What's involved in (starting) a food forest?
A complete basic module
The basic module consists of three in-person days and two online class days. You’ll visit three food forests, each of which began under very different circumstances and was established by three leading pioneers in the field. This will give you a comprehensive understanding of what a food forest is, what it looks, tastes, and feels like, and what it means to start one. You’ll visit Wouter van Eck’s Ketelbroek Food Forest, now more than 15 years old and started on a cornfield, the Lekker Landgoed Food Forest by Maarten Schrama and Jan Degenaar, which was started 10 years ago on rich, windy clay covered with grass; and the food forest on poor sandy soil in a woodland that Martijn Aalbrecht planted over 11 years ago.
Three modules in annual training
For some projects, the knowledge from this module is more than enough to proceed with the plan after that. But, this training has three modules for a reason. In the second and third modules, design and food forest plan, the groups are smaller and the guidance is more intensive. Because in those modules, you get to work on your plan yourself. You literally make your design and your plan. Again guided by really the top people in the business.
So the year-long food forest training can be taken modularly, but as a whole is a complete journey to your -often life-changing- plan. You can also choose to take only a combination of basic with design or with food forest plan. Go to the overview page of all modules if you want to do a combination.
What do our students say about the basic module?
Module Basic on Wednesdays in March and April
Dates: Wednesdays, March 24 and 31, and April 7, 14, and 21, 2027
Cost: €600, excluding VAT; maximum of 20 participants
Instructors: Wouter van Eck, Maarten Schrama, Marieke Karssen, Martijn Aalbrecht.
Locations: Ketelbroek Food Forest in Groesbeek (1 session), Lekker Landgoed, Haarzuilens (1 session), De Voedselboss near Hengelo (1 session), and the remaining sessions will be held online, plus access to a substantial amount of digital (video) material and an online course platform where you can save all your work and share it with the group.
In this module we will not only teach you the theory of successful food forests, but also give you a solid start for making a plan, the regulations and reading the many map systems available in the Netherlands. We'll also teach you how to look at land, and what the basic design principles are.
You'll visit three food forests, each started from very different starting situations and founded by three top pioneers in the business. And on the online teaching days, we'll go in-depth on food forest system theory and all aspects of a food forest plan.
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.
March 24, 2027, De Slenk Community Center and Ketelbroek Food Forest in Groesbeek
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.
March 31, 2027, online
This is a digital course day. In the morning you will work on the lessons about succession and soils and fungal composition. In the afternoon, Wouter van Eck teaches this digitally using the formula about a successful food forest. You can also do the morning work earlier in the week.
April 7, Lekker Landgoed, Haarzuilens Food Forest
Today we’re visiting Lekker Landgoed in Haarzuilens. This is a large food forest that’s over 10 years old. In the morning, Maarten Schrama will first provide some in-depth information about soils, particularly the clay and meadow subsoil beneath this food forest. But he’ll also discuss the social and economic aspects of Lekker Landgoed. In the afternoon, either he or Jan Degenaar, the co-founder of Lekker Landgoed, will lead a comprehensive tour through this food forest.
April 14, 2027, online
This fourth day of class will also be held online. In the afternoon, Marieke Karssen will lead an intensive session on everything that goes into creating a good plan. In the morning—or, actually, throughout the entire week—you can already get started in your own field and with the digital exercises, in which we’ll also guide you through a substantial set of online mapping systems that can help you get off to a good start.
April 21, Parish Hall and at the Voedselboss in Hengelo
The final day of class will take place at Martijn Aalbrecht’s food forest in Hengelo. In the morning, Martijn will teach us about planting, regulations, and the elements of good design. In the afternoon, we’ll go on a field trip to one or two of his food forests, the oldest of which he created within an existing forest.
Practical information about the annual training and modules
The theoretical portion of every class day is recorded. So if you can't make it one time, you can always watch the recording later.
We offer you from the start a digital course environment where you can find the course materials, the homework including all recordings, where you can easily ask questions among yourselves and/or make carpool appointments and where you can also store all your files.
The cost for the basic module is €600, excluding VAT. If you are a member of the Food from the Forest Association, we will give you an immediate discount of €35.
The price for the design and food forest plan modules is €850 per module, excluding VAT. We also offer a €35 discount per module if you are a member.
If you take all the modules in the one-year training program, the price is €2,300.00, excluding VAT. For the one-year training program, we offer an immediate discount of €105 if you are a member of the Food from the Forest Association.
If you are a member and do not already see the discount in the tuition amount, please log in first!
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.
