This month Tobias Daniels steps down from the innovative 'Food Forest Project' Charity, he co-founded almost a decade ago.

Here he looks back at how it all began, and what the future holds for himself and the thriving project.

The sun was blazing down on the two brothers, Tobias with his brother Tristan, and the wind was a steady zero miles per hour.

Rather luxuriously the boys had a second ice cream while pondering life in a small children's paddling pool, while Tobias's son and daughter looked on in disbelief at the blatant hogging of this refreshing space.

Little did anyone know that this would be the start of a charity that helps people, nature and planet, and would gain sponsorship from the band Coldplay!

For many years Tobias had been aware of the need for more trees in our world. Having worked on farms in a nature sensitive fashion, he knew how much of our native woodland had been lost through intensive agricultural practices.

The need for everyone to do more was ever present in his mind. This struck in conversation when the brothers hashed together a plan to plant some trees. But they both agreed that planting trees wasn't enough. Food poverty, habitat loss, carbon sequester and mental health issues were all one hears about in the news these days.

Something more was needed. PERMACULTURE. From this came calm, publicly accessible, food producing spaces that provide great habitat for our dwindling species while sequestering huge amounts of carbon.

After some thorough research, Tobias utilised permaculture, meaning 'permanent agriculture' methods and started designing food forest systems that work in harmony with nature. The key points to a permaculture system are as follows: For a start, try and work with nature as best as you can.

By this is mean, do trees really need pruning? Sure, it forces growth in a more aesthetically pleasing way, and can encourage more fruits, nuts or flowers. But actually, the tree itself wasn't designed by nature to be pruned. It is of far greater benefit to wildlife to let the tree grow as it naturally would, regardless of the aesthetic or fruit bearing man made implications.

Secondly, one must think about the energies of the area being planted. How much rain fall is in that specific area and is the land on a gradient, meaning some sections of the space will invariably receive more water than others and the water run off could carry naturally emitted contaminants from one trees root system to another. Where is the sun rising from and what is blocking its beautiful beams creating shaded areas? How open is the space to assault from high winds? Why collect all the leaves in fall when they will amend the nutrient makeup of the soil to suit that specific tree.

Naturally encouraging as much wildlife as possible will bring benefits such as free fertiliser from the animals and pest control from birds. By considering the energies in the local, one can plant thirstier and shade loving species in certain areas and taller trees in less wind prone spots or even plant short hedge sections as wind breaks.

Maybe, if you feel adventurous, dig swales into the ground to channel water to boggy pond areas, thus increasing the biodiversity of the plot. If utilised correctly, these permaculture design spaces are very low maintenance, and closed loop.

From this closed loop permaculture design, and some marketing and website directorship from the legendary Faye Chouings, was born The Food Forest Project.

Fitting it all in around their day jobs, Faye, Tobias and Tristan set about finding publicly accessible, disused agricultural land, designing the food forest systems, procurement and then holding community days planting up these fantastic spaces.

 Starting with a lovely spot in Shepton Mallet, Somerset. This half acre spot has parking, seating, and free fruits such as apple, pear, plumb, cherry, strawberries, black berry, red currant, raspberry, sloes, a huge selection of herbs and more.

The dedicated team grew to include dedicated local volunteers,and families with children, who all got stuck in digging, planting and building. 

Weekends changed from leisurely breakfasts in bed; to early starts with muddy wellies, bramble torn hands and aching backs.However, all the blood, sweat and tears were absolutely worthwhile as Tobi describes how magical and satisfying if felt to witness the evolution if these spaces he had planned, created and nurtured.

The charities ofted heard heart warming stories of families who'd been struggling with food poverty, being helped out, with regular fresh fruit for lunchboxes, and veggies for dinner. Food Banks and the local church, using produce to cook free Christmas community lunches, and stock the 'open door cafe'. A local community fridge was opened which also distributed an abundance of vegetables from the FFP. 

Now having 6 projects across the county and a community farm in Wedmore, Somerset, that produces free organically grown produce for all the local food banks, all year around, the charity has really taken off over an 8-year span. 

They even gained some impressive sponsorship including the band Coldplay, endorsement from the first female head of the charities commission Geraldine Peacock and the first project space was kindly awarded to them from local celebrity farmer and Tobias' personal hero, Paul Chant. 

Now, over ten thousand trees and shrubs later, life has changed a little. Tobias has found love, become an unexpected podcast and youtube star with his channel @fatherandsontractors and is surprisingly busy raising a 10 month old sausage dog, and a blended family with his fiance (and podcast co-host ) Heather. 

It seemed like the right time to step down as Director of Permaculture, and channel his energy into other matters.

Tobias ads 'I am confident that the charity's devoted and now much larger dynamic board of trustees will continue to steer the charity in the right direction, and continue to make a difference in our fragile world. I am sad to step down, but excited to watch the charities continued growth and positive impact'. It will be forever in my heart'. 

To find out more about this fantastic project, its goals, achievements and what the future holds -visit www.thefoodforestproject.org