Lapar? Pergi sahaja ke taman. Hutan makanan baharu Seattle bertujuan untuk menjadi hutan belantara yang boleh dimakan. (Foto: Buena Vista Images/Getty Images)
Visi Seattle tentang sebuah oasis makanan bandar semakin maju. Sebidang tanah seluas tujuh ekar di kawasan kejiranan Beacon Hill di bandar ini akan ditanam dengan beratus-ratus jenis makanan yang boleh dimakan: pokok walnut dan chestnut; semak blueberry dan raspberi; pokok buah-buahan , termasuk epal dan pear; eksotik seperti nanas, sitrus yuzu, jambu batu, kesemak, beri madu dan lingonberi; herba; dan banyak lagi. Semuanya akan tersedia untuk dipetik orang ramai kepada sesiapa sahaja yang merayau ke hutan makanan pertama di bandar ini.
"Ini benar-benar inovatif, dan tidak pernah dilakukan sebelum ini di taman awam," Margarett Harrison, ketua arkitek landskap untuk projek Hutan Makanan Beacon, memberitahu TakePart . Harrison sedang mengusahakan lukisan pembinaan dan permit sekarang dan menjangkakan akan pecah pada musim panas ini.
Konsep hutan makanan sudah tentu mendorong sampul surat mengenai pertanian bandar dan berasaskan konsep permakultur , yang bermaksud ia akan kekal dan berdikari, seperti hutan di dalam hutan. Bukan sahaja projek permakultur berskala besar Seattle yang pertama di hutan ini, malah ia juga dipercayai yang pertama seumpamanya di negara ini.
"Konsep ini bermakna kami menganggap tanah, tumbuhan pendamping, serangga, pepijat-semuanya akan saling menguntungkan antara satu sama lain," kata Harrison.
Bahawa rancangan itu datang bersama sama sekali adalah luar biasa dengan sendirinya. Apa yang bermula sebagai projek berkumpulan untuk kursus reka bentuk permakultur berakhir sebagai contoh buku teks mengenai jangkauan komuniti yang hilang.
" Rakan Hutan Makanan melakukan usaha jangkauan heroik untuk mendapatkan sokongan kejiranan. Pasukan itu menghantar lebih 6,000 poskad dalam lima bahasa berbeza, dibentangkan di acara dan pameran, dan menyiarkan risalah," tulis Robert Mellinger untuk Crosscut .
Input kejiranan begitu dihargai oleh penganjur, malah mereka menggunakan penterjemah untuk membantu penduduk Cina bersuara dalam perancangan.
Jadi, siapakah yang boleh menuai semua buah yang tergantung apabila tiba masanya?
"Sesiapa sahaja dan semua orang," kata Harrison. "Terdapat perbincangan besar mengenainya. Orang ramai bimbang, 'Bagaimana jika seseorang datang dan mengambil semua beri biru?' Itu boleh berlaku, tetapi mungkin seseorang memerlukan beri biru itu.
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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....