Layered Farming And The Food Forest

If we are able to purchase the small plot of land next door it would be a great place to put into practice larger versions of the small scale system that we already have in the yard. Layered farming is a concept in tropical places that multicrops species of varied sizes and needs together to maximize production from the land. It is a system already in practice on a small scale here in our yard.

In layered farming the canopy is filled with tall species like coconut palm that rise above species like Mango and Starfruit. The mixed shade and open spaces afforded by these bigger trees benefit smaller trees like Calamansi, Moringa and Coffee, with Banana in open spaces. Growing within it all are vine species like Dragonfruit and Ampalaya that can use the larger plants as trellis. Beneath it all certain ground plants like sweet potato and pepper can grown. Since goats and chickens roam everywhere and will get in no matter what, they can help to trim certain plants and keep insect pests down. It would just be an expanded version of what already exists in our yard already.

From the deck I can reach out and touch Calamansi fruit with Dragonfruit vine growing up the trunk and Moringa leaves and Banana next to them.

Dragon fruit in the front yard are beginning to flower and will have fruit after we leave.

Our future potential solar roof can help to provide power needs for a small operation.

The yard and most yards here already operate under the concept of layered farming because it makes sense. Shading the yard we have fruit trees like Mango, Tamarind, Palm, Calamansi, Banana, Pomello and Papaya, all just within the yard. As if that wasn't enough, there are Dragonfruit vines growing up many of the trees and Moringa, with its nutritious leaves and Bamboo with its delicious shoots grow on the property lines.

As if a mini food forest isn't enough, Banana and Bamboo provide many of the tools needed for everyday living. 

Yesterday, as we were eating, to protect the food from the flies, we covered the table with a couple long banana leaves. Banana leaves are the indispensable, biodegradable table cover, food packaging and cooking appliance. Food is often steamed in the leaves and packaged for sale in a ready made natural packaging. 

Bamboo, the sturdy grass, is also used for cooking and storing food. One can buy different products that have been cooked or stored inside the hollow cavities of Bamboo. I want to try to cook over a fire with food stuffed inside a bamboo tube one day as is a traditional method here. Again, a perfect biodegradable cooking tool and appliance. I wish we had the ability to have these two multifunctional plants in North Dakota.

Bamboo of course is a sturdy construction material that is gaining new appreciation. There are few limits to what can be built with it. It also offers some of the best shade

.

In the future it would be great to extend and expand what we already have in the yard. In addition to providing me with healthy exercise and a hobby, it would provide more of our food needs and allow for us to donate the excess to the poor in this food rich, but unequal nation where many still go hungry.