz> Ph. +6439622683

- Mrs. Helena Aperila <helena.aperila@companies.govt.nz> Ph. +6499134215

Don’t wait until the registration is complete. You can proceed with some things at the same time.

Ask the IRD for a tax number

• Use the IR 596 form. (Correctly completed sample forms are in the sample folder).

Note that the IRD insists knowing the personal IRD number of all trustees.

• Make a scan of the document.
• File the filled and signed form ASAP to the IRD.

*

Register the trust at the Charities Commission

You need to do this for funding of the project.

Every funding organisation will ask you for your Charities Commission registration number. The trust will get Donee Organisation status if this is done. A sample completed form is also in the sample folder above.

If the Charities Commission tell you that they have a huge back queue and need many months for finishing your registration, then don’t hesitate to write to the IRD and ask them directly for a “statement of Donee Organisation status” and a “statement for income tax exemption”.

See the sample letter in the sample forms folder.

Open a bank account for the charitable trust

You need a bank account for the funding of the project.

I used Kiwibank. I can’t tell you anything about any other bank.

If you want use Kiwibank, ask Alesha Blair (Business Support Specialist) <Alesha.Blair@kiwibank.co.nz> Ph. +6432135080 for details.

Using www.xero.com enables total transparency of the fiscal management (Use the Pricing plan: Small). They give a discount for charitable trusts. Recommended for larger projects.

Ask the IRD for exemption from resident withholding tax

This saves you from arguing with the bank about the resident withholding tax.

• Use the IR 451 form for this. (Correctly completed sample forms)
• Make a scan of the document.
• File the completed and signed form ASAP with the IRD.
• Show the statement of the IRD the bank.

Checklist for the charitable trust

[  ] Trust registered at the Companies Office.

[  ] Trust registered at the Charities Commission.

[  ] IRD number received.

[  ] Bank account working.

[  ] Donee Organisation status granted.

[  ] Income tax exemption granted.

[  ] Exemption from resident withholding tax granted.

3. Funding

Possible sources of funding are:

• The local gambling money redistribution organisation. i.e. www.pubcharity.org.nz or www.lionfoundation.org.nz
• Lottery Community grant ($30,000 minimum) http://www.communitymatters.govt.nz/Funding-and-grants---Lottery-grants---Lottery-Community
• Your local funding sources. Do research to find them. Ask the local community association.
• www.pledgeme.co.nz - we used this. https://www.pledgeme.co.nz/569 This gave us the funds needed for buying some plants.
• Donations – private and commercial. Offer donors a donation receipt for tax deduction.
• Sponsorship.

Make a budget plan. Here is an example budget plan.

Attention: When you apply for a grant, not all funding sources fund all kind of expenditure. Some of them, for example, don’t pay a salary for a manager. You have to read through all the fine print.

The grant organisations usually want you to complete a form with detailed information about the usage of the funding. Document the usage of the money thoroughly. Grant organisations will likely ask you to prove how the grant money has been used.

Here is our successful sample PledgeMe campaign with this PledgeMe presentation (HD) Video.

Invest enough time and effort to produce a good presentation for your campaign. (for us, 6+ hours)

- Include links to detailed information regarding your PledgeMe campaign.

- TRIPLE check your content spelling! Facebook will cache the PledgeMe content for days.

Checklist for funding

[  ] Charitable trust set up done.

[  ] Bank account set up done.

[  ] Budget plan done.

[  ] Sought advice from the local community association for local funding options.

[  ] Researching of local funding options done.

(I’m interested in more examples of success funding, please tell me in detail about your successful funding)

4. Choose an area of public land that is managed by the local council

The right choice of public land is vital to the project.

A Food Forest is a long term project, taking 10-20 years to reach peak productivity and usually existing way beyond the lifespan of any individual or initiating group. Because of this, it needs to be protected and immune from short term interests such as fast money earnings from grazing leases, farming leases, complete clearings for firewood or sale for settlements.

Well chosen public land is the best place for a Food Forest. Public land, in contrast to private land, is not usually affected by ownership change or changes of policy which follow a change of ownership (eg to an heir).

There are two primary approaches we have noticed. One is to focus on a strategy of many smaller Food Forest and forest garden sites in urban areas. The other is to locate a site in an area where it can expand significantly. In that case it should also not be too far away from the town border, so people can reach the Food Forest by bike. I propose a maximum of 20 km from the town border.

