Your food forest, at home
We design your food forest through a permaculture and ecological design process — from your vision to the first harvests.
Every food forest is unique: it grows from your vision, your land, and the life already there.
We support you at every step to make informed decisions, from the first sketch through the years that follow planting — the most decisive period.
From your vision to the harvest
Your vision
We start from your wishes, your lifestyle and your goals: feeding your family, welcoming biodiversity, creating a place to live.
Site analysis
Soil, water, sun exposure, wind, what's already there: we read the landscape to work with it, not against it.
Sketches
First design intentions, zones and moods — we lock in the overall structure together.
Detailed plans
Precise layout, plant palette by layer, and a realistic phasing plan for implementation.
Preparation & planting
Soil preparation and planting on site — often as a participatory planting day with the Heroes.
Co-management (5 years)
We follow your food forest's progress through the first 5 years, the most crucial period.
We stay for 5 years after planting
Co-management covers the first five years — the most decisive period in your food forest's life. We track how it grows, fine-tune it with you, until it can stand on its own. No ordinary landscaper promises that.
See our projects over several years →A complete design, ready to plant
Detailed plans
A plant palette
A phasing plan
Ongoing support
Three paths to your design
Every food forest starts with a solid design — and there are several ways to get one, depending on your budget and how much energy you want to put in.
Tailored design
Our collective designs your food forest from A to Z and supports you through co-management for the first 5 years — the offer described on this page.
Around €4,500 on average
The Focus week
Five residential days at Les 4 Sources to design your own food forest yourself, surrounded by Semisto designers. (Taught in French.)
€980
Discover the Focus weekDesign by our students
Your garden becomes one of the program's real projects: a team of students designs it, supervised by an experienced designer.
€1,100 · 3 to 5 spots a year
Learn moreAlready started your food forest and looking for a hand? Discover food forest coaching.
A few gardens of individuals
Far more than a landscaper
A collective, not a lone contractor
A multidisciplinary team of designers, generalists and specialists, brought in on demand to match the needs of each project.
Plants suited to our regions
The plants are supplied through a network of partner nurseries, including the Semisto nursery school.
Participatory planting days
Planting happens to music with the Food Forest Heroes — a project that brings people together and builds bonds.
Support over the long run
The relationship doesn't end at planting: Semisto follows how the food forest grows through the years that follow.
projects supported
edible species planted
on the ground
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to take a course to work with you? +
No — no training is required: our design studio designs and builds your food forest for you — vision, site analysis, plans, planting, then co-management through the first 5 years. Semisto courses are a complementary path, for those who want to learn to design themselves. And nothing stops you combining both: get supported today, train later.
How long before the first harvests? +
It depends on the layer. Berries, herbs and perennial vegetables often produce from the first or second year; fruiting shrubs usually arrive between years 2 and 4, and fruit trees often take 4 to 7 years depending on the species and rootstock. A food forest is designed precisely to spread harvests over time — we plant layers that produce at different rhythms. Every project is unique.
How much upkeep does a food forest need? +
Mostly at the start, while the system establishes: watering young plants, mulching, selective weeding. Then upkeep gets simpler over time: once the layers are in place, the food forest increasingly regulates itself (ground covers, organic matter, natural balances). That's the whole point of an ecosystem built to last — and for the first 5 years, we stay alongside you to fine-tune it.
How much space do I need? +
There's no minimum area: the multi-layer approach works on a few dozen square metres just as well as on several hectares — it's diversity that matters, not size. And you don't have to devote your whole garden: we can start on one part and extend later.
What season should I start in? +
Planting is ideally done in autumn or winter, frost-free, while plants are dormant — the best window for rooting. But a project is prepared in advance: the design, site analysis and plant selection can begin in any season. It's often best to get in touch a few months before your target planting window. Every project is unique.
Shall we design your food forest?
Tell us about your land and what you have in mind. We'll get back to you to figure out the next steps together.