Last year, permaculture educator Karl Treen released the Food Forest card deck, following a successful fundraising campaign on Kickstarter. Have you played it yet? We have, and it’s available for purchase at the FIC’s online bookstore for $25.
The game is a great learning experience for kids and adults alike, allowing players to visualize how plants and animals relate to each other in a real food forest:
“The Food Forest games move you beyond the garden row, into the web of relationships that connects plants, insects, animals and people. With these cards you will play fun, challenging games based on relationships found in a real food forest, matching the inputs on one card to outputs on another. For example, one card may produce nitrogen, while another is a high nitrogen consumer; or one card might need a trellis while another card can act as one. By matching these relationships you begin to understand how to use the complex web of nature to your advantage, both in the game and in the garden.”
But the impact doesn’t end there. Treen has committed to pledging a portion of proceeds to tree-planting efforts, and sales of the deck have already contributed to the planting of 1782 trees (as of November 2016) through the Eden Reforestation Projects.
If you’re looking for a gift for a budding botanist or gardener in your life, Food Forest might be just the thing. It’s also great for classrooms and after-school programs.
You can learn more about the games that can be played with the deck here — and you can even submit your own variations. The cards are printed by environmentally-conscious Omnicolor Printing, and each sale covers the planting of at least 22 trees.
Get your copy from the FIC bookstore today!