The ideal place of a Food Forest would:

• Not be in the path of planned grow of a settlement or other development (ask the local council for the community development plan)
• Have enough space to expand in the future. (Think about 10-50 ha)
• Be not more than 20 km away from the target community.
• Have a street or road close to the area.
• Be formerly farmed land without grass on it.
• Have a wind shelter belt already established.

I assume that not many people have a piece of land in their community that meet all criteria.

The criterias are sorted in descending order of importance.

The initial Food Forest lease area size is also very important. It must between 700 m² and 9999 m² (99m x 100m). If the initial size is smaller than 700 m², a fully functioning Food Forest cluster can’t be completely implemented. However, a forest garden with some layers not represented, is still better than an orchard. If the initial size is larger than 9,999 m², the local council can probably not issue a lease for the area for $1 per year.

The local community association should be able to assist with this process

Checklist for choosing land for the future Food Forest

[  ]  Advice sought from the local community association in choosing the land.

[  ]  The public land is managed by the local council.

[  ]  Review of the community development plan according to the land done.

[  ]  Research of former land usage done to avoid land loaded with poisons or other unpleasant surprises.

5. Make a 50 year plan for the future Food Forest area

The local Councils like to see a 50 year plan, with visions and evidence of implementation planning. Some stakeholders may also like to see your plans. But you assess which stakeholders need know which details about your long term plans.

You don’t need to put much details in your plan. A graphical plan of possible future development of the area together with a vision of the future of the Food Forest and the reassurance that the charitable trust will care about the area in the future is adequate. See my sample 50 year plan.

I recommend www.scribus.net for graphical plans. Many Scribus templates available on request for free.

Checklist for the 50 year plan

[  ]  Graphical plan with your future plans done.

[  ]  Your vision of the Food Forest future articulated in the plan.

[  ]  Stressed that the charitable trust will care about the area in the future.

6. All stakeholders need to at least tolerate the Food Forest project

Nobody likes problems coming from a new project. It is your job to assure all stakeholders that the Food Forest is no threat or inconvenience to them.

Prepare nice handouts (could be the same that you made already for the community association) and visit them at home. When meeting stakeholders, have two people present from the Food Forest project, as this makes it hard to dispute any agreements you might make. Women usually have superior social skills. If you have a woman in your Trust (and for balance you probably should), ask her to be part of the visiting party. Stress how a stakeholder might benefit most from the Food Forest. Document carefully in writing every agreement with every stakeholder.

Checklist for the stakeholder

[  ]  Advice sought from the local community association who is stakeholder of the future Food Forest.

[  ]  All direct neighbours of the land visited and asked who else is stakeholder of the future Food Forest.

[  ]  All stakeholders visited and spoken with about the future Food Forest.

[  ]  All agreements with all stakeholders documented.

7. Propose the project to the local council

Seek advice from the members of your local community association who would be the most receptive member of the Council, then approach that person and request time for a well prepared presentation of your project. Take no more than 15 minutes of their time. Ask only for their consideration of your proposal. Leave them with some handouts. This starts the internal discussion about the project within the Council.

Checklist for the proposal to the local council

[  ] Sought advice from the local community association.

[  ] Create a professional presentation of your project proposal.

[  ] Create and print some attractive, professional handouts.

8. The Food Forest project needs the attention of the public

You will need to prove public awareness, interest and involvement in your project. If you can do this, the council policy will guide them to grant you the “right to occupy” the public land for your project. The council has to act in the interest and the benefit of, their community.

Produce an attractive flyer with all essential information about your project. See our sample flyer. You can place this flyer on all sorts of notice boards (physical and online) and give it to interested people.

Set up a social media website. facebook or if you have a facebook allergy, a Google Site or a Wordpress site should do the job. A self made website is of course also OK but this would involve the most effort.

You need the website statistics

Count every participant at every public presentation of your project.

Create an opportunity for provable engagement with the community.

I set up a wind shelterbelt tree seed distribution system. I asked people to raise trees from seed for the project. People had to leave an email address or phone number to receive the free seeds (raise one for us, keep one for yourself). This way I could prove how many people were actively supporting the project.

Don’t worry too much about a low number of people. 30 proven, active supporters in a 5,000 person town is MUCH more than most other community projects can point to.

See my sample email with proof of public awareness, interest and involvement.

