England has one of the most effective examples of a commons food supply in the world. Most people in England don’t consider their famous hedgerows a source of food, but they are loaded with apples, berries, hazelnuts, herbs and other edibles. This concept could easily be applied in many public places. One individual used it as a way to get land access.
Need land? What if you create an agreement with a local farmer to plant and maintain a hedgerow to protect his crops from wind and animals, and in return, you gain right of access to the fruit for X number of years? This is risky if he sells but this is one thing lawyers are good for - a long term lease can be binding to the new owner.
These types of agreements should have clear exit clauses for each party - if you want to leave the project, include a clause that allows you to turn the project over to someone else. The owner may want a clause that will protect them if you abandon the project after a grace period that is fair to both parties.
A well thought out agreement that is fair to all parties is an important aspect of making these types of projects work.
It takes some skill and knowledge on how to choose the right plants that can provide both the services of a hedgerow or windbreak, and a food forest, with little care or maintenance. This is a specialty area that one can become expert at and provide a useful service to local farmers and others who desire privacy hedges.
Tim Green creates a permaculture hedgerow for a local farm filled with fruit, greens, herbs, and native plants in England.
When visiting England in the fall, we traveled through suburbs, quiet country roads, parks, cities and farms. In each location, we found hedgerows, sometimes expanding into mini-forest areas packed with delicious apples, blackberries, rose hips, hazelnuts, and a variety of wild herbaceous food and medicine.
How could this practice be implemented everywhere?
This wild and well established hedgerow is full of food and herbs and is quite wide - some of them are.
We discovered (and browsed!) many hedgerows in England lining quiet roads or between farms that were in essence food forests, with full, mutually beneficial plant guilds, eight layers, a wide range of edibles and medicinals, and wildlife habitat. These are in essence public food forests.