FOOD FOREST AND TERRACE GARDENS
On the slope where once lay only bare clay soil—unreachably hard in summer, boggy and heavy in winter—a food forest teeming with life now grows. Terraces collect water and slowly return it to the soil. Amidst flowers, herbs, vegetables, fruit, olive and nut trees, a landscape unfolds that breathes and nourishes. During the construction, I dug deep, sometimes as deep as a meter and a half, to free the soil from the many Lange stones. This gave the fertile clay a chance to breathe again and create space for the roots that support this forest.
Impression current food forest
Step by step, our food forest is growing. Every year we try to build a little further, though that doesn't always work. Yet, our dreams remain big: a larger lake at the bottom of the hill, new terraces, fruit trees that are more suitable, and a greenhouse for vegetables and flowers to become more self-sufficient.
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We've also learned that this land can't survive without irrigation. Water connects everything here. This is just the beginning—the story of our food forest continues…
2020
2021
2022
2025
Flora & Fauna
In our food forest, all sorts of things live and grow together. In the vegetable garden, we find seasonal vegetables, while the slopes are supported by trees and fruit trees—both native species and varieties we've planted ourselves. Strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries ripen among the bushes, and everywhere among them, herbs and flowers spread their scent and color. We grow many of these flowers ourselves from seed, always searching for varieties that thrive here for the long term.
But the forest is more than just plants. Birds, identified by the Merlin app, flutter among the branches. Butterflies and insects find their way to the flowers, and sometimes wildlife makes an appearance. It all forms a living network, where every species has its place—and where we continually discover how rich and resilient this food forest can be.
Vegetables
Growing vegetables is going slowly. A new greenhouse and vegetable garden will improve things.
Trees
I have now planted more than 120 fruit and nut trees, as well as a selection of other (native) species.
Fruit
Most of the fruit has been planted and placed in various places in the food forest
Flowers
I grow most of my flowers from seeds. It's a quest to find varieties that thrive here.
Herbs
Herbs that I grow in various places in the food forest
Birds
Bird species that are identified in our Food Forest can be found with the Merlin app
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Butterflies
A selection of common and unique butterflies that you can find in the food forest
(Wild) animals
The most common wild animals and a single reptile from the region
Insects
Insects are difficult to capture. Perhaps more so in the future.