Food Forests in Temperate Areas

By Liliana Usvat
Blog 216-365

Have you planted a tree this year? If not why not?
If you decide to plant a tree why not plant one that is useful. There are medicinal tree, fruit trees or a legume tree.at

What is a food forest?

Forest gardening is a low-maintenance sustainable plant-based food .

Fruit and nut trees, berries and herbs and wild plants all blended together in a productive and sustainable way."

A Food Forest is built to emulate a real forest — only we fill it with the food plants and trees that we want.
Real forests don’t need any work, they self-maintain — no pesticides, herbicides, weeding, crop rotation, mowing or digging. Food forests don’t need any of this either! Less work, more food, all natural! Why would you do anything else?


Principles

By understanding how forests grow and sustain themselves without human intervention, we can learn from Nature, copy the systems and patterns to model our own forests — ones filled with trees and plants that produce food we can eat. We can design and construct the most sustainable food production systems possible; perfected, refined and cared for by Mother Nature herself.
 
Forests exist fine on their own. There’s no mowing, weeding, spraying, or digging required. No pesticides, fertilisers, herbicides or nasty chemicals. 

Food Forests not Orchards

• Rows of trees are not food forests. They are instead what is described as an orchard.
• Rows of trees with some other plant underneath are not food forests,  they are orchards with under-plantings.
• Rows of trees with rows of other plants alternating between them are not  food forests, they are orchards employing intercropping.

7 Layers of a Temperate Forest Garden

The 7 layer classification system was developed by Robert Hart from Prehistoric tropical garden methods in the 60s for more temperate climates. It provides a structure similar to that of a real forest that can be adapted from a large scale farm to that of a modest backyard. The architecture of a successful food forest considers not only light requirements of the plants, but water, shelter, root depths and other companion planting principles.

1. Canopy Layer

9m+ high nut, fruit and nitrogen fixing trees (Only larger FFGs)
Apple
Cherry
Chestnut
Pear
Walnut
Quince

2. Low-tree Layer

4m high, Dwarf Fruit / Nut Trees
Nitrogen Fixers & smaller trees
Shade tolerant trees
Pruned into open form for light

Almond dwarf
Apple Dwarf
Apricot
Serviceberry
Silverberry
Acacia/Wattles

3. Shrub Layer

Woody perennial plants
Flowering, fruiting, wildlife attracting

Blackberry
Blueberry
Cape Gooseberry
Citronella
Currants
Curry Plant

4. Herbacious Layer

Perennial vegetables
Self seeding annuals
Bee & poultry forage
Mulch & soil builders, cover crops

Asparagus
Balm
Borage
Broad bean
Dill
Fennel

5. Groundcover Layer

Less than 30cm high
Low, prostrate, creeping plants
Forms a living mulch – retain, suppress weed growth

Alpine Strawberries
Sweet Alyssum
Basil Thyme
Black Cumin
Clover
Prostrate Rosemary
Roman Chamomile

6. Rhizosphere (Root) Layer

Edible roots & tubers
Shallow rooted, easy to dig
Longer rooted left to flower for beneficial insects

Carrot
Garlic
Ginger
Ginseng
Groundnut
Horseradish

7. Vertical Layer

Climbers, creepers, vines
Twine around trunks or up fences, trellises, etc.
Habitat and food
Only in established Forest Garden, can strangle young trees

Grapes
Honeydew Melon
Honeysuckle (Blue-berried)
Hops
Kiwi Berry / Hardy Kiwifruit
Kiwi fruit
Malabar Spinach

links

http://milkwood.net/2011/07/29/our-forest-garden-design-the-future-is-forested-and-foodlike/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L74WkW1rWKU

 

Forest Rights

By Liliana Usvat

Blog 215-365

 

Forest is a living community.

Logging industry is destroying communities when entire forests are cut.

 

In present time we assist to a genocide of the forests. And this affect us all

Let's find what would be the best comparison between human and forest rights.

 

1. Right to be protected by the action of the human society.

2. Right to coexist with other plants and animals.

3. Right to live and exist. Old trees and old forests should be protected.

4. Right to the clean air. No chemicals should be sprayed on the forest.

5. Right to be protected against radioactive waste.

6. Right to be treated with dignity without trowing garbage in the forest

7. Right to clean water - water should not be polluted with chemicals in the proximity of the forest.

8. New forests should be planted on unused land that would bring the ecosystem in equilibrium.

9. Paper should not be produced from wood it should be produced from hemp or other annual plants, no wood or wood products should be used in power plants

10. 60% of the land not used for human habitation should be planted with food forests trees that produce legumes and trees that produce fruits.

