Voedselbos Ketelbroek, near Nijmegen, Netherlands
This project started about 150 000 years ago, when in this region enormous glaciers of land ice coming from Scandinavia reached as far south as exactly this spot. Hence a relatively low place was created, surrounded by hills being pushed along. Later wind did bring fertile loess, with dust storms originating from the North Sea (in those days without water). In 2009 in this area 2.4 hectare of bare land was purchased. We now are creating a food forest, an orchard for production of cider and establishing nut production (silvoarable).
Hedges have been planted, for beauty, biodiversity and windbreak. Many fruit trees (for instance peach, pawpaw, Japanese plums, kaki), nuts (chestnut, hazel, walnut, heartnut, hickory) and shrubs (as gooseberry, Nanking cherry, Siberian peatree) do promise rich harvests in future times. In between, open spaces are created, both for making ponds and growing our fast food (sun loving crops as potatoes and pumpkins).
Foodforest Ketelbroek is located in the Netherlands, about 12 kilometres south of Nijmegen (actually very close to the border with Germany). The landscape around the spot is beautiful: countryside with some wooded hills and a swamp (both nature reserves) can be seen.
We, Pieter Jansen and Wouter van Eck, are the initiators and farmers of Ketelbroek. We have been environmental activists for a long time. After graduating in Development Studies at the Third World Centre of Nijmegen university, we both worked for the local branch of Friends of the Earth in Nijmegen. This action group managed to stop the extension of the A73 (highway) across the River Waal (Rhine river). The group together with local villagers also prevented the construction of MTC Valburg, a large industrial area for transport and distribution, which would come at the expense of the open river landscape.
Even though we are first of all inspired by nature in our own garden we are grateful for we pay are grateful for the pioneering work in forest gardening by Martin Crawford from the Agroforestry Research Trust in England. We have especially learned a lot form his book: 'Creating a forest garden. Working with nature to grow edible crops', which to us is like a bible for forest gardening in the temperate world.
You can visit the Agroforestry Research Trust website at: http://www.agroforestry.co.uk/index.html.
Please note the following. Ketelbroek cannot be visited without prior admission. First of all we want to secure a safe and quiet place for the many animals living here. Also some of our unknown edible plants may look like weeds (even for experienced people). For hygienic reasons it is better not to trample upon them... However, we do organize guided tours. Please contact us if you want to participate.
- Category:
- Farming/agriculture