Permaculture and
food forest
Discover our 5-hectare food forest and permaculture garden in France
Food forests and permaculture are becoming increasingly well-known. Since 2007, we’ve been working in harmony with nature, and on our property you’ll find a variety of food forest techniques.
What is a food forest?
and what is permaculture?
The creation or design of a food forest is inspired by the structure of a natural forest; however, in a food forest, we typically plant trees, shrubs, and plants that yield a harvest for people. It is a sustainable food system with a wide variety of fruit and nut trees, berries, edible leaves, tubers, mushrooms, and more. If you design a food forest well, you can harvest something almost all year round.
About permaculture?
At Simply Canvas Farm, we design our property according to the principles of permaculture. But what is permaculture?
Permaculture is a sustainable design method inspired by nature, aimed at creating resilient ecosystems that support people and the environment in harmony.
For us, the art lies in organizing our living environment in a sustainable way, using nature as our guide. A food forest is therefore part of permaculture, but permaculture involves considering more elements of your space—it’s not just about the food forest. The three basic principles of permaculture are: care for the earth, care for people, and fair sharing. Permaculture therefore focuses not only on sustainable gardening but also considers, for example, water management, energy conservation, sustainable construction, and relationships between people.
Every Year: The Most Fun and Inspiring
Food Forest and Permaculture Course
Every year at Simply Canvas Farme, we offer a wonderfully inspiring food forest and permaculture course: a full week spent alongside people who share your passion for nature, whether or not they have a project in mind. You’ll learn the theory and then head straight out into the fields—observing, designing, experimenting, and making adjustments—with food from the garden, enjoyable outings (including a visit to Plum Village’s Happy Farm and a self-sufficient farm with lunch from their own garden), and plenty of time in between to unwind and connect. You’ll learn from a warm team of true experts: food forest expert Martijn Aalbrecht (De Voedselboss) and Marente Lokin (HAS) for the basics and advanced topics of food forests, and preservation expert Olga Kroeze for foraging, canning, drying, and fermenting. Are you looking for food forest and permaculture inspiration—and do you want to grow with more confidence, whether you’re a beginner or have been managing a garden, orchard, or food forest for years? Then this course is for you. Will you join us?
Geniet van slow life op
simply canvas farm
What does our approach to working with nature mean for visitors to the Simply Canvas Farm Retreat Center?
In short, we love a slow-paced life connected to people and nature, but we also love comfort, diversity, and abundance. That’s what we share with you. A workshop or retreat with vacation elements, where you can relax in the abundance of nature, pick leaves for your own herbal tea, and have a chat with others. Where you can come to learn about nature or retreat to recharge during a retreat in France. Where we treat you to delicious meals featuring edible flowers and fruits and vegetables from our own garden, and where you can pick handfuls of figs and plums while walking, ending the day around the campfire under the stars. A life of abundance in harmony with nature.
We continue to pioneer on our land
We’ve been pioneering on our land for quite a few years now. We’re not professional farmers—it remains a hobby. We’re not looking for mass production, but for a vibrant landscape. Sometimes our projects went wrong, sometimes they went well. Would you like to read more about this? We recently took an in-depth look back at our permaculture gardening adventures over the past few years. Read below.
A retreat in the
lush natural surroundings
Over the years, we’ve made our place more and more vibrant. Many wild birds and flowers have returned, and you can enjoy fresh figs and plums while walking when they’re in season. It’s the perfect spot for a retreat center where you can recharge with a retreat on the border of the Dordogne and Lot-et-Garonne departments. You can meditate among the singing birds, enjoy lovely accommodations, and recharge and reset in silence through activities such as mindfulness retreats and digital detox retreats—but there’s also singing, dancing, and a fantastic food forest workshop retreat. You’re most welcome.
Our nonprofit organization
Simply Permaculture
Our land and the place we’re building here together are managed by a nonprofit organization. This means that the proceeds from a number of retreats (which focus primarily on food forests and/or connecting with nature) go directly back to the nonprofit: to further develop the land, deepen the food forest and the permaculture garden, and to continue sharing through our retreats how this works in practice—using everything we’ve learned theoretically, but above all by simply doing it, season after season. We also make products from the garden that we share with our guests, and every year we award a number of scholarships to people who otherwise wouldn’t be able to participate in the retreats. Would you like to contribute to this? You can also donate to our nonprofit organization.