And in the meantime, create the design for your food forest
A successful food forest is always well designed. And we, in the food forest world, mean something quite different by design than, say, a graphic designer, or even a landscape designer. Yes, sightlines and functions and aesthetics are also important, but so is thinking in terms of time and harvestability. And how do you incorporate things like biodiversity and succession into your design? How do you avoid placing shrubs and trees too close together or too early in the wrong place?
On top of the base
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.
All teachers in this module assume that you already know the basics. If you do not already have it, we recommend that you take the basic module.
By basic knowledge we mean that we assume you know what succession is, what a blossom arch is, what -in short- the technical systematics of a successful food forest are. Also, just in our basic module, we go deeper into things like regulations and reading digital mapping systems.
A do module
During this module you will work on your own plan. You will receive input and new theory from each instructor, which you should incorporate into your own plan immediately in the following days. You present your plan on the last day to lecturers and fellow students.
In the first lesson, Evelyn Derksen teaches you the basics. In the following lesson by Jelle Fekkes, you will work with those basics and learn to sketch and look. During digital lesson three, Werushca Kirkegaard teaches you how to handle illustrator. She teaches you the basics of thinking in vectors and layers. After that, you can also proceed with a much cheaper but fairly similar package like e.g. Affinity to really work out your design on a detail level. In the fourth lesson, Wouter van Eck will -finally- start working with the trees and shrubs themselves: the planting. This is another subject that could take you a lifetime, but this lesson will give you a fantastic foundation. On the last day you will present your plan to your fellow students and teachers.
Two more modules in the year-long training are available this year
For some projects, the knowledge from this module is more than enough to then continue with your own plan. But, this course has three modules for a reason. If you don't have the basics yet, we recommend you do those first. And, if you need funding in addition to a design, or need to communicate with a complex outside world, you can also take the third module: creating your food forest plan. As with the design module, this group is a bit smaller and the guidance is more personal and intense. This module is also guided by truly the top minds in the business.
So the year-long food forest training is modular to take, but in its entirety a complete journey toward your -often life-changing- plan.
Note: You can no longer take the full year training this year, but you can still take the design/food forest plan duo. If you want to take those together, click the button below and you can order them together and get a discount.
Practical information
We will teach the design module three times in 2023, once on Fridays in April and May; on Thursdays in May and June and on Wednesdays in September and October.
Each time, there is one to two weeks between each day of class so that you have time to properly process the information.
This module includes four live days and one online class day plus the necessary self-study and hands-on work. If you want to do this module well, it is smart to plan at least 4, but no less than 8 hours of self-study each time between classes. That way you'll get the most out of the course and the feedback you'll get from your presentation. You can also choose to do all that work later anyway, since all class days are recorded and you will continue to have access to this and all other course materials for years to come.
What do our students say about the Design module?
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Module Design on Wednesdays in September and October 2023
dates: Wednesdays 13-9, 27-9, 11-10, 25-10, 8-11
Investment: € 800.00 excl. VAT, max. number of participants 15
Teachers 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 on 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 will teach 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 lesson 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 the last day we are guests at Grootstal estate in Nijmegen. This is a beautiful estate full of multiple values and ecological earning models and the perfect location to share all the designs with each other and the teachers. It also surprises us every time how fantastically much the trainees have learned in those few lessons and how valuable the feedback from your fellow group members is.
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 is € 800,- excluding VAT . Once you choose to take more than one module, or have already taken a course/module with us, we offer you a discount of 10%. If this is the case for you, you will have received an email about this. 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.
€800,00 excl. VAT/VAT
Module Design in September and October 2023
Our annual food forest training consists of three modules: basic, design and food forest plan. The modules can be taken separately or in all combinations. Maximum number of trainees in the basic module is 20, in the other modules 15 people.
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 terms of time, how to translate functions into a plan, how to translate ideas into a sketch, how to come up with a planting plan and, to top it all off, you will also be introduced to the package that all designers work with: Illustrator? And during these classes you will work on your own plan which you will present to teachers and fellow students on the last day.
In 2023, this module can only be combined with the food forest plan module. Do you want that combination? Then take a look at the year training May-December.
Do you have a voucher? Click here to fill in your code