Again, support from the local community association make things easier. Ask them about open minded journalists in your local newspaper office. If you're lucky like we are in Wanaka / Hawea, local journalists will come to you and ask you for an interview for an article in the local newspaper. If you're less lucky, write a newspaper article and offer the article to a local journalist for free. Make clear that you give permission for publishing the article in the name of the journalist. A nice free article about a beneficial community project is very hard to resist. See the sample article of the Wanaka Sun and the Otago Daily News.

Checklist for gaining the public’s attention

[  ] Attractive flyer to present your project.

[  ] A social media page or a website set up.

[  ] An opportunity for provable engagement of the community created.

[  ] Sought advice from the local community association seeking the most open-minded local journalists.

[  ] Article about the project in a local newspaper has been published.

(I’m interested in more examples of successful engagement of community, please tell me in detail about  your successful ideas.)

9. Ask the local Council for a final decision

ALL points, except the funding, need to be done before you ask the council for a final decision about your local Food Forest project on public land.

Provide the Council with printed copies of:

- Your project proposal. Stress that the Charitable Trust assume responsibility for maintenance.

- The documentation showing support, or at least tolerance, from all stakeholders

- Your 50-year plan.

- Proof of public awareness, interest and involvement.

If all points are done, it is very likely you will get the licence for the public land granted.

You ask the council for a long term “LICENCE TO OCCUPY” for the land you have identified for the Food Forest. It could happen that you only receive a 5-year licence period, with an undertaking for more after checking your intentions/credentials. That’s OK, as long you get a commitment for 25+ years after your “probationary period”.

You also ask the council for an exemption from the set up fees. This is important, otherwise they try to charge you a little fortune for the set up fees.

Checklist for asking the council for a final decision

[  ] A well-formulated project proposal included in the application.

[  ] Documentation about the support or at least tolerance of all stakeholders included in the application.

[  ] The 50-year plan included in the application.

[  ] Documentation about the public awareness, interest and involvement in the application.

[  ] Application for a “Licence to occupy” for $1 annually (free of setup fees).

10. The licence

Check your licence draft carefully!

These licences are usually made by the Council contracted lawyers, who rarely have experience of creating a licence for a beneficial community project - so we need more of you out there doing these projects :-)

The first draft will very likely come directly from a copy of some other license (not tailored for this purpose) and may be full of unnecessary and impeding rules. You will need to negotiate until all unnecessary and impeding regulations are removed, such as: no signs on the land, no storage of any kind of tools.

DON’T sign until you are totally happy, and it has been crafted to what you need for the long term!

Checklist for the licence

[  ] No unnecessary and impeding regulations in the licence

11. Choosing plants for the Food Forest

Choosing the right plants from the beginning saves you a lot of time and effort.

The key for success is a deep knowledge of the site conditions.

The measurable site conditions are:

• The annual average rainfall and the distribution of that rainfall over the year.
• The annual average lowest temperature of the year.
• The annual average heat growing degrees and winter chilling hours for the site.
• The annual average maximum wind speed
• Soil structure, depth and PH.
• Soil fertility and soil life.
• The air’s salt level in µg/m3 or mg/m2/day.

Some conditions are easy to influence, while others can be difficult to be influence and some cannot be changed.

The amount of salt in the air may be possible with hedging. The heat growing degrees are very hard to influence, along with winter chilling hours, minimum temperature and sometimes the available water.

Easy to influence are wind speed, soil structure and PH. The soil depth is also able to be influenced, but this takes more time and effort.

You always need to measure your site conditions yourself. The absolute minimum is a high/low thermometer and a precipitation gauge, unless you are very lucky and have a public weather station very close to the site.

If your budget permits, it is recommended that you get a solar powered weather station which measures and stores weather data for a long time. It should be computer readable. This enables you to accurately identify the highest possible plant diversity within the limits imposed by your site conditions.

The next best (low cost) measurement device is a USB-Temperature logger.

I use this model successfully: Search www.ebay.com.au for “High Accuracy USB Temperature Datalogger Data Logger Temp Recorder LCD Display”. Approx. $32 AUD. You need to place your temperature measuring device at the same height (above ground level) as the sensor of the nearest local public weather station. It also needs to be protected from direct sun and rain.

An example for Hawea Flat, Otago, South Island, New Zealand

Some sample climate and soil data from Hawea Flat.

This data is from an Otago database, but I’ve since discovered up to 100% difference to self-measured data, so it’s best to get your own site-specific information. (I’m interested in more examples of good databases, please tell me in detail about a database for your area.)

