It’s Not a Fairytale: Seattle to Build Nation’s First Food Forest

Forget meadows. Seattle's food forest will be filled with edible plants, and everything from pears to herbs will be free for the taking.
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February 21, 2012
58 comments
Seattle's new food forest, Beacon Hill fruit trees
Hungry? Just head over to the park. Seattle's new food forest aims to be an edible wilderness. (Photo: Buena Vista Images/Getty Images)

Seattle’s vision of an urban food oasis is going forward. A seven-acre plot of land in the city’s Beacon Hill neighborhood will be planted with hundreds of different kinds of edibles: walnut and chestnut trees; blueberry and raspberry bushes; fruit trees, including apples and pears; exotics like pineapple, yuzu citrus, guava, persimmons, honeyberries, and lingonberries; herbs; and more. All will be available for public plucking to anyone who wanders into the city’s first food forest.

“This is totally innovative, and has never been done before in a public park,” Margarett Harrison, lead landscape architect for the Beacon Food Forest project, tells TakePart. Harrison is working on construction and permit drawings now and expects to break ground this summer.

 

 

The concept of a food forest certainly pushes the envelope on urban agriculture and is grounded in the concept of permaculture, which means it will be perennial and self-sustaining, like a forest is in the wild. Not only is this forest Seattle’s first large-scale permaculture project, but it’s also believed to be the first of its kind in the nation.

“The concept means we consider the soils, companion plants, insects, bugs—everything will be mutually beneficial to each other,” says Harrison.

That the plan came together at all is remarkable on its own. What started as a group project for a permaculture design course ended up as a textbook example of community outreach gone right.

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“Friends of the Food Forest undertook heroic outreach efforts to secure neighborhood support. The team mailed over 6,000 postcards in five different languages, tabled at events and fairs, and posted fliers,” writes Robert Mellinger for Crosscut.

Neighborhood input was so valued by the organizers, they even used translators to help Chinese residents have a voice in the planning.

So just who gets to harvest all that low-hanging fruit when the time comes?

“Anyone and everyone,” says Harrison. “There was major discussion about it. People worried, ‘What if someone comes and takes all the blueberries?’ That could very well happen, but maybe someone needed those blueberries. We look at it this way—if we have none at the end of blueberry season, then it means we’re successful.”

