Mount Rainier, Maryland Community Food Forest
Building a sustainable community food forest in our city
Design by Torie Partridge By Gabe Popkin Photos by Food Forest Collective members I can't remember how it started, the idea of turning a small, underutilized park into a food forest full of edible plants that would be free to the public. I do know where I got the inspiration: from Lincoln Smith, a landscape... Continue Reading →
Fall migration is underway, and birds need lots of food to sustain them on their journey. If you don't have a bird feeder in your yard, the National Audubon Society suggests that you make a temporary one out of a small pumpkin. See the link below for instructions: https://www.audubon.org/news/pumpkin-bird-feeder-makes-happy-harvest-birds
You have to look closely. It's almost hidden, but there's a future monarch chomping away on the common milkweed at the Food Forest. If a monarch caterpillar has lots of different types of milkweed to choose from, common milkweed is not its favorite, but luckily, this specimen's not picky.
Not everything that's going on at the Food Forest is obvious. You have to spend some time there to see the little things. Steve McKindley Ward has noticed many of those little things--little miracles, really--and recorded them. This is probably the coolest. It's called bird's nest fungus; lots of them have come up in the... Continue Reading →
This sign appeared yesterday. How great is that?!
This beautiful wood came from two oaks (one white oak and one Northern Red Oak) on longtime Mount Rainier resident Mark Grisar's property. They fell victim, as did an alarming number of oaks in our region, to the deluge then drought of last spring and summer. These two large, old oaks had witnessed more than... Continue Reading →
Slowing the water Swales are designed to capture water when it rains. A swale slows the water so it doesn't rush off the property -- the water soaks evenly and deeply into the soil, where it can be used by trees and other plants. To create swales in our new food forest, we made raised... Continue Reading →
A group of Mount Rainier residents has begun to transform the city-managed 31st St park from a mostly vacant lot into a beautiful, biodiverse food forest that will feed the city's residents and wildlife for decades to come. Everything being planted provides food for birds, pollinators, or humans. The plantings use a permaculture practice where beds... Continue Reading →
This blog exists to document the installation and growth of the Mount Rainier, Maryland Community Food Forest, and help us as a community learn more about how we can participate and benefit from this project. The forest garden is being planned and installed through the volunteer efforts of local residents. We hope that in the... Continue Reading →
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