Seattle will soon be home to the nation’s largest urban food forest. Planted on a seven-acre plot of land in the city’s Beacon Hill neighborhood, the site will not only provide locally grown food to the area, but is viewed by those involved as a path to increased community cooperation and friendship.
“There is a goodwill movement to grow organic food in public spaces for the health of the people and other species that are beneficial to our food chain,” said co-founder Glenn Herlihy, in an email statement. “This goodwill builds a stronger more resilient community, regenerates habitat on public lands and elevates many pressures on the environment with locally grown food.”
A food forest, or edible garden, is a manufactured forest that’s designed to mimic a woodland ecosystem, but with different varieties of edible trees, bushes, and flowers substituted.
The Beacon Food Forest will include hundreds of kinds of edible plants including walnut and chestnut trees, blueberry and raspberry bushes, apple and pear trees, pineapple, guava, persimmons, honeyberries, a variety of citrus, and various herbs, among others.
Fruit and nut trees will be grown on the upper level canopy, while below will be berry shrubs, edible perennials, and annuals.
Most of what is to be planted in Seattle’s food forest will grow perennially, meaning that the plants will live for more than two years. Thus, the vegetation will, over time, become a large orchard capable of sustaining itself year after year.
