Check out this wild forest!

A wild food forest!

I took some photos of the “dumping” area at the park where we stayed in Frostproof.

For years the maintenance staff has piled up yard waste in a corner of the park… and over time, that area has turned into a lush patch of edible and ornamental plants:

Grandpa Ralph planted those bananas at one point, giving a bit of focus to the area… but a lot of the rest of the plants just ended up there. I found cannas, aloe, cassava, thornless nopale cactus and even sweet potatoes (see bottom photo) running about.

It helps that the neighborhood is owned by Indians who like growing their own food. The brush left over from edging yards, weeding and cleaning up forgotten corners contains a much higher than usual level of edible and useful plants.

If a food forest can spontaneously generate from piles of yard debris, trust me – you can plan and build one. Just start planting useful and edible things and watch the system evolve.