The most limiting data (without doubt) for Hawea Flat are the very low rainfall in dry summers and the short frost-free period. These were the main factors I had to account for, when choosing plants.

Plants for Hawea Flat have to be:

- Drought resistant.

- Non demanding with respect to heat growing degrees.

I have taken the New Zealand Koppen classification worldmap and the Mediterranean Koppen classification worldmap and created a combined Koppen map of both classifications, and it’s the border areas where the two zones meet, which best reflects Hawea’s Temperate Mediterranean climate. These areas have the most similarity to the Hawea Flat dry summers climate with lower heat growing degrees.

I’m now looking for useful canopy type trees, which have an origin, or at least thrive in, these border areas in my combined Koppen map.

- Sweet Chestnut (Castanea sativa) i.e. Italy, Spain, France and available in NZ.

- Holm Oak (Quercus ilex subsp. rotundifolia) i.e. Italy, Spain and also available in NZ.

- Shagbark Hickory (Carya ovata) i.e. U.S./Canada west coast but not available in NZ.

- Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum) i.e. U.S./Canada west coast and also available in NZ.

  (but Sugar Maple is known for its relative high water needs, so only partially suitable).

You get the idea?  BTW I’m available as a (usually paid) consultant :-)

Do the same for your climate conditions.

Produce a similar plant wiki for the plants of your Food Forest. (You can use the sustainable-practice.org website).

I strongly recommend Martin Crawford's “Creating a Forest Garden” and “How to Grow Perennial Vegetables” books for good Food Forest species choices. Samples of the books are here and here.

I can’t adequately cover the content of a 380 pages book in this manual. You need to read these kinds of books. 

Buy plants if possible from local grown sources. You support your local economy and locally grown plants are already perfect adapted to your area. Use plants on its own roots, if you can get them. They are clearly preferred for a Food Forest. They usually grow more vigorously than a grafted plant and recover faster from coppicing or damage.

I recommend a ‘whitelist’ policy for the canopy and understory trees as well as for the shrubs, bushes and climber. That means only you choose the species and varieties based on your site condition analyses, as documented (whitelisted) in your plant wiki. What’s not in the plant wiki doesn’t go in the Food Forest. But ask people for plant suggestions!

I also recommend a blacklist policy for the herb layer, ground cover layer, and root/tuber layer. As long a plant choice is not against common sense (not rampant or useless stuff) let people experiment with it. Ask the old local garden geeks for bad choices and put these on the blacklist.

Checklist for choosing plants for the Food Forest

[  ] All relevant climate data gathered for your area from local databases and niwa.co.nz.

[  ] Facilities to measure real site climate conditions setup done.

[  ] Read a recommended Food Forest book.

[  ] If your local climate is considerably divergent from the average NZ climate, a combined Koppen

     classification map has been created and referenced.

[  ] As much as possible, each species has been looked up for every Food Forest layer.

[  ] A plant wiki created with the found species and varieties.

12. Ground preparation of the Food Forest area

Careful ground preparation is a very important element of my method of establishing a Food Forest in stackable clusters.

We want to achieve a high diversity of suitable ground cover species.

This requires a thick layer of ground cover plants that are:

  - Not grass. Grass is useless in a Food Forest, it impedes all other layers.

  - Dense enough to suppress germination and growth of weed seeds.

  - Not going to grow too high. The herb and the root crop layers need light too.

  - Going to offer as many additional uses as possible. Something like fixing nitrogen, edible, bee

     attracting, etc.

  - Can still thrive with light pedestrian traffic.

If you already have a low (max. 20cm) growing ground cover on your first future Food Forest cluster that fulfils these specifications, you can consider yourself very lucky. Skip this chapter and go on with Planting plants on the Food Forest area.

For most of us:

YOU NEED TO COMPLETELY GET RID OF THE GRASS before you can even think about seeding ground cover species.

First step: mow the future Food Forest area as short as possible.

Here are some options for removing the Prairie.

• Mechanically remove the grass with heavy farmer gear:

• 1st step: use a plough that turns the upper layer of the soil over. 15-35 cm depending on what is now growing and how deep your topsoil is. Don’t put your subsoil on the top.
• 2nd step: use a rotary harrow (or similar) to break up the soil into smaller particles.
• 3rd step: (optional) use a seed spreader for your ground cover seed.

Pro:  

- High success rate in removing 100% of grass and all other stuff without need of after work.

            - Very fast.

