Lapar? Langsung saja ke taman. Hutan pangan baru Seattle ini bertujuan menjadi hutan belantara yang bisa dimakan. (Foto: Buena Vista Images/Getty Images)
Visi Seattle untuk menciptakan oasis kuliner urban terus berlanjut. Lahan seluas tujuh hektar di kawasan Beacon Hill akan ditanami ratusan jenis tanaman pangan: pohon kenari dan kastanye; semak blueberry dan raspberry; pohon buah-buahan , termasuk apel dan pir; tanaman eksotis seperti nanas, jeruk yuzu, jambu biji, kesemek, honeyberry, dan lingonberry; herba; dan masih banyak lagi. Semua tanaman ini akan tersedia untuk dipetik publik bagi siapa pun yang memasuki hutan pangan pertama di kota ini.
"Ini benar-benar inovatif, dan belum pernah dilakukan sebelumnya di taman umum," ujar Margarett Harrison, kepala arsitek lanskap untuk proyek Hutan Pangan Beacon, kepada TakePart . Harrison saat ini sedang mengerjakan gambar konstruksi dan perizinan, dan diperkirakan akan mulai membangun pada musim panas ini.
Konsep hutan pangan jelas mendorong batasan dalam pertanian perkotaan dan didasarkan pada konsep permakultur , yang berarti hutan ini akan abadi dan mandiri, layaknya hutan di alam liar. Hutan ini bukan hanya proyek permakultur skala besar pertama di Seattle, tetapi juga diyakini sebagai yang pertama di negara ini.
“Konsepnya berarti kita mempertimbangkan tanah, tanaman pendamping, serangga, kutu—semuanya akan saling menguntungkan,” kata Harrison.
Bahwa rencana ini berhasil saja sudah luar biasa. Apa yang dimulai sebagai proyek kelompok untuk mata kuliah desain permakultur berakhir sebagai contoh nyata penjangkauan masyarakat yang berhasil.
" Sahabat Hutan Pangan melakukan upaya penjangkauan yang heroik untuk mendapatkan dukungan dari warga sekitar. Tim mengirimkan lebih dari 6.000 kartu pos dalam lima bahasa berbeda, meletakkannya di berbagai acara dan pameran, serta memasang selebaran," tulis Robert Mellinger untuk Crosscut .
Masukan warga sekitar sangat dihargai oleh penyelenggara, mereka bahkan menggunakan penerjemah untuk membantu warga Tionghoa turut menyuarakan pendapat mereka dalam perencanaan.
Jadi siapakah yang akan memanen semua buah yang mudah dipetik itu saat saatnya tiba?
"Siapa pun dan semua orang," kata Harrison. "Ada diskusi besar tentang hal itu. Orang-orang khawatir, 'Bagaimana kalau ada yang datang dan mengambil semua blueberry?' Itu bisa saja terjadi, tetapi mungkin ada yang membutuhkan blueberry itu. Kami melihatnya seperti ini—jika kami tidak punya blueberry di akhir musim blueberry, berarti kami berhasil."
COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS
SHARE YOUR REFLECTION
8 PAST RESPONSES
How many acres? How many people?
If one or a few people pick all of the blueberries one season, or someone else sells some apples they picked, why not plant more acres and more acres and more acres?
Until people bought and barricaded all the land every forest was a food forest...and if you know a forest you can get into, it is still a food forest. Pine, cedar, willow, nuts, and all sorts of forest plants are deliciously edible and sustained humankind for thousands of years. Seattle has a nice urban idea but certainly NOT America's first food forest. Creator gave us that! We have in New England all kinds of orchards with berries, pears, apples, peaches, nuts, honey bees, etc, (not many exotics); a kind of fruit forest - though not usually free. Perhaps it should be called America's first Free Fruit Forest.
This is a fascinating trend. I applaud the visionaries behind this movement. Harold, Lead Pastor @ Life Center, Pasadena, CA
I suspect that is a real possibility Rosemary, but by far better to build this and know that the right people will enjoy. I would love to see this manifest everywhere, no one would need to then try to sell because FREE is available. What a wonderful world this will be!
I read somewhere... can't remember which state... doesn't allow the planting of fruit trees on public property ( schools etc ) because (they say ) it will bring pests. I don't like it when people act stupid.... fruit trees feed people. Rock on permiculture!
This is fascinating and I applaud the people of Seattle, who are once again leading the way :) I do, however, have a question, and this comes from the potential conflicts between 'scarcity' and 'abundance' models. How have they tackled the question of what to do if someone, for example, thinks they can take advantage of this 'abundance' by picking lots of apples and then selling them at a market? I am working with a colleague on an issue of a journal that will focus on 'open source thinking' and this question - is there a dark side to the concept - is one we have been reflecting on, along with thinking about its advantages. In other words, how does one sustain 'orderly' use of the fruit forest without imposing 'control'? Is there an equivalent to the creative commons approach that could apply to such abundance-oriented models and activities?
I think the world was like this.........but we have made it as it is now....it is great that we are trying to swing it back to it glories past...well done good job....all nations, institutions etc can replicate this to their own capacity....