 

Medicinal Trees - Argan - Treats Psoriazis

By Liliana Usvat
Blog 214-365

Names: 

• Argan
• Argania spinosa
• Moroccan "The Tree of Life" 
  

Growing Environment

The argan tree is also ecologically important: It withstands high temperatures, needs little water, and flourishes in extreme climatic conditions. Argan trees grow in areas that would otherwise be desert.

 

The argan tree is highly tolerant of drought, high heat, and poor soil conditions. Grow in full sun. Argans can live up to 250 years through heat and drought in meager, stony soil. The name "argan" likely came from the village of Argana, where the tree may have first been identified. 

Growing to a height of 8-10m, the twisted and gnarled trunk of the tree enables goats to climb and eat its leaves and fruit. After the goats consume the green, fleshy, olive-looking fruit, they excrete the nut. 

Argan nuts contain oil slightly darker than olive oil with a reddish tinge and nutty taste. Called Moroccan "liquid gold," the oil is extracted in a largely traditional production process that starts with farmers collecting the nuts left by goats.

Opening the nuts to remove kernels requires 20 hours of work to produce one litre of oil.

The Argan tree takes 15 years to yield nuts and one tree can yield only a couple liters of oil, 

 Medicinal Uses Psoriazis

 

Argan oil is effective in treatment of all types of psoriasis.

 

There are two main ways in which pure Argan oil improves psoriasis. First acids and carotenoids act to balance the skin's natural hydration. Dry skin psoriasis worsens. This is why it is very important to use argan oil daily, even when you do not have a rash. When psoriasis remains untreated, expose your risk of infection.

Vitamin E is a powerful antioxidant that is found naturally in argan oil. This part of oil helps to reduce inflammation caused by psoriasis. You will begin to feel a reduction in pain and itching immediately after applying oil on the skin. Vitamin E reduces redness caused by psoriasis, causing injuries to be less visible.

Argan Oil 

 

Argan oil is produced by several women's co-operatives in the southwestern parts of Morocco. The most labour-intensive part of oil-extraction is removal of the soft pulp (used to feed animals) and the cracking by hand, between two stones, of the hard nut. 

The seeds are then removed and gently roasted. This roasting accounts for part of the oil's distinctive, nutty flavour.

The traditional technique for oil extraction is to grind the roasted seeds to paste, with a little water, in a stone rotary quern. The paste is then squeezed by hand in order to extract the oil. 

The extracted paste is still oil-rich and is used as animal feed. Oil produced this way can be stored and used for 3–6 months, and will be produced as needed in a family, from a store of the kernels, which will keep for 20 years unopened.

 Dry-pressing is becoming increasingly important for oil produced for sale, as this method allows for faster extraction, and the oil produced can be used for 12–18 months after extraction.

Argan oil is sold in Morocco as a luxury item, and is difficult to find for sale outside the region of production. The product is of increasing interest to cosmetics companies in Europe.

 It used to be difficult to buy the oil outside Morocco, but since 2001–2002 it has become a fashionable product in Europe and North America. It is now widely available in specialist shops and occasionally in supermarkets. Its price (US$40–50 for 500 ml) is notable compared to other oils. 

Other Uses

High costs lead to consumers generally only using argan oil in moderation to flavour dishes such as couscous, salads, vegetables, meat, and fish. People who make their own oil are more likely to utilize it for general cooking. 

Argan oil is considered healthy because it contains 80 per cent unsaturated fatty acids like oleic and linoleic. Attributed health effects include reducing cholesterol levels and bolstering the body's natural defenses. 

 

The oil is packed with natural vitamin E and is used as a skin care product. Argan oil's anti-aging effect on skin and ability to soften it makes it a popular ingredient in Moroccan cosmetics. There is also evidence the oil can protect against skin infections.

Fruit

Argan fruit falls in July, when black and dry. Until this happens, goats are kept out of the argan woodlands by wardens. Rights to collect the fruit are controlled by law and village traditions. The leftover nut is gathered after consumption by goats.

Cultivation

In Morocco arganeraie forests now cover some 8,280 km² and are designated as a UNESCO Biosphere reserve. Their area has shrunk by about half during the last 100 years, owing to charcoal-making, grazing, and increasingly intensive cultivation. 

The forests have receded over time, resulting in desertification in many cases. Reforestation is necessary to reverse this trend. 

