Seattle Builds Nation’s First Food Forest on seven-acre plot of land

A seven-acre plot of land in Seattle’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, honey berries, 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 totally innovative, and has never been done before in a public park,” says Margarett Harrison, lead landscape architect for the Beacon Food Forest project. Harrison is working on construction and permit drawings now and expects to break ground this summer.  Not only is this forest Seattle’s first large-scale permaculture project, but it’s also believed to be the first of its kind in the nation. “The concept means we consider the soils, companion plants, insects, bugs—everything will be mutually beneficial to each other,” says Harrison. So just who gets to harvest all that low-hanging fruit when the time comes? “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.”

Please read on at:
http://www.takepart.com/article/2012/02/21/its-not-fairytale-seattle-build-nations-first-food-forest