The Food Forest
A South Australian farm and learning centre with a long history of experimenting in a Mediterranean climate.
Botanical illustration—not a photograph of this project.
Annemarie and Graham Brookman and their family developed The Food Forest near Gawler, South Australia. The operator says the 15-hectare property was purchased in 1983, and describes more than 160 varieties across its crops and other useful plants. Varieties are not the same thing as separate crop species. Read the family’s account.
The idea to borrow
A landscape can have several jobs. The farm describes food production, teaching, buildings, tree-crop collections and restoration with locally native species along the Gawler River. Those are related activities, not one interchangeable use of land.
Water still counts
A Mediterranean climate makes water planning especially relevant. The existence of this productive farm does not establish a universal claim that food forests need very little water. Ask about actual sources, irrigation, seasonal rainfall and the needs of particular crops before adapting any design.
Look for the process
Its long development is more informative than a before-and-after image alone. Ask which ideas changed, how labour is organized and how the planting is managed as it ages. Check the operator’s current course and visitor information before planning a trip.