Imagine setting aside an area of your Homestead, that's full of hundreds of different kinds of food producing, and medicinal plants that grow all on their own. You don't have to till it, you don't have to weed it, no watering, or planting... All you have to do is harvest, and enjoy!!!

Farming, on historic European farms often consisted of "Paddocks" surrounded by what were called "Hedge Rows". A strip of natural wild land surrounding the farmed areas, which provided benefits to the farmers operation that were so diverse, and subtle, that we are only just beginning to understand the scope of them. Here in the US., there were even "Wild fence rows" surrounding the farm fields until quite recently.

With the "Modern" emphasis on mono-culture farming, and the drive to squeeze every penny's worth of profit from the land, many of these natural areas have been cleared in order to plant every square foot possible with "Cash" crops (Something called "Fence row to Fence row farming.") What's interesting is that these natural areas used to flourish without tilling, fertilizer, planting, or any other interventions from farmers. Learning how these areas, and natural forests work... How they grew all on their own, can be a big part of a modern Homesteader's plan to become more self sufficient!!!

How about planting a "Food Forest Hedgerow?

There's something called a "Permaculture Food Forest". It involves learning how to "Tweek" the natural processes in a forest, or even a hedge row around your homestead areas, to produce food for your family. A forest... That's made of trees and plants that produce food!!! You can actually design and plant it so that once planted,you don't have to do anything except harvest tremendous amounts of food and medicinal plants every year. Once established it will grow, all on it's own, without much effort on your part, for decades. If you're concerned about people stealing your food from your fields, this "Food Forest" is can also be camouflaged so that it doesn't look like a garden, or even a food plot.

Do I have your attention yet????

I've actually begun planting just such a natural forest like "Hedge Row" around a half acre of our own little homestead here in Iowa.

I'd already harvested a lot from the area in this picture (On the right) including a pile of tomatoes from three heirloom tomato plants, but you can get a sense of just how much food can be grown in a small space. (A 14 foot diameter circle). When I'm finished, I'll have a border made up of seventeen of these circular "Polycultures" around the outside of my yard. A "Polyculture" is a permaculture gardening term for a grouping of plants that compliment each other. Call it "Companion planting on steroids".

For example, in the photo, you'll notice Comfrey, a fantastic medicinal herb in it's own right. Comfrey is also known as a "Nutrient miner", it has a tap root that can go as deep as fifteen feet! The comfrey plant brings up minerals, and other nutrients from deep underground and stores them in it's leaves. As the leaves later decompose, they release those nutrients into the top soil. I planted annual bush beans among the other plants, because they have the ability to produce nitrogen in their roots, an essential fertilizer for other plans. The strawberries, will eventually create a dense low canopy over the soil shading out any young weeds preventing them from growing. Daylillies, besides actually having edible parts, will attract beneficial predator insects when blooming, to eat the "Bad bugs". Onions deter mice from chewing the bark off of young trees, Lupins attract beneficial insects and also create nitrogen. The list is endless!

The idea here is to look at each plant, understanding how it grows, and make it "Multi-task" as much as possible. Looking at how plants interact with each other in a natural forest, and trying to mimic that interaction with edible plants. In the Forest, there are a multitude of plant layers, all interacting, and supporting each other. Permaculture Food forests usually concentrate on just seven of these layers. When planning my "Food Forest Hedgerow", I tried to look at these seven layers, and plan for the interactions between them.

It also turns out that there are hundreds of perennial edible vegetables!!! With some research, you can plant a forest garden that either re-grows, or re-seeds itself every year. It can be drought resistant, requiring no fertilizer, and literally care for itself.

It's possible to make a Forest Garden fairly attractive, but the more structured it is, the more work it will require. You can also design one so that it's more haphazard, looking like a natural forest. I designed what I planted, to fit in more, so that my neighbors aren't too upset, but if "Food Crime" increases in my area, I can let it go more wild... Hiding in plain site!!! There are very few people indeed, who know how to dig up "Jerusalem Artichokes" for their tasty tubers underground. Hardly anyone will recognize "Good King Henry" as a perennial spinach. No one in my neighborhood will understand how to use the leaves of a "Stevia" plant as a sugar substitute. The list goes on, and on! If you have any space at all I hope you'll do some internet research on "Food Forest Gardens", and consider planting one yourself!!!