http://grist.org/food/the...-for-free/

A food forest is pretty much what it sounds like: “A woodland ecosystem that you can eat,” says Glenn Herlihy, one of the BFF’s founders. A food forest mimics how a wild forest works, but swaps in species that are edible or otherwise useful to humans and other animals. Fruit trees and nut trees cast shade (on sunny days) over berry shrubs, herbs, and veggies, while vines climb up trunks and trellises. Underneath, healthy soil teems with tiny life, storing carbon, water, and other nutrients necessary for plant growth. The BFF leans on permaculture farming, which uses ecological design and a bit of good ol’ human labor to create multi-species gardens that bring forth mountains of flavorful, nourishing grub without fossil fuels or other polluting substances.

By contrast, nearly all of the food we eat is grown in monoculture environments, where every plant is eradicated except for one “crop.” That’s true even of most certified organic products. Instead of natural cycles and diverse species supporting each other, you get “dead” soil that needs constant fertilization, watering, and pest control (i.e. spraying poison on food).

Community food forestry demonstrates a smarter way to grow food locally — which is important, considering that we’re staring at a future of hungry, hungry humans. The BFF is a lush public garden where all of the produce is up for grabs. Instead of dividing the land into small patches for private planting, like most community gardens, volunteers cultivate the whole food forest together and share, well, the fruits of their labor with anyone and everyone. Urban foragers are welcome to reap what the community sows.

i wish cities would plant prairie grass and dandelions and garlic and stuff instead of unnatural lawns

Back in the day, the neighborhood I grew up in, many many years prior use to be farm area, the soil was so fertile as I was growing up, different kinds of fruit trees, various berry bushes, lemon grass, fennel, artichoke plants grew random and practically wild. Us neighborhood kids pretty much supplemented our diet everyday walking to and from school, picking this stuff from the roadsides curbs, open spaces and a little too often out of other peoples yards. I sometimes wonder how that impacted our health. Those days are gone with the amount of developement and people landscaping their yards, pesticides killing off the random plants, hardly see these plants anymore, let alone kids feeling free to pick and eat them.

it's still cold out here in minneapolis but this year i'm itching to start gardening. i don't have much space but i'm hoping for tomatoes and maybe chili peppers. green peppers...

Opted for the community garden. There are a lot of them.



Would be nice to do this alternative for the homeless people, fresh off the vine foods. Takes a lot of coordination and commitment.

morningsong said:

Opted for the community garden. There are a lot of them.



Would be nice to do this alternative for the homeless people, fresh off the vine foods. Takes a lot of coordination and commitment.

that's a great idea. wouldn't it rock if, in downtown areas, 'we' could force 'them' to plant rooftop gardens and grow crops for people and birds?

also, i'd love to tint all of minneapolis' skyways and building windows, as bird mortality rates are high due to crashes w/windows.

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actually there are a lot of community gardens that help feed the homeless and the impoverished... in MPLS and beyond. Also, if u have soup kitchens and places that feed others in your area, try to talk them into growing food to give away and to use in their meals. If they have space, many would do it.. they just need the idea. I've seen some where they give out bags of fresh produce to anyone who needs it and the cool part is people do line up and get it

deepabove said:

actually there are a lot of community gardens that help feed the homeless and the impoverished... in MPLS and beyond. Also, if u have soup kitchens and places that feed others in your area, try to talk them into growing food to give away and to use in their meals. If they have space, many would do it.. they just need the idea. I've seen some where they give out bags of fresh produce to anyone who needs it and the cool part is people do line up and get it

There are a lot of programs nowadays to get fresh fruits and veggies to the homeless/undernorished. I just liked this one because anyone could just come into this garden and pick whatever they wanted. Volunteers just maintain it. Unfortunately it always seems a lot of these things don't get to the ones who need it the most.

speaking of 'gardening' last thursday here in minneapolis we had two blizzards in the space of one day (snowed, then sunny and melted, snowed, then sunny and melted).

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i snapped. just bought a bunch of plastic flowers and jabbed them the pots of dirt on my patio. i have white chrysanthemums, yellow mums, pansies, prairie grass, ivy, a ficus and sunflowers. it actually looks a lot better than i thought. poof! hey presto! blooming.

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and these little plastic suckers won't break my heart by dying in the autumn like the ones last year did. they're re-usable! and when it freezes overnight (28 degrees this morning, yeah it fggckin snows in april) they just keep on bloomin.....

morningsong said:

deepabove said:

actually there are a lot of community gardens that help feed the homeless and the impoverished... in MPLS and beyond. Also, if u have soup kitchens and places that feed others in your area, try to talk them into growing food to give away and to use in their meals. If they have space, many would do it.. they just need the idea. I've seen some where they give out bags of fresh produce to anyone who needs it and the cool part is people do line up and get it

There are a lot of programs nowadays to get fresh fruits and veggies to the homeless/undernorished. I just liked this one because anyone could just come into this garden and pick whatever they wanted. Volunteers just maintain it. Unfortunately it always seems a lot of these things don't get to the ones who need it the most.

yes but in many cases, the food does get where it needs to go. Urban Farming, the charity Taja Sevelle started, initially planted gardens all over with the idea that anyone who needed the food could take it whenever they wanted. It has worked well. And people in the neighborhood tend to get together and protect their gardens, as the gardens build a bit of neighborhood pride. Really, it's a win-win-win.. everyone wins

Better fence it off and lock it. Thieves and vandals break into community food gardens here...

purplethunder3121 said:

Better fence it off and lock it. Thieves and vandals break into community food gardens here...

That's the point. It's not a typical community garden, anyone can walk in a pick what they want.