Seminar

I did not come away from the conference with any obvious candidate. However, I think that Andy Lederer, Development Director, Institute of Chartered Foresters would be interested in helping in exploring what I perceived as differences between the ICF and the NFGS approaches and I am sending him my reaction to the conference and asking whether this is a real issue? There is also the magazine Chartered Forester that could publish an article icf@charteredforesters.org?

Well done Daniel for putting yourself into the lion's den. I agree with Keith, it will take some tme to get ideas like forest gardening into the minds of planners and foresters - in fact I'm not sure whether foresters are the right audience for our ideas at all. Planners definitely should be. Keith rightly says it is a translation effort. If I'm not mistaken we have a few sympathetic people in or at the edge of our network. I think it could be a useful exercise to set up a day event where we invite people with planning background on one side and with forest garden background on the other, as a mutual listening exercise which may help us to understand each others worlds better. Paul what do you think? You are probably the best person to judge who would be likely candidates for such a gathering.

It sounds like a strong idea Tomas. Sorry for the tardy reply - I've been focusing on getting some paid work. But I will speak together with Daniel with a view to making a proposal to us. I'm certainly willing to put the effort in.

Great Paul, I am also very happy to help with moving this forward.

I agree Planners (and Landscape Architects) have crucial professional roles from which to get support. Remember that in post they are accountable to Politicians and populations. We have to influence party politics, Councillors, Leaders of Councils, Mayors and MPs. Perhaps separately Housing Agencies' key staff and Civil Engineers could usefully be represented at some kind of 'Round Table event with us? Inter-sectoral and multi-agency approaches to healthy place-making and sustainability suggest this.

Yes Jane, I agree.
I have just begun a conversation with Michelle Furtado, chair of Adur and Worthing Green space Partnership and Vice Chair of the National Federation of Parks and Green spaces regarding a pilot that aims to measure the benefit of urban-ecosystem services in order to encourage investment in public and shared green spaces. Michelle understands the time-lag between academic research results and policy changes and this may or may not be true in the case of Adur and Worthing Councils if we begin working with them on this at an early stage.

Sustainable Sussex hopes to be involved - particularly with the food-growing aspects but could we include a forest gardening pilot? Maybe we could plant a forest garden (with the help of an experienced Forest Gardener) in an area owned by Adur Homes - bringing our current volunteer group and attracting new volunteers from the local homes and using the pilot as a means of creating a metric that could support the expansion of forest gardens across Adur and Worthing.

I am very happy to support your lead Keith if you would like to write to Andy and Mary at W&A Council. They suggested the follow up meeting should be a more detailed one, looking at possible sites. Perhaps you could propose the above as one idea to add to the ideas they themselves may be considering? I could make 4th, 9th, 11th, 12th May if it would be helpful I'm there in any way.

And if you would like to make an explicit call for experienced forest gardeners, there's a thread on the home page called 'Opportunities to plant gardens'.

I suggest that with Sustainable Sussex, Adur and Worthing Councils and partners we could help shape up a vision of an initial Forest Garden that leads to array of varied forest gardens with:
• one (or a few small ones) in grounds of (a) facility/ies such as sheltered housing (or care homes or extra care housing) and nurseries of both kinds (pre-school and garden centre) and schools
• (a) linear example(s) beside a brook &/or an off road footpath, cycle track or canal;
• particularly easily replicable community orchard(s) with fruit bush and canes and herb/perennial vegetable ground cover in Parks and grounds of larger institutions;
• A larger food forest wherever a significant piece of land can be identified.
Do work with them at this early stage, Sustainable Sussex may also be interested in drought/flood alleviation (maybe health benefits as well food-growing aspects). Incredible edible plots could also be included in such a forest gardening pilot, have it all flexible to levels of engagement. Adur Homes and perhaps other Housing Associations (NHS, Colleges…) would be interested. I hope your current volunteer group could attract new volunteers into a rolling programme via the local RAs (food banks…) and homes with pilot plantings and creating a metric that could support the expansion of forest gardens across Adur, Worthing, the County and the SE...

Hello Jane
Great ideas. We have the potential to begin some of these in Sompting and are already planning an approximately 1470m Sq. (.36 of an acre) forest garden on a community farm that we hope to create. Could work with a local school to plant up a more significant area? I wonder if there is the possibility of creating a linear garden as part of the Broadwater Brook restoration project that we will be involved in delivering?
We are already working with our local GP surgeries, Worthing Job Centre, CGL and others to gain referrals into our projects, so we could look at how to integrate this into the groups once they are up and running.
In my opinion/experience for a project like this to be sustainable it requires full-time work and a good way of doing this is to engage people who have time - people like me who have long term chronic health problems or people who are unemployed, retired or those with learning disabilities. What are others' thoughts on this?

This is a very exciting conversation. Having access to good working examples, especially in relevant, diverse situations will make the ideas tangible, accessible and will tell the story in a way that words and even pictures can't as well as giving models to replicate.

I have come to the conclusion that our native hedgerows are outstanding examples of the forest garden edge and full of food, pharmacy, fuel, fodder etc as well as supporting our wild ecosystem. All forest garden systems are essentially wildlife gardens. All of the gardens I have been involved in have been awarded gold (highest) from Kent Wild about garden schemes except one that ha not entered but ironically is the most wildlife orientated out of all of them. Its another angle to help support this amazing idea: Wildlife, Wellness and human reWilding! Maybe thats obvious, but just in case it's not!

A key question which relates to all of them in all locations is how to connect people with them. Thats an issue I am exploring with our Windmill Community Forest Garden in Margate. I will have plans and signage. Booklet with info it. All the groups in the community garden do already use the space; young families, well being, garden club, events in different ways. Its still early days there.

Jo

Hello Jo.
It is isn't it! I agree, we need working examples. Could we arrange a visit or two to a mature forest garden? It would be very valuable.
Connecting people is the tricky bit! Food always brings people together :)

Yes!
Tomas is well placed to recommend a place having spent several years reseaching them. I would very much like to visit Graham Bell's forest Garden. He keeps data on what they harvest and is one of the oldest examples.

Jo

Yes Graham Bell is your man http://grahambell.org/permaculture-2/forest-gardening/
Or the roof garden at RISC in Reading if it needs to be in the Southeast

Hi there, just to chip in and say that linear FG strips have worked really well on the council projects I have worked with. I'm also starting to work with a large housing provider in the South and training their residents in FG and edible growing to maintain the gardens going forward. It's a big win all round.