Local kids discovering ripe raspberries at the AEOA Community Food Forest
Having a Community Food Forest in your town is rare across the U.S., but we have TWO in Virginia! The AEOA Community Food Forest is located on 12th Avenue West between Pine Mill Court and the Iron Trail Motors Event Center. The Olcott Park Food Forest is located behind the greenhouse in the park. Both are open to the public for picking and harvesting.
What is a Community Food Forest (CFF)? It’s a perennial garden made up of fruit and nut trees, herbs, grapes and vining fruits and berry shrubs. And it is open to the public. Both of Virginia’s CFF’s are on city land. Both were planted by nonprofit agencies using grant funds. And both are very young—the AEOA CFF was planted in the spring of 2019 by the Rutabaga Project and neighborhood volunteers. The Olcott Park CFF was inspired by this and planted in the fall of 2020 by 4-H and the North St. Louis County Soil and Water Conservation District. Both have added plantings since then with grant funding.
The new entrance kiosk at the AEOA Food Forest awaits planting and signage coming soon!
At the AEOA CFF this year, there were gooseberries, honeyberries, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, rhubarb, asparagus, plums, apples, pears, aronia berries, chokecherries, grapes, cherries, and dill along with many other herbs. The nut trees will take a few years to mature but will eventually yield hazelnuts and pine nuts. The Olcott Park CFF yielded strawberries, raspberries, currants, gooseberries, blueberries, and thimbleberries. And the AEOA CFF just got a new entrance kiosk thanks to AEOA supplies, Daria Kallal (volunteer designer) and Ellen Taube (volunteer builder). St. Louis County 4-H hosted a pizza garden day camp at this CFF. Children harvested strawberries and took home a pizza garden in a bucket. This food forest includes a large pollinator area, and children got to see Monarch caterpillars and learn about their survival. The Soil and Water Conservation District also hosted a pruning workshop at the Olcott Park CFF.
Kids enjoying the Olcott Park Community Food Forest during the 4-H camp this year
Research on CFFs is not too plentiful, but a 2021 master’s Thesis from the University of Montana identified twenty-eight peer-reviewed studies on CFFs. The studies revealed that most CFFs prioritized not only food production but also community building. They provided hands-on learning environments and social gathering places, giving community residents a sense of “place” and “belonging.” Many provided environmental education as well. The thesis identified eighty-four CFFS in the U.S., most established since 2008. A 2020 study from the Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development (https:foodsystemsjournal.org) surveyed CFFs around the world. They identified over two hundred worldwide. (If that figure is correct, it would mean that our little Virginia, Minnesota has one percent of the world’s food forests!) They found that over half are in rural areas like ours, and half are less than an acre in size, like ours. The majority of the world’s CFFs focus on providing education and community building. Some sell their produce, and others offer it free as we do. So, we in Virginia are part of a global movement.
Harvesting from the Olcott Park CFF at 4-H camp—-yum!
That movement is known by various names: Place-Based Food Systems, Local Food, and Slow Food and includes farmers markets, community gardens, farm-to-school programs, CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture), and urban agriculture efforts as well as CFFs. All these efforts are aimed at bringing food production to the local level, helping folks to connect with local food, and supporting local growers. Ironically, these systems are historically how we all got our food, but they disappeared with industrial agriculture and global supply chains. They are being reintroduced because they save enormous amounts of energy and transportation costs, and they avoid global and national supply chain interruptions. Food from local sources is much fresher, but, in our growing zone, it is seasonal, and most consumers aren’t accustomed to eating only what’s in season.
Here we can learn from local indigenous communities whose food traditions focus on seasonal eating and preserving food for year-round use. Freezing, drying, canning, fermenting, smoking, salting, root cellaring and underground storage techniques yield a year-round food supply. Folks are beginning to learn these skills more and more. But most of us rely on a global food system that gives us anything we want anytime we want it. Easy-peasy, but not sustainable. The local food movement harks back to what is possible if we truly want to eat local. CFFs are one small part of a larger movement to connect us with the place we live and the community with whom we share it.