A natural forest typically has seven layers:

1. Canopy trees: These are the tallest trees in the woods.
2. Small trees / large shrubs: These are interspersed between and below the canopy.
3. Shrubs: These are primarily shade-tolerant, woody perennials.
4. Herbaceous perennials: These herbs protect the ground layer through self-seeding and spreading (different from woody perennials).
5. Ground covers: These are creeping, carpeting plants that form a living mulch along the surface.
6. Climbers and vines: These typically require a sturdy tree to climb before they become established.
7. Rhizosphere: These are plants with edible roots and can also be for beneficial fungi.

Every one of these layers has its niche, each full of different plants competing and cooperating. Animals and plants further fill in this community, adding in aspects of natural fertilization and pest control. Forests are home to anywhere between 50-90% of the world's land-living biodiversity. Angelo Eliades explains in Permaculture News, forests as "synonymous with life, biodiversity, and fertility."

A sustainable food forest aims to create a mix of support plants and home food production species. Of those natural species, be sure to plant a variety of large and small nitrogen fixers (peas, alders, other leguminous plants) and plants that attract beneficial species (coriander, dill, parsley). Most of the plants in your system will be perennials, so consider how big they will grow and plan for their mature spacing. This is most important with the canopy, ensuring enough light comes through the gaps between mature canopy plant crowns to light your smaller fruit trees.

Finally, it's time to prepare your site. For optimal health, plant your forest in stages, with hedges and canopy trees in the first two years, followed by shrubs and ground cover later. If you're doing this over your old lawn, remember that grass will take nutrients away from young trees. So, mulch around the newly planted trees to ensure the grass doesn't outcompete them. The ground layer will best perform with mycorrhizal inoculate (symbiotic fungi that form at the roots of plants). Adding biomass such as mulch, compost, woodchips, and mushroom inoculate will help with this process.

With proper maintenance over the first few years, the forest will establish and be well on its way to providing fresh food for your family. And while certain nut trees may take as long as a decade to produce their first harvest, the perennial forest can begin producing food within a few years. Berry bushes will come first, and eventually your fruit trees. You can even further fill the in-between space with annual vegetables like kale and chard to take advantage of the open sunlight, thus producing food from year one.

With a watchful eye, this forest garden can stay with your family for generations. Start with a sapling today, and it will grow into a sustainable, bountiful garden your great-grandchildren can enjoy.