Con:

- Need a lot of space around the actual Food Forest area for use of the gear.

- Easy to produce collateral damage because of the rough and heavy gear.

  e.g. deep tracks in the ground if done on soft ground

            - Cost approx. $200 per running hour rent for the gear. (estimated 1-2 hour per 700m² need)

• Mechanically remove the grass with a rotary hoe:

        Wait with the removal until the weather service http://www.metservice.com predict 10 or more

days in a row with sun and no rain.

That way 90% of the remaining grass stalks die from lack of water and you only have to care for

10% of them. If you do not take care of the rest of the grass stalks, then they will sooner or later

take over your Food Forest area. The "care" for the rest of the grass stalks could be:

- Pull them out with the roots.

- Selectively poison them with 20% acetic acid vinegar spray.

  (This needs to be done very, very carefully or the ground around the grass stalk will get

   temporarily infertile, and the following ground cover seed may not grow on it.)

- Selectively burn them with a gas fire weeder.

  (Not tried that, but it should work.)

Pro:

- Collateral damage unlikely.

- $50-$150 rent per day for a good walk-behind rotary hoe. (the stronger and wider, the

   better)

- $80-$100 per hour for a lightweight mini tractor with a tractor rotary hoe (recommended).

   Estimated 1-2 hours per 700m² with a tractor rotary hoe

Con:

- Removes only 99% of the grass.

                The last 1% grass stalks will remain with disconnected roots in the upper layer of the soil.

            - 700 m² took approx. 1-2 days with a good walk-behind-rotary hoe.

• Remove the grass with a chicken tractor.

        The recommended chicken density for removing grass is 12 high active chicken per 100m²

Pro:

- Collateral damage very unlikely.

            - Go easy on the soil but thoroughly remove everything including weed seed.

        - Supply of chicken manure (soil improvement).

Con:

- Slow. Will take many weeks.

        - 84 chickens for 700m²

- Needs infrastructure: fresh drinking water, (electric) fencing (100m) and a small amount of food

  (very small seed corns like millet or amaranth not big cereal seed corn like wheat) needs to be

  provided.

        - Needs daily care for several weeks (collecting eggs, feeding and looking for the chickens).

• Kill the grass by removal of light.

        Using a decomposing layer is clearly prefered, because it doesn't need removal.

        http://www.ecocover.com sell a degradable EcoCover Mulch Mat. It looks promising (not

tested). You may seed directly on the decomposed weed mat layer after it is has broken

down enough. Another option is sheet mulching the area, but this is quite challenging for 700m².

Pro:

- No collateral damage.

            - Inexpensive.

        - In case of sheet mulching, intense soil improvement.

Con:

- Very slow. Will take many months.

• Chemically remove the grass with 20% acetic acid vinegar spray.

           I have never used this option. It may work quite well, or not at all.

           I can't really recommend it.

Pro:  

- Collateral damage unlikely.

            - No extra space around the actually Food Forest area needed.

Con:

- The area becomes infertile for an unknown time.

           The following ground cover seed could not grow in it until it's recovered.

            - Not clear what the other implications for the soil live are.

• Chemically remove the grass with Herbicides. (Roundup and their like).

Pro:  - Fast, Inexpensive.

Con: - Near complete death of the soil life.

You will get infertile soil for a long time and carcinogens in your food chain.

          Don't do this !

So my recommendations are:

If you’re looking for fast results and have the space and the money, use the heavy farmer gear.

If you don't have the space and/or the money, use a rotary hoe at the right time.

If you have time and some money, use the chicken tractor.

If you have time but no money use a low (no) cost light removal layer.

(I’m very interested in your experience with removal of grass, please tell me in detail)

What ground cover species?

You should start with one or more species covering the entire area completely and densely.

White Clover (Trifolium repens), sown very dense (70 grams/m²), is a safe choice as a starter for almost every area of New Zealand.

If you seed White Clover at this very high density you will end up with a dense carpet of clover.

White Clover suppresses the germination of weed seeds. It fixes nitrogen (you need to use inoculated seeds if your land has never before been inoculated with clover supporting bacteria). White Clover does not compete with woody plants and is easy to remove for test plantings of other ground cover or (when ready) the establishment of herb layer plants.

I used a mix of four of the most drought resistant White Clover varieties ('Haifa', 'Kopu II', 'Tahora', 'Demand') available in New Zealand for the Hawea Flat project.

