Graphic Image of numbers getting larger and approaching infinity. From Socratic.org

I see this type of exponential growth curve going on in the food forest every day.

Seeds, which grow in great abundance in the food forest are the best example of exponential growth. A perfect example of this phenomenon is this romaine lettuce plant that grew from a single seed.

This romaine lettuce plant grew from 1 seed. We enjoyed eating the leaves of the plant as it grew. After a few months, it stopped producing leaves and began to produce these puffy white flowers. Inside of each flower are about 10 or 20 seeds. (yes, i counted several of them). I picked off the flowers and seeds to plant elsewhere in the food forest, and a couple days later, more flowers grew back to replace the ones I picked. I took this picture after I picked most of the flowers and the second round of flowers had grown to replace the first.

One (1) seed can grow into thousands (1000’s) of seeds of it’s kind in as short as 3–6 months.

What kind of Return on Investment can you get from a well planted seed?

Let’s say, as in the picture above, that you “invested” 1 lettuce seed by planting it in the ground and letting it grow for a few months. Then you harvested 1,000 seeds that grew from that lettuce plant, so you ended up with 1,000 seeds.

Here’s the simple “Return On Investment” formula:

Copied from Investopedia.com

(1000 seeds gained — 1 seed invested) = 999 more seeds than you started with

999 seeds / 1 seed cost of investment= 999% return on investment.

If you get a return of 1000 seeds from growing 1 seed, then you get 999 more seeds. Divide the 999 seeds you got by the 1 seed you put in and there’s your ROI percentage.

999% return on investment for growing a seed — in under 6 months.

Compare that to the stock market, where you can expect to average 6% Return on Investment per year. That’s if you’re lucky and you keep your money invested in the stock market for 30 years.

Imagine how many seeds you might have after a few years of planting seeds!

If you plant a tree instead, you will receive fruit and seeds from that tree for decades! We are grateful to have several fruit trees that are over 30 years old and are still producing fruit. Someone else planted them long ago, and we continue to enjoy the fruits of their labor.

If you really want to see abundance, look to a garden rather than an interest-earning financial account.

Have a look at how nature’s abundance happens in this video:

Here’s a video I made about a 110 year old oak tree that grew from an acorn.

From the single acorn grows the mighty oak!

Here’s an orange tree that’s over 30 years old.

Navel oranges grow on an over 30-year-old orange tree!

This orange tree is over 30 years old, and still gives delicious fruit. Plant a fruit tree, get fruit for generations!

Another good example of nature’s abundance is multiplication through roots. Look at these bananas that expand their roots into the soil and pop up new banana plants.

This growth isn’t exponential like seed growth, but still it multiplies with repeated additions of new plants.

New banana trees grow from the roots of existing banana trees

There’s no doubt that a food forest produces an amazing abundance of good food for people. Everyone talks about eating healthier food, and this is a simple, direct way to get healthy food. Forest gardens work in harmony with Planet Earth’s natural processes.

The food forest also produces a healthy habitat full of good food for many animals. The animals feed on plants and on each other to create a balanced population.

We have seen coyotes, rabbits, squirrels, gophers, lizards, birds, insects, possums, raccoons, mice, rats, snakes, skunks and cats. They go about their business, doing what they were born to do, whatever it might be. It feels really good knowing that they like being here in the food forest!

If more people everywhere around the world grow forests of food , we can go a long way toward healing our planet and providing healthy habitats for animals and people.

I hope for a future with food forests growing everywhere on a healthy planet Earth. Where clean water flows, and happy people enjoy plenty of food, love for one another, lots of laughter, and a spirit of co-operation as a big wonderful family of human beings!

Thanks for reading this post.

Aloha!