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Comments

58

Pages

When it comes to urban gardens, the question is: To fence or not to fence? Depends. Depends on the quality of relationships among the people closest to the space who will create the culture around it, and about their relationship with those who come without knowing -- or caring, initially -- what the culture is. As Dave Jacke (the "e" at the end is important), said here earlier: "Spend as much if not more time designing the human component of the garden vs. the garden itself!!!" Mr. Jacke is a great teacher with decades of experience and great respect for what we have yet to learn about mimicking the genius of natural systems, and about getting humans to love each other in the process.
greg@gg
posted on Mar 2, 2012
This is a great way to help people in need, I wish we had something like this where I live at in Florida. My question or concern is this, say this catches on and goes viral, what are the farmer's that grow crops for a living going to do when no one is buying from them as much AND what happens when or if then the government starts subsidizing? Prices I think, would start to soar even higher in the grocery stores then what they already are. I truly commend Seattle and other cities that are already doing things like this. I wish cities would implement planting edible plants and fruit trees. It would be too cool!!
Pat Parker
posted on Mar 1, 2012
@Kyle Clark. I can see that you don't truly understand what either Elinor Ostrom or Garrett Hardin did. Hardin was trying to prove that without any regulation people acting independently would slowly degrade their environment. Ostrom proved that it was possible to regulate commons without a higher authority. One is hypothesizing a trend, the other is hypothesizing a management practice. In the future you should formulate your own thoughts rather than spout off what your professor says in class.
jrsteinman
posted on Feb 29, 2012
Before you fully support this project, do some research on the group doing it. Find out what their backgrounds are and see if you can figure out what makes them qualified for this type of project. Read their meeting minutes on their website and see if they are going in the right direction and if they are focusing their energy on what is important to their mission and vision. The more I look into this project, the more doubt I have.
jrsteinman
posted on Feb 29, 2012
Supermarkets are going to love this. They will be able to stock their produce section for a fraction of the price. Novel concept, not well thought out though. They are doing a great job with the design process, but they are only looking at it from an aesthetics point of view. I am curious to see how functional and ecologically friendly this park really is.
jrsteinman
posted on Feb 29, 2012
I would like to add regarding those who think that the public will ruin this food forest, that can be true, but hopefully it won't. Usually a mature forest inspires such awe that even hardened criminals have their thinking normalized when they come to understand what the forst is. I must say that our woods back home in Michigan was over-run by deer hunters every fall. We had to abandon our walks in the woods. Several times our cows and even our family collie dog were shot buy hunters who couldn't tell the difference between domestic animals and the poor deer they intended to kill. Inviting idiots into your forest is not a good thing. But teaching them about forests is a very good thing. More forests, fewer idiots can be the only outcome. Good luck with your food forest, Seattle.
Gloria Cole
posted on Feb 29, 2012
I don't think this is the nation's first food forest. Most rural people in this country had a woods on their property, and left to its own devices that woods would become a food forest. Permaculture food forests are modelled after natural food forests. Here's one that I grew up with in Northern Michigan: http://www.wildlifegardeners.org/forum/feature-articles/3864-food-forest-example-northern-michigan-forest.html
Gloria Cole
posted on Feb 29, 2012
The unfortunate thing that the idiots who came up with this idea are going to find out, is just how fast their public "food forest" is going to be ruined by the public. They're going to find out that when you invite the public at large to come to your...whatever...for free ANYTHING, they're going to crap all over it. Hear me now, believe me later.
Ironbar
posted on Feb 28, 2012
The first Food Forest was planted 15 years ago in downtown Asheville, NC, on a two acre plot across the street from the police station. It contained scores of fruit trees and bushes and insectiary plants, an information booth, and was connected by a handicap accessible board walk. It was accomplished by the combined efforts of City Bountiful, a non-profit dedicated to public food, the Planning Dept of Asheville, and the Permaculture community. It is alive and well with flourishing fruit trees and social activities. As far as we know it was THE FRIST FOOD FOREST IN THE NATION.
Charlie Headington
posted on Feb 28, 2012
