Three inspiring modules, aimed at people who are serious about working with food forests
The annual food forest training April-October can be taken modularly, but as a whole it is a complete journey. The training consists of three modules: basic, design and food forest plan. Each module has five class days and takes 5 to 7 weeks to complete.
This year training is sold out. If you want to take the whole year training in one year, choose the May-December year training.
Please note that you will be taught on a Friday in the first and last module and on a Thursday in the second.
You will have your own digital classroom in each module on voedseluithetbos.nl. In here you can easily connect with other participants, as well as easily find and implement all your teaching materials. You will also find some digital field trips there. We also record all lessons and field trips, and post them in the classroom after the class day as well. These recordings are only for the participants of that module. The course material will remain accessible for years after the module
You learn from several teachers and at several locations
This course is taught by quite a few experts. Experts in the field of food forests, ecology, design, or in investing or marketing. After all, each part requires specific skills. And, you learn that there is no single truth.
That is why we visit as many inspiring locations as possible and different food forests. Sand is different from clay and field is different from grassland or forest. And, a food forest of 10 years looks different than a food forest of 5 years. There are also many different earning models. And they are also given to you in passing.
Presenting in front of a jury at the end of the food forest plan module helps at the end to make your plan and dream super concrete.
Frank Gorter, Anje Poortman and/or Marieke Karssen are the constantly approachable (co-)teachers and facilitators for all modules. Frank with an emphasis on the basic module, Anje with an emphasis on the design module and Marieke with an emphasis on food forest plan and earning model.
We teach this annual training once this year such that you can take it as a whole. We will give module basic and module design several times, but module nutrition forest plan only once.
What do our students say?
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Module Basic on Fridays in April and May 2023
The basic module is sold out. The basic module will be given three times this year. There is still room in the module starting in May and in the module starting in September. If you want to take the whole year training in one year, choose the year training May-December.
dates: Fridays 31-3, 14-4, 21-4, 5-5, 12-5 2023Investment: € 550.00 excl. VAT, max. number of participants 20
Teachers Wouter van Eck, Martijn Aalbrecht, Marieke Karssen and Maarten Schrama.
Locations: Food Forest Ketelbroek in Groesbeek (1x), The Food Boss near Hengelo(1x) Lekker Landgoed in Maarssen (1x) and other days digital + access to a good amount of digital (film) material, an online course environment where you can save all your work and share it with the group.
This module deals with a general and broad introduction to the food forest. What is a food forest? How does the system work? And what do you need to consider if you want to start one? The combination of live and digital leads to a nice mix of concentration, reference, real experience and networking.
After this module, you will be well versed in what a food forest is and know how to proceed if you have serious plans. For an optimal teaching experience, count on between 10 and 20 hours of additional time outside the course days.
In the morning, Wouter van Eck explains the basics of a food forest. In the afternoon, we get an extended excursion through food forest Ketelbroek.
This is a digital course day. In the morning, you get to work with the modules about succession and soil and fungi structure. In the afternoon, Wouter van Eck will digitally teach you about these using the formula for a successful food forest. You can also do the morning work earlier in the week.
Day three takes place at Martijn Aalbrecht's food forest in Hengelo. Martijn teaches about planting, regulations and the elements of good design in the morning. In the afternoon, we get a tour of his nine-year-old food forest that he has realized in an existing forest.
This day is digital. In the afternoon Marieke Karssen will give an intensive lesson on everything that is involved in a good plan.In the morning, or actually that whole week, you can already start working on your own field and with the digital exercises in which we also show you the way in a good set of online map systems that can help you well on your way.
On the last day, we are guests at Lekker Landgoed in Maarssen. This is a large food forest that is now 6/7 years old. In the morning, Maarten first gives some in-depth information about soils and especially the clay/pasture base under this food forest. But he also discusses the social and economic aspects of Lekker Landgoed. In the afternoon, Jan Degenaar gives an excursion.
Module Design on Thursdays in May and June 2023
This module design is sold out. The design module will be taught three times this year. There is still room in the module starting in April and in the module starting in September. If you want to take the whole year training in one year, choose the year training May-December.
dates: Thursdays 25-5, 1-6, 8-6, 22-6, 6-7 2023
Investment: € 800.00 excl. VAT, max. number of participants 15Teachers Evelyn Derksen, Jelle Fekkes, Werushca Kirkegaard and Wouter van Eck
Locations: Food forest Zeewolde in Zeewolde, Food forest Thuishaven in Zeewolde, one day digital, food forest Ketelbroek in Groesbeek and we conclude at estate Grootstal in Nijmegen. You also get access to a good amount of digital (film) material, an online course environment where you can save all your work and share it with the group.
The design module is a real do-module. You will learn from four top experts how to look, think and above all act like a designer. How to think in time, how to translate functions into a plan, how to translate ideas into a sketch, how to come up with a planting plan, etc.? And, you also get an introduction to the package that all professional designers work with: Illustrator.
