[Video] Vietnam’s 300-Year-Old Food Forest

7 hours south of Hanoi, in the province of Hà Tĩnh exists a 300-year-old, 2-acre food forest, one that has been tended by 28 generations of a single family.

Food forests are areas where edible plants are grown in harmony, without the use of pesticides.

The forest in Hà Tĩnh featured in this video from Geoff Lawson, an Australian permaculture consultant, consists of a wide range of edible varieties. Vegetable and root plants (taro, cocoyams) are grown underneath large fruit trees; herbs, bananas and papayas border gardens of onions, turmeric and pineapples.

The forest also features black peppers plants, natural beehives and small animals. As a result, this 2-acre garden has become the source of food and medicinal remedies for 300 years.

“Every tree has a use and it is a complete established food forest”, says Lawson.

Saigon Food Forest, anyone? 

[Photo via eren]