One thing that we need to understand, especially the folks on this thread who are saying that this is a waste of money. The city was going to plant trees in the park anyway! Cities around the globe are continually planting trees. It's part of urban planning and a very important one at that. So why not plant edible plants? Urban trees and plants are an investment that adds actual, measurable value back into the infrastructure of a city. To claim that this project is a waste is very short sighted. If it works out perfectly or it does not. it is a step in a very good direction!
Cape Cod Tree Care
posted on Feb 27, 2012
One thing that we need to understand, especially the folks on this thread who are saying that this is a waste of money. The city was going to plant trees in the park anyway! Cities around the globe are continually planting trees. It's part of urban planning and a very important one at that. So why not plant edible plants? Urban trees and plants are an investment that adds actual, measurable value back into the infrastructure of a city. To claim that this project is a waste is very short sighted. If it works out perfectly or it does not. it is a step in a very good direction!
Cape Cod Tree Care
posted on Feb 27, 2012
Where exactly in Beacon Hill will this be located. That is my hood but I wonder where they want to put this.
Gloria DaPra
posted on Feb 26, 2012
Where exactly in Beacon Hill will this be located. That is my hood but I wonder where they want to put this.
Gloria DaPra
posted on Feb 26, 2012
Where exactly in Beacon Hill will this be located. That is my hood but I wonder where they want to put this.
Gloria DaPra
posted on Feb 26, 2012
HOW ABOUT WE HOUSE THE HOMELESS FIRST BEFORE SPENDING MONEY ON THIS? THIS NATION HAS SOME SERIOUSLY MESSED UP PRIORITIES.
toyotabedzrock
posted on Feb 26, 2012
Even if Seattle's "Food Forest" is not the *first* of its kind, I still think it's a great idea. As for people not knowing how to find ripe fruit, or how to pick it without damaging the tree, this creates potential for jobs or volunteer opportunities. People with fruit tree knowledge can spend time in the park, advising people on how to properly pick fruit. Call it a "Food Forest Ranger".
Cassie Cayea
posted on Feb 26, 2012
We live in Edmonton, Alberta where we have an abundance of apple, crab apple, pear and cherry trees as well as rhubarb and raspberry patches that are no longer being harvested by the homeowner for numerous reasons. We were saddened to see this fruit being thrown out or left to rot on the trees. So we asked these homeowners if we could rescue the fruit and have also collected excess fruit from other homes in our area and turned it into jams, jellies and condiments. We are amazed at the bounty and after just one year of work are reving up for our second very busy year in 2012 as more and more people have already offered us their trees to pick for this upcoming year. Even in this colder northern climate there is plenty of food if one learns how to collect and preserve it. We are learning how to respectfully partner with those who have abandoned or excess produce to share. We are also using this enterprise to build program and training opportunities for special interest groups as well as to teach courses on preserving and to start some other social enterprise initiatives built on the bounty of Mother Earth and our neighbours. Our final product is appealing because it is local, usually not sprayed or chemically treated in any way and has a very low carbon foot print as we pick in our neighbourhood, make the product by hand here and sell at our Farmer's Market. That is living local in it's true form. It is also another "R" in the reuse, recycle world - Rescue! Carol from Fruits of Sherbrooke
100002588173313@facebook
posted on Feb 25, 2012
Great article, and I applaud the project whole-heartedly. It'll inspire many more similar community projects. However, I respectfully disagree that this is the 'Nation's first food forest'. Before colonization, agroforestry and related practices were a mainstay of Salish tribal land management. Yes, this is innovative, but it's also the most traditional approach. So let's not forget the people that 'first' did this.
Renée Adele
posted on Feb 25, 2012
I am interested in how fruit pickers and other participants will be educated as to how to pick fruit and otherwise treat these plants without damaging them (especially important for perennials). Some trees have strong wood and little rot, and thus tolerate climbers; others not. Untrained or careless pickers can easily break limbs, strip bark, etc., which can introduce fungus. How will they know when each fruit is ripe?--since persimmons are soft, or not, apples are red, or not, etc., and lots of fruit can be wasted if each individual needs to taste to find out for themselves at each visit. Many (most?) people are pretty ignorant about tree health, and many are very casual about behavior in public spaces that can damage such plants--will there be some presence of recognized expertise and "moral" authority?
WoodsFarmer
posted on Feb 25, 2012
What a cool and much-needed concept! Detroit would be the ideal place to start next food forest. The urban farming movement is already achieving a lot over there, a neighborhood like Brightmoor would be the perfect spot! http://www.detroitjetaime.com/2012/01/03/smores-in-brightmoor-detroits-urban-farming-delights/
