Emiel's Food Forest
We are creating one of Scotland's first community food forests.This is part of our own commitment to becoming a Nature Positive business and ‘walking our talk'.
Talladh-a-Bheithe Estates is providing 1.3 hectares of land on the shore of Loch Rannoch in Perthshire for us to steward in memory of the late son of the landowner, Aemilius Justin Matthias van Well, who was known as Emiel.
Emiel (pictured right) had a great love of sustainability and the natural environment. He died from a protracted illness in January 2022 at the age of 26. The food forest initiative hopes to honour the memory of who he was and his passions.
Food forests mimic the ecosystems and patterns found in the natural world. They have been embedded in the practice of humanity for thousands of years.
Once established, they require hardly any maintenance work and no fertilizers, pesticides or tractors. Due to their diverse and mixed species, food forests are potentially more resistant to diseases, pests, weather extremes and climatic changes.
They also help to mitigate the impacts of climate change. Food forests absorb large amounts of CO2 in the soil, roots, trees and support complex relationships to produce valuable nature benefits.
We are assessing how food forests can be a viable nature-based solution to support Scotland’s Biodiversity Strategy by 2045 and contribute to the Nature Positive goals locally and globally. This is in partnership with the University of Highlands and Islands (UHI).
The Loch Rannoch test site will be planted in September 2024. We hope it will be the catalyst for a wider partnership that will develop food forests around Scotland. Earthself has an initial 10-year agreement with Talladh-a-Bheithe to cultivate Emiel’s Food Forest for the benefit of the local community.
The partnership between UHI and Earthself was created through the Scottish Innovation Voucher Scheme. This is run by Interface which enables Scottish small and medium enterprises to collaborate with Scotland’s universities, colleges and research institutes. It will ensure the test site actively contributes to Scotland’s biodiversity, climate and community goals.
The initial project will run for 3 months to develop knowledge on site preparation, planting and identifying the most appropriate and beneficial plants for food production. It will also establish the most effective design and plan for the location, capturing transferable lessons for other sites.
We are looking for partners and funders who wish to help bring this project fully to life. If you'd like to find out more about how you can get involved, please get in touch on the form in the footer!
