Update From Food Sovereignty Contest - New Community Food Forest

Soon after making my introduction post I wrote an entry for the Food Sovereignty Contest organized by @homesteaderscoop. This is an update on my work to create a community food forest that I mentioned in my entry for the contest.

I run the restoration program for a non-profit and I have been wanting to do a food forest as part of my job. But the organization is fairly small and it has been hard to find an opportunity that makes sense. But we are now working on setting up one of our preserves to be open to the public with trails, outdoor classrooms, viewing platforms, etc. A place where kids can come and be inspired by nature through hands on activities.

Today I finally got permission to start designing a food forest as part of this work! I'm very excited that this project will be moving forward.

Design work will start in the summer once I'm back from paternity leave.

The Vision for the Food Forest

The food forest in this video is a great example of what a food forest can be

In my contest entry I said I was looking at creating 2 one-acre food forests. We ended up deciding to go with 1 almost 2 acre food forest instead. Here are some basic info about what the food forest will have.

1. Approximately 0.5 acre coppice grove.
2. Approximately 0.75 acre traditional food forest.
3. Approximately 0.75 acre wetland area.

I'm using the term food forest to describe the whole project but a big chunk of it will be wetlands and the coppice grove. I'm currently working with the county to get a permit to do some enhancements in the wetland to restore it. But I will also be able to plant a lot of native edible plants such as arrowroot (Wapato) within it.

This is a pond I created at another site to give you an idea of what types of enhancements I'm thinking about. I'm really excited about the wetland work because it will be a great place for wildlife and for some human use. From a permaculture perspective this area will be our zone 4 or semi-wild area. We will be able to harvest some food crops from this area and also willows for creating willow water (natural rooting hormone) for livestaking and for projects such as making woven baskets.

The entire food forest will be native focused though I may use some non-native nut and fruit trees. But here in Western Washington there are a ton of native plants that are edible. I'm excited to be able to create a food forest that focuses on these plants. I think this will be a great opportunity to introduce the local community to a bunch of amazing plants.

The coppice grove area will also have edible plants mixed in but the focus will be a 5 year rotational coppice system. This will allow us to harvest wood on a regular basis for hands on education activities, for fire wood, and for building with in a sustainable manner.

The local schools are excited about this project and there are a number of community groups that are interested in working with us on this project.

Next Steps

As you can see in that picture the site needs a lot of work but the first step is to design it. In July I will start my design but I have already been developing a restoration design for the rest of the property. The food forest is just a small part of that overall design.

The larger design covers a 20-30 acre area and will have a number of water features which will all feed the wetland that will be part of the food forest. This is a big project and a lot of work but I'm really excited to be moving forward with it!

Once the design is done I want to start doing work in late summer and in the fall/winter. My hope is to get it all deer fenced, start the wetland improvement work, construct an access route, and start building several hundred feet of large hugelkultur beds.

If you are curious about the techniques I will be using for this food forest these blog posts are a great introduction:

• How to Work With Nature to Rewild your Homestead (And Why You Should Do It.)
• 5 Ways Your Homestead Will Benefit from Native Plants
• Hugelkultur Beds: The Best Raised Beds for Your Garden
• What is Mulching? The Complete Introduction to Mulching

I will share more as the work moves forward and I'm happy to answer any questions. Hope you enjoyed the post!