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

.... how awesome would that be...!?

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 the best part - when they asked who could harvest the fruits when the time comes - this was the reply;

“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.”

www.takepart.com...

i cant believe that this is actually happening..! considering what has been going on in other states - that poor woman who had her garden destroyed by authorities in Tulsa, and its even crossed the border into canada...a couple whose garden is next in the firing line...

tulsa;
www.abovetopsecret.com...

canada;
www.abovetopsecret.com...

this is definitely a step in the right direction... i really hope they can pull this off. i shall be watching closely. i also hope that they will not use pesticides and the like... and all people will treat this forest with respect



it would be great if this seed was spread in cities worldwide too...

peace fluff x)

reply to post by fluff007


If something like this can work Seattle is probably one of the best places to try it at. I visited Seattle last summer and fell in love with the place! There is so much to do there, and the people were just awesome!

For being such a large city Seattle has a very laid back atmosphere that I completely enjoyed. I think an edible forest plot could work very nicely there!

That would be so awesome!
Thanks for this post, OP, it made my imagination happy. Food forests are superlative daydream material.

Gotta wonder why we humans don't make this type of thing our priority. If everyone could get over their fears of others coming to take it, what a wonderful world this could be. These people get my highest good example accolades. Yay!

Homeless central.

Second line.

What a shining example of all that's good....right on Seattle... I've shared here on ATS before, that as kids we had many fruit trees in our neighborhood, and always had some sort of yummy type of fruit we could pick and snack on when we were outside playing...everyone shared....it was great......

Bareroot season is just around the corner, and is great time to buy and plant deciduous fruit trees and berries....very affordable before they pot them up. Can you imagine if everyone just planted one thing in thier front yards to share with thier neighborhood...an establised fruit tree yields alot of fruit...plenty for several families, lol, and less mess to clean up if the fruit is picked and used....a win, win for all....

Great thread, Love it.......

I this the same one that was posted about one or two years ago on ATS?

Whilst the idea is great,. i give it six months before there are laws put in place on how it is run.

If people in the US are getting thier small fruit and veg gardens taken down by authorities, i'm damn sure this won't be without restrictions.

CX.

Thought so.....slightly more recent but here it is...posted back in April...

www.abovetopsecret.com...

And March...

www.abovetopsecret.com...

CX.

Much better use of City funds than financing another needle drop off or injection clinic.

They tried that here and there was nothing to harvest because anything that got close to ripe was picked and the plants were destroyed. It'll never work people like to destroy stuff because somebody elser might get it. orchards and berry patches have big fences because of scum

I guess nobody in Seattle likes Blackberries. I went to see my brother who lives up there and was amazed by all the blackberries growing wild everywhere. I did not see one person picking them except myself and my mother. We took as much as we could get into her RV freezer to make jelly when she got home. We got a few looks like we were nuts for picking berries off the side of the roads but hey, back home in the grocery stores they can be pricey. What a waste.

Well, great idea but it needs to be everyoens front and back yard too, whole apartment buildings, (which are always designed poorly. If I was planning things, they would be roomy and well soundproofed for the kids and their little tempers that occasionally fire off, with tons of green space). But then decent and bountiful housing would be considered a right of all people.

Instead, most cities actively prevent you from gardening in your front yard.

So alot more food growing, in general, everywhere, and green space, plants purifying toxins in water systems, all over people counting, not never ending maxmimizing of profit, everywhere, is the way to go.

Originally posted by igor_ats
Homeless central.

Second line.

Nobody who is still on Earth could ever be homeless, you mean "houseless." And there are all kinds of wild edibles growing in our cities all summer, I've tried to educate these so called "homeless" on this topic but they seem more interested in begging change for Steel Reserves.

reply to post by fluff007


This is so awesome. I love it. I wish many more would start doing this. Maybe we can beat Monsanto and return the earths food back to it's more natural state.

I can always dream.

This makes me miss Seattle!

Funny and true story I was just talking about this last night about how Urban and Suburban planning SUCKS who needs a lawn that nobody sits on?

Sure a small lawn area is nice, but how much do you utilize of your own yard? Why not plant trees not just ornamental purpose but functional and edible! Use the water from roofs to water these areas and just went on from there LOL

But I am so happy to see this!

Originally posted by Unity_99
Well, great idea but it needs to be everyoens front and back yard too, whole apartment buildings, (which are always designed poorly. If I was planning things, they would be roomy and well soundproofed for the kids and their little tempers that occasionally fire off, with tons of green space). But then decent and bountiful housing would be considered a right of all people.

Instead, most cities actively prevent you from gardening in your front yard.

So alot more food growing, in general, everywhere, and green space, plants purifying toxins in water systems, all over people counting, not never ending maxmimizing of profit, everywhere, is the way to go.

Yes, I couldn't agree more.....Community gardens are a wonderful idea....and I hope this garden succeeds for many years to come, Seattle is a pretty "hip" place...and I hope a few "bad apples" don't spoil it for them all.

But your right, we need to expand this thinking to include private homes, apts., parks, schools, and other tight urban areas......the tread seems to be more toward planting ornamental trees in these areas rather then fruit trees, yes, fruit trees can be messy, but they are also usually on the smaller side of trees, which is nice in tight spaces, and if the trees bounty is shared and used, everyone wins, unless your canning , or making lot's of pies, just one tree is usually more fruit than an average family could use alone.

Every school should have a garden, and some very fond memories of helping at my daughters school when she was little with the school gardens, the kids LOVED it...and nothing more cool then the "harvest party".....watching thier sweet little faces munching on veggies they helped to grow.....

No one should be allowed to control nature. It is there for the benefit of all. This is a major step in the right direction. Everyone should grow a garden. Everybody plant a tree! We will all breath better for it.

Originally posted by Cootie
I guess nobody in Seattle likes Blackberries. I went to see my brother who lives up there and was amazed by all the blackberries growing wild everywhere. I did not see one person picking them except myself and my mother. We took as much as we could get into her RV freezer to make jelly when she got home. We got a few looks like we were nuts for picking berries off the side of the roads but hey, back home in the grocery stores they can be pricey. What a waste.

I am very surprised since they have little sun there. Blackberries need heat and sun to ripen, most people hate picking them because of the thorns.

I would think any crop that was available to everyone would end up being picked and sold in markets by people who don't need the money and not free.

Unfortunate but even flower gardens get destroyed by vandals, seems they can't stand to see anything unruined.

Seattle gets plenty of sun, especially for tree and shrub foods. They also get plenty of rain. I think this is awesomness. I hope Cali and Oregon follow suit quickly, and that they are mega successful and the project is positive and influential.

They can't get their crap together for an arena to bring the sonics back, but this is a priority?

Awful.......I can see the revenue stream from this food forest now. Oh, wait.

reply to post by Theybhere


They're choosing to provide free food to the needy over a sports team? How dare they!