Sapiens

Sapiens

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Paleolithic Agriculture: Foodforests for Beginners
By forestfey and 1 collaborators
This guide offers a step-by-step tutorial for planting food forests in any biome.
As long as agriculture mainly consists of localized foraging, a food forest can supply a whole village with a diverse diet while only needing little space.
Examples of food forests in different biomes are given at the end of the guide.
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What is a Food Forest?
This is Boulder on Pandora.
It is home of Liso, who had an idea after he had learned the planting skill.
The village recently had started to build multistoreyed buildings, and he had made the observation, that plants seem to grow in different layers, too. The other planters wanted to make beds in neat little rows and grids, but Liso decided to plant an experimental plot in a layered style he copied from nature, a food forest.
Liso's Elders were so impressed with the saving of space they could do with the food forest, that they decided to grow a larger one, and after years, even another one to the other side of the village, with trees for fire wood mixed in.
Now, 2 generations later, Liso peacefully died in his sleep, an Elder himself. The village held a solemn feast on pumpkins, celebrating Liso's memory.
Apparently Liso's "breakthrough" was meant to change humanity forever, his imprint on the morphogenetic field was strong enough, that soon Sapiens across the whole multiverse started to plant food forests.
Mild temperate food forest containing apple, aspen, birch, and orange trees, goose- and raspberry bushes, pumpkin vines, wheat, beetroots and flax

Food forests are an actual agricultural concept known on Earth since probably the very beginning of farming. The native Americans are known to have cultivated food forests for a long time. Of course, food forests can not be managed with heavy machinery, as they can be very dense with trees, all having some sort of utility. So they have to be manually foraged!

Typically a food forest contains at least 3 layers:
Trees
Shrubs and bushes
Undergrowth like herbs, vines and root vegetables

This is the reason, why a food forest can yield so much produce on a comparably small area. It has the added benefit of providing a habitat for smaller animals like birds and bees.
Step by Step Guide to planting a Food Forest
Step 1: Fruit trees
First of all, plant some fruit trees. Don't put them too close too each other, you'll need the space later. When the canopy is developed, it will be hard to see the ground level anyway.


Step 2: Fire wood trees
Now add some fire wood trees inbetween the fruit trees, but not as many. Again, leave some space between the trees.


Step 3: Berry bushes
Berry bushes can be grouped together in 2-4. You can put some of them around the trunks of the trees.


Step 4: Pumpkins
Now plant some pumpkins. They often snuggle up to the bushes, and you can group them loosely in patches of 2-3.


Step 5: Wheat
Fill in the major empty spaces with wheat. You can put it pretty close to each other, and often wedge it inbetween other plants.


Step 6: Beetroot
Beetroot can be click-spammed (plop plop) into the remaining gaps, but it's recommended to do some fine tuning at the edges of patches or inbetween other plants. It's pretty amazing, in which small spaces you can still squeeze some beetroot!


Step 7: Flax
Flax needs only very little space and can be click-spammed the same as beetroot, but again you might want to fine tune some smaller spaces or the edges of the forest.
If you want to plant some sunflowers, best do it in this stage, too.


Result
The result should look something like this. Let's hope you have many Sapiens assigned to the planter job!

Examples of Food Forests in different Biomes
Savannah Biome
Welcome to Ukarimu (Swahili for generosity) on Telo.
Ukarimu is characterized by a large long house with a jutty for the chieftain's clan and 2 smaller family huts.
The lack of fertile soil makes the growing slow, but now Ukarimu is established, the food supply from the food forest is steady.
Savannah food forest with banana, coconut and orange trees for fruit, bamboo and pine for wood, goose and raspberry bushes, pumpkin vines, wheat, beetroots and flax