White Clover may not be ideal as a long term ground cover in a Food Forest, but it buys you time to find out what works best for you and your site conditions.

Other Clover species worth trialling:

Caucasian Clover (Trifolium ambiguum) - grows up to 45 cm high, is slow to establish but has a strong

        and deep (>30cm) root system. On trial as a barrier plant at

        the Hawea Flat Food Forest.

Strawberry Clover (Trifolium fragiferum) - grows up to 16 cm high. Has a strong and deep (up to 25

        cm) root system. On trial as a barrier plant at the Hawea Flat

        Food Forest. First choice in swale greening.

Subterranean Clover (Trifolium subterraneum) (annual species) Also on trial as a barrier plant at the

        Hawea Flat Food Forest.

Some suppliers for ground cover: Andrew Winchester <ajw_at_homebrook@hotmail.com> (‘Huia’ White Clover / 25 kg bags), www.specseed.co.nz, www.wesco.co.nz, http://www.nomow.co.nz/plants.html

Checklist for ground preparation of the Food Forest

[  ] Done research into useful ground cover species and varieties that will thrive without help.

[  ] Grass and other stuff completely and thoroughly removed.

[  ] New ground cover seeded.

[  ] New ground cover large enough to take light pedestrian traffic.

13. Planting plants on the Food Forest area

Make a cluster plant plan. Get an arial map of your future Food Forest area.

The canopy trees go to the south end of the cluster (Southern Hemisphere).

The understory trees in front of them and the bushes and shrubs in front and around the understory trees. Then, finally, all other plants wherever there is enough light. Plants that need close monitoring (i.e. running bamboo) near the path that leads through the cluster. You can plant everything at the same time. Research the final size of all species and varieties.

Always position each plant with its final (mature) size in mind.

My cluster plant plan includes only the productive plants. You need more plants for a functioning Food Forest. You need additional:

- Plants that fix nitrogen. If possible species in every layer. Ideally plants that are also productive, for example Goumi (Elaeagnus multiflora) or perennial Runner Beans (Phaseolus coccineus).

- Plants attracting beneficial predator and pollinator insects. Namely the plants of the Apiaceae family (i.e. anise, caraway, carrot, chervil, coriander, cumin, dill, fennel, parsley, parsnip), the Asteraceae family (i.e. marigold, calendula, coneflowers, various daisies, dahlias, and heleniums) and the Lamiaceae family (i.e. basil, mint, rosemary, sage, savory, marjoram, oregano, hyssop, thyme, lavender, and  perilla). Perennials preferred.

- Plants in the dynamic nutrient accumulator class. Comfrey (Symphytum officinale) is prime example of this class of plants, but there are more, such as Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) or Bracken (Pteridium aquilinum).

The most attractive plants are productive plants with additional characteristics and functions.

Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) is a prime example. Fennel is edible, attract beneficial insects and accumulate nutrients. Or Chickweed (Stellaria media) edible and also attracting beneficial insects.

Mark all woody plant positions with solid, labelled stakes in the cluster.

This will enable people, even without seeing the plan, to help you with planting.

Use very long lasting aluminium plant labels (picture) on every woody plant!

I’ll assume you start with one Food Forest cluster. That is just 7-8 trees. That is not much, so here are the instructions for giving them the best possible start.

Make a PH analysis of your soil. Soil PH analysis kits are available in every well stocked garden centre.

Example: peach (Prunus persica ’Sweet Perfection’)

For the species, or the rootstock if grafted, that you wish to plant, look up the preferred soil conditions at www.practicalplants.org or pfaf.org:

“Requires a well-drained moisture retentive soil. Thrives in a loamy soil, doing well on limestone. Best not grown in acid soils. Prefers some chalk in the soil but it is apt to become chlorotic if too much is present. Prefers a pH in the range 6 to 7”

If your soil PH is under 6 you should help this species with adjustment of the soil PH.

Don’t worry, a Food Forest will adjust the soil PH to an optimum level by itself - you are just giving it a little help for the first years.

I recommend the use of fine grade crushed oyster shell grit if you need/want to raise the PH of your soil for some years. Add 250-750 gr. fine grade crushed oyster shell grit to your planting soil.

If your soil PH is above 7 you should help this species with adjustment of the soil PH.

I recommend the use of fine saw dust (of course from untreated wood) to lower the PH of your soil for some years. Add 10% - 20% fine saw dust to your planting soil.

