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

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.

That's the problem. City peeps have nó idea whatsoever about edibles hanging around. We got blueberries, hazelnuts, raspberries etc. etc. Next to the highway. Fruit even grows on ordinary municipal patches, yet, nobody, except for a few "in the know" picks the apples, morelles (small, wild cherry) and cooking pears. Most people are stunned if one tells them that those little, hard pears are what makes that scrumptious cooking-pears with cinnamon.

I am not complaining though.

reply to post by littled16


lol

yeah i think there are many places where they could set these edible forests up... it would be nice if peeps could acknowledge that this is a logical idea... considering that we get so much food imported from over seas... if more people grow locally, and grow their own veg and more places accept and build on this edible forest idea, then we are definitely on to something...!

reply to post by chericher


glad it made you happy..!

when i see things like this in the news it always gives me renewed hope, that yes, humanity is changing its ways and fingers crossed for the better

reply to post by CX


hi CX

hm sorry bout that... i did do 2 ATS searches using different wording, but it came up with no results....

well apologies all for another repeat thread...

still the best idea ive seen in a long time. and yes CX i agree with the fact that if the local government/authorities get involved then it could all go very pear shaped. lets hope that this changes something. and maybe they can let peeps start growing veg in their own gardens again....

but hopefully they will stay away from this and if it becomes a success then hopefully we will see this mirrored world wide..

Surprised the city lawyers are letting them do this ? Is the city liable if anyone gets sick from the food ?

I like the idea , but can it be done in today's day and age ?

reply to post by Cootie

“Friends of the Food Forest undertook heroic outreach efforts to secure neighborhood support. The team mailed over 6,000 postcards in five different languages, tabled at events and fairs, and posted fliers,” writes Robert Mellinger for Crosscut.

Neighborhood input was so valued by the organizers, they even used translators to help Chinese residents have a voice in the planning.

i think this is important... if they truly have done whats reported then it will help a great deal... if the local residents can be shown that we can all work and live together in harmony this will work... peeps are just gonna have to start trusting their fellow man...

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.

yep i know that one. me and a friend pick fruit to make jam and wine... we get very odd looks from people especially when we pick elderflowers or elderberries... no idea why...

some peeps just dont understand. so they need to be shown that its not dangerous or dirty to pick wild fruits/veg/plants but that will involve a lot of effort.....

Originally posted by Char-Lee
I am very surprised since they have little sun there. Blackberries need heat and sun to ripen, most people hate .

Seriously? Seattle has an average of 164 days of sun in a year. It gets LESS rainfall than New York City or Dallas, Texas. During the summer it is light from 4:00 am until 10:00 pm because of its northerly latitude. It has a very temperate (marine) climate that rarely exceeds 80 degrees farenheit nor dips blow 32 degrees farenheit. You will neither freeze nor bake in Seattle, although you might rust.

"Dressing up" in Seattle means wearing a pair of clean Levi's jeans and your "nice" pair of Nikes. It is ultra liberal and had a series of terrible mayors, but you can't have everything.

Come to think of it , if the city lawyers are smart than there is probably already a law on the books to cover there buts if people get sick from eating something growing on public property , carry on .

Originally posted by igor_ats
Homeless central.

Second line.

I am sure that homeless people are also hungry so, yeah.
Very astute observation.

Last time I checked homless people are people.......without homes.
And I believe, if I'm not mistaken, they still require food in order to live.
So, this seems like a great thing.

No?

Originally posted by Screwed

Originally posted by igor_ats
Homeless central.

Second line.

I am sure that homeless people are also hungry so, yeah.
Very astute observation.

Last time I checked homless people are people.......without homes.
And I believe, if I'm not mistaken, they still require food in order to live.
So, this seems like a great thing.

No?

I'm certain he means the negative connotations around being "homeless", but that would certainly change with time as they progress with initiatives such as this.

Homeless wouldn't need to spend money as much on food I suppose and that would allow them extra income towards making a life, if they truly care about it enough. A lot of them don't have that choice.

Originally posted by schuyler

Originally posted by Char-Lee
I am very surprised since they have little sun there. Blackberries need heat and sun to ripen, most people hate .

Seriously? Seattle has an average of 164 days of sun in a year. It gets LESS rainfall than New York City or Dallas, Texas. During the summer it is light from 4:00 am until 10:00 pm because of its northerly latitude. It has a very temperate (marine) climate that rarely exceeds 80 degrees farenheit nor dips blow 32 degrees farenheit. You will neither freeze nor bake in Seattle, although you might rust.

