All our projects

Food forest Baarle-Nassau

Trees for All facilitates the lay-out of a new food forest in Baarle-Nassau.

Status: Completed project

From meadow for cattle to food forest for education

In the search for more resilient agricultural systems it was decided by Green Development Fund Brabant (GOB) to make a 6-hectare cow-meadow available for the development of a food forest. Nicolaas Geijer presented a plan for this. Successfully so: in the next 25 years he is going to dedicate himself to the realisation of a nature-inclusive food forest.

What makes this project necessary?

Nicolaas Geijer is the youngest participant in ‘Pilot Ground for Food Forests’ by GOB to whom ground has been granted. During his Physics study Nicolaas was seriously worried about climate change and its consequences for our food certainty. These worries led him towards the food forest concept, which offers a wide variety of solutions for a better climate and sustainable food production. He co-operated with his dad to lay out a small-scale food forest of 1 hectare in Overloon. This called for a follow-up: Nicolaas has now permission to plant a food forest in the 6-hectare parcel in Baarle-Nassau.

Participate in our forest projects

How often would you like to plant?

Once
Monthly

How many trees would you like to plant?

1
€5
Donate 1 tree
Enter a number
2
€10
Donate 2 trees
Enter a number
3
€15
Donate 3 trees
Enter a number
4
€20
Donate 4 trees
Enter a number
10
€50
Donate 10 trees
Enter a number
€0
Choose your own number
Enter a number

You will be kept informed about your trees with Track & Trees.
You will receive an invitation to plant your own trees during a tree planting day.
You will (optionally) receive a mailbox tree. We get trees from you, you get a tree from us!

0

hectares of food forest

0

trees and shrub species

How to realise this?

We are going to help Nicolaas convert the former meadow to food forest, which will turn it into a valuable extension of the nearby nature reserve of ‘Het Merkske’. The food forest is going to form a bridge between dry land and the wet nature of Het Merkske, in which trees and water formations will complement each other. What is more: the forest will create an oasis of biodiversity, where Red-List species and other animals whose habitat is threatened will be able to settle and thrive.

Afforestation

In the 6+ hectares, Nicolaas will plant 115 species of trees and shrubs, 90 of which will provide food. Chestnut, apple trees, rhubarb, fluttering elm, grape and gooseberry will be among them. The planting will be done in phases and cover several years. Expectations are that the first apples and berries will be harvested in 2024.

Dit project van Trees for All draagt bij aan het realiseren van meerdere
Sustainable Development Goals

Where are we going to plant?

The parcel is situated in Baarle-Nassau, within Nature Network Brabant (NNB) and is at present being used as a meadow for cattle.

Our partners

In this project we work together with Agroforestry Foundation Netherlands (SVN) and Nicolaas Geijer.

“I belong to a generation for whom food forests are going to constitute an ordinary means of food production.”
— Nicolaas Geijer, initiator food forest Baarle-Nassau