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 …
Work day and celebration — Saturday, May 1, 10 am
With the major work of designing and planting the food forest behind us, and with safe outdoor gatherings again possible, we are now pivoting from creating the food forest to using it. In 2021, we will be hosting a series of work days, workshops and plant swaps the first Saturday of each month. The first …
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Celebrating Success!
On Sunday, September 20, many of those who have volunteered to water, haul mulch, weed, dig, and plant gathered to celebrate our lovely park. Enjoy these photos, from Mimi McKindley-Ward, Barry Stahl, and Kathy Shollenberger. Our new bamboo bower, constructed by Shivali Shah: Socially distanced picnickers: Musical accompaniment: Admiring the park, enjoying the company and …
Spotlight on the Small Things
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 …
Mulch Yet Again!
Join us this Saturday, August 1, 9:00-12:00. Come for a little, come for a lot. Spread mulch, move stumps, and/or re-stake and re-net trees and shrubs that are in need of that attention. The photo below shows our original work; in some cases the plants have outgrown their enclosures, so we need to expand their …
Mulch Fest!
Park Becomes Center for Young Artists
This sign appeared yesterday. How great is that?!
Oaks Find a New Home–a photo story
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 …
Fun with swales
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 …
What’s Going on at 31st St?
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 …