Also add 1 tablespoon of fine ground white chalk as recommended for Prunus persica to your planting soil.

I also recommend adding the following additives:

1 tablespoon of Rok Solid, a mineral rich volcanic rock dust, containing more than 63 minerals.

Superzyme inoculant, mycorrhizal fungi (Trichoderma koningii & Trichoderma harzianum) and beneficial bacteria (Bacillus subtilis & Pseudomonas putida) (please share/resell the rest of the 1 kg package).

Prepare inoculant:

Mix a half full bucket of Superzyme inoculant solution according to the information and directions for use (solution needs a 4-8h rest period) with chlorine free water (let chlorine water sit for 24h - 48h in the sun to get the chlorine out of the water before you continue).

If your soil is hard (not loose and friable), dig a square hole (the corners will catch the roots) double the size and double the depth of the nursery container of your plant.

However I recommend a minimum planting hole size of 50cm x 50cm x 50cm for trees.

I recommend you put the excavated soil on heavy duty plastic foil beside the planting hole.

That simplifies the processing of the soil. Remove all larger stones and other larger stuff from the soil.

If your soil is very low in organic matter, add some good planting soil, not compost. Maximum 50%.

Mix all soundly.

Fill the planting hole up to 80% with the prepared planting soil mix.

Remove the plant out of the nursery pot and place it for 15-30 minutes in the bucket with the prepared Superzyme inoculant.

Remove the plant out of the inoculant.

Carefully remove 50% of the soil around the root ball without breaking major (tap) roots. But cut all the little roots that don’t grow straight. It is important that you do this. It promotes a fast and healthy establishment of the plant.

Adjust the amount of soil in the planting hole before you finally put the plant in the hole so that the start of the plant root ball is at the same level as the border of your hole - then it will be the right height when you finish.

Place soil carefully around the root ball until completely covered.

Use a watering can with chlorine-free water (you don't want to kill the bacteria and fungi) and start watering the plant with a few litres of water.

The soil should sink and compact a little when you finish so the rest of the soil should fit in the hole.

The plant should be at the exact same depth in the soil as it was in the nursery pot.

Add some more chlorine-free water until the soil is saturated.

If you have not counted a minimum of 10 earthworms in your excavated soil, add 10 earthworms. Not compost worms, because these are different species that live in a different soil layer and feed from other things than subsoil dweller earthworms. You want epigeic, endogeic and anecic earthworms. These days you can order Lumbricus terrestris (anecic), Eisenia fetida, Eisenia hortensis, Eisenia andrei (epigeic) at Amazon, if you really can’t find any other source.

Pound 3 or 4 Y-shaped metal (Waratah) fence posts outside the planting hole in the ground and tie the plant to the fence posts with a broad (10mm ⦰) cocos, hemp or sisal string. Don’t use plastic strings.

Put a protection against mulch and animals around the stem. As high as possible. A 110 mm diameter black HDPE corrugated drainage tube (slit up its length) has proven to work well. Careful with mounting the slit drainage tube, don’t damage the tree bark. Don't try to open the tube along its length to fit over the stem of the tree, but rather push one edge of the slit under the other edge of the slit in order to slide the stem of the tree in through the slit. The job of mounting of the slit drainage tube is best done with two people.

Add a 1.5m - 2.5m diameter layer of good organic mulch 20-35 cm high around the plant (min.=1 m3).

The best mulch for this purpose is 1-year old wood chips with leafy material (i.e. mulched shrubs and small trees). Ramial Chipped Wood is perfect.

If your wood chip mulch is fresh, mix 3% - 5% horse or sheep manure to the mulch to compensate for the initial consumption of nitrogen while decomposing. If you put finally a layer of small cedar or gorse twigs on top of the mulch, the birds can’t scratch it flat.

Water the much till saturated with chlorine free water.

I recommend you to also put a little bit of wood chip mulch around each freshly planted small plant.

Or a small amount of a very different kind of soil (e.g. very fine sand, or bentonite if you have a sandy soil).

Also good is some fine grade pumice on top, around your newly planted small herb layer, ground cover or root crop plant. The goal is to mark them clearly as non-weed til they're grown up.

This should prevent them being mistaken and “weeded” by the less informed weeder.

Checklist for planting plants on the Food Forest area

[  ] Plant plan done.

[  ] All woody plant positions with solid labelled stakes marked.

[  ] All woody plants need to be planted with care, tied, protected and labelled.

