1. A food forest offers you an intriguing and awe-inspiring connection to the world of nature. Seeing birds and enjoying themselves, and hearing birds singing as you walk among the living, growing food-producing tree and plant biota, you develop a sense of wonder at the complex network of life that you are walking along! You begin to sense how many creatures are working together out there to grow food for themselves and you!
2. A food forest system offers a chance to cooperate with nature. Nature’s forces do the work of growing, but you get to choose what to plant and cultivate what you like in the system. It’s a majestically powerful life force that we get to interact with while we live on this planet.
3. A food forest merges the cultivated plants with the wild biota, offering food for the body and souls of all earth-dwellers.
4. A food forest cleans the air by collecting dust from the sky which falls to the ground after a rain.
5. A food forest fills the air with oxygen by the process of photosynthesis, by taking in carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen.
6. A food forest moderates hot and cold temperatures, cooling the environment in hot weather and warming the atmosphere in cold weather.
7. A food forest slows down strong winds by cutting the wind current with its tree branches and leaves.
8. A food forest feeds and houses innumerable biota species. Since all those species are interacting in the food forest, no one single species gets to overpopulate and take over the system. Having all those species living together creates a balanced population.
9. A food forest waters itself by storing its water in the soil. Rainwater falls on leaves and branches, runs down the trunks of trees, and into the ground under the tree. Try observing how plants’ designs can catch and divert water into their soil. When more plants grow in the land, more water stays in the ground, and less water runs off.
10. A food forest fertilizes itself by accumulating organic material on the soil surface, which then feeds the soil biota, which then turns around and feeds the plant biota in a complete recycling pattern.
11. A food forest keeps your leaves from going to the landfill. Instead of raking them up and putting them in bags and throwing them away, you will use your leaf mulch to enhance your soil.
12. A food forest provides food, medicine, building supplies, attractive flowers, and lovely fragrances for humans and wildlife to enjoy.
13. A food forest grows stronger and produces more abundance over time, in a fractal, exponential pattern in individual plants, and as a forest community.
14. A food forest takes on a life of its own as a cohesive, unified entity that works together in ways that are very complex and beautiful.
15. A food forest provides natural education to observers. People who go in and quietly observe the forest will learn truths about the natural laws of creation.
16. A food forest allows the gardener to experience solitude. When you are in your food forest, there’s a tremendous opportunity to meditate and to be at one with nature. It’s a peaceful setting where you can go inward, listen to yourself, think, feel from your heart, and tune in to your gut. It provides a backdrop for moments of quiet, outside of the noise and distractions around us.
17. A food forest provides a place to perform the mild physical exercise of tending the garden. Ages 2 to 92 can enjoy working in the garden while taking in the sunshine and vibrant, growing beauty. Moving your muscles never felt so fun and relaxing!
18. A food forest enriches the grower who tends to it by providing beauty, food, juice, freshness, nutrients, and the wonder of forest life. It feels like your body is imbued with a healthy life-force when you eat the fruit of the forest.
19. A food forest enriches the entire planet by cleaning the air and the water and sending its beautiful seeds out farther and farther, revitalizing the whole earth. (We can speed this up when we grow food forests where ever we are around the world.)
20. A food forest is the easiest way to grow the best food and medicine. Food and medicine blur together in my view because what we eat from the food forest is so wholesome and nutritious that our bodies receive the nutrients they need to grow and heal. Microorganisms that live in the soil also live in our bodies!
21. A food forest is an alternative food source as healthy food gets harder and harder to find in big stores. Organic produce from the grocery store costs much more than regular old chemical-laden crops. My friend, you can grow the freshest, healthiest safest food for free!
22. Here is your opportunity to turn a problem into a solution! Restore your family’s health and our Mother Earth’s health at the same time – by growing your food forest. Win! Win! Win!