Top designer Evelyn Derksen lays a solid foundation of how you can/should think as a designer, what facts you need to know and how to think in time. Whatever else happens: keep bringing the big design questions from this day to everything you learn in the days that follow. You'll visit the Zeewolde food forest she designed, which funnily enough started on sand and in a forest, and practice there thinking in time and layers and sunshine and all those other important fundamentals.
Designer Jelle Fekkes asks questions and teaches you, above all, not to fill in the blanks too quickly and jump to conclusions. He teaches you to sketch, see lines, translate functions and handy drawing techniques to do this thinking quickly and in a way that not only takes your thinking further but also communicates it to others. In the afternoon, you'll practice further in food forest Haven. This time on the greasy clay of Zeewolde.
Day three is digital. Permaculture designer Werushca Kirkegaard teaches you the principles and secrets of how to use Illustrator to create designs for food forests. Make no mistake: you can spend a lifetime learning this package, but if you have this beginning, the rest will land a lot easier later. This class is tough, but in itself alone worth the entire module. Precisely because you can easily participate yourself, this lesson is digital. At home you often have the better computer setup anyway.
Wouter van Eck always says that the plantings are the towels in the newly designed bathroom. So on day four of the design module, though, we're all about those super cute towels! How do you get started? Where do you find the best cultivars? How do you get this huge subject smaller and also lay that basic grid here that you can continue on your own later?
Of course, this day is not complete without a visit to the beautiful food forest Ketelbroek.
On this day, we present our plans to each other and give feedback on form and content. We also reflect on how everyone's plan started and where it stands now.
Module Food Forest Plan on Fridays in September and October 2023
The food forest plan module is sold out. This module will be given twice this year. There is still room in the module starting in November If you want to take the whole year training in one year, choose the year training May-December.
dates: Fridays 8-9, 15-9, 22-9, 29-9 and 13-10 2023Investment: € 800.00 excl. VAT, max. number of participants 15Teachers Marieke Karssen, Frank Gorter, Jan Huijgen, Liesbeth van Bemmel, Vincent Bogaart and Frank de Gram
Locations: the Eemlandhoeve in Amersfoort, Food Forest Benthuizen in Benthuizen, Food Forest Thuishaven in Zeewolde, one day digital, and we conclude at Grootstal estate in Nijmegen. You get access to a good amount of digital (film) material, and an online course environment where you can save all your work and share it with the group.
You've gotten all excited about food forests. You want to know all about it. Indeed, you want to make it your life. How do you do that? What do you run into. Or rather: what exactly do you dream? Do you have that sharp enough? And then, how do you work out such a plan? And also, if necessary, how do you get financing?
In this module, you will learn from six top experts in the fields of business model, network marketing and business organization how to combine biodiversity, food supply and multiple -also social- values into a really serious way to make a living.
In the morning, Marieke Karssen and Frank Gorter will take you on a journey to your dream. In the afternoon you will learn from none other than Jan Huijgen about the incredible number of business models that the Eemlandhoeve harbors. Marieke then introduces the basic documents of this module.
Liesbeth van Bemmel of Food Forest Benthuizen is not only the living example of someone who has managed to make a living from and with her food forest, but she is also incredibly good at thinking like a grant writer/policy official and gives extremely valuable tips for any type of food forest.
Vincent Bogaart is an impact investor and will teach you all about financing and legal forms and their characteristics. We are then guests of food forest Thuishaven where you can also learn from the diversity of revenue models active there. Marieke teaches about network marketing in the afternoon and teaches you how important network activation is for basically any kind of food forest.
The fourth day of classes is digital. In the morning, Frank de Gram of cooperative Arbres en de Waalgaard shares his story from student to entrepreneur with a team and a very practical food forest as well as a scalable concept. In the afternoon we share and discuss everyone's plans and budgets.
The final day of the course year takes place at Grootstal Estate in front of a jury of investors who can actually help move your plan forward. In the two weeks before, if necessary, we coach you individually towards the optimal final presentation.
Summary and investment
All class days are recorded. So if you can't be there one time, you won't miss anything, because you can always watch the recording again.
From the start, we offer you a digital course environment where you can find the course materials including all recordings, where you can easily ask questions among yourselves and/or make carpool arrangements, and where you can also store all your files.
The cost for the whole year training is € 1935,- excluding VAT . That's a discount over all modules of 10%. We offer the same if you choose a combination of two modules here. Basic + Design for example, or Design and Food Forest Plan. All amounts mentioned here are excluding 21% VAT
We deliver this annual training according to our terms of delivery. These are simple and clear, so please read them.
If you are unable to pay the training fee at once, or if you work for an organisation that uses invoicing, please contact us.
€550,00 - €1.935,00 excl. VAT/VAT
Year-long training course on food forests consisting of three modules: basic, design and business plan. The modules can be taken separately or in all combinations. Maximum number of participants for the basic module is 20, for the other modules 15 persons.
This year training is sold out. If you want to take the whole year training in one year choose the year training May-December.
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