14. Maintenance of the Food Forest area

The primary maintenance in the first years is weeding.

Don’t let any unwanted species in your Food Forest go to seed.

If you don’t do anything else, cut the flower heads of the weed species you don’t want see spread in your Food Forest.

Don't bother to prune your fruit trees by yourself. Tell the people who harvest the most from a fruit tree, that they’ll yield more fruits next year if the tree is pruned a little. They will likely do the pruning - even if they need to be instructed in the basics first.

Don’t start with more clusters at the same time you can properly maintain in the following years.

The Permaculture Institute of Australia has done some research on maintenance on Food Forests.

It’s a good idea to set up a repeating Google calendar event. That reminds people in charge to look after the Food Forest. You can invite all people that qualify for maintenance and see who is going.

Checklist for maintenance of the Food Forest area

[  ] Look for the Food Forest every 7-14 days (depending on your growing conditions) in summer.

[  ] Look for the Food Forest every month in winter.

15. Documentation of your Food Forest

Please document your Food Forest.

You will help other people greatly with good documentation of your process of getting a licence for public land and how you managed funding.

Please also document your site conditions and your plant choices. What worked, what didn’t and why? I’m especially interested in the heat growing degrees of your area and the heat growing degrees of the species and varieties in your Food Forest.

Heat Growing Degrees and Chilling Hours

What are Heat Growing Degrees? In simple terms it is the total number of ‘degrees of heat’ that is needed before the fruit of any given plant will ripen. The formula for how it is calculated can be found on the Hawea Domain Climate and Soil document. Once you know the Heat Growing Degrees for a given plant, and if you are recording the Heat Growing Degrees of a particular site, you will be able to predict with some accuracy when that plant’s fruit will ripen. A similar term (Growing Degree Days - GDD) can be found discussed in various places on the web, but it is limited and inaccurate for all but a few Northern Hemisphere locations.

There is no place you can look up this information (right now). A humble start is my heat growing degrees table.

Heat growing degrees of your area and your species and varieties is a very valuable information.

I know for example, that the heat growing degrees which the kiwiberry (Actinidia arguta 'Ambrosia Grande') needs to fully ripen its fruits is 1080°C. This enables me to forecast that the fruits of this kiwiberry variety will not ripen every year in Central Otago with its annual average of 908°C heat growing degrees. It will fully ripen only in warm summers. This also enables you to forecast the ripening date, which can be very handy when wanting to be prepared for large volumes of a specific crop.

Determining the heat growing degrees of a crop is very easy. You just note the day it is fully ripe and look up the heat growing degrees for that day later. Here is my heat growing degrees spreadsheet for Hawea Domain to make it easy to calculate your own numbers for the area and the crop.

We also need to introduce the concept of "Chilling hours" for warmer climates. Many species and varieties need Chilling hours to develop flower and leaf buds. This is no issue in Otago, as Wanaka/Hawea has 1701h - 1800h Chilling hours. That's enough for even the most demanding Apple varieties. See my winter chilling hours paper for the exact formula and same sample numbers.

(I would appreciate a chilling hours calc spreadsheet for USB-datalogger raw data)

Other missing, but very valuable information, is the exact amount of food you get out of your Food Forest in kilograms per square metre, annually. This would help when calculating the Food Forest size needed for a given community.

Thank you.

Andy

NZ public Food Forest projects:

Auckland / Waiheke - started 1.1.2013 - confirmed activ - James Samuel <jmsinnz@gmail.com>

Auckland /  Albany - expression of interest - Justin Ryan Scott <social@justinryanscott.com>

Canterbury / Christchurch - expression of interest - Geoff Ford <attitudenz@gmail.com>

Worldwide public Food Forest projects:

Europe / Croatia / Zagreb - expression of interest - Cvijeta Biscevic <cv.bischevich@gmail.com>

North America / USA / WA / Seattle - beaconfoodforest.org  - <foodforestvolunteer@gmail.com>

What would you like to see added to this manual?

• Expansion strategies for a Food Forest?

• Harvest and food distribution strategies for a Food Forest?

Please tell me what else you would like to see in this document.

Acknowledgement

Many thanks to people who have helped me with this manual.

Steve Henry for “connecting the dots” and explaining how local government works in New Zealand.

Joanne Conroy (now Joanne Mccracken) for support and explaining how local public land management works.

James Samuel for help in finding the right words and proofreading.

Raleigh Latham for feedback and proofreading.