Edible ecosystems that grow richer every year
A food forest is a planting modeled on a natural woodland, but filled with plants that feed people and wildlife. Instead of a single row of fruit trees surrounded by bare ground, a food forest stacks layers: tall canopy trees, smaller fruit and nut trees, shrubs, herbs, ground covers, vines, and root crops all sharing the same space.
Once established, a well-designed food forest builds its own soil through leaf fall and roots, shades and cools the ground, holds water, and provides habitat, all while producing food.
Designing for your climate
Plant choices make or break a food forest. Northern California and Northern Nevada include coastal areas, warm valleys, foothills, and cold high-desert sites with short seasons and hard frosts. We select species and varieties that suit your site's chill, heat, frost, soil, and water, and we place them so each layer gets the light it needs.
Water is planned in from the start. Swales, mulch, and efficient irrigation help young plantings through dry summers until they are established.
From design to planting
Soil Solutions can design your food forest as part of a broader permaculture plan, prepare the ground, set up water, and help with planting and early care. Food forests can be as small as a backyard guild or as large as several acres. Get in touch to talk about your land and what you would like to grow.
Getting started
Every project begins with a conversation. Tell us about your land, what you are growing or raising, and what you want to change. From there we usually recommend a site visit and, in most cases, soil testing, so the plan for food forest systems is built on what is actually happening on your ground. You will get clear recommendations and an honest sense of what to do first, what can wait, and how our other services might fit in.
Where we offer food forest systems
We serve Northern California and Northern Nevada, including Reno & Washoe County, NV, Carson City, Douglas & Lyon Counties, NV, Fallon, Churchill County & Elko, NV, Sacramento Valley, CA, Sierra Foothills, CA, Far Northern California, and the North Coast: Sonoma & Mendocino, CA.