Getting to know the Ketelbroek Food Forest

This summer the Life Terra team enjoyed a wonderful visit to the Netherlands’s first food forest called Ketelbroek (province of Gelderland, close to the German border). Owner Wouter van Eck passionately explained the multiple benefits of trees and bushes in terms of food production, water retention, and biodiversity. Oh, and they also stock a huge amount of CO2 below ground!

Life Terra is excited to join Artis zoo this coming winter to plant Amsterdam’s first urban food forest.

A food forest is typically built up in multiple strata starting low in the most southern area with fruit-producing bushes and the highest growing trees are placed in the northern part of the terrain. This way every ray of sunlight is absorbed by the vegetation. You can start harvesting already after one or 2 years, but a mature food forest takes at least 10 years to grow. Here is an example of the design of a community-driven Novio food forest in Nijmegen (Netherlands).