The best hope for the conservation of the trees may lie in the recent development of a thriving export market for argan oil as a high-value product. However, the wealth brought by argan oil export has also created threats to argan trees in the form of increased goat population. 

Locals use the newfound wealth to buy more goats and the goats stunt the growth of the argan trees by climbing up and eating their leaves and fruit.

The argan (Argania spinosa) woodlands cover Southern Morocco, mostly between the High Atlas and the Anti-Atlas mountains, in a region bordering the Sahara desert. They constitute a unique resource in this semi-arid to arid environment, and have long been central to the livelihood of local populations, fodder for goats and camels; shade for rain-fed crops; and an oil that is now a famous cosmetic ingredient in the western world, where it is sold at skyrocketing prices. The argan woodlands, however valuable they may be, are widely perceived to have receded strongly during the last decades, among other things due to the expansion of irrigated crops, logging, and overgrazing.

 The Argan Solution against desertification?

This tree can be used in China Sahara Desert USA against desertification and also used as a medicinal tree.

Propagation

By seeds.

Grow argan from seed planted in 3-inch plastic pots. Plant the seeds 2 inches deep in a damp soil mixture made up of two parts loam, one part peat moss and one part humus. Germination takes up to a month. Transplant the seedlings into 6-inch pots once they have produced a pair of leaves and before their tap root is damaged by the pot. Plant the seedlings in a mixture containing three parts soil to one part peat moss and one part humus.

2

Plant argan seedlings outdoors in free-draining soil and a sunny location. Take care not to damage their delicate taproot when planting. Avoid very sandy soil soil and waterlogged ground. Argan trees grow in poor soil in their native habitat, according to the University of Arizona's Campus Arboretum website, and are not fussy about soil quality.

3

Water your argan tree during the summer if its soil is in danger of drying out. Argan trees in nature receive up to 39 inches of rain per year. Argan trees that do not receive enough water will go into dormancy and not produce any fruit.

Read more : http://www.ehow.com/how_12107207_grow-argan-tree.html

 

Grow argan from seed planted in 3-inch plastic pots. Plant the seeds 2 inches deep in a damp soil mixture made up of two parts loam, one part peat moss and one part humus. Germination takes up to a month. Transplant the seedlings into 6-inch pots once they have produced a pair of leaves and before their tap root is damaged by the pot. Plant the seedlings in a mixture containing three parts soil to one part peat moss and one part humus.

Read more : http://www.ehow.com/how_12107207_grow-argan-tree.html

Grow argan from seed planted in 3-inch plastic pots. Plant the seeds 2 inches deep in a damp soil mixture made up of two parts loam, one part peat moss and one part humus. Germination takes up to a month. Transplant the seedlings into 6-inch pots once they have produced a pair of leaves and before their tap root is damaged by the pot. Plant the seedlings in a mixture containing three parts soil to one part peat moss and one part humus.

Read more : http://www.ehow.com/how_12107207_grow-argan-tree.html

Grow argan from seed planted in 3-inch plastic pots. Plant the seeds 2 inches deep in a damp soil mixture made up of two parts loam, one part peat moss and one part humus. Germination takes up to a month. Transplant the seedlings into 6-inch pots once they have produced a pair of leaves and before their tap root is damaged by the pot. Plant the seedlings in a mixture containing three parts soil to one part peat moss and one part humus.

2

Plant argan seedlings outdoors in free-draining soil and a sunny location. Take care not to damage their delicate taproot when planting. Avoid very sandy soil soil and waterlogged ground. Argan trees grow in poor soil in their native habitat, according to the University of Arizona's Campus Arboretum website, and are not fussy about soil quality.

3

Water your argan tree during the summer if its soil is in danger of drying out. Argan trees in nature receive up to 39 inches of rain per year. Argan trees that do not receive enough water will go into dormancy and not produce any fruit.

Read more : http://www.ehow.com/how_12107207_grow-argan-tree.html

Germination 

Argan seeds can be slow and difficult to germinate. Due to their hard seed coat, soaking the seeds prior to planting is essential. Soak in room temperature to warm (90-100F) water for 2-4 days prior to planting. Some sources have suggested good results sprouting the seeds in moist towels kept at warm room temperature. Or, plant seeds in small containers, in well-drained, moist soil at 1" deep. Keep soil regularly watered, though do not over water to the point where soil is dripping wet. Seeds can take several weeks to a few months to sprout.

It takes a lot of effort to cultivate them in nurseries and many die shortly after being planted out in the forest.

 

Links

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ON1FZI_FvU