Thanks to this powerful duo, the Kereru and the mulberry, our food forest harbours a substantial diversity of native trees.
Our whole 1.5acre food forest was once a kikuyu dominated landscape where only certain trees survived, let alone thrived. Since applying Syntropic Agroforestry practices on the land, observing and working with the rampancy of the existing vegetation, we facilitated the absence of less desirable weeds through managing them in ways that fulfilled their role, while creating deeper abundance in the wake of their redundancy.
The inclusion of tough exotics such these mulberry trees (Whau are also great in more fertile conditions) have been a vital pillar in the attraction and harbouring of our treasured kereru! Who feast on the leaves (in quite a comical display of tight rope acrobatics), rendering these trees not only a great source of nutrition for them, but also an ideal place for them to drop their poo. Which in a sparse kikuyu smothered, or sprayed landscape would struggle to germinate, but due to the increased fertility archived by the functional diversity and density of plants used, these seeds they gathered from the surrounding native forest germinate in abundance. So although we don’t get many mulberries, the result is extraordinary!
Additional benefit- A lot of the native trees in nurseries are cutting grown, meaning the root structure is weaker (no tap root) and no genetic biodiversity. Having seeds dropped in this innately natural way is so ideal. Our food forest is a proud diversity of exotic food and fertility producing support species, and equally amongst them is a dense and vibrant native forest, most of which have been contributed by an orchestra of native birds.
And so this food forest is as much a multidimensional co-created sculptural art piece, as it is our home and our livelihood.