Cold Temperate Steppe Biome
This is Kiitospäiva (Thanksgiving in Finnish) on Suno Pona.
People in Kiitospäiva have to huddle together closely, because the winters get so cold.
This means, the village consist of only 3 main structures, each with a second storey just under the roof so the most people can benefit from the warmth of the 3 fire places. Wood was very scarce in the beginning, but now we're growing a little and not so dense forest around the village.
Cold temperate food forest with apple, aspen, birch, peach and pine trees, goose- and raspberry bushes, pumpkin vines, wheat, beetroots, flax and sunflowers

Tropical Rainforest Biome
Welcome to Kuaola (Verdant mountain in Hawaiian) on Kulupu Kama.
Kuaola has 2 main huts and a great ceremonial hall with 3 storeys and many benches. Its place on the mountainside offers a great view of the river valley it is located in.
The tribe recently spotted coconut palms in a day's distance, so we might integrate them into our food forest soon.
Tropical jungle food forest containing banana and oranges for fruit, bamboo and pine for wood, goose- and raspberry bushes, pumpkin vines, wheat, beetroots and flax


That was it with the guide for planting food forests in Sapiens!
Looking forward to the future of Sapiens agriculture, I hope food forests will not become obsolete/forgotten at some point...
If you liked what you read, please leave a thumbs-up and/or a comment.
Thanks for your patience, here, have a potato!
12 Comments
Manu 23 Jan @ 8:31am 
I localize my plantations by type in isolated patches but i have to admit this looks so good that from now on i'm pacticing this
IceHaven 16 Nov, 2022 @ 1:01pm 
I would do this if there was a "gather all types" in a certain area. I find it annoying to pick between different types.
lechkingofdead 13 Oct, 2022 @ 4:16pm 
now thats something ill be using from now on and choosing to use a bit of a better place
Dingowars 28 Sep, 2022 @ 7:16am 
@forestfey good job & thank for this
Titan 6 Sep, 2022 @ 7:51am 
My only experience is with regular soil and rich soil, wheat planted at the same time on both could be harvested again very early on rich soil. (have also not counted the days)

If any devs are reading this, I would be happy to see the soil condition improve if it is well taken care of. I could well imagine that such a food forest creates a very excellent soil over time.

65 people, impressive! I was at 50 and then 10 died due to age. If it weren't for the occasional foreign tribe joining me, I'd still only have a handful of people after 40 hours of play. The birth rate is very low in my opinion.
forestfey  [author] 6 Sep, 2022 @ 7:33am 
...or write another, second (more "advanced" one)... I'll give a link to that then, surely! Roflmao
forestfey  [author] 6 Sep, 2022 @ 7:19am 
You know what? I'll take some time over the next days and do some "counting", of how many plants in about what area, and maybe even plant some test plots to see how long it might take to the first harvest :D
Oh geez, that smells a little bit like an excel spreadsheet or smth like that... But I'm fine with that, it's where most statistics start! Lol
I'll update the guide in case.
forestfey  [author] 6 Sep, 2022 @ 7:18am 
@TitanShield: Ace, man! Thrilled here, too, also to be "extra helpful" or whatever that badge was (if that was you)? ;)
I haven't tested it with proper quantification (yet), like counting days until first yield and so on (but I should, I think!), but you should try to aim for at least "regular" soil, I have no experiences on poor soil, or what plants grow on riversand at all.
Ukarimu (Savannah, regular soil) has the smallest food forest as of yet, and the poorest soil quality I planted on, and there is still plenty to go around for the 65 or smth people in that tribe, especially when it comes to beetroot and wheat, which grow fastest.
Titan 6 Sep, 2022 @ 2:41am 
I am thrilled! I'm going to test it in my world today, every outpost could get such a forest and provide enough food. That is absolutely wonderful! Is there any experience of what role the soil quality plays? On the mountains where I play there is often sand or poor soil.
forestfey  [author] 30 Aug, 2022 @ 8:45am 
@VRPlanesWalker: Thanks m8! I wasn't sure I kept it briefly enough to still be "entertaining", I just love trying to bring the permaculture and "sexy sustainability" topic to the gaming community :D Whenever that is noticed, it is well received, and, in memorial of Bill Hicks, enough reward by possibly "just planting some seeds"...