Practitioners
Anna Locke Nathan
Anna is an RHS qualified gardener and fully qualified permaculture teacher and designer. She has designed many private and public, small and large scale forest gardens since 2011.
Some notable ones can be found:
On St Georges Terrace, a small strip of land before the main entrance to Primrose Hill. This was a symmetrical project with trees grown in pots along the High Street on Regents Park Road then being planted into this small park, when they had outgrown the pots. This forest garden also has a lot of soft fruits and guild planting. It is a good example of community ownership of a project as it now has found a life of its own.
Her main forest garden is in Hornshurst Wood, East Sussex. Planting began in spring 2015 and is due to be completed this year. www.facebook.com/Hornshurst
She has also done several private Forest Gardens in London and Hastings- currently working on a forest Garden area within the Bohemia Walled Garden in St. Leonards.
She has also developed a conceptual ‘garden of sanctuary‘ forest garden that is freely shared.
She has her own small-scale permaculture farm project in which there will eventually be three, but currently work is progressing on two forest gardens within the whole site. www.instagram.com/permacultureanna/
She regularly gives talks and workshops on forest gardening and actually prefers to call it ‘forage gardening’ because she has found that the public gets very confused about the concept of having a ‘forest’, yet really do relate to the concept of ‘foraging’ at home, with low maintenance intentional planting that is edible. Anna wholeheartedly believes in empowering people to create forest garden areas at home- because it is so effective and also adds to a sense of food security without much effort.
www.annalockepermaculture.co.uk
Jo Barker – Forest Gardener, Designer, Forager
I love plants and people. My main occupation is to design, teach, make and maintain private and community forest garden projects. I take people foraging where I see everywhere as a forest garden. My biggest achievement seems to be holding an official record for the number of plant ingredients in a salad which was over 300.
I enjoy helping facilitate Forest Garden design with community groups and individuals.
Current projects.
I work with two local universities with garden projects focused on Wellbeing. I work lots with children and currently lead a small weekly class in nature connection and foraging. I have helped make a community forest garden and recently ran a course there. I am working with a new botanical garden which has research and education focus which I am exploring utilising yields and engaging people. I have 4 permaculture / forest garden design clients, 3 gardens that I continue to maintain and many courses and talks in the pipeline for 2021. I did a tour of forest gardens through the UK in 2020. I am producing a forest garden foraging calender.
I am currently exploring how we can get more yields from our plants and have a mission to make garden foraging mainstream. At the core of it all is helping people connect to natural systems and feel at home and part of “Nature’.
Jo Barker Dynamic Equilibrium: www.dynamic-eqilibrium.co.uk
Facebook: Jo Barker Permaculture
Email: futurefoodforests@gmail.com
Rachel Hammond – Edible Oxford
If you are located in East Sussex and would like a forest garden designed for you or you would like an initial consultation about your plot, do you get in touch with her. Currently she is at capacity but would be able to take on new projects from autumn 2019.
- Designing and Installing Forest Gardens across the UK
- One day introductory courses in designing Forest Gardens
- Four day certified training course on Urban and Small Scale Food Production (incorporating Forest Gardens and Agroforestry)
- Edibles Nursery stocking Forest Garden plants
- Working with private clients, businesses and Local Authority
- Gardens installed in Schools, Housing Estates, Public Parks and Social Housing
Read more about Edible Oxford here: www.facebook.com/incredibleedibleoxford
Find out about the latest courses: www.facebook.com/pg/incredibleedibleoxford/events
Tomas Remiarz
I was first attracted to forest gardens in the mid 1990s when I visited Robert Hart’s original garden during my permaculture training. In 1996 I helped create the first forest garden in the Netherlands. Since then I have been involved in designing, planting and running forest gardens across the UK and Europe. As well as my professional experience in forestry, organic orchard management and permaculture design I bring with me a deep passion for ecology and a keen interest in working with communities to develop landscapes that work for their needs and provide a range of benefits.
In recent years I have extensively researched forest gardens, resulting in the publication of “Forest Gardening in Practice”, an illustrated guide to forest gardening with many case studies and a guide to designing and planting them.
I also run training programmes for aspiring forest gardeners, from short talks to long courses and one-to-one tuition.
Website address: forestgardeninginpractice.com/
Rakesh “Rootsman Rak”
Rakesh “Rootsman Rak” is an experienced Permaculture designer, teacher and Forest Garden specialist, yoga teacher and homeopath. He has been growing food since he was a child, and has been designing and teaching edible landscaping, permaculture, forest gardening, etc since 2009.
He has designed and implemented forest gardens from small-scale private gardens and schools, to farms, community gardens, communal nature gardens, as well as designing a forest garden as part of a 30-hectare ecovillage in Croatia.
Rakesh is a dynamic and passionate teacher, facilitator and public speaker; sharing his knowledge, insight and colourful storytelling with a wide range of audiences. With his teaching he imparts a clear and systematic set of tools, ecological principles and methodologies, underpinned by ethics to support the design and creation of abundant natural and social systems.
He is the founder of the Roots n PermaCulture Learning Community, one of the founders of the Children in Permaculture project (CiP) and the Youth in Permaculture (YiP) project.
In 2020 Rakesh held several forest garden courses, including 2 design courses where 15 community forest gardens and 20 personal forest gardens were designed around the world (including several in the UK). Many of them are being implemented, so watch this space to see how they progress during this strange period with all its restrictions.