July 10, 2024
For 10 years, Gregorio has been creating a self-sustaining food forest for his retirement. We spoke with him to learn about how we can begin to create our own food forest. Here we look at some tips and principles from Gregorio who has worked in permaculture for over 20 years.
Why a Food Forest?
We will look at some examples of how Gregorio implemented these principles in his own food forest. But first, why is Gregorio building this in the first place?
Gregorio's retirement plant is to have a food forest of healthy, low-maintenance, diversified production. Over time, a food forest should be largely self-sustaining and require little work or intervention. It follows permaculture's ideology to mimic nature and allow nature to do its work. Gregorio explains that a system like this food forest is important because the goal is that it will guarantee:
food all year round
improved soil fertility
good water retention and management of water sources
biodiversity and refuge for local wildlife
In Gregorio's words, "this is a live bank of seeds, food, and water." "Este es un banco vivo de semillas, de comida, y de agua." In this sense, Gregorio also wants to leave a legacy and inheritance for his children that is an example for the next generation.
Gregorio also has a broader view of the social and environmental problems we face globally such as climate change, environmental degradation, and the economy of small-scale farmers as well. He believes it's important to produce food locally because when there are moments of food scarcity or prices go up, those who produce their own food won't have to worry about having access to food. The small producer will be able to consume and provide for her or his family first.
Gregorio explains that due to global influences, the mentality of many producers has become to export their products, especially coffee and vegetables. Gregorio critiques this "export mentality" by explaining that, "Governments and private companies use our land and our cheap labor to make profits."
To make his point, Gregorio asked us,"What are producers going to buy with the income they earn from exports?" He answered his own question by saying, "Then they have to go buy their food. And what they are buying usually isn't of good quality or healthy. So what we advise and want to see is that small producers consume to meet the family's needs and then the surplus can sold in the local market and to neighbors. Then if there is more surplus, we can export. But the idea is first the consumption of the family." This, in a nutshell, is food sovereignty.
A woman from Denmark rose her hand and asked why he was against trade. "I like coffee and I want to pay for it, so what's the problem?" A few eyes around the room rolled, but it's true that people around the world love coffee and are addicted to coffee. Gregorio explained his perspective again.. emphasizing that the producers themselves should also be able to consume the best quality of product and consume what they produce. This doesn't mean no trade. But Gregorio's family, for example, also drinks the quality coffee that they produce, and then they also sell.
During my master's thesis, I visited many coffee-producing communities in Nicaragua. In these communities, you couldn't find a cup of good quality coffee, even though they produce some of the highest quality coffee. Rather, the local families often drink some type of low-cost, instant coffee. And these are the families producing some of the best quality coffee that people around the world enjoy. The export-focused model leads to small-scale farming communities selling their product to the global market at a low price and then often buying cheap products that aren't healthy or of great quality. This is the type of global food system that Gregorio wants to avoid. Coming from a small-scale farming family and being indigenous himself, he wants to challenge the conditions of trade that indigenous and campesino communities have been forced to comply with.
Tips and Principles from Gregorio
for How to Start a Food Forest
Let's look at some of the food forest tips that Gregorio gave us.
First, observe the elements. Gregorio asked us to close our eyes, turn off our brains for a second, and observe with our senses. He named three elements, "Water, air, earth..." And asked us to remember an experience with each of these elements and then to feel them around us. Sometimes we forget we have the most important tool already- to feel and observe.
Second, know which climate you are working in and which species can thrive best in your environment. You can still experiment with adapting different plants to your climate but it's less work to incorporate what will already naturally thrive.
Third, begin by working with what is already here. A food forest isn't about plowing down what exists to start something new but to work with and build off of what is already here.
Fourth, small incremental changes will give better results. This is also one of the 12 permaculture principles: "small & slow solutions." It allows us to continue observing and seeing what works best with nature before adding drastic changes.
Fifth, emulate the forest structure by working with different forest layers or the four forest strata.
Tall trees (upper canopy)
Smaller trees that are more shade tolerant (lower canopy),
Shade loving bushes and shrubs (understory)
Layer of ground cover which consists of fallen leaves, sticks, moss, and creeping plants which protect and nourish the soil (*we never want the soil to be exposed! It always needs cover.)
Let's See What's in the Forest
Top left: Gregorio holds up comfrey leaves (consuelda) which serves as a ground cover and green mulch. It's important to keep the ground covered with organic material. This is the natural way to retain moisture, protect the soil from harsh sunlight, and maintain a diversity of plants to balance nutrients and minerals in the soil. If you observe a natural forest, you won't see bare dirt. This is because mother nature will always keep the ground covered when there is no intervention, and we want to mimic mother nature! In addition to edible plants, we need plants like this comfrey that serve as organic material, mulch, and add nutrients to the soil.
Top right: Climbing beans take up little space since they grow up trees trunks of other forest layers. They are also edible and fix nitrogen in the soil, making it more fertile.
Bottom left: Cardamom usually grows in tropical, dry climates but Gregorio has experimented with it here and found that it adapts to his more temperate climate (at 1,800 meters).
Bottom right: Passion fruit grows on hanging vines, adding more edible layers to the forest
Top left: This is a ditch that Gregorio dug at the top of his property to prevent water runoff and erosion coming from his neighbors' plots above. His land is on a slope so this manages the water and directs it to travel underground rather than washing over the land and taking away nutritious topsoil.
Top right: Here are diversified garden terraces with beets, chives, basil, rue (ruda), rosemary, etc.. These gardens were planted where the forest receives the most direct sunlight for the longest part of the day. Taller plants that provide some shade much as cardamom, amaranth, lemon trees, coffee, and avocado are planted throughout.
Bottom left: Lemon grass is used to construct natural barriers to prevent water erosion into the garden terraces. At the same time, it is also a natural repellent for pests!
Bottom right: More garden terraces. The flat terraces allow the water to absorb into the soil more slowly rather than washing down a steep slope.
There are also many trees Gregorio grows for fire wood and macadamia nut trees which the squirrels compete for. There is a wide variety of production, and the idea is to create more diversity that builds a resilient, self-sustaining food forest.
Gregorio wants this richness and biodiversity to stay in Guatemala, but also there are many pressures for farmers to produce for export quickly and in high production, which often doesn't lend itself to slow processes like food forests that take time to develop. The surrounding properties around Gregorio's food forest are conventional lines of coffee plants or cabbages or other export crops. This is what the global market demands from many producers. But Gregorio says that neighboring producers are curious and ask him what he's doing on his property. He is sharing his ideas and vision with others.
There is a balance between permaculture practices like food forests and the immediate needs that farmers have to produce enough for both family consumption and sale to market. Projects like Gregorio's food forest rely on other sources of income like his income from his job at IMAP. He is also trying to develop an eco-tourism project that brings national and international visitors to his food forrest, which has a beautiful view that overlooks the town. Making a livelihood from agriculture alone is increasingly difficult, and while food forests are an amazing contribution to the environment and alternative ways of producing food, they have to also guarantee that farmers can maintain their livelihoods in the process. This is a delicate transition and balance.
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