Seven years ago I wrote a little booklet titled Create Your Own Florida Food Forest and announced it here on my blog.

It is a brief manifesto, sharing the joy of creating two different Florida food forests, one in North Florida, and one in tropical South Florida and urging other gardeners to do the same.

This little book took off and became quite popular, inspiring many food forest projects across the state as well as in the Caribbean.

Two years ago, armed with a large increase in experience and knowledge of plant species, I decided to re-write and expand that little booklet into a much larger – and heavily illustrated – book that included a big list of species and growing tips, as well as more practical hands-on information about planning, building soil, and how a food forest grows over time.

I also sent out a call for artists, inviting anyone and everyone to submit drawings to illustrate this ambitious new edition. Over fifty artists responded, submitting a total of two hundred beautiful pen and ink illustrations.

Here is a sample interior page:

The project became so complicated that I had to enlist my sister Christi to help me organize the project, as well as get my typesetter and graphic designer Matthew to help me put together what had become a highly illustrated interior.

As illustrations came in, I wrote… and wrote… and wrote! The new book is almost seven times the size of the original booklet and the art is full of joy.

The second edition of Create Your Own Florida Food Forest contains 330 pages, over 150 plant profiles, 200 illustrations and all you need to know to turn your Florida yard into a beautiful forest of wonderful food. Species are recommended by cold hardiness as well, so this book is great for both North and South Floridians.

Get Create Your Own Florida Food Forest direct from the printer here.

And on Amazon here.

Thank you for your patience – it’s been a long time coming, but the time was well spent. This book is bound to inspire many more food forest projects and should be a valuable reference for decades to come.