The culinary and aesthetic benefits of the woodland and meadows are significant enough to our partner organization that we ultimately established a foraging fee, so that they can harvest what they need at will. This has worked for us because the foragers know when and how and how much to harvest, and they can value add the harvest they get to the extent that the monthly fee is worth it to them. This has been a success, as cultivating a landscape that has plant diversity and serves ecological needs demonstrates regenerative agricultural practices, and also serves to enhance our Farm as a destination for visitors as our agroforestry projects are interesting and aesthetically pleasing. Our perennial meadow with mostly native flowers and grasses has also been surprisingly useful. The cut flower team uses the plants for fresh and dried craft, to grace the restaurant and facility, and also to sell. In addition, I think this meadow is serving as a beneficial insect habitat. Our apples have surprisingly low levels of apple maggot and coddling moth damage despite our being in a warm climate (zone 6b-7), and we dont spray.

I found cultivating a food forest challenging. If there is an overstory at all, the shade slows down the growth of whatever you plant, the established roots of the older plants may or may not accommodate the new kid on the block, the slower they grow the more vulnerable they are to deer browsing as they dont get above browsing height fast, and, my plantings became a bed and breakfast for the birds as they would ravage the berries and then nestle in the canopy of the taller trees.

The biggest challenge I think is ascribing value. We spend a lot of time and energy on education for each other and the public as we work to shift perceptions to see the beauty and the gifts in the landscape. We are lucky to have a partner restaurant and community that gets very excited about local seasonal and novel ingredients, and floral displays that feel natural and place based.