Key ideas: how to start a food forest, food forest for beginners, starting a homestead without a plan, edible perennial gardens
The most common question I get from people interested in food forests and edible perennial gardens is some version of: where do I start?
My honest answer is that I’m not sure the starting point matters as much as most people think. What matters more is being willing to begin before you’re ready — and staying curious about what comes next. Below is our story at Humble Abode Nursery —probably the best illustration I have of what it actually looks like in practice. Jump to the bottom for a practical FAQ section on starting your own food forest.
Searching and Choosing
We had been searching for over a year. It had begun to feel as if searching would be as far is we would get.
When we first came here, it was a tangle of brambles interwoven with old logging slash. You couldn’t move ten steps in any direction without becoming immobilized.
But we felt the magic of this place. We knew it was for us, and we for it. We didn’t know how it would be for us, or what it would become, but just beyond the tangle there was a glimpse of the top of a big old apple tree, gnarled and mostly hidden. We said, “someday, we’re gonna be able to walk there.”
Not, mind you, that the apple tree would become a centerpiece of our yard — though it has since become exactly that — but simply that we would be able to walk there.
We didn’t have a master plan back then. We still don’t. We just took the next step, and then the next one, and somehow it turned into a life.
The Brilliance and Foolishness of Beginning
We tried living in a “yome” for a bit (half dome, half yurt). It had a wood stove, and that cozy woodsmoke smell made us feel like we were pulling off something epic. But there were gaps where the walls met the floor, and big spiders liked to crawl in. Rachel got pregnant, winter was coming, and we realized it wasn’t going to work. So we moved on. You could call it a failure, but I think of it more as a nudge in the right direction.
I think about that a lot — how much of what we love starts with being willing not to know. Maybe even being a little foolish in the beginning. As long as it’s paired with an ability to adapt to failures, I think not knowing is actually a powerful tool.
But not knowing makes people uncomfortable. I see a lot of people get hung up on having a perfect plan and knowing the right thing to do before starting. We yearn for that feeling of being absolutely right and totally self-assured. But at best, being absolutely right is a road to nowhere, and at worst, it’s the cause of misery and endless conflict.
Gardening, at least, can help humble you. You can study all the books, run all the tests, measure pH and minerals and drainage and microclimate — and the tree still might die.
Planting Into the Unknown
Every time I plant a new species in the food forest, I’m stepping into a place of not knowing. I don’t know how it’ll handle the soil here. I don’t know if the description was accurate, and sometimes I don’t even know if I’ll like the fruit. Maybe it’ll get torn down by a bear or snapped by a storm. Or maybe it’ll grow into a dear old friend I’ll sit beside someday when I’m gray and slow.
So maybe the trick is just to plant anyway. To observe instead of overanalyze. To sense instead of know. To grow things not because we’re certain, but because we’re hopeful.
This feeling — this practice of moving forward without certainty — feels especially important right now. The world is thick with uncertainty. You can feel the weight of it in the air. Maybe it’s always like this, and maybe the only way through is to keep tending things. To keep believing that this patch of ground — this life — might just grow into something good.
Start With One Plant
If you’re waiting until you have the perfect plan to start your food forest or edible garden, I’d gently suggest: don’t wait. Pick one tree. One shrub. One patch of ground you can tend. See what happens.
At Humble Abode Nursery, we grow the kinds of plants that reward exactly this approach — fruit trees, nut trees, berry shrubs, pawpaws, and edible perennials that come back year after year and build on themselves over time. If you’re just beginning, we’re happy to help you find a good first plant for your land.
Food Forest FAQ
These are the questions I hear most often from people just starting out. I’ve tried to answer them the way I’d answer a friend — honestly, without overcomplicating it.
What exactly is a food forest? A food forest is an edible garden designed to mimic the structure of a natural woodland — canopy trees at the top, smaller fruiting trees and shrubs underneath, groundcovers and herbs filling in below. The goal is a diverse resilient system that produces food abundantly while requiring less and less maintenance over time as the plants establish and support each other. It’s one of the most productive things you can do with a piece of land, in my opinion, and is particularly suited to home growers.
How much land do you need to start a food forest? Less than most people think. A meaningful food forest guild — one canopy tree, two or three shrubs, and some groundcover plants — can fit in a 20-foot circle. Even a small backyard can support a productive edible landscape. The principles scale up to acres, but they work just as well in a suburban lot.
What are the best beginner food forest plants? For a first-time grower, I’d suggest starting with plants that are fast to establish, forgiving of imperfect conditions, and productive within a year or two. Elderberry, aronia, and honeyberry are hard to kill and fruit quickly. Comfrey is an invaluable support plant — it accumulates nutrients, suppresses weeds, and provides mulch material. For a canopy tree, apple, pear, peach are common adaptable choices across most US climates, while pawpaw is an excellent native option for Zone 4–8. There are so many and we try to grow as many as we can! The more diversity, the more chances for things to go right, and the less it matters if something inevitably has an off-year.
Do I need to test my soil before planting a food forest? It helps, but it shouldn’t stop you from starting. Most edible perennials are more adaptable than people expect. The more important thing is understanding your drainage — waterlogged soil is the most common killer of newly planted trees. If your site holds standing water after rain, address that first. Everything else can be amended and improved over time as the system matures. Compost goes a long way in jumpstarting the biological activity and fertility of a soil.
How long does it take for a food forest to produce? Some plants will produce in their first or second year — most berry shrubs are fast. Fruit trees typically take 3–5 years, sometimes less for grafted stock. Nut trees are a longer investment, often 5–10 years to meaningful production, but some are quicker, like hazelnuts. The honest answer is that a food forest is a multi-year project, but it pays you back at every stage — in beauty, in habitat, in soil improvement, and eventually in more food than you can eat. It will bring you enjoyment throughout every stage.
Can I start a food forest without any experience? Absolutely. In fact, some of the best food forests I’ve seen were planted by beginners who didn’t yet know what they were “supposed” to do. Experience helps, but curiosity and willingness to observe and adapt matter more. Plant something. Watch what happens. Adjust. That’s the whole method.