"Dressing up" in Seattle means wearing a pair of clean Levi's jeans and your "nice" pair of Nikes. It is ultra liberal and had a series of terrible mayors, but you can't have everything.

Seriously? well cool! I just always hear people talk about no sun, must have meant some other part of the state.

The problem here on the OR coast is mold on the plants from the damp...

It sounds to me that the people doing this are covering their bases before they get to them. They have an excellent idea and are implementing it with foresight and logic. They got everyone involved from residents to city hall and everyone is on the same page. These aren't shiftless hippies with pie-in the-sky-ideals that have no basis in reality. These are liberal and intelligent people with practical ideas and the business savvy to see them through. Sounds like my kind of town actually.

I'd like to see it succeed and go from 7 acres to 70 to 700. Sounds also like Seattle has more good people who want this to succeed than other people who don't.

Besides which, who can argue, really, with the concept of free food? There is no argument.

www.seattle.gov...

So what happens when the homeless man who just needs something to eat that is not out of a dumpster proceeds to throw up the fifth of cheap gin hes just guzzled onto the raspberry patch? What about the lazy-asses who would have no compunctions about taking a leak behind the rhubarb patch? It is great in theory, but humans will ruin it , guaranteed.

Wow I live in the South Sound and had never heard of this!

I've been saying it for years though; those lame ass sparsely treed medians and useless lawns already hooked up with irrigation could be doing so much more!

And to the naysayers I would like to point out the success of a similar 'freebie' that goes down in our state's capitol of Olympia where they have an artesian well which runs 24/7 near downtown. The well is just a pipe in the ground spewing this thick healthy stream of delicious untreated water, and it's frequented by the dirty street kids and business people alike filling up water bottles, 5 gallon jugs, etc. No problems.

Also, imagine if this transformed even a couple bums into productive, gardening, respected members of the community. Crazy success stories come out of nowhere when the circumstances prevail and people find what they were looking for.

Now for my highdea/speculative thought process of the night:
What if these food jungles, boimes, greenhouses, crazy well tended plant growth were so common and so spread out across the globe that we were actually looking at climate change from the angle of,
"Hey I think we have too much oxygen and food, these insects are getting huge, we're getting sick of dealing with and eating these abundant grazing animals, and our atmosphere is changing!"
I imagine it could happen. Our Earth probably has been, and could, or will be different in such a way. Hah kinda illustrates how training camp Earth is never without its moments of strife though... even in such an ideal scenario...

Originally posted by ezekielken
It is great in theory, but humans will ruin it , guaranteed.

My college has already put this theory into practice, and it's working great. Not only does it provide food for the public, but it offers the opportunity for people to learn and practice gardening skills.

Just because something is open to the public doesn't mean it's a free-for-all. There will have to be people maintaining the food forest consistently just like any garden, so there will be plenty of traffic. It's common sense to fence it in and have hours of operation to deter vandalism (that's how the food forest at my college works). Anyone who causes problems will probably be dealt with just like any other public space. Gotta love pessimism

Here is the website for the food forest at my college
fgcufoodforest.weebly.com...

This is the coolest thing I've heard in a while. If this caught on and places like this sprouted up all over it would end world....nah they would never let it happen too much money to lose if we all started getting free food, I can see the red tape a mile long.

reply to post by Cootie


Blackberries are plentiful all over Washington state, except in the middle where it is more desert. I make blackberry jam, leathers, dried, and blackberry brandy. Love this state.

Originally posted by igor_ats
Homeless central.

Second line.

At Least they would have something to put in their gut!
Starving SUCKS! And before people go all high and mighty against the homeless...
Let them get off their ivory tower and walk a mile in that homeless persons shoes...

you think they wanna live on the street?!
You dont know what circumstances lead them to be where they are now!


I say God Bless Seattle for this...
unless they run off the unfortunate... and shun the homeless
Then screw Seattle

this is all agenda 21 . sustainable communities. and social equity. a brave new world.

In the absence of a multi-sectoral consensus on how to achieve sustainable development in the United States, the PCSD (presidents council on sustainable development) was conceived to formulate recommendations for the implementation of Agenda 21

from this u.n. link

It'll never work people like to destroy stuff because somebody else might get it

No, there are not republicans in Seattle, so that won't happen