Food Forest
A Living Ecosystem Rooted in Regeneration
In 2019, we planted 15,000 plants over two transformative weeks, creating what would become our living laboratory. This 1.3-hectare syntropic food forest represents more than agriculture. It's a regenerative ecosystem that mimics nature's own design, where every plant has a purpose and every harvest tells a story of soil, season, and symbiosis.
The Syntropic Idea
Our journey began with a breakfast conversation and a young farmer's excitement about Ernst Götsch's revolutionary approach. Syntropic farming doesn't just grow food. It accelerates natural forest succession, creating beneficial relationships between plants that regenerate soil while producing abundance. Where conventional agriculture depletes, our food forest builds. Each layer, from canopy to ground cover, plays its role in this living symphony, with nitrogen-fixing legumes as our most trusted partners in soil regeneration.
The Layout & Plan
From above, our food forest reveals its careful choreography. What appears wild is actually precisely planned. Intensive zones near the kitchen for daily harvesting, extensive areas for long-term growth, and pathways that invite exploration while respecting the ecosystem's natural rhythms.
Click on the markers to explore different areas of our food forest
Evolution over Time
Time moves differently in a food forest. What began as ambitious hope in 2019 has grown into abundant reality. Each season brings new discoveries: hazelnuts blooming earlier than expected, blackberries thriving beyond our wildest dreams, herbs self-seeding in perfect partnerships. The forest teaches us patience and rewards us with complexity, creating microclimates and biodiversity that strengthen with each passing year.
The Plants in the Forest
Our food forest grows in layers, each with its own character and gifts. From the protective canopy to the productive ground cover, every plant contributes to the whole: creating food, building soil, and supporting the intricate web of life that makes this ecosystem thrive.
Canopy & Trees
Our protective upper layer includes productive fruit trees like apples and pears, nitrogen-fixing biomass alders, and valuable nut trees like hazelnuts. These create the backbone of our food forest, providing structure, windbreaks, and long-term harvests while building soil through leaf drop and root networks.
Berry Abundance
Our berry layer has exceeded all expectations, with blackberries thriving beyond our wildest dreams, currants providing reliable seasonal harvests, and sea buckthorn adding both nutrition and nitrogen fixation. These plants create habitat for beneficial insects while providing abundant harvests for our kitchen.
Herb Garden
From pineapple mint that spreads with enthusiasm to exotic shiso and wild greens that self-seed in perfect partnerships, our herb layer provides daily ingredients for our restaurant. These plants often know better than we do where they want to grow, creating unexpected flavor combinations.
Seasonal Harvest
Our annual crops like tomatoes, chard, and edible flowers are integrated into the perennial system, benefiting from the fertility and protection of the established plants while providing immediate harvests and seasonal variety for our ever-changing menus.
Farm Tours
Get your hands dirty and explore our farm as a living classroom: on guided tours through the forest garden and fields, we share seasonal rhythms, practical methods, and experiments that shape our regenerative work. Whether you want to learn more about permaculture, understand where your food comes from, or get behind the scenes of our mission – our tours give you direct insight into practice. They take place at least once per weekend, usually on Saturdays.
Join Us in the Forest
Volunteering & Internship
For those who want to dive deeper, you can join the team as an intern. Internships last 4 weeks to 3 months, offering cross-seasonal insights. A minimum commitment of 3 days per week is required. Accommodation is provided, and lunch is included. There is no monetary compensation – but you gain intensive learning, hands-on experience, and the chance to actively contribute to regenerative agriculture.
Join the Team
