Tag Archives: food forest

Tour and imagine the Beacon Food Forest this weekend

This is the site that will become the Beacon Food Forest. Construction will start later this year. Photo courtesy of Friends of the Beacon Food Forest.

The Beacon Food Forest team invite the community to visit the Food Forest site during the Beacon Hill Festival this Saturday, June 2, to imagine what will soon be.

Christina Olson tells us: “The Food Foresters will have their site ‘planted’ with over 40 varieties of fruit and nut trees, berry bushes, compost bins, beehives, and everything else needed to realize a great community gathering spot and food resource.”

There will be signs in the ground to show what will eventually be planted or built in each location. Olson says, “You stroll along the path, you see a sign that says ‘#1: Apple’ then you look at the handout and see that #1 is the Chehalis Apple, which is large, yellow and sweet; it ripens in September. You stroll further and see #40 and read that that is the location of the beehives. And on and on. There are over 45 trees, berry bushes, or built elements that will be located.”

Grading of the site will begin in July, after which it will be a construction zone for a while as waterlines, retaining walls, paths, and other features are constructed. This weekend is the best opportunity to visit the site and visualize the future Forest before the mess begins.

The Beacon Food Forest is located immediately west and downhill of Jefferson Park, on the big grassy slope along 15th Avenue South between Dakota and Spokane Street. Follow the signs along the Park footpath to the tour starting point.

Beacon Food Forest finds fame

Photo by Gavin St. Ours via Creative Commons/Flickr.

You have probably heard of the Beacon Food Forest, the new urban farming project being created west of Jefferson Park. Suddenly, however, much of the rest of the country is hearing about it as well. The Food Forest has picked up a ton of press in the last few weeks.

“It’s a great day if you like the organic food!” Craig Ferguson of CBS’s Late Late Show spent part of his monologue on Monday night’s show riffing about the Food Forest and organic food.

The Food Forest was also featured on KUOW’s Weekday show with Steve Scher on Monday.

Here are some of the other mentions this local project has received:

And the stories that seem to have started the frenzy:

It’s not yet as well-known as the Space Needle, but it seems the Food Forest is on its way to becoming a famous Seattle landmark.

Beacon Bits: Food Forest, food for kids, food for thought

Someone spinning on his head at Jefferson Park in the late afternoon sun. Photo by Robinette Struckel in the Beacon Hill Blog photo pool on Flickr.

We’ve been holding on to some of these Bits for a while, so no time like the present… here goes!

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The Beacon Food Forest was featured recently in Crosscut, where Robert Mellinger writes:

“There is no other project of Beacon Food Forest’s scale and design on public land in the United States — a forest of food, for the people, by the people.”

The article gives a thorough background on the bureaucratic issues that the Food Forest organizers have had to deal with so far, as well as an overview of future plans.

The Food Forest was also featured in Take Part this week.

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Travelers Thali House was recently touted in the Seattle Weekly‘s Voracious blog as “colorful food kids will eat.”

Travelers was also mentioned in the March issue of Sunset, on page 17. The blurb mentions that Travelers serves Indian street food and gives a couple of examples.

Back to Voracious, where Travelers was featured yet again this week in a “Sexy Feast” review by Jay Friedman:

“My thali looked like an edible artist’s palette. Instead of a paintbrush, I’d dip my fork into the various metal bowls, sampling each carefully and seeing how it blended with the next…

“Exploring and enjoying different tastes and textures, with varied sequences of bites, nibbles, scoops, and swirls, made this a delicious experience.”

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7×7 listed Beacon Hill as “one of the 7 best neighborhoods in Seattle” — specifically, “best for families.” Writer Alida Moore cited our parks, playgrounds, library, diversity, and light rail as reasons the Hill is great for kids, along with one highly-rated school: Mercer.

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Have you noticed that MacPherson’s doesn’t sell sprouts anymore?

