The First Urban Food Forest To Be Opened in Seattle

Washington state is currently developing plans for growing a 7-acre public food forest in the middle of Seattle

The innovative project aims providing the working-class neighborhood of Beacon Hill with the possibility of picking perennials fruits directly from the Beacon Food Forest. Apples, pears, plums, grapes, blueberries, raspberries and many more crops will be available for foragers permaculture lovers.

To make the idea of the largest urban public food forest in the U.S. come true, the project has received a $22,000 grant, as well as a 7-acre plot offered by Seattle Public Utilities. Project initiators have already invested $100,000 in seeds and a 1.75-acre test zone to be planted by the end of 2016, as phase one of the developments.

Glenn Herlihy, committee member of Beacon Food Forest project hopes that the food park will also tighten the connections between the various neighborhood residents. "There's Vietnamese, Chinese, Filipinos, and Africans in the area. The Beacon Food Forest is a place where all ages and ethnicities can meet."

If everything goes according to the original plan, at the end, permaculture garden plots in the park will be available for lease to gardeners for a symbolic fee of $10 per year.

"It's a food system being developed in a neighborhood that's looking for more self-reliance. It's getting people together by having a common denominator: soil," Herlihy concluded.