Let's plant free food in common space to provide abundant harvests for the community! Not only will it create spaces to come together but it will start conversations about how else we can collaborate and take action together.
Edible landscaping is the practical integration of food plants into ornamental or decorative settings. The same design concept is used for ornamental landscaping, but instead of pretty plants with no uses, edible plants, bushes, and trees are grown. This creates a beautiful atmosphere that also has a purpose. The implementation of edible landscapes into communities and urban areas could mean free, delicious, fresh food for everyone! This concept could turn parks into beautiful, lush picnic areas where people could come together to pick their own food.
An edible landscape project in Quad-Cities’ Community Food Forest has entered its second year. The project was started in southwest Davenport, Iowa, on a 9 acre site after homes were removed because of its flood-prone location. The land is owned by the city and is known as Blackhawk Garden Park. In October, Chris Rice, who is spearheading the edible forest project, provided about 100 plants that he had grown from seeds or cutting in his backyard. This addition to the food forest included 60 gooseberry, 16 elderberry, 16 hazelnut, and 6 juneberry (serviceberry) plants, and 4 butternut and English walnut trees.
The goal of this food forest is to provide the public with produce, and food to pick on their own. This project is part of a nationwide movement promoting “edible landscapes”, instead of parks with only ornamental plants, or trees that only provide shade or windbreaks. Another goal of this project is to educate children and the public. Rice wants to educate people about the various edible plants and trees in the region. He hopes that through this education, people will begin to plant their own edible gardens that will nourish future generations.
For this project, Rice has stuck to native seed trees and bushes to help keep the ecosystem of the region in order. The introduction of non-native species can have horrible affects on regions because they can set entire ecosystems off balance. Planting native trees and bushes is also beneficial because they do not need much maintenance and can grow and flourish on their own. Native plums, pecans, pawpaws, and aronia berries have all been planted in the edible forest.
Rice’s project is a great example of the implementation of native edible plants into vacant spaces in communities. If communities planted edible bushes and trees instead of purely adding ornamental plants to public areas, people would begin to have an interest in the benefits of edible landscapes and growing food. Black Hawk Garden Park is a step in the right direction.
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By Ariana Marisol via Real Farmacy
Ariana Marisol is a contributing staff writer for REALfarmacy.com. She is an avid nature enthusiast, gardener, photographer, writer, hiker, dreamer, and lover of all things sustainable, wild, and free. Ariana strives to bring people closer to their true source, Mother Nature. She is currently finishing her last year at The Evergreen State College getting her undergraduate degree in Sustainable Design and Environmental Science. Follow her adventures on Instagram.
Photo Credit:
UC Davis Arboretum/flickr