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Neighbor Lesley Ernst writes:

“You know the neighborhood is changing when…

“Arriving at my massage office on Hanford St. and Beacon Ave. early last Sunday morning to find that the ubiquitous litter in the parking strip has changed from 40-ouncers to Kombucha bottles and PCC to-go containers.”

Beacon Food Forest moving forward in 2012

This is the site that will become the Beacon Food Forest. Construction will start later this year. Photo courtesy of Friends of the Beacon Food Forest.
(This has been edited since original publication to correct the contact address. –Ed.)

Glenn Herlihy from the Beacon Food Forest sent us the group’s latest newsletter. Read on for information about the beginning of Food Forest construction, project grants, how to get involved, next Monday’s Steering Committee meeting, and a movie night on March 2 (Vanishing of the Bees).

We begin building the food forest this year!

2012 will be a big year for the Beacon Food Forest (BFF). In Dec. 2011 we received word from the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods/ P-Patch Program the BFF will be receiving $100,000 to further develop the design and begin building. This is levy money administered by The Seattle P-Patch Program to fund and upstart new public gardens for communities without access to community gardens. Thank you very much P-Patch/Department of Neighborhoods and Voters for this grand opportunity to transform our sustainable community vision into reality!

For more info about P-Patches and the BFF, http://www.seattle.gov/neighborhoods/ppatch/locations/BeaconFoodForest.htm

The Levy money will jump start phase one of our garden. Having completed the schematic design, we will use some of the levy money to complete more detailed construction designs. These will enable us to assess the amount of grading and earth works needed at the site. We will also be hooking into city water and running water lines for irrigation throughout the 1.75 acres. We have a deadline to use these funds by Dec 31, 2012.
There is a bit of work to be done first, but it will be this summer and fall that our community will lay out beds/paths and begin planting a food forest! We know from our mail there are a lot of you out there wanting to dig in and grow, your time has come. Please stay tuned for more updates and events or contact us anytime at http://beaconfoodforest.weebly.com/contact-join.html.

Continue reading Beacon Food Forest moving forward in 2012

Potluck, music night cancelled; celebrate Food Forest instead

ROCKiT space has cancelled two events, the community potluck and all-ages music jam, that were scheduled for tonight as part of the “Family Orbit” series of events. They suggest that neighbors head down the street instead to the Jefferson Food Forest final design celebration at 6:30 p.m. at Jefferson Community Center (3801 Beacon Ave. S.). The celebration will include free food, a viewing of the final schematic design, and a tour of the Food Forest site by flashlight.

One Family Orbit event, Hi-Chair Happy Hour, is still happening today. From 3:30-6 p.m., it’s a BYOB-B (Bring Your Own Baby/Bigger Child and Beverage) social for parents and their little ones at the Garden House, 2336 15th Ave. S. It’s $5, or free for ROCKiT members and kids under 12.

Neighbors invited to celebrate Beacon Food Forest final design

Beacon Food Forest organizers are hosting a final design celebration next Tuesday, September 20, from 6:30-8:30 pm at the Jefferson Community Center (3801 Beacon Ave. S.). Those who attend can see the final schematic design, enjoy free food, tour the garden site by flashlight, and celebrate the end of this phase of the project.

Nearly 100 community members and other local advocates of urban agriculture worked together with the Harrison Design Team on a design for up to 7 acres of land located directly west of Jefferson Park. The Food Forest will include a variety of crops, a community gathering space, and a children’s area.

The Food Forest organizers have a Facebook page with further information about the project.

Food Forest design party #2 on Wednesday

This is the site that will become the Beacon Food Forest. Photo courtesy of Friends of the Beacon Food Forest.
The Friends of the Beacon Food Forest invite all interested neighbors to the second of three community design parties for the Beacon Food Forest. The event is this Wednesday, July 13, 6:30 – 8:30 p.m., at El Centro de la Raza. Guests will be able to view and comment on three design options for the Food Forest, presented by the Harrison Design Group. Food and drinks will be provided.