Detroitjetaime
posted on Feb 25, 2012
Except it is a fairytale unless you're an imbecile or dedicated to wasting money on things that very very obviously won't work. WHY ARE YOU ALL SO DUMB? I DO NOT UNDERSTAND.
Leef W. Splaffn
posted on Feb 24, 2012
Miami/Dade has had a pickable forest near Homestead since the 1940s. http://www.fruitandspicepark.org/ They avoid the overpicking problem by only allowing picking of fallen fruits. Since these are all trees, the fruits will eventually fall. This wouldn't work quite as easily with lingonberries and other shrubs. There is also an admission charge for casual visitors and they sell jams and other souvenirs to support the park. It is well worth a visit, though it is not as intensely planted as most permaculture forests. There are lots of lawn spaces.
Dana Nolan
posted on Feb 24, 2012
I want to make sure it is CRYSTAL CLEAR that the vile comments above by "David Jack" in NO WAY reflect on my own thoughts in response to this article. Despite the name similarity, that person speaks for himself and not for me. As coauthor of Edible Forest Gardens, I applaud this effort with a few provisos: Proviso #1: We have SO MUCH to learn about forest garden ecosystems that I do worry that taking forest gardening so large scale so publicly so soon may lead to problems of public perception of the forest gardening idea down the road if the design is not superbly done and carried out--and even if so! We have many, many mistakes to make before we really know how to design and manage these things well. I say this with all due respect to the designers and neighborhood involved--whom I have never met and mostly don't even know by name. Yet I support your effort and pray you all do a deeply thoughtful and protracted design process, site prep process, and implementation process to increase the chances of success over the long haul. Proviso #2 is that what I am learning about forest gardens is that the social structure of the human community that maintains the garden must cohere with the social structure of the garden itself. Spend as much if not more time designing the human component of the garden vs. the garden itself!!! This is critical to success!! After over 30 years of watching permaculture develop, I would say that lack of good human social system design is where permaculture in general always seems to fail! Please take heed of this point in big huge loving way people!!! Rock on everyone, have fun and enjoy the beautiful communities you are building together, as well as the fruits, nuts, and whatever else you'll have growing there! Make as many mistakes as possible as fast as possible, ideally on paper first so you can make some really interesting mistakes on the ground that we can all learn some great stuff from! Enjoy the adventure.
Dave Jacke
posted on Feb 24, 2012
@Jonathan, its depressing that you feel the tragedy of the commons is the only option for the outcome of this project! Food forests take anywhere from 6 months to 3 years to become successfully established integrated ecosystems. Once established they are designed to increase in abundance over time while their need for human labor input decreases because food forests mimic beneficial exchange relationships among species and abiotic factors found in nature. Food forest design also takes into account the concept of species succession, so over time the composition of the forest might change, but to make way for more edible, hardy, or nutrient-fixing species. This means if one crop gets stripped bear, others will be ready and waiting. Biodiversity is another key component of food forest design - the largest variety of living things possible typically is used, so there will be stuff ready for eating or medicinal use or for biomass and compost year round. The interaction of plants, fungus, microbes, animals, the sun, water, etc. - all managed and engaged with by humans - is a demonstration of a kind victory of the commons... Its hard to strip bear such a densely connected network... But, worst case scenario, people do overharvest, and they have to expand the food forest to other vacant lots throughout the city!! I'm really excited about this! It sets the precident for other metropolitan areas to follow!
Anna Destin McCown
posted on Feb 24, 2012
It's depressing how many people have never heard of the tragedy of the commons and are completely unfamiliar with even the most basic economics. This park will go one of two ways: either it will be completely stripped bare in days, or the managers will find some way to force people to economize- weight limits, admission fees, etc.
Jonathan Carp
posted on Feb 24, 2012
It's silly how simple & brilliant this is that no one has done it before. I mean, we urge people to plant trees and we build parks all over cities, but then we complain about welfare & food stamps, & prices. If we simply plant the trees that provide us food and make them public in a park I believe we've solved several issues at once. I hope to start this trend going all around the world!
Marie Farrell
posted on Feb 23, 2012
