Eemvallei
Eemvallei
Almere Oosterwold, Flevoland
30 hectare
Wouter van Eck and Evelyn Derksen
Staatsbosbeheer, Stichting het Buytenwold and Natuurboerderij Vliervelden
First planting: February 2019
A unique combination of a food forest, herb-rich meadows and recreation
Eemvallei Zuid is a joint initiative of the Food Forest Foundation, Buytenwold Foundation, Natuurboerderij Vliervelden and the State Forestry Administration as part of the program New Nature of Flevoland province. In June 2017, they signed an agreement to create an innovative nature area (50 hectares) with a unique combination of a food forest (30 hectares), herb-rich meadows and various recreational opportunities for children and adults.
Anje Poortman, focal point of Food Forest Eemvallei, (right) and Evert Kaatee set out the lines for Food Forest Eemvallei - photos: Rebke Klokke
The Food Forest Foundation is responsible for the planting, management and development of the food forest. The State Forestry Administration will take care of the construction, maintenance and management of the roads, paths and water works (existing ditches and wadis) in the area. The final design was completed in 2022; planting is underway. In the short planting season 2019-2020, fast-growing pioneers in Food Forest Eemvallei were planted by machines in the edges and in a coarse grid, in all planting areas.
During the 2019-2020 planting season
In addition, picking ribbons along the paths were planted by over 100 volunteers. In the 2020-2021 planting season, unfortunately planting could not be followed up. Due to the prolonged drought in spring and summer, the young plantings had a tough time in 2020; during winter, conditions proved to be too unfavorable for new plantings and also the lock-down due to corona brought too many restrictions for organizing planting days with large groups of volunteers.
A favorable position for new plantings
Door niet te planten, is het grid van pionierssoorten een voorsprong gegeven. Hierdoor was de uitgangssituatie voor nieuwe aanplant in het plantseizoen 2021-2022 gunstiger. De aanleg van de ‘hardware’ in het gebied - wegen, fiets- en voetpaden, bomenlanen en een parkeerplaats - is voltooid. Intussen wordt het ontwerp van het voedselbos verder uitgewerkt door invulling van de eetbare soorten in de bosvakken waar nu alleen nog pionierssoorten staan.
The "food forest bus" in the starting blocks for the 2022-2023 planting season
In the 2022-2023 planting season, a lot of progress has been made. Compared to the previous season, the number of planting days doubled: from three to six planting weekends. With the help of about 130 volunteers, the first six production hectares - over 5,000 trees and plants - in the southwestern part of the food forest have been fully planted. A great diversity of fruit-bearing crops has been planted.
During the 2022-2023 planting season
In addition the grid and wind hedges were further restored and additional alders, poplars, willows and blackthorns were planted. Another long and dry summer was experienced in 2022. However, the young plantings withstood these weather conditions well. This shows that manual planting works out much better than the machine planting of the early years.
During the 2022-2023 planting season
To prevent damage caused by deers, a fence was placed around the plots of the production part of the food forest. Some of the man-sized thistles that previously obscured the view of the picking routes, were also removed with a flail mower, in order to enable planting here as well. A novelty this planting season is that for the first time a GPS solution with satellite connection was deployed. This method makes it possible to read the plots in advance and then mark out the planting lines in straight lines. These were then marked with bamboo canes, after which all the planting material was placed in all designated areas, allowing very swift and targeted planting. The goal is to plant another six production hectares in the 2022-2023 planting season and yo further strengthen the windbreaks and grid.
Mood impression of the food forest