The Food Forest project will be located in a seven acre site along the west side of Jefferson Park, and will include edible perennial plants. Jacqueline Cramer of the Friends of the Beacon Food Forest describes the Forest this way: “Imagine a forest. Now substitute all these plants with fruit and nut trees, berry shrubs, fruiting vines, herbs, edible flowers, and vegetables. Now you’re thinking food forest.”

El Centro de la Raza is located at 2524 16th Ave. S. The design party will be held in the dining hall, on the lower level at the north end of the building.

Neighbors invited to Food Forest design party 6/7

The first Beacon Food Forest community design party is this coming Tuesday, June 7, at 6:30 p.m. at the Garden House, 2336 15th Ave. S.

Neighbors are invited to participate in the design process for the Beacon Food Forest (previously known as the Jefferson Park Food Forest). This is the first of three design parties hosted by the Harrison Design Team. Dinner will be provided.

The Beacon Food Forest is a planned “edible urban forest garden” on a 7-acre grassy field on the western slope of Jefferson Park. The Food Forest project received a $22,000 grant in December 2010 to create a schematic design. Tuesday’s design party is part of this design process. Future design parties are planned for July 13 and sometime in September.

Establishing a Food Forest tomorrow at Garden House

(Article has been updated with correct date—we made a mistake!)

Tomorrow, May 4 at 6:30 p.m., the Friends of the Beacon Food Forest are hosting a free screening of Geoff Lawton’s film Establishing a Food Forest.

In the film, Lawton explains the fundamentals of food forestry and then goes outdoors to show examples of active food forests at various stages in their existence. You can read a review here.

The screening is at the Washington Federation of Garden Clubs Headquarters House (the Garden House for short), at 2336 15th Ave. S. Food and drink will be provided.

Here is a trailer for the film:

Jefferson Park Food Forest project progressing

Glenn Herlihy sent a report from the Jefferson Park Food Forest project:

Hello all,

Photo courtesy of Glenn Herlihy.
In late 2010 we received a grant from the Department of Neighborhoods to select a Design Team to create a schematic design for a Food Forest in Jefferson Park. The Friends of Jefferson Park Food Forest formed a Selection Committee with eight members for the purpose of interviewing and hiring as much talent as possible. After publicly posting our Request for Qualification (RFQ) we received seven highly qualified Statements of Qualification (SOQ) from design teams in the western Washington area. From there we narrowed it down to four design teams to interview.

This week the selection committee is pleased to announce a final decision to hire Harrison Design Team to facilitate and create a schematic design for the Jefferson Park Food Forest.

We chose this design team for not only their past work experience but their outstanding ability to engage, educate and facilitate the public in a design process. They are fun people with multiple talents for landscape design, permaculture food systems, ethnobotany and the facilitation process.

Briefly the team consists of:

  • Margarett Harrison is Principal of Harrison Design. She has over 25 years of experience in planning, designing, and managing landscape projects in both public and private sectors. She has worked for several local design firms including Mithun.
  • Jenny Pell is Owner of Permaculture Now. Her experience covers all aspects of permaculture consulting, design, site assessment, managing installations, and budgets. Fluent in Spanish, she has worked and taught around the globe.
  • Dave Boehnlein is a Principal at Terra Phoenix Design and is the eduction director at Bullock’s Permaculture Homestead on Orcas Island. Among several of his memberships is the Northwest Ecobuilding Guild and the Northern Nut Growers Association. He lives in Columbia City.
  • Kris Pendleton is the Owner and Principal of Sound Urban Edibles, based in Seattle. He has traveled the world studying temperate agriculture landscapes.

Now we need you more than ever.

In late March, date yet to be announced, we will be holding the first of several design parties. They will be festive and educational workshops for the whole family. We plan on offering an ethnically diverse spread of food because food and nutrition is what we are all about. This project offers you the seeds to positive action, the seeds for a future with affordable nutrition for our community. Please join us; everyone is welcome.

Long live your Mother,

Glenn Herlihy
Friends of the Jefferson Park Food Forest