Very cool, Seattle (and others around the country). This concept is also working in Europe: http://wakeup-world.com/2011/12/14/a-deliciously-resourceful-town-aims-for-total-food-self-sufficiency-within-7-years/
Holly Hendrick
posted on Feb 23, 2012
Isn't it exciting to see that so many people have the same intuitions about the importance of food safety? Shame on anyone speaking divisively. It's real easy to sit behind your keyboard and spout judgements. I'm working on a presentation to combine this and other technologies in Panama. It's really elaborate. Anyone who would like to submit constructive ideas, or perhaps become part of an interesting movement/investment project in Panama, let me know at panamago2girl@hush.com We are looking for people and investors passionate about ushering the the age of abundance, food & water safety, and improved health through right living.
PanamaGo2Girl
posted on Feb 23, 2012
Isn't it exciting to see that so many people have the same intuitions about the importance of food safety? Shame on anyone speaking divisively. It's real easy to sit behind your keyboard and spout judgements. I'm working on a presentation to combine this and other technologies in Panama. It's really elaborate. Anyone who would like to submit constructive ideas, or perhaps become part of an interesting movement/investment project in Panama, let me know at panamago2girl@hush.com We are looking for people and investors passionate about ushering the the age of abundance, food & water safety, and improved health through right living.
PanamaGo2Girl
posted on Feb 23, 2012
I reposted article this on my blog: http://theartofapril-anna.blogspot.com/2012/02/repost-citys-new-park-will-be-filled.html
April Anna
posted on Feb 23, 2012
We have a food forest in Fort Bragg, CA. The more the merrier! http://noyofoodforest.org/
Gisele Reaney
posted on Feb 23, 2012
We have a food forest here too in San Diego at the San Diego Botanic Garden in Encinitas. It user to be called the Quail Botanical Garden. There are more fruit tree than you could ever imagine outside of an orchard, there are extensive herb gardens and even a fruit and veggie area in the children's garden. I reckon that these folks are going to have the same problems that our garden does with their dream of "edible". Unfortunately at the SDBG there are tons of signs that say - don't eat the fruit. It isn't because it isn't organic or grown correctly - it is for insurance purposes. Just wait until one of us ligation happy Americans gets ill or bites into a worm...then you'll see those same signs. Great idea, not the first of its kind though.
alli_knapik@yahoo.com
posted on Feb 23, 2012
There could always be a lot of "what if's" for this kind of thing. But hopefully the ripe food will be going to the people that need it rather than the people who don't need it. I think San Francisco is doing this kind of thing. Rather some stealth farmers are grafting fruiting branched onto city trees. Everyone should be doing this but it is greed that keeps it from happening.
William Bragg
posted on Feb 23, 2012
We've had a Food forest for years ( http://noyofoodforest.org/ ) so how come this is considered the first in the nation???? Makes one wonder about ther est of the information here.
Chas in mendo
posted on Feb 23, 2012
There are many people working food forestry. It is not an ideal of the "spoiled pacific northwest aryans"...Here in Philly, we are working on a few of these...all in quite "poor" neighborhoods....not only do they need good free food...No one bothers you for doing good things.
Jo Shi
posted on Feb 23, 2012
It is wonderful to see this happening in Seattle. In Victoria, BC there is a public permaculture garden or community food forest. It is an example of what is possible when you start with a gravel parking lot in a relatively low-income area near the city centre. Visit our web site: http://springridgecommons.ca Become a friend on Facebook
Spring Ridge Commons
posted on Feb 22, 2012
This is wonderful to see this happening in Seattle. In Victoria, BC there is a public permaculture garden or community food forest. It is an example of what is possible when you start with a gravel parking lot in a relatively low-income area near the city centre. Visit our web site: http://springridgecommons.ca Become a friend on Facebook
Spring Ridge Commons
posted on Feb 22, 2012
There are many food forests already blooming in the United States. Just ask Dave Jacke: http://www.edibleforestgardens.com
Timothy Smith
posted on Feb 22, 2012
@David: The Beacon Hill neighborhood was actually sited to be the most diverse zip code (98118) in the country.
Katharine Barrett_1
posted on Feb 22, 2012
What a nice thought. However, what we will witness is a rendition of the tragedy of the commons.
William Maness
posted on Feb 22, 2012
This is great! We're up in Vancouver, where fruit trees are everywhere. Our company put all of them on a map:http://www.foodtree.com/profile/source?id=10147&map=true - we'd love to do that in Seattle if the community is interested in such a thing. We're working on setting up 'freshness' notifications for citizens who'd like to know when trees near them are ripe and ready for attention. Such wonderful things happening in food right now!
Derek Shanahan
posted on Feb 22, 2012
