Register of Community Forest Gardens

Hi Richard, that would be great! my email is [email protected]

Dear Felix,

Thanks for your email. I apologise for not writing sooner. I have responded to the request made to Loomio by Sarah Eiden on 28th January and I have shown my response to Sarah in full below. The comments I have made there are generally relevant to your query. However, there is no register of forest gardens here and the concept is not really alive. I am not aware of “interest from Henry Dimbleby's team at DEFRA” - although I probably would be if I knew more!

I am not sure I can add much more but I am interested in following up any of the [points being made if involvement from this part of the world was of interest.

Best wishes,

Maurice.

Dear Sarah,

My wife and I are members of the UK Forest Gardens organisation – LOOMIO. I saw your recent request asking for a possible location in order to undertake research as “a masters candidate at the University of Montana seeking at degree in International Conservation and Development”.

You may already have made a commitment and I apologise for not having contacted you before now. I am the Chair of a small foundation in The Gambia, West Africa and we operate as a training centre (running ecovillage design, permaculture and community development courses). In addition to this Geri, my wife, and I are interested in the forest gardening movement and how the concept and the action can be promoted in this part of the world.

At present there is wholesale deforestation occurring as 90% of Gambians cook with charcoal or wood and before farming or construction takes place Gambians clear their land. The landscape, both practically and metaphorically, is therefore not very encouraging. However, your request states: “my personal interests are centered around restorative agriculture, specifically systems using woody perennials for restorative purposes, to increase resiliency within a system in the face of a changing global climate and provision of food security for participatory communities.
Part of my degree requires an international work component where I take on new research or work on a collaborative project in the field.”

The Foundation is experienced in intern and students placements as we are working with Kansas State and Brighton Universities, both of which institutions place students with us on an annual basis.

The Gambia has a Department of Agriculture and a National Agricultural Research Institute (NARI). The Foundation is planning to set up a Demonstration Garden is which the use of trees and woody perennials will be a feature, as will soil improvement, water management and tree planting (as the three best and biggest ways of mitigating climate change). The Foundation has a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ministry of Environment, Climate Change and Natural Resources (MECCNAR) and there is a major ($ 25.5 million) Green Climate Fund Ecosystem Adaptation Programme (EBA) that is reforesting up to 9,000 hectares of forest. The EBA is charged with training people in up to 125 villages in generating employment and improving livelihoods through social entrepreneurship and forest products businesses.

So, if you were interested in a placement in Africa a placement could possibly be arranged on a little or large basis, and a range of organisations could possibly be involved.

I will not go any further and will await your response.

Regards,

Maurice Phillips,

Chair, Sandele Foundation.

Rebecca Coupe on social media asked me for tips on setting up a community forest garden. I'm not actually involved in one (!) but I said I'd put together some resources, a single page article on my website www.forestgarden.wales/articles

It would be great to get some input from people who are actually involved. I'll post the article here as soon as I've written it.

Thanks for sharing this Jake! You probably know we have put together principles for this - all on the website

I didn't know that, thank you :)

Yes do refer her to our website. Also Tomas's book 'Forest Gardening in Practice' is particularly helpful as he reviewed what we are doing in community forest gardens such as ours in Birchfields Park.

Perhaps obviously, the establishment of community FGs depends on the communities involved and consulted and the ownership and access issues are key to such a garden. In public space this needs to include engagement with the public and authorities... hence the work done on Supplementary Planning Documents (SPD) to build on Local Plans and guide planning applications, local government officers, councillors, communities and the public. Friends of Parks and groups managing the grounds of community facilities and Residents' Associations, however, often have the autonomy to make the decisions about how to mange their garden!

Good luck Rebecca - we need more such gardens being developed and more forest gardening in our shared lands, incredible edibles etcetera.

Thank you Jane, that's brilliant, I'll make note :)

Replying to Felix's questions back on Feb 4th! Location is Marston, N Oxford - Court Farm Allotments. Created out of desire to create a publicly accessible Forest Garden in Oxford both for the community and as demonstration. No animals brought by us; defending against deer! PLanted to date: Trees: 4 plums, 2 apples, pear, apricot, Walnut, alder, Eleagnus. Bushes: currants red white black; gooseberries, jostaberry. raspberries. Herb layer to come, and pond. more trees; more space to clear for planting next year phase 2.

Thank you everyone for your help on this map of community gardens around the UK. It's just a start but do let me know if I have missed any! https://nationalforestgardening.org/resources/places-to-visit/

Hello felix, I will send you details of the Forest Garden in Florence PArk in Oxford. MEanwhile are the red boundaries on the map district councils or river catchments?