Forest gardens are one of the most sustainable and regenerative ways of growing edible crops. They have grown in popularity in temperate climates over the past 20 years. This course is designed to help you both start designing a forest garden according to your needs and to look at uses of possible produce.
Many people feel unsure or deskilled when it comes to cooking and processing unusual vegetables and fruits; this course will give you knowledge and confidence to start cooking and experimenting with more unusual crops that you may wish to include in a forest garden design.
Tutors include the world expert Martin Crawford, founder and director of The Agroforestry Research Trust (whose 25 year old forest garden is on the Dartington Estate) and leading permaculturalist Caroline Aitken of Patrick Whitfield Associates.
The course will involve a tour of the Schumacher College Forest garden which is in its early stage of development and a close look at its design. Tours of Martin Crawford’s established and pioneering forest garden at Dartington, a tour of his younger forest garden and pioneering forest garden greenhouse, a nut trial site, and hands on harvesting, preserving and cooking of some forest garden produce with Caroline Aitken.
This is an exciting opportunity to experience edible ecosystems at different stages of development and with differing emphases and to learn about gathering and using the harvest with expert practitioners and joint authors of Food from your Forest Garden.
What will you gain from taking part in this course?
• Learn what a forest garden is
• Experience forest gardens of different sizes and ages with agroforestry and permaculture experts
• Gain practical knowledge and confidence to cook and experiment using your crops
• Learn and take part in harvesting and preserving produce
This courses is for you if you are a:
• Gardener wanting to learn about more sustainable systems
• Permaculture practitioner
• Agroforestry practitioner
A proportion of your course fee will go directly towards supporting the work of the Schumacher horticulture team
*The Booking Deadline gives us an accurate idea of course participant numbers at approximately 6 weeks before the course is due to run, at which point we confirm the course, add additional time for people to book on or cancel the course. We encourage people to register early for courses as places are limited.