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A fledgling Food Forest takes root

First fall fair happens Saturday
20160930 FoodForest ro
Guelph's first Food Forest is taking root on University Village Park. Rob O'Flanagan/GuelphToday.

Over a hundred pairs of hands helped plant it, but the food will be for everyone.

Guelph’s first urban Food Forest took root back in May, struggled through an early frost and dry summer, and is now ready for its first fall fair.

The party happens Saturday from 1-3 p.m. at the fledging forest, located on a north end rise in University Village Park off Ironwood Road. Look for the park entrance, park and walk in.

There’ll be a guided tour of the plantings, an opportunity to plant more good things, a trellis building bee, and craft activities.  

Jennifer Craig, a coordinator of the unique project, explained that a food forest is made up of trees, shrubbery and other plants that produce edible things, mostly fruits and berries.

“It’s been a real community effort so far,” she said. “In May we had over a hundred people show up to plant it in. That really showed us that this is something that is of interest to many in the Guelph area and the neighbourhood there.”

The forest, once it begins to mature and flourish, will be free to the public to enjoy. The space has the potential to host workshops, and events like jamming or preserving gatherings, she said.

“Over this past season we’ve actually been in action planting in the ground,” said Craig, speaking of the large, open space that incorporates a few mature trees and is made up of numerous plant varieties. There are a lot of coloured flags marking the plantings at this early stage of the roughly .62-hectare plot.

Craig said the project has several levels required to designate it a true food forest, including large fruit and nut trees that will form the canopy, dwarf fruit trees, a shrub layer, herbaceous plants, root vegetables, and ground cover.

“All of those different layers work together in an ecosystem to compliment each other and encourage growth,” she said. “Everything there is food-bearing. It’s meant to be a public space, so it’s open to anyone. There will be no fences that cordon it off. It’s not a CSA (community shared agriculture) that you need to have a membership to.”

It will take a few years before there is a substantial harvest, she added.


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Rob O'Flanagan

About the Author: Rob O'Flanagan

Rob O’Flanagan has been a newspaper reporter, photojournalist and columnist for over twenty years. He has won numerous Ontario Newspaper Awards and a National Newspaper Award.
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