@ Fiora I agree it would be a wonderful thing for this to work out. Here's hoping the necessary obstacles are crossed that could allow a plan such as this to succeed. I lived in Hawaii. Year round there are fruits and vegetables that just keep growing. In many places you CAN just pick something from a tree or bush and eat it if you need food. That mind set has been in place for hundreds of years. Here, with proper planning, perhaps it can work. It will take public education on the concept. Many people have never been around anything such as that. Here's hoping for a successful result. You don't know if something will work unless you try it.
Helen Ruckman
posted on Feb 22, 2012
This is wonderful, and if it isn't the first of it's kind, it's even more wonderful. To Helen, while I completely get your point and understand it to be true, the solution isn't to avoid doing such a thing. The solution is to do it so much that there is enough and people feel less fear of not having what they need when they need it--truly the reason for all the behaviors you listed. Have these parks/forests everywhere. The plants give the food for free, all the people have to do is learn from that. Eventually, they may. @David Jack...not sure what you're problem is with this. Is there something wrong with people in the Pacific Northwest wanting to innovate? And how is Seattle "Aryan" exactly? Nothing people in the PAC NW are doing to keep people elsewhere from doing the same thing.
Fiora Starchild Wolf
posted on Feb 22, 2012
Ideally it sounds amazing and in a perfect world it would work. Sharing my thoughts as I read this... I have been in lines at local food banks. My idea when attending is that whatever is available when going through the line is what I will choose from. After all, it's free and more than I originally had. I've watched some groups of people show up an hour or more early to get in the front of the line. Many act as though they don't speak English, and take more than their fair share by "playing dumb". Those running the food banks have for the most part figured it out. Those trying to get more than their share are told they can leave if they don't comply. Interesting; all of a sudden they understand English and they reluctantly go with the program. I manage apartments. One Saturday a year the post office asks tenants to donate bags of food to be collected and sent to feed those in need. Right outside my office in front of a security camera I saw a guy go through content of different bags. He chose one and took it up to his apartment. I called and made him put it back. He swore he didn’t see the BIGASS sign on the wall explaining the event. He also had a lot more than any of those who needed that food. He took the best things out of the bag before returning it. Seattle has a large homeless rate. I think it would be wonderful if anyone could wander through the park and get something to eat. With the homeless it will work just fine in many cases. Along with homelessness often goes mental illness, and drugs. Different mindsets will opt to change the rules. If left un-policed I envision the greed of those “playing dumb” who will use the park as a free grocery store. Where they’re from it is normal to go pick fresh food in the woods. In just a short time anything edible and ripe will be harvested. I foresee people waiting for others to harvest food and then stealing it from them. Conceptually it sounds GREAT! In a park-like situation without rules and monitoring, I do not see it working as planned. I wish you well with the project. I hope, too, it works out to benefit anyone ”who wanders into the city’s first food forest.”
Helen Ruckman
posted on Feb 22, 2012
This is very exciting! I have one correction though, here in Asheville, NC we have and edible food forest that is a public park: George Washington Carver Edible Park, started by City Seeds fourteen years ago, and now maintained by local non-profit Bountiful Cities. You can read about it here: http://www.mountainx.com/article/28026/Edible-park-just-keeps-on-giving. We have our own permaculture oasis here on the Southeast coast!
Lani Bouwer
posted on Feb 22, 2012
It's always nothing but the best for the spoiled Pacific Northwest and its sacred Aryan inhabitants. But God forbid anywhere else try this -- they'd be shut down in a heartbeat. Because the good life is only ever for the Teutonic "master race" of the Pacific Northwest.
David Jack
posted on Feb 22, 2012
Very cool, but might want to amend the "first of it's kind" quote. We've had this trail in Issaquah for years: http://www.kingcounty.gov/healthservices/health/chronic/getactive/activities/~/media/health/publichealth/documents/exercise/issaquah_walks_brochure.ashx
Todd Mahaffey
posted on Feb 21, 2012
Not the first, I am happy to see it but not the first. please do not forget Max Denby. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=67563293
Rachel Kayne
posted on Feb 21, 2012
Programs like this could be just what the world needs right now. The Fruit Tree Planting Foundation is a very good organization sharing a similar plan for the world. I really hope this catches on.
Jeremy Barrett
posted on Feb 21, 2012
This is brilliant, I hope this catches on in the rest of the country.
Alex Kanishev
posted on Feb 21, 2012