Hawea Food Forest
Background
44h public land, only used once a year for 2 days
A more meaningful usage than leasing the land for grazing is searched for.
My proposal: Establish a Food Forest
What is a Food Forest ?
The Master Plan
The plants of the first cluster
1 Sweet Chestnut (Castanea sativa) 'NO. 1002' 2 Sweet Chestnut (Castanea sativa) 'NO. 1015'
3 Ebbinge's Silverberry (Elaeagnus × ebbingei) 4 Prunes Plum (Prunus domestica subsp. insititia) 'Hauszwetsche'
5 Mulberry Hybrid (Morus alba × M. ruba) 'Hicks early' 6 Peach (Prunus persica) 'Sweet Perfection'
7 Almond (Prunus dulcis) 'Monavale' 8 Himalayan Mulberry (Morus macroura) 'Red Shahtoot'
9 Worcesterberry (Ribes divaricatum) 'Henry’s favourite' 10 Gooseberry (Ribes uva-crispa) 'Pax'
11 Gooseberry (Ribes uva-crispa) 'Invicta' 12 Gooseberry (Ribes uva-crispa) 'Monarch'
13 Red Currant (Ribes rubrum) 14 Black Currant (Ribes nigrum)
15 White Currant (Ribes glandulosum) 16 Goji Berry (Lycium barbarum)
19 Boysenberry (Rubus ursinus × R. idaeus) 'Tasman' 22 Feijoa (Acca sellowiana) 'Wiki Tu'
24 Feijoa (Acca sellowiana) 'Bambina' 26 Chilean Guava (Ugni molinae) 'Sungold'
28 Chilean Guava (Ugni molinae) 30 Loganberry (Rubus × loganobaccus) 'Waimate'
32 Raspberry (Rubus idaeus) 'Aspiring' 34 Raspberry (Rubus idaeus) 'Kiwi Gold'
36 Strawberry tree (Arbutus unedo) 'Elfin king' 37 Jap. Quince Bush (Chaenomeles x superba) 'Crimson and Gold'
38 Edible Bamboo (Phyllostachys edulis) 39 Japanese Myoga Ginger (Zingiber mioga)
40 Jerusalem Artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus) 41 Eastern Teaberry (Gaultheria procumbens)
42 Ramsons (Allium ursinum) 43 Globe Artichoke (Cynara scolymus)
44 Cardoon (Cynara cardunculus) 45 Rhubarb (Rheum rhabarbarum)
46 Chinese Artichoke (Stachys affinis) 47 Chinese Tee (Camellia sinensis)
48 Black Chokeberry (Aronia melanocarpa) 49 Japanese Wineberry (Rubus phoenicolasius)
50 Caper Bush (Capparis spinosa) 52 Caper Bush (Capparis spinosa)
54 Blackberry (Rubus fruticosus) 'Black Satin' 56 Blackberry (Rubus fruticosus) 'Navaho'
58 Small bush type plant (suggest one) 60 Elderberry (Sambucus nigra) 'Purple Guincho'
62 Small bush type plant (suggest one) 99 Pathway through the Food Forest Cluster (Pine needles)
A lightweight climber species (i.e. Jaogulan (Gynostemma pentaphyllum) or Tasmanian Blue Berry Creeper (Billardiera longiflora)) can climb on the fence until a tree is big enough to support a heavier one.
There will be a Wiki with all species and varieties that are suitable for a New Zealand / Otago / Hawea Flat Food Forest.
A lot more plants (20+) will go in this Food Forest cluster but their locations are not yet determined.
The species, variety and location are carefully chosen according to:
- Water needs, drought resistance
- Disease resistance (i.e. leaf curl disease, or powdery mildew)
- Cold hardiness
- Leaf and flower bud break timing
- Adult size (even if it takes 40 years to grow to this size)
- Light/sun/heat needs
- Wind hardiness
- Compatibility with neighbour plants
- Easy access for harvest
- Plants that may grow too vivacious are placed near the pathway
- Self-fertility, if possible
- Fresh edibility, if possible
- No thorns, if possible
- Taste and size, for fruits, nuts, leaf, flower, flower-bud, shoot, root or tuber
- Ease of processing and preserving (e.g. cooking, drying, squeezing, fermenting)
Cluster ONE plant plan N ☼
Maintenance on Food Forests
The Permaculture Research Institute of Australia has researched how much work is needed to establish and maintain a food forest¹.
The most labor intensive task is to establish the food forest.
The time that has to be spend to maintaining the food forest is clearly declining every year.
All times are annual man hours per 100 m² (a 30 m diameter round cluster area has 700 m²)
Establishing (converted from grazing land in a warm climate): 13 h
Year 1 11 h Year 7 1.8 h
Year 2 6 h Year 8 1.5 h
Year 3 4 h Year 9 1.2 h
Year 4 2.8 h Year 10 1 h
Year 5 2.2 h Year 11 0.9 h
Year 6 2.0 h Year 20 finish
After 20 years you could leave the Food Forest basically on its own without having a big impact on the quantity and quality of the yield. The high domestic species like i.e. Apples and Pears that needs to be rejuvenated by asexual propagation should be rejuvenated every 50-75 years. That‘s all.
Yield of a Food Forest cluster
Unfortunately are the people that setting up Food Forests mostly not the one interested in documenting the exact yield. (this makes a lot of unpaid labour)
So we can only estimate.
Here: http://deepgreenpermaculture.com/my-garden/19-full-circle-two-years-in/
is the best documented Food Forest like multi-layer garden area.
He got 3.15 KG per m² in the his second year.
And yes, his climate (Queensland) is much better, but his whole garden is just sitting in pots!
I estimate annually 5 KG per m² from a 15-20 year old Food Forest with healthy and productive 6 to 7 layers of food in a temperate to warm climate (NZ).