Voedselbosrand Vollenhove

Voedselbosrand 't Volle Bos is a young food forest edge in Bospark Vollenhove, a public park in Zeist, planted in 2022 and looked after by two food-forest keepers who invite the neighbourhood to help tend it and to harvest from it.

It is managed on permaculture principles, which means the soil is disturbed as little as possible and kept covered, no synthetic fertiliser or pesticides are used, and plants that come up on their own are mostly left to grow. Plants and seeds brought in are organically grown wherever possible. The harvest is still small but varied: apples and pears on low trees, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries and grapes, almonds, sweet chestnuts and hazelnuts, Jerusalem artichokes and rhubarb, herbs such as mint, rosemary and lemon balm, and wild greens like ground elder and nettle.

Nothing is sold. Anyone may come and pick, and the keepers are there at least on the first Saturday of each month from 13:00 to 14:30, when newcomers can join the work; there are also planting days and workshops on cooking with weeds.

A food forest takes about ten years to establish, so the early planting is mostly pioneer trees such as birch, alder and willow, pruned to feed their wood back to the soil until the upper layers turn mainly edible, expected around 2032.