close up of garden soil with hand planting seeds
Julie Hambleton
Julie Hambleton
December 20, 2023 ·  5 min read

School ‘food forests’ turn empty land into edible landscapes

A 13-year-old student in New Brunswick, Canada, with the help of his classmates and principal, has begun growing what is called a “Food Forest”. The goal behind this forest of food is to make fresh, healthy produce more accessible for everyone – especially for those less fortunate. This is the story of how a school project turned into a community initiative. 

The School Growing Food Forests To Feed Their Community

When Marco Onichino was in grade eight, his teacher asked as a part of a school project for him to come up with an idea that would help the environment. His original idea was to plant some trees. That’s when his principal Christoph Becker urged him to push the concept further. He introduced Marco and his classmates to the concept of what’s called a “food forest”. (1)

ort Elgin Regional School's food forest in New Brunswick, Canada
Port Elgin Regional School’s food forest in New Brunswick, Canada. Image Credit: Guy LeBlanc | CBC

What Is A Food Forest?

According to Project Food Forest, a food forest, or forest garden, is a diverse planting of edible plants. The goal is to mimic the ecosystems and patterns found in nature while also growing plants that provide food. They are designed to grow up high, across the ground, and under the ground, meaning that they have everything from root vegetables to taller fruit trees. (2)

There are typically seven layers to a forest garden. These layers include the:

  • Overstory
  • Understory
  • Shrub layer
  • Herbaceous layer
  • Root layer
  • Ground cover layer
  • Vine layer

Sometimes people will include an eighth layer, colloquially known as the mushroom layer. These are environmentally very beneficial. Food forests require less water and less maintenance due to how they are grown. For example, the ground cover layer prevents most weeds from growing. The thick planting technique also shades the soil which also discourages weed growth.

Read: This Man Is Cloning Old-Growth Redwoods and Planting Them in Safe Places

Designed To Work With Nature, Not Against It

From there, the specific plants are chosen to work well together and with the climate where they are planted. This creates healthy soil without using chemical fertilizer. The variety of plants chosen becomes a haven for beneficial bugs and pollinators while also keeping pests at bay. Food forest designers plan the gardens in such a way that creates microclimates for some of the plants in the garden and also maintains rainwater rather than allowing it to run off.

Food forests focus on shrubs, trees, perennial plants, and self-seeding annuals. This means, once established, they can be reasonably self-sustaining with only a small amount of human input. They do, however, take time to establish themselves. Growing a food forest essentially means you are establishing a mini-ecosystem, and this doesn’t just happen overnight. It will take time and patience but will be well worth the effort and wait.

Class Project Gone Wild

That’s how Marco describes what he, his principal, and his classmates did in their community. Principal Becker’s inspiration came during the COVID-19 pandemic when all of the schools were closed. There were 38 students at his school who received a hot lunch every day. Becker began delivering food to the families of those students each morning to make sure that those students had the food they needed.

It was during these drop-offs that he really began to notice the food deserts that existed in his school’s community. A food desert is a place where there are no easily accessible grocery stores, especially if you don’t have a car. In these places, many people are forced to do their shopping at convenience stores that have higher prices and fewer options for fresh, healthy food. These areas also weren’t close to any food banks, making this option also difficult.

He was thinking about what more he could do to support these members of his community when Breanna Macleod of EOS Eco Energy called him about planting a food forest.

Read: Couple Built Greenhouse Around Home To Grow Food And Keep Warm

Empty Space Put To Good Use

The school had some empty green space around it that wasn’t being used for anything, nor was anyone really maintaining it. This made it a great candidate for a food forest. Macleod, an intern for EOS, had funding to install three gardens in the region, however, the Port Elgin School project was the biggest one yet.

“This fit seamlessly into the plan for my school, along with a greenhouse and a kitchen that’s being (built),” said Principal Becker.

Macleod, Beaker, the students, and the community are excited about the prospect of having accessible healthy food for everyone.

“I kind of noticed then that food security was really something that was on a lot of people’s minds, and there’s just so much potential,” said Macleod. “There’s so much different space and different community groups who I think could really benefit from food from projects like these.”

Getting Their Hands Dirty

Becker cleared the land, and from that point onward it was Marco and his classmates who did the rest of the planting and other work. Estelle Drisdelle from Understory Farm and Design came in to help with the planning of the garden. As mentioned already, Food Forests require specific, knowledgeable designs in order to achieve what they are meant to. Drisdelle says that she gets many calls now asking for help turning yards into gardens that are both beautiful and functional.

“A lot of people want to know how they can have a beautiful yard that also works with nature and works with ecology,” she explained. “They don’t just want a highly maintained mowed landscape, they want something that’s a little more diverse and gives a little more back to the natural ecosystem.” 

Though Marco and his classmates have now graduated and are in secondary school, the project will be passed along to the following eighth-graders to continue its legacy.

Keep Reading: Atlanta Turns 7-Acre Vacant Lot into Largest Free Food Forest In the Country

Sources

  1. School ‘food forests’ turn empty land into edible landscapes.” CBC. Tori Weldon. July 26, 2021.
  2. WHAT IS A FOOD FOREST?Project Food Forest.