August 2026
With the upcoming class on Food Forestry, we have been immersed in learning about this subject. We have been fascinated with the idea of starting one or two smaller sections of a food forest. As always, the more we learn, the more we realize there is to learn. The modern concept of food forests is not the ancient agriculture practices we believed they were. We learned from our friends at Wild Hudson Valley, Justin Wexler and Anna Plattner, that the indigenous people in our area used all methods to farm, gather, hunt, and find food in the healthy ecosystems they managed, utilized, and created. But the concept of a food forest is not linked to that at all.
Food forests are a modern idea that is an ecological approach that blends agroforestry methods with permaculture orchards and landscape design. From our experiments and personal research, we learned they are particularly successful in dry or tropical places. In those places, the canopy trees provide much needed shade to all the other layers, like the understory layer, the shrub layer, and the ground cover layer. Here in the Northeast, they are difficult to successfully implement in their full context due to our short growing season with long summer days and short winter days. They must compete fiercely for the sunlight in the short time they have to store as much energy as possible before winter dormancy comes again. This means that the limiting factor for optimal plant growth is a lack of sunlight exposure. Whereas in Costa Rica or Arizona, the sun is plentiful and the soil is too hot, so areas of shade become bastions of life and guardians of water.
We found that others in this region have modified the concept of food forests for our climate. For precise details, we can gain inspiration from the land around us. Down by the quarry pond, there are many Highbush Blueberries and Wild Sarsaparilla. Throughout the woods, there are countless Lowbush Blueberries and Black Huckleberries. In the wetter areas, we find Elderberries and Purple Flowering Raspberries. In the shadier spots in spring, we can find Ramps and Ostrich fern for fiddleheads. After the rains, the Fungi bloom in a variety of forms. From the winds, edible plants like Cattails, Blackcaps, and Milkweed have found a place in disturbed or wild areas. At our feet, there are Wild Strawberries, Purslane, and American hog peanuts. Above us, the leaves of the Oaks and Hickories form the canopy, showering us with nuts when the time is right.
The abundant Earth provides sustenance all around us, if you know where and when to look. If you are interested in more details about native edible plants you can grow in your own micro food forest, please join us at the end of the month for our Ecological Gardening Series: Creating a Food Forest & Cooking Demo. We will discuss the many edible plants that are all around us with a bonus cooking demonstration too!
-The Garden Team
Lorien McCabe Head Gardener & Volunteer Manager & Wren Waddington Assistant Head